Dash Cam Parking Mode
With so many dash cameras to choose from often I get asked which dash cam has parking mode? Well, I can tell you first off all of our units we sell have parking mode capability.
However, they do need to be hardwired or use of an OBD 2 adaptor.
So which has the best dash cam parking mode? Great question
Let’s explore our top 5 choices for parking mode.
#5 Time Lapse
This will record in 1 or 2 frames per second depending on the dash cam. Furthermore, it is constantly recording and when you replay back the video it looks like it is in fast forward. Positives of this is it will take up a lot less sd card space allowing for longer record time capability. Negatives – is it will lose a lot of vital information needed. To put this into perspective normal recording is at 30 frames per second so when recording in Time Lapse you are only recording 1/15 or 1/30 of the information you normally would.
#4 Motion Detection
Dash cameras with motion detection will record anytime there is motion. Which means anytime somebody walks by, drives by, it will wake up and record. This can be a great feature for people worried about any funny business happening around their vehicle while parked. Positives – Wakes up and records if there is movement. Negatives – If you live in a condo, underground parking or live on a busy street the dash camera will be waking up and going back to sleep very frequently.
#3 Impact Only (Energy Saving Mode)
This is very common choice among Thinkware clients because if there is an impact while parked the dash camera will wake up 1 second after impact and record a 20 second video. Positives – Very low current draw compared to other parking mode features. Negative- It does not catch the actual incident as it wakes up 1 second after.
#2 Time Lapse with motion detection and impact
So far I have only seen this parking mode available on GNET and IROAD dash cameras. What happens with this parking mode is something special. It records at 1 frame per second while parked using very minimal sd card capacity. If motion is detected it will then change and record at 10 frames per second and move that video into the event recording folder. As well as if impact is detected it will also put a video into the incident folder and record at 10 frames per second. Positives-It changes between time lapse and motion detection automagically to make best use of SD card space and surveillance mode. Negatives-It does not record only when impacts it records entire time while parked
#1 Energy Saving Mode 2.0 with Radar Sensor
When motion is detected by the radar module, the dash cam wakes up and gets ready to record. If an impact is detected, a 20 second video (10 seconds before and 10 seconds after impact) is saved in a dedicated folder on the sd card. When no impacts are detected, dash cam does not save the footage and resumes to energy saving mode 2.0. Positives- if there is impact while parked it will save it and capture the whole incident. Also very low current draw allowing it to last longer then other dash cameras. Negatives if there is impact from rear of vehicle the radar sensor only does front and therefore rear of vehicle will default to 1 second after impact recording. If there is any suspicious activity around the vehicle that is not impact related it will also not record those events.