Thank you all for this post !
Have successfully fitted a Transcend Drivepro 200 (gift) to a switched live in the roof lighting console with a 12v-5v stepdown

Works a treat, now i can forget about it +++
;O)

So does this mean that the Transcend DrivePro can work off any of the following?

1 - battery inbuilt to the unit (or is that just for time/date memory etc?)
2 - 12v/cigarette lighter socket
3 - direct connection to the car battery

Yes to all of them.

I don't think it lasts a long time on the internal battery, especially if it's being triggered by motion frequently ... a few hours maybe. It's enough to find out who scraped your car while parked at the shops for a few hours (assuming it has had a good charge), but not long enough to be of any real use if your car is parked up on the street for a long time.

If I remember correctly, it comes with a fag lighter adaptor that has a long lead and a mini USB plug on the other end. I didn't use that. Instead I used a USB lead and a 5v regulator/adaptor like this, which I wired into an ignition-switched feed. Doing it this way makes it fully automatic in use. As soon as you jump in the car and drive off it begins recording and when you turn off the ignition it enters parking mode (assuming you've enabled parking mode in the settings).

The 220 has some other seemingly useful features too like Lane Departure and Forward Collision Warning, which work great, but the incessant bleeping every time you switch lanes will drive you nuts; fortunately the bleeping can be turned off.

Cheers Mark - so would you say that the 220 is worth the extra £50 (@c. £130) over the cost of the 200, given that it seems to be mainly the lane departure and collision warning features which are added (aside from the different cosmetic exterior design) ?

I wouldn't pay the extra £50 for those features, no, but I don't think the 200 has a built-in battery or GPS and I think they're definitely worth the extra 50 quid. Having GPS coordinates on the recordings (along with the time date) helps to make any evidence irrefutable, should you ever need it. Additionally, I think the 200 takes a maximum memory card size of 32GB (compared to the 220's 64GB limit).

Agreed, thanks.

I got this and wired it to an ignition controlled fuse in the left of the dash.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...r_1_12&sr=8-12

My cam is this one,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Nov...ds=eprance+g1w

It just plugs into that socket above and all nicely hidden behind the glovebox. Have some spare usb sockets aswell for future fiddling.

Hi There,

Just picked up a Mio MiVue C330 - It's a small 1080p camera which has GPS and traffic cameras which is nice. Been playing with it using the cigarette lighter sockets in the car and i'm really not sure what happens with them in terms of power. They don't seem to be always on, but they're on for a while ???

I'm probably going to look in the roof for a switched live as I don't want 24hr display and i'm not overly bothered about parking etc

Lee

Have you seen Audi has their own front/rear dashcam available as an accessory now.

My parts guy says his boss tested it and it's good, but probably not up there with the best of the third party ones.

It has some fancy-schmancy name that I can't remember at the moment. It was Audi something Recorder, I think.

When I sold my S8 the Transcend 220 went with it, but I wanted one for the cabby and after a lot of research I settled on a Garmin 45. super small, good specs and speed camera detection as well - 3 weeks in and its been rock solid on detecting the known points locally so thats all good.

With regards to wiring any dash cam in hard style, I would recommend an "add-a-fuse" kit into the fusebox on the drivers side and then a switched cable hardwire kit (I bought mine on flabby for £10 with the add a fuse all in)

Runs straight up the A-pillar and across the top - no visible cables. Automatically turns the cam off and on with the ignition and starts recording straight away. Couldn't be easier, no fiddling about with roof electrics and transferable if you sell the car.