Stock Dash Cam Warning - image quality not good enough to pick up license plates

[Obs]

So I was driving home from vacation on Friday night, and while changing lanes, got side swiped with a mirror from the car in this picture. The stock camera does not do any kind of job picking up the license plate. Cant decide if it's a camera or a headlight problem. I guess I'm switching it out for either the @Wolfbox or Viofo cameras.

Sponsored

 

[2025 Big Red]

I just installed a Viofo A229 Pro 2 channel and love it. I got the dongle to get power from rear view mirror and ran wire for rear. Love it. Only challenge will be mounting rear camera. I have design already. Will use aluminum bar stock. It will hang down a bit to make sure camera is in area that window wiper clears.

 

[J_Royal_Oak]

its also a good idea to read the license plate out loud so it'll get picked up by the microphone.

 

[2025 Big Red]

Great idea.

 

[outdoorCO]

its also a good idea to read the license plate out loud so it'll get picked up by the microphone.

Does the stock camera turn on the mic when it detects an incident?

 

[J_Royal_Oak]

Does the stock camera turn on the mic when it detects an incident?

I dont have the OEM one, I got a Viofo A119, but from everything I'm seeing online, it should be recording sound all the time.

 

[DangItsDen]

Just found this out too. The plate looks like AI in the footage. Can't get a single clear number and I was about 15 feet behind the car in broad daylight. Absolutely useless garbage.

 

[Dead Horse]

Viofo A119 Mini 2:

 

[BonRunner]

90% of dash cam out don't have good image sensor for night time license plate read out from a distance. You need a real 4K sensor but that comes at high cost, heat & storage. During day time, most will do fine.

Here's a pro tip: if you witness an accident while driving with dash cam active, speak the license plate out loud! All dash cam also record audio. It's a lot easier to view the footage & write out the plate from your audio.

 

[Dead Horse]

I keep my mic turned off.

Mainly because when I die in a fiery ball of doom, the footage will be recovered, and the last words my loved ones will hear from me are belted out Taylor Swift songs.

 

[Nodak]

most of the high end dash cam's run a starvis 2 sensor, dont settle for less than that.

the viofo 329 series run starvis 2 sensor (so does the 119 mini)

viofo posts all the type sensor on the specs section of each camera

starvis 1 (also known as just "starvis" is the old gen sensor)

Sponsored