Dash Cam Basics: Mounting Hardware

Categories Tech Talk

When deciding on a dash cam it is important to consider the type of mount it uses. There are several styles of mounts, but I’m only going to discuss some of the more common types: the suction cup mount, the adhesive mount and the rear-view mirror mount. Each one has its benefits and drawbacks, so the goal of this video is to help you decide which one is right for you.

Suction Mounts

We’ll start with the suction mount. This is probably the most common mount style of the inexpensive dash cams and is found on a number of cameras such as the G1W, the Yi dashcam, and a whole host of other cameras. The biggest benefit of the suction mount is its simplicity. It is easy to install, easy to remove and leaves no residue. This mount uses a suction cup to stick to the windshield, and typically a camera clips or slides into place on a plastic joint. This type of mount is best for individuals who want to use one camera across multiple cars, or for commercial drivers who cannot install a permanent mount into their vehicle. The real drawback to this mount is that it isn’t very low profile and sometimes has trouble sticking to the windshield, especially if you have these little black dots. That can make it difficult to hide behind the rear-view mirror. Also, watch out for this style of suction mount, where the camera screws into place, because this type of mount is a pain in the butt to take the camera off of.

Adhesive Mounts

The second type of mount is the adhesive mount. The camera generally clips or slides onto a flate plate, and the plate is stuck to the windshield with double sided tape. Because this type of mount sticks so close to the windshield, cameras that use this mount are often lower profile, such as the wedge shaped A119 or many remote lens cameras. This kind of mount is best for the set it and forget it user – the type of person that has one car and wants to install their camera more or less permanently. The permanance is the biggest downside – this mount can be very difficult to remove. When I wanted to move the camera to another car I had to buy an additional mount.

Rear-View Mirror Mounts

The last type of mount I am going to discuss is the rear-view mirror mount. This type of mount clips directly onto the rear view mirror, or in some cases is a full replacement to the cars factory installed mirror. The benefit to this mount is that it can look like a factory install once the wires are hidden, but the downside is that many of the rear view mirror cameras are made with low end hardware that has reliability issues, for example the first few results on Amazon film in AVI format, and some even some eschew basic safety features such as anti-glare coatings. If you have features such as a power mirror or a backup camera built in, you may lose these by changing over to a rear view mirror camera.

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Conclusion

For most users, who want a dash cam in their daily driver, the adhesive mount is the way to go because it is very low profile, stands up to heat and is semi-permanent. The downside is that it is difficult to remove, if needed. The suction cup mount is good for a first dash cam or for one that will be used in multiple vehicles. Just keep in mind that if you have these little black dots it is hard to hide the camera behind the rear-view mirror. Rear view mirror cameras, I wouldn’t currently recommend getting but that may change in the future.

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