[Barryng]

Immediately after taking delivery of my new Boxster at the Atlanta PEC next Wednesday, I am having the paint protection film and ceramic coatings installed. I then want to install a dash cam. I am hoping to learn from others that have already purchased and installed a dash cam.


-Is the Blackvue DR900S-2CH considered the best compromise of the dash cams now available? If not, what is an alternative?

-Has anyone addressed how to handle a rear view considering the car is a convertible so there is no viable mounting solution on the rear window?
-Are there any high quality dash cams that include both front and rear mounted cameras in the same device and, if so, is the rear view reasonably usable?
-Are there any references for those that have already hard wired the cam? I have searched but not found any experiencing hard wiring a late model Boxster.


I live in the Florida treasure Coast area (about 40 miles north Palm Beach). Are there any good automotive electronic shops available in this area that can be trusted to do careful high quality work? I have no experience removing/replacing trim pieces in a Porsche product so I would rather pay a competent experienced tech to do this rather than risk buggering up any of the associated trim parts.

 

[Nosmo]

@Barryng - I had the Blackvue DR900S-2ch installed professionally. Pictures of the front and rear mount below. The front is on the passenger side of the rear view mirror. It doesn't interfere with the DAB antenna which I have in the windscreen. I have nothing but good things to say about the set up and picture quality. BlackVue app and desktop / laptop functionality, as well as cloud and direct download functionality are also very good. Any questions, please just ask.

 

[JoTR]

I’m a big fan of Blackvue products - budget the only question.

I have 570’s in all the family cars - dual channel in my weekend wheels. In hindsight I’d probably pay the extra for a higher end, cloud enabled option - anything which makes access to content easier/quicker useful.

Very easy to self install providing you invest in a set of interior trim kit tools. $8-9 [£€] online

Don’t be intimidated by doing it yourself - very satisfying to DIY - take your time, don’t rush.

Only observation I make is some of the interior trim panels are surprisingly budget.

 

[don]

I've been looking into these as well and Blackvue was the first stop.

I found one called Gator 1080p Barrel Dash Cam With WiFi - GHDVR82W at my local auto store for cheap and looks like a copy of the Blackvue.

Interested to hear more comments and DIY tips.

 

[xhixhixx]

Might be a bit late for replying into this thread, but I did install an Thinkware F800 Pro by myself (hardwire to fuse box) to my new Cayman. I did a lot of research and came to a conclusion that F800 Pro and BlackVue 900s are the best 2, however, quite some people reported that 900s has problem with hot weather and I live in California, the summer can be >100F in the car. You live in a hot area too so you should double check this

 

[JazzCatGab]

I'm trying out having dash cam myself. Didn't want to spend much for trial and didn't want to rewire the car. Got a Vantrue N1 with GPS mount, a 10,000 mil amp battery pack the size of a phone and a suction holder to hold it to the glass. Great picture and sound and small enough to not be too intrusive. So far so good.

 

[M0lins]

@Barryng - I had the Blackvue DR900S-2ch installed professionally. Pictures of the front and rear mount below. The front is on the passenger side of the rear view mirror. It doesn't interfere with the DAB antenna which I have in the windscreen. I have nothing but good things to say about the set up and picture quality. BlackVue app and desktop / laptop functionality, as well as cloud and direct download functionality are also very good. Any questions, please just ask.

Is the power for the dashcam taken from the rear view mirror area or is the power cable routed down the pillar?

 

[Nosmo]

Is the power for the dashcam taken from the rear view mirror area or is the power cable routed down the pillar?

From the fuse box (UK passenger side) up the A pillar to the entry into the camera near the rear view mirror. Rear camera cabling from the passenger fuse box underneath the door sill to the rear. The rear was the most involved part as the power and return cable had to be routed down the rear hatch side, rather than around the corner at the top of the hatch. The installer just couldn't get the cable to bend around the corner.
Does this make sense?

 

[rogkat5]

I installed the Blackvue DR900S-2CH in my Boxster and have generally been pleased with its performance. The front camera is just slightly out of focus (a reported problem with some Blackvue cams) but not really enough for me to bother with it. The front camera is mounted just to the left of my rear view mirror with the power cable running along the windshield frame and down the passenger side A-frame. I accessed power in the passenger side footwell fuse panel using a low profile add-a-circuit tap. I mounted the rear camera just behind the wind deflector. Was pretty straightforward to route the cable down the A-pillar, along the driver's side door sill, and up through the area behind the seat. I used some old GoPro camera accessories to attach the camera to the car (see attached image). A clear plastic GoPro camera case was sacraficed by cutting off the upper 95% of the case leaving a flat platform on which to stick the rear camera. This was then attached to the area just behind the wind deflector using an adhesive GoPro helmet mount and buckle. The height of the rear camera is just enough to provide an unobstructed view over the rear of the car. The slight downside is that the camera takes up a little bit of real estate in the rear view mirror (see attached image), but I haven't found this to be a nuisance in any way.

 

[CupraLeon]

I'm trying out having dash cam myself. Didn't want to spend much for trial and didn't want to rewire the car. Got a Vantrue N1 with GPS mount, a 10,000 mil amp battery pack the size of a phone and a suction holder to hold it to the glass. Great picture and sound and small enough to not be too intrusive. So far so good.

I have installed a Vantrue N2pro. Vantrue picture and sound quality is indeed very good at that price point. The N2pro also records towards the interior of the car witch is very usefull when using parking mode since the field of view covers both side windows. Was planning on using a powerbank but i've noticed that the cars power from the battery shuts down after 20 minutes so I don't use the powerbank for now. Only minus is interference with the DAB antenna.

 

[M0lins]

From the fuse box (UK passenger side) up the A pillar to the entry into the camera near the rear view mirror. Rear camera cabling from the passenger fuse box underneath the door sill to the rear. The rear was the most involved part as the power and return cable had to be routed down the rear hatch side, rather than around the corner at the top of the hatch. The installer just couldn't get the cable to bend around the corner.
Does this make sense?

Yes makes sense, just unsure why my 750s interferes with the DAB.
THANKS

 

[ArchiProf]

Which fuse in the front box did you tap into?

 

[CupOfJoeMama]

I installed FitcamX on my 2019 718 Boxster GTS without having to connect it to the fusebox! I found a video (linked below) from FitCamX that showed an install on a 718 Boxster. I chatted with customer support and a manager and found out it was a China car and they weren’t sure if the installation method pulling power from the overhead lamp would work on a U.S. car. They agreed to send me the same splitter cable. It worked like a charm! I also installed the rear cam, but chose to put it right next to the rear view mirror, facing the cabin.