So thought I'd add my own addition to this thread. Purchased from Amazon a unit called an "E-Prance Mini 0801" Mini DVR Recorder. Comes directly from China, reasonable price and size. Total cost with a 32GB mini-SIM is $117 to the door.
Installed it yesterday in the car, (easy) with no special cable routing at this time. Seems to work great with one outing. Instruction manual is really basic but I figured it out OK. It does loop, comes on with the 12V power. I have it set to do 5min. interval files. This is what distinguishes a dash cam as files have to be deleted along the way to continuously loop.
There are lots of settings and it has GPS capability. I actually ordered the non-GPS version but they sent the GPS unit ?
This is truly a dash cam, is not weather proof for outside use. Does have a battery and I've downloaded the files to my computer (they are huge files) just to see what they look like. I think this will be fine for my curiosity recording at a track for a few laps. I really just got it to have records of poor drivers, speeding cops, and liability issues when I'm out. I drive long distances in my car and have some long trips coming up during the warm months. Interested to see if it lasts.
If I don't hate it, I'll improve the cable but otherwise, can't see where I'd do anything else. The thing is the size of an old style film container and pops off if you want to bring it to your computer to download a file. You can also view the files on the tiny screen if you're eyes are good enough. If something "happens" while driving, it will either automatically lock that file using a G-force threshold you set or you hit one button and lock that file from being overwritten.
I'll get a second one for my other work car if this one survives awhile.
