[AbleDanger]

In my now-traded 2020 X3 M40i, I had a pair of Garmin dashcams, front and rear installed. With the X5 45e having drive recorder, I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile to install them in the new X5. The worked fine, I had no major complaints about them - and they definitely offer more features than the drive recorder. Anyone have any thoughts on why to choose one over the other?

[goobies818]

Originally Posted by AbleDanger

In my now-traded 2020 X3 M40i, I had a pair of Garmin dashcams, front and rear installed. With the X5 45e having drive recorder, I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile to install them in the new X5. The worked fine, I had no major complaints about them - and they definitely offer more features than the drive recorder. Anyone have any thoughts on why to choose one over the other?

I had no issues w/ the Drive Recorder. Got into a no fault fender bender (got rear ended by a lifted Silverado) and was able to export the video and email it to insurance and made it a speedy claim. The repair process on the other hand...that took over a month to get done.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by AbleDanger

In my now-traded 2020 X3 M40i, I had a pair of Garmin dashcams, front and rear installed. With the X5 45e having drive recorder, I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile to install them in the new X5. The worked fine, I had no major complaints about them - and they definitely offer more features than the drive recorder. Anyone have any thoughts on why to choose one over the other?

Drive Recorder and Dashcams are two different animals so it depends on what you want. The Drive Recorder only captures (saves) videos upon two triggers.
1. You manually pressing the Drive Recorder button
2. An accident sufficient enough to trigger Drive Recorder to save the file
Either way, the max you get is "x" number of seconds before and after the trigger with "x" being your choice of the number of seconds from what Drive Recorder offers via iDrive.

As you can see, its far from being a dash cam.

[mobilejo]

Only you can decide - I have drive recorder and don't personally feel the need for a dashcam, however I didn't have a dash cam before I had drive recorder either, so take that into consideration.

If you do a lot of driving, or just want the added peace of mind, then add a dash cam. I don't think drive recorder is infallible so if I felt I needed a super reliable source of video evidence, I would be looking at a standalone dash cam.

[aMIC]

If is not too much trouble to add the dash cam, I would add it.
An additional camera will provide a different angle of recording and that may be useful in case of an unwanted event.

[PandaSPUR]

Does the drive recorder work when the car is parked and off?

That would be a determining factor for me since I live in NYC and not all areas have private garages I can pay for.

[kenya971]

I'm actually making the same decision. Originally, I was leaning drive recorder for the cleaner look. I've decided to stay with dashcam (at least until I change my mind again). I think its beneficial to capture a longer history of an event. Don't just show what happened but possibly why it did. The best thing drive recorder has, that a dashcam doesn't, is that side view so that is perhaps a consideration for it.

[kenya971]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

Does the drive recorder work when the car is parked and off?

That would be a determining factor for me since I live in NYC and not all areas have private garages I can pay for.

Nope. You lose recording the moment you power off your vehicle. I like DR for its ease of use, I just wish it could be used for more.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by kenya971

Nope. You lose recording the moment you power off your vehicle. I like DR for its ease of use, I just wish it could be used for more.

Thats what I suspected, thanks for the confirmation.

So yep, I'll definitely be getting a dashcam rather than rely solely on Drive Recorder.

[AloneAlien]

With new iDrive 8 it will record in parking too if alarm is triggered:

[kenya971]

Originally Posted by AloneAlien

With new iDrive 8 it will record in parking too if alarm is triggered:

Thank you for that info! That may just be enough to swing me back towards DR.

[AbleDanger]

Thanks for the feedback. I was leaning towards the dashcam too, as it does record, easy to get the data off (via phone), can record on demand easily (I know DR has a method as well), and has parking mode if you buy the right cabling.

Other non-critical things is it'll do a time lapse, and also has updating traffic cam warnings and such that don't expire (read: free).

Given that I have all the stuff (cabling, dashcam, etc). I may just go ahead and use it. DR and the cams can complement each other.

[Chuck W.]

I'd go ahead and install it. I have dash cams in all my cars and my road bikes. The in car recorder may work great, but the dash cam will catch everything. Even things that don't affect you.

[beegee227]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

Does the drive recorder work when the car is parked and off?

That would be a determining factor for me since I live in NYC and not all areas have private garages I can pay for.

you might want to check out the Ring Dashcam. has over the air LTE, so you can check on your car at any time. downside is that it is not 4K.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by AloneAlien

With new iDrive 8 it will record in parking too if alarm is triggered:

Any idea how much of an impact is needed to trigger the alarm and recording? I know theres impact detection for when your car is parked, but thats a lower threshold than triggering the alarm (which I think requires tilt, heavy impact, broken glass, opened door, etc).

Originally Posted by beegee227

you might want to check out the Ring Dashcam. has over the air LTE, so you can check on your car at any time. downside is that it is not 4K.

I "backed" this thing last year: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/d...am/x/4257560#/

Mainly cause its LTE and also 4K with support for a 2nd camera in the rear. It has been SUUUPER delayed though.. very frustrating. Originally backed it because the Blackvue 2ch dashcam on my BRZ was dying (speaker melted and app functionality stopped working), but now its looking like this will probably just go into the X6M. Question is which will I get first? lol

[AbleDanger]

Originally Posted by Chuck W.

I'd go ahead and install it. I have dash cams in all my cars and my road bikes. The in car recorder may work great, but the dash cam will catch everything. Even things that don't affect you.

I do enjoy saving and posting the crappy Seattle drivers and their antics....

[IftiBashir]

Get a Dash Cam.

Drive Recorder, as mentioned above, is not a dash cam. I have it, and I still decided to go with the BMW dash cam front and rear as I like to have full continuous recording while I drive (I have the parking recording switched off as it just captured too much - every time there is any motion - so every time someone just walked past!).

I wouldn't be without a dash cam - have a cheap 'Viofo' in my wife's car and that also works fine, so doesn't have to be super expensive. It's just good to have continuous recording so you have more footage of a silly driver before he rear ends you, for instance - rather then just the impact from the drive recorder!

[BMPHIL]

Originally Posted by IftiBashir

Get a Dash Cam.

Drive Recorder, as mentioned above, is not a dash cam. I have it, and I still decided to go with the BMW dash cam front and rear as I like to have full continuous recording while I drive (I have the parking recording switched off as it just captured too much - every time there is any motion - so every time someone just walked past!).

I wouldn't be without a dash cam - have a cheap 'Viofo' in my wife's car and that also works fine, so doesn't have to be super expensive. It's just good to have continuous recording so you have more footage of a silly driver before he rear ends you, for instance - rather then just the impact from the drive recorder!

How do you get on with the BMW dash cam, I have ordered it on mine due next month.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by beegee227

you might want to check out the Ring Dashcam. has over the air LTE, so you can check on your car at any time. downside is that it is not 4K.

And you need a subscription.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by IftiBashir

It's just good to have continuous recording so you have more footage of a silly driver before he rear ends you, for instance - rather then just the impact from the drive recorder!

Just to be clear on the Drive Recorder...there are settings for it in iDrive, I have mine set to record 20 seconds prior to the trigger (impact or you pressing the button) and 20 seconds after the trigger. So it will record more footage than just the impact if that is what you meant. In my case I will have a 40 second video file.

Drive Recorder is always recording when the car is running, it just overwrites its own footage as you drive until the trigger occurs. Then it goes back prior to the trigger to create the start point of the footage (video file) and continues to save the footage after the trigger per your settings. You could experiment to see how much footage its memory can hold by manually triggering it repeatedly if you are curious.

I'd rather have a dash cam but so far have been too lazy to start investigating which one to get

[blinsc]

In the video linked in post #10, at the 2 minute mark, there is an option to "Manually start and stop the recording."

Is the length of that manual recording limited, or will it actually keep recording until it is stopped? It wasn't clear from the video since the guy didn't try it (but he did take several pictures of the top of his head).

[AloneAlien]

Not sure why anyone want a constant recording? If something interesting happen you can always record it with drive recorder by pushing button or asking with voice command. In case of accident everything is getting recorded automatically. I have dash cameras on both my cars and never review the footage unless something interested is recorded and stored manually, which is exactly what drive recorder does. In addition to it, the drive recorder will record video from all the cameras around the car, giving more details than dash camera. I have ordered my 50e with drive recording with surround cameras and don't see any need of having more cameras / recorders.