• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

HD Dash cam?

I'd like to see some user reviews of webcams for dash use. I know there are already a few HD webcams out plus it be nice to see some that can withstand the elements.
 
I've been using an Aiptek 720p for a dashcam. It has been running full-time in my vehicle since January of 2008 and works great. I get a little over 4 hours of recording time with an 8GB card. Here are some clips from it:

http://stormhighway.com/blog/dashcam.shtml

The Microsoft cam looks nice (a little easier to mount) but it looks like you need a laptop to run it. The Aipteks are self-contained and don't need any attention until the memory card fills up after several hours. That Contour HD cam is self-contained but it's twice the cost of an Aiptek.

I also think you would want to stay away from autofocus models for a dashcam. I bought another newer Aiptek last year with autofocus, and it has some problems with focus seeking.

EDIT: I should also note that I use my dashcam as more of a driving camera than a chase camera. I actually don't think any of the current low-cost memory card cameras would do well for chasing due to the lack of a good zoom and focus control.
 
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I'll second what Dan said about being self contained. It's a real pain-in-the-ass to deal with connecting and disconnecting to laptops if you start using primary cameras, or other tethered devices for storing the images. It is also one less thing to bog down the CPU on the laptop when you need premium processing power for the live feed (for those using that) or for running radars, satellite, navigation, etc.
 
Love your site Dan. Do you have any photos of how you set it up? I can't tell if the Aiptek has that mounting point on the bottom.
 
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