[BravoZuluDelta]

I had an extra Torch lying around without a SIM, so I set it up as a dashcam. The mount is a simple mount made from a pizza box that slots into the defroster vent and fully encases the Torch for a fairly solid mount. I took several quick turns on purpose during the daytime test, to see how much I could make the mount move. I have since added an anti-slip mat to the bottom of the mount, which eliminated the sliding around you see in the daytime video. I also stapled a black cloth to the mount which took care of the windshield reflections.

The nighttime video test is out-of-focus for a good amount of time, and I found the solution was to turn off auto-focus because it was trying to focus on dust on the windshield. I have since disabled image stabilisation because it simply does not work well enough in low light, and the mount is stable enough without it. You can see the image jump around in the nighttime test because image stabilisation could not pick up a reference point.

The Torch 9800 does surprisingly well as a dashcam, even though it does not record in HD. The wide-angle lens does distort your depth perception (I could be right on the tail of the vehicle in front and the video shows what appears to still be a reasonable following distance).

Daytime:


Nighttime:


This is mostly for liability purposes both in daily driving and when I do volunteer work for the local PD. An unexpected perk is that I am now able to catalogue all the crappy driving I see on my daily commute and stick it on YouTube.