hemlockz
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Toyota has their factory option Dashcam in all their vehicles and the Tacoma can come with the latest iteration too, part number PT949-34222. I think this one is called the 2.0 version:
It comes with an industrial rated 16GB MicroSD card. Those are step above cheaper SD cards, in that they use single layer flash (SLC) which is more robust and can handle thousands of write/rewrite cycles. Industrial flash costs about 10x more though.
You can find these cameras for about half the OEM price, new or slightly used. I found one on ebay for $200, and importantly included the original SD card. A lot of the used ones are from wrecks, and the insurance company takes the SD cards out of them, FYI, so make sure to ask! I found an outfit that does repo auctions, and I think some employees are making a side hustle taking out some of the optional equipment and selling on Ebay. I know mine came from a repo because there was footage on my SD card of the truck being plucked by a flatbed and driven to an auction yard about 2 weeks ago!
Anyway, the installation is easy and well documented by Toyota, I attached the PDF here. Page 14 has a template you can print out and tape to the window to know exactly where to mount the bracket. It's probably not really necessary, but it helps to know so that the top of the camera and tuck under the headliner just perfectly. This is what it looks like:
Then you just use some double-sided tape and place on the back of the bracket and stick it right on in there, with the narrower end pointing up.
You'll want to make sure to use black tape because it can be seen from the outside under the dots.
The most scary part of the process for the new truck is tearing out the top Map Light Console. The first time you take it off will take a lot of force and it seems like something might break, but it won't there are 4 red snap clips holding it in. pull the edge that's closest to the windshield off first, then the back. You also need to pull the visor clip out. You only have to turn it counterclockwise back to 10 o-clock then can pull it out.
Then you're almost done, just fish the dash cam wire under the headliner by the mirror and into the map light console area. The connector is up on the drivers side. Clip it in and zip tie the wire bundle. You can now clip the camera into the bracket, top edge first, then slide it down a quarter inch to lock it in. Thats all, it's so easy and if you don't stop to take pictures like I did it will only take 5 minutes.
Clip the map light console and visor clip back in and you're done. The dashcam will beep the first time you power it on, and it should be good to go with the green power light on.
It has a couple of features. The video superimposes a GPS coordinate, speed, and timestamp on the video. It also detects an impact and it will flash red and start recording stuff into the 'Events' folder for one minute before and after the event. Those event videos will not be overwritten as often. This mode has gotten triggered when going over speedbumps or railroad tracks.
Normal recording happens whenever the truck is on, and video is saved in 2 minute files which are about 170MB in size. They roll over automatically when the storage is full. So normal mode actually holds about 3 hours worth of footage.
There is also a parking mode. It lasts for 4 hours after the truck is off, and flashes a red LED every few seconds. It only records if it detects an impact, and will start recording within 5 seconds of the impact for the next 2 minutes. These will end up in the parking folder.
There is also an adventure mode if you press the big button it will start recording and save stuff into Adventure, which is like Events in that it's not overwritten as often. It looks like 1080p quality:
The worst part of this setup is the Toyota Dashcam App. It has 1.5 stars, and after having tried it for myself I can understand why. Its not easy to use. I have a Computer Science degree, and have be programming for 20 years, and done WiFi/Bluetooth product design and hardware implementation as well, and I struggled to connect the app to the dash cam. Essentially, its a pain in the butt. You have to turn on the truck, disconnect from apple play, push the WiFi button on the camera, browse for Wireless Networks, and connect and enter '1234567890' default password, all in the first 2 minutes, then force quit the App, and reopen it while your phone's WiFi is still connected to 'DashCam' wireless network. Then the videos load super slowly, like 5 seconds for each thumbnail to appear. Don't bother trying to watch them on the app. By far it is much easier to pull the SD card out, and stick it in a card reader and plug into the computer like so:
Then its super easy just point and click, open videos, or drag and drop them to save.
So far so good. I feel a little safer about protecting my liability for accidents and a little piece of mind for parking mode protection while I'm out and about, too. I decided to go with OEM for the fitment and supposed Toyota reliability, but as far as dashcams go I don't think this one has a lot of the latest technology. It's a basic bitch of dashcams, certainly not worth the MSRP. I wanted simple so I can just set and forget. The only thing I'll need to remember is to recover footage by pulling the card out if I ever have an accident. Maybe someday if I find a good deal on a larger industrial SD card I'll swap one in. The user guide says it will support up to 128GB, but since it uses FAT32 filesystem I think it could actually support a volume up to 2TB, in theory.
It comes with an industrial rated 16GB MicroSD card. Those are step above cheaper SD cards, in that they use single layer flash (SLC) which is more robust and can handle thousands of write/rewrite cycles. Industrial flash costs about 10x more though.
You can find these cameras for about half the OEM price, new or slightly used. I found one on ebay for $200, and importantly included the original SD card. A lot of the used ones are from wrecks, and the insurance company takes the SD cards out of them, FYI, so make sure to ask! I found an outfit that does repo auctions, and I think some employees are making a side hustle taking out some of the optional equipment and selling on Ebay. I know mine came from a repo because there was footage on my SD card of the truck being plucked by a flatbed and driven to an auction yard about 2 weeks ago!
Anyway, the installation is easy and well documented by Toyota, I attached the PDF here. Page 14 has a template you can print out and tape to the window to know exactly where to mount the bracket. It's probably not really necessary, but it helps to know so that the top of the camera and tuck under the headliner just perfectly. This is what it looks like:
Then you just use some double-sided tape and place on the back of the bracket and stick it right on in there, with the narrower end pointing up.
You'll want to make sure to use black tape because it can be seen from the outside under the dots.
The most scary part of the process for the new truck is tearing out the top Map Light Console. The first time you take it off will take a lot of force and it seems like something might break, but it won't there are 4 red snap clips holding it in. pull the edge that's closest to the windshield off first, then the back. You also need to pull the visor clip out. You only have to turn it counterclockwise back to 10 o-clock then can pull it out.
Then you're almost done, just fish the dash cam wire under the headliner by the mirror and into the map light console area. The connector is up on the drivers side. Clip it in and zip tie the wire bundle. You can now clip the camera into the bracket, top edge first, then slide it down a quarter inch to lock it in. Thats all, it's so easy and if you don't stop to take pictures like I did it will only take 5 minutes.
Clip the map light console and visor clip back in and you're done. The dashcam will beep the first time you power it on, and it should be good to go with the green power light on.
It has a couple of features. The video superimposes a GPS coordinate, speed, and timestamp on the video. It also detects an impact and it will flash red and start recording stuff into the 'Events' folder for one minute before and after the event. Those event videos will not be overwritten as often. This mode has gotten triggered when going over speedbumps or railroad tracks.
Normal recording happens whenever the truck is on, and video is saved in 2 minute files which are about 170MB in size. They roll over automatically when the storage is full. So normal mode actually holds about 3 hours worth of footage.
There is also a parking mode. It lasts for 4 hours after the truck is off, and flashes a red LED every few seconds. It only records if it detects an impact, and will start recording within 5 seconds of the impact for the next 2 minutes. These will end up in the parking folder.
There is also an adventure mode if you press the big button it will start recording and save stuff into Adventure, which is like Events in that it's not overwritten as often. It looks like 1080p quality:
The worst part of this setup is the Toyota Dashcam App. It has 1.5 stars, and after having tried it for myself I can understand why. Its not easy to use. I have a Computer Science degree, and have be programming for 20 years, and done WiFi/Bluetooth product design and hardware implementation as well, and I struggled to connect the app to the dash cam. Essentially, its a pain in the butt. You have to turn on the truck, disconnect from apple play, push the WiFi button on the camera, browse for Wireless Networks, and connect and enter '1234567890' default password, all in the first 2 minutes, then force quit the App, and reopen it while your phone's WiFi is still connected to 'DashCam' wireless network. Then the videos load super slowly, like 5 seconds for each thumbnail to appear. Don't bother trying to watch them on the app. By far it is much easier to pull the SD card out, and stick it in a card reader and plug into the computer like so:
Then its super easy just point and click, open videos, or drag and drop them to save.
So far so good. I feel a little safer about protecting my liability for accidents and a little piece of mind for parking mode protection while I'm out and about, too. I decided to go with OEM for the fitment and supposed Toyota reliability, but as far as dashcams go I don't think this one has a lot of the latest technology. It's a basic bitch of dashcams, certainly not worth the MSRP. I wanted simple so I can just set and forget. The only thing I'll need to remember is to recover footage by pulling the card out if I ever have an accident. Maybe someday if I find a good deal on a larger industrial SD card I'll swap one in. The user guide says it will support up to 128GB, but since it uses FAT32 filesystem I think it could actually support a volume up to 2TB, in theory.
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