Cobra Electronics CDR 840 Professional Grade Dash Camera

Great dash cam. Fun and easy to use. It creates AVI files so they can be played back on any computer. You can download free software on Cobra’s web site to view your video through their player. Using their player, you can see your MPH and a Google map of where you drove, even satellite view so that is fun to use. The menu system takes time to learn but it’s not too bad. You can download the owner’s manual free also, which seems better than the instruction book that comes with it. It has lots of settings to choose from. You can set the length of time you want to record each segment of your adventure out in the world of crazy drivers. It has settings for sunny, partly cloudy, or darker cloudy days. There are several video quality settings, HD, SHD, VGA, so forth, and 30fps or 60fps; there are also microphone sensitivity settings, motion detection settings, ev-2 to ev+2 for brightness control. Plus many more settings to monkey with. I highly suggest that you adjust these settings in your home, not while driving. That way you will not be distracted while driving. The internal battery is for changing settings or for recording in an emergency (in case of power failure in your car due to collision.). The internal battery will only last for 5 minutes or so which is plenty of time to make your settings. Once you are satisfied with your settings, turn the camera off and you are ready to go. Just plug it into your cigarette lighter in your car and then into the camera and it power on and start recording. I use it every time I drive now. I save all the video daily as sort of a video diary for each day. The video quality is wonderful and it is fun to watch on a large tv. It feels like you are actually riding in the car. The video is so clear. I am impressed.