Has anyone had the Ford dash cam installed by the dealer? Is it worth having the dealer do it or go after market?

[Loffredom]

I'm interested in getting a front and rear facing dash cam but I'm curious to see what people have to say. I'd prefer to have it done by the dealer even if it's a little more expensive just for the warranty and overall convenience, but if I can get a much better camera or save a lot of money having it done aftermarket I will go that route. I'm also skeptical of having it done aftermarket just because it's such a new vehicle. Opinions?

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[egress555]

I got this one,
https://accessories.ford.com/products/dashcam-with-rear-facing-camera-bundle

I paid a total of $550. The breakdown was $300 for camera and $250 for install. The camera does it's job but the app is another story, The picture quality is really good day or night unless it's pitch black with no light out at all. But I did learn that you can turn up the brightness for the camera in the app. The biggest think I don't like is the ability to pull up incidents in real time on the app. Still need to pull the SD card and view on laptop. I use PC so you are able to view the recordings with Media Player with nothing else to install.

One of the biggest plusses is by having it installed at dealer it hooks directly to the Mav, so it records 24-7. When the vehicle is parked it still records 24-7 in parking mode. It senses motion and records an incident, or records an incident if vehicle is hit or bumped. When you get back in and start the Mav it will let you know if their was an incident and the number of them. I think it's well wort the $250 for the install. I just didn't want to mess with all the running of the wires for front and rear camera. Pulling up all the trim pieces and taking a chance of breaking something. If something was broken it's on the dealer.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase but will probably change out in the future when a dash cam comes out that has a better app and installs plug and play with the Mav. I'm sure other will chime in with their preference's but you will still have to to do the install and wire it yourself. And the brand of the camera Ford uses is made by Thinkware, so you can check out their equipment on their site. https://thinkwarestore.com/us/

 

[crgator]

I got the same one as the one offered by Ford but got it at Best Buy. Paid $169.95, plus $79.95 installation. I also paid an extra $44.95 for the ODB2 wiring kit (recommended by Best Buy). Total spent: $294.88 plus tax, so it actually came out cheaper than Ford, even using points to pay for it. Also, mine came with the GPS. It can be added at any time, but that adds another $39.95 if you don't get it with the camera.

 

[gte105u]

Any risk of it running down your battery if sits a week like you go on vacation while in parked mode?

 

[NJBob]

Does that permanently stay in your obd2 port? Sometimes I like to run torque and that's where the bt dongle goes.

 

[crgator]

Does that permanently stay in your obd2 port? Sometimes I like to run torque and that's where the bt dongle goes.

It can easily be unplugged from the port if needed. But, for another $5 (I believe) you can buy one that you don't need to remove to access the port.

 

[egress555]

crgator, good on you for finding that deal, wish I had. Damn you, where were you at the beginning of the year!

The OBD connector still lets you use the OBD port after plugging in the dash cam. Yeah mine doesn't need to be unplugged.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/echoma...odrWSnTbWeATEORv4ZgaAu_4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

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