Glad to see you eventually posted a Tesla vs something instead of comparing two dash cams: Interesting because I ordered a different set of lenses for my previous dash cam to do what the Tesla already does. I did not like the wide angle that lacked details such as the license number of the local traffic. You can clearly read the license numbers with the Tesla video. In contrast, most of the separate dash cam images of the car licenses are at pixel limits. The other thing that drives me nuts is absence of the full GPS data embedded or parallel to the video image. My preference is a data channel in the video holding the GPS data with a way to extract it as text or any of the common GPS formats. Is there any audio like cabin based dash cams have? Bob Wilson
Looking at the video, it looks like the Street Guardian was looking through a coated lens or fogged windshield. It may cause the circular bloom around bright objects. Perhaps you might try a direct shot outside the car to determine if it is a windshield vs lens effect. In contrast, the Tesla appears to have a clear view possibly through an angled glass. The narrow, vertical blooms suggest an angled glass in front of the lens. I prefer video acuity over a wide view. For a wider view, my preference is a double camera dash cam, both angled with an overlapped view. Still, I can appreciate others having a different preference. The occasional dropouts in the Tesla cam reminds me of pauses found when switching recording files in my earlier dash cams. I figured it was due to a simple OS (or application software) that doesn't handle file creation overlapped with writing the current file. Bob Wilson
The windshield was clean and there was no fogging. In any case, this is the best case scenario for use. I created the dropouts to sync the video to the Street Guardian. Since the Tesla video is recorded in one minute increments and there is definitely a loss of frames between the recordings. The Street Guardian can do three minute segments and it adds a one second overlap between them so it doesn't miss any thing. The TeslaCam definitely has better exposure and does not flare on bright lights. It also seems to exhibit less blur - possibly due to higher frame rates, lower exposure, and better lens. The main deficits are lower resolution, odd white balance/color, variable frame rates, and narrow lens angle. The narrow lens angle is good for acquiring clear license plates directly ahead of the car. But it is so narrow that it is not that useful if an accident occurred. Hopefully, Tesla will record the wide angle lenses (front and rear) in future updates. As of now, I will use both since that are advantages to each setup.
I think you meant "lower field of view" as the resolution provides better detail. My understanding is the Model 3 has many more cameras. If the forward, side camera data could be recorded, I think the field of view would be fine. A separate problem is reflection of the top of the dash off the windshield: I'm thinking some sort of camera hood, flat black, maybe the cure. Mounting would be tricky and then there is the solar heat load. Bob Wilson ps. You may want to see this YouTube when it is available:
