Will a dash cam drain my car battery?

A dash cam in normal driving mode draws minimal power and won't affect your battery. Parking mode — which keeps recording when the car is off — can drain a battery over several days. Use a hardwire kit with a low-voltage cutoff to protect your battery in parking mode.

How much storage do I need for a dash cam?

Most dash cams use loop recording — they overwrite the oldest footage when the card is full. 128GB handles 10-15 hours of footage before overwriting. Incident footage is automatically locked so it won't be overwritten. 128GB-256GB is sufficient for most users.

Dash cams are legal in all 50 US states and most countries. Some jurisdictions have rules about where you can mount them (not blocking driver view) and audio recording consent laws. In the US, front-facing video recording while driving is universally legal.

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