Francis007

Good afternoon fellow Q8 owners. I reside in the U.K. and took delivery of a new Q8 55 TFSI in September 2019. That's when the new year registrations begin each year here

The car was an S line in Orcha black with 21 " wheels and the Comfort and Sound pack..It was what my pensions could support....other wise I would have been looking at an SQ8 ! The car replaced a much loved VW Phaeton that I bought from new in 2010 after picking it up from the Factory in Dresden. It was a superb and impeccably engineered car and my wife and I did over 120,000 safe and trouble free miles in him touring many countries in Europe.That car had replaced a previous Phaeton that I had also bought new in 2006.

So, the Q8 has some really big boots to fill and up to now, after 4 months and 4000 miles I am mightlly pleased with the car. It is quiet, refined,comfortable, well built and just about powerful enough with the 340 bhp engine.

After being witness to two unfortunate accident and incidents, in the last week, both on the motorway and in car park I have come to the conclusion that to protect my new boy I need to invest in a dashcam.

I have narrowed it down to two. The Thinkware camera or the Blackvue alternative. I like to do things well so both are at the top of their ranges. I am 73 years of age and not to " tecky " so whichever I choose will have to be fitted by a registerd installer. Also I have decided to fit cameras front and back. Both cameras are quite pricey and along with the installation fees could cost upwards of £600-900's ( $1000 plus )

If anyone here has any thoughts on either camera or better still, has one fitted and could please let me know how they perform, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks in advance.

Frank

retom

I would recommend you original Audi dashcam. I have it already in the second car. After first problems with software solved by updates works perfectly.
It has 2 advantages: no wires on top as the camera is connected to the windshield mirror with dedicated loom and all data is downloaded by the camera directly from the car's CAN network.
They are many offers in UK. Here is one: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Genuine-Audi...8AAOSweP9dwsQm

the.dude

What would be really nice is if the already installed cameras all over the vehicle functioned as dash cams as well. Seems like a pretty straightforward bit of software for Audi to write to make it work.

gregtay

Does the camera use any of the sensors on the car? I was looking at the Audi dash cam kit (front and rear) but the install looks crazy (ripping the car apart) and I still can't figure out if it yield anything over a normal high quality dash cam......

retom

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/15...page=11#manual
Installation in Q8 is the same as in Q7: https://www.motor-talk.de/forum/akti...hmentId=772361

Francis007

Many thanks Retom. I did know of the Audi orginal dashcam and did think of having the Audi system fitted by the main dealer once the car had arrived from Deutschland. . However, after doing a fair bit of research I did notice that it doesn't get great reviews from Audi owners who have had it fitted. Whereas the 2 cameras from Thinkware and Blackvue generally receive excellent reviews from owners.

I am a little hesitant in allowing the cameras to be hard wired. My car is very important to me and I don't want it messed around ! ! However I have found.....I think....a very good installer of Blackvue systems called TTW Installations based in Nottingham. They specialise in Blackvue and don't have a single negative review.

So, unless some one has info that might make me change my mind, I think I am going to go for the Blackvue 9000 X dual camera system.and travel the 200 plus miles to Nottingham for fitting. I can do this under our current Covid restrictions as it is deemed " car security " and allowed.