What is loop recording on a dash cam?

[Appleboy45]

I bought my first dash cam for my vehicle and I’m currently setting it up. There is one feature I am confused on and that is loop recording. In the Manual, it says if I turn it off, it will stop recording when the SD card is full. The default is 3 minutes and I have the option for 1, 3, and 5 minutes. What is the difference if I were to use one of the times. Like what the difference between setting it on 5 minutes, and 3 minutes.

[Groundedbeef]

loop recording  means that when the SD card is full it will overwrite the oldest footage with the new stuff being recorded.

1, 3 and 5 minutes is probably the length of each segment. instead of recording everything in one clip it creates many small video sequences.

 

When i had a dash cam, i had it set to loop recording, its the only way to go. fire and forget, just remember to pull  the video from the SD if you happen to need it before it get deleted/overwritten

[Razor Blade]

Loop recording is where when the SD card is full the oldest files start to be overwritten. The 1,3, and 5 minute option is likely how long each segment of recording each file will be. This feature is nice so you can find the event you need way faster than having to try to scrub through a bunch of video.

[Spotty]

Setting it to 5min loop recordings means that videos are saved in 5min chunks. When the SD card is full, the oldest 5min chunk is deleted to make room for new recordings.
Most dash cams will feature a lock/save feature that will save the latest clip and prevent it from being overwritten - useful if you've been in a crash and need to save the footage and don't want it to be overwritten later on. Though I would still recommend taking the SD card out and backing up the footage ASAP in this situation as well - The save feature is primarily to stop it being overwritten while you are still travelling before having a chance to back it up.

Having loop recording turned off will mean that once the SD card is full, the dash cam will simply stop recording. Unless you're planning on swapping out the SD card on a regular basis or taking it out, transferring the footage off, and replacing it; I would not recommend having it turned off.

[Imbellis]

They've all said what loop recording is - so I'll just recommend getting the biggest SD card that the dash is compatible with to it doesn't have to loop as often.

 

Nice to see that you're getting a dashcam. Even if they save you from a ticket - they're already worth it.

[Razor Blade]

14 minutes ago, Imbellis said:

Nice to see that you're getting a dashcam. Even if they save you from a ticket - they're already worth it.

Yeah...or if heaven forbid an accident happens. Dashcams are invaluable for showing exactly what happened...

credit: me