Jeff Layman wrote
Rod Speed wrote

is there really a risk of someone breaking in to steal such a unit in
normal usage

Bet there is, particularly with the better
ones that the average thief should be
able to work out easily with it so visible.

(I'm not going to be routinely parking my car in Liverpool's
backstreets)

IMO it makes more sense to have one that
can be completely invisible so that if you
are the cause of the accident, there is no
need to say anything about it at that time.

The problem is that most of these cams are black and if the usually
light-coloured sun visor is down, they stand out like a sore thumb.

Good reason for not having it all in the one device that
stands out like dog's balls glued to the windscreen IMO.

Many cars have good-quality video cams in them for speed sign reading, etc
these days, so it is a pity that the manufacturers don't put in a USB
connection for simple video recording to an SDHC card, or just an SDHC
socket with built-in overwriting software when the card is full.

Makes a lot more sense to have fully integrated cameras for
all of dashcam, reversing cameras, parking assistance cameras,
security cameras and driving assistance cameras, which can't be
stolen by some goon with something that can smash a window.