Nick Odell was thinking very hard :
Does anybody have any first-hand experience of cheap Chinese Dash Cams?

On paper the specifications seem very good but there must be something that
justifies the very much higher prices of the branded alternatives.

It's not for myself - it's intended as a not-too-expensive gift for somebody
else. But however not-too-expensive it is, I don't want to be unfortunate
enough to give them a turkey.

I bought a combined HD forward facing and remote mounted SD (rear
window) cam unit, some 3 years ago, for around £29. Front cam is not
very good in the dark, with no street lights, rear is fine. Collision
sensor is not that sensitive, it needs a good thump to trigger it. Its
tiny, fits tight to the screen, using a double sided tape bracket, so
invisible from the inside or out. Its difficult to configure, via its
tiny screen, but it has worked fine for all that time.

If you buy the expensive ones from the likes of Halfords, you are still
buying the cheap Chinese ones, but rebranded.