S**R
Impressions from a first-time dashcam buyer
The media could not be loaded. Check out my video where I show the user interface and go through each of the settings and explain them to the best of my knowledge.--See my updates below for additional undocumented/unadvertised features that myself and others have discovered since buying.This was my first ever dashcam. I had just a few requirements in mind as I was shopping:1. Needs to be small and unobtrusive (also I didn't want to to look expensive or have a big screen, to avoid making it a break-in target if I left it in the car all the time)2. Must be set-and-forget (I just want it to be there, doing it's thing quietly, so that *if* I need it, I've got it.)3. Must be cheap (like less than $50). In the future I may be willing to spend more on a nicer dashcam. For now I wanted to see if it's something I will like.I picked this one out because it met my requirements. I read the only review that was here at the time, a one star review. Normally I'd see something like that and move on, but the guy's expectations seemed way too high for this price range, so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm glad I did, because it's one of the cheaper dashcams I've come across and overall I'm pretty happy.One of the first things I did upon receiving it was measure the long power cable. It is 11ft. Plenty of length to tuck away from the ceiling, down alongside the windshield and into the dashboard, eventually finding it's way to the 12VDC outlet in the front-middle of my center console. I did that earlier today and it took all of 10 minutes to get it looking nice and neat.The camera is quite small. It does have a bit of a cheap, lightweight feel to it and everything is plastic. That was expected given the price. I mounted the little suction cup on my windshield and put it into place. The bracket holds it nice and tight. You put a bit of pressure on a tab on the bracket in order to remove the camera. The 90 degree rotation that the mount on the camera has seems like it's not enough, but combined with how you can adjust the suction cup arm it worked out fine to position as needed facing out the front.When I first started up my car the camera came on for a moment, complained about a low battery and shut off. I tried turning it on a couple more times using the power button and it did the same thing. Figuring the battery was drained on arrival I just drove for about a minute and let it charge. When I tried it again it happily started up with a little chime and started recording immediately.I've tested most of the features so far and everything has worked as expected. The only exception is that some of the times were not totally accurate, for instance the auto time off, when set to 2 minutes was more like 2 minutes 45 seconds. No big deal. The G-Shock feature is supposed to detect sudden a change in motion, such as slamming on the brakes or getting in an accident, and then it will lock the current file so that it doesn't overwrite it with new video. Fortunately, I have not had to test that yet.One of the only major features I have NOT tested yet (but will soon) is the loop recording, where it will automatically delete the oldest videos when it runs out of space on the card. I opted for a 16GB card, the SanDisk Ultra 16 GB MicroSDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card with Adapter (SDSDQU-016G-AFFP-A) , which I think should fill up fairly soon. I will update this review once that happens and also post some numbers on files sizes.Video Quality: I have tried 720p and 1080p, both during the day and night. I found the 720p to be quite clear and good. I have a sample video of 720p on YouTube under the name Ltcarter47. The 1080p setting is not good. I think they are doing some sort of messy up-sizing from a lower resolution to get it. The file sizes were very similar between 720 and 1080. With 1080 I found it difficult to read a license plate on the car in front of me at a red light. In 720 however, the plate is clear and easy to read. I will be using 720p from now on. Night recording is about as good as every other little camera I've ever seen. They all seem to be about the same. In the darker parts of my suburbs it didn't capture a whole lot. On the brighter main roads it was better, but not great. It is usable though, you can basically see what's going on, even if it's dark.A couple interesting little features I found that were not mentioned anywhere:1. The up/down arrow buttons can be used for a digital zoom. The zoom if pretty horrendous, as with most digital zooms, but it's neat that it's there.2. When you plug the camera into a computer, PC or mac, it will turn on, then ask you if you want to use it as a Mass Storage Device (which is how you get to the video files) or a USB camera. I was able to use it very easily as a webcam with no setup required. That was cool and unexpected.Overall I'm pleased with this dashcam, given it's the first and only one I've ever used. The price was good and the unit functions as expected. Down the road I might want some more bells and whistles, but for now this does everything I need it to do (and a little more).---------------UPDATE (1/9/14): Confirmed loop recording is working properly. The older files are being deleted to make room for new ones.I've also figured out the meanings for different LED statuses.Solid Blue LED: Unit is powered on and not recordingBlinking Blue LED: Unit is powered on and recordingSolid Red LED: Unit is chargingI have not seen a blinking red LED yet, not sure if that is even a possible status.The 3 minute 720p files are just over 400MB (in OS X, so that's base 10 if you want to be picky). My 16GB card holds about 1 hour and 50 minutes at 720p.--(NOTE THAT THIS NEXT POINT IS NOT TRUE, SEE BELOW)--The only major downside I can think of is the inability to play videos on the unit itself. I think that will be a feature I look for in my next camera, whenever this one dies or I get antsy for a new one.---------------UPDATE (3/13/14): User Fluke commented on this review to let me know that they discovered video playback and photo taking modes! So the big downside I mentioned above is a moot point. I now think this is an excellent camera, despite the non-perfect clarity that everyone has mentioned so far. For the price, I'm not expecting GoPro-like video, just enough to see what happened and show it to an officer or insurance agent. This camera delivers that.Instructions from Fluke's comment:"Press and hold the ok button, it should change mode to still camera mode. Press the ok button to take a still. Press and hold the ok button again and it will change to video playback mode, up and down buttons cycle through clips, press ok to play the selected clip. Press and hold ok again to return to record mode."
P**R
It is what it is, and it's not bad
Considering the price, I'm giving this little cam 4.5 stars. The half star off is for a user manual that is not as clear as it could be, and for the non-existent buttons mentioned therein.As Sean Carter wrote elsewhere on this page,this cam is small, cheap, and "set-it-and-forget-it".I opened the box (which contained everything in the parts listed in the product description), took the stuff out, inserted a 16GB San Disk class 10 microSD plugged the camera in, and had it working in no time. I set the resolution to 720, set the time and date, and left the other stuff pretty much at factory default.The bracket is dead easy to mount (vac cup). I ran the power cord up into the roof liner, down the inner rubber gasket of the A-pillar, then used a couple of clips to hide it under the bottom of the instrument panel. It comes out on the driver's side center console and plugs into the power port. I used black duct tape to cover the massive, glowing red LED that is on the plug.So, basically, once you set it up you just leave it plugged in. It comes on when the car is turned on (or the key is turned to Accsy). Note that the cam will stop recording after a few seconds of no motion - like at stop signs, traffic signals, etc. So you may want to set it so it runs all the time.It comes off the bracket fairly easily, so you can take it indoors and connect it to a computer to view the video. I connected it to a WIndows 8 laptop and the camera came on and queried if I wanted to use it as storage or as a cam. Since I wanted to playback the video I had just shot, I selected storage.WIndows recognized it as a removable drive. The video is AVI format, stored in DCIM sub-folders within dated folders.. I played the videos back on the PC. Didn't really look for details, so I'll have to check again for things like license plates, etc. The first couple of videos were very fuzzy. After I took the factory protective film off of the lens it shot very nice clips.The sound is very soft.Again, this is an inexpensive camera, but it does every thing it's supposed to do.* * * * * tl:dr;Pros: Cheap, Easy to install, set up, use;Cons: Sound is very soft;Idiot point: Don't forget to take the protective cellophane off of the lens.
Trustpilot
4 days ago
3 weeks ago
