3x DashCam Day / Night test: Mini 0801 vs Dod LS300W vs Panorama2 Panorama II

[niko]

I decided to make side by side test of 3 lately most popular dash cameras from different price-ranges, where each dash camera uses different hardware. Fair would be not to judge too harsh any of them, because each of them is from different dash camera category, different price, specs, size, etc.
Just wanted to show how they perform under different day and night time conditions.

Dash Cameras:

1. Mini 0801: CPU - Ambarella A2s60, CMOS - OV2710. Price 85-95 usd ( no GPS )
2. Dod LS300W: CPU - Novatek NT96650, CMOS - Aptina AR0330. Price for same GT300W about 100 usd
3. Panorama2 ( Panorama II ) from Powerucc, CPU - Coach 12p, CMOS - Sony Exmor. Price 183 usd ( incl. 8gb )

It started as nice promising sunny day, but as usually here in Ireland, weather can change quickly.
"They" say here: "weather in Ireland is unpredictable like women"

So it was strange day, with sun shining on far end of the city, but right where I was driving, in that area there were clouds spots all around, some time looked like early evening time. This was extreme day time condition for all 3 dash cameras to work hard and as you will see from footage and pictures, there are a lot of dark areas, despite it was late morning ( before lunch time ). However I think now its good to test dash cameras in more extreme condition, rather delivering footage of perfect day or night like "they" do it when promotion on manufacturers websites. What you see from my test, is what you get in real life scenarios. Not always there is a perfect weather.

Below is Day time test.
Microphone ( sound rec ) is from Dod LS300W.
( Select 1080p )

Top left = Mini 0801
Top right = Dod LS300W
Bottom centre = Panorama2 Powerucc

Below is RAW video file from same video clip with all 3 dash camera.
Day MIni 0801 vs LS300W vs Panorama2.avi (537.6 MB)

https://mega.co.nz/#!jcRRlTIT!GYeg6zexoyIw5suVDP1C4AoRGN5I33LpPUJHtDLQTd4

Also I am including RAW video files from each individual dash camera:

Day MIni 0801 vs LS300W vs Panorama2.avi (537.6 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!jcRRlTIT!GYeg6zexoyIw5suVDP1C4AoRGN5I33LpPUJHtDLQTd4
Panorama2 vs ( Mini 0801 vs LS300W ).MP4 (425.1 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!fRwyXbxC!ftkwKFQLRTwy_TkorQBHal9c8TAp5qoEesdaPuJzKuQ
Day LS300W vs ( Mini 0801 vs Panorama2 ).MOV (590.5 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!aQh0zIzR!DwwFcE0gFlC0fVcGomLB9ggs1HBilR5Er3kXQ6d8RAI

Screen shots from video.

 

[niko]

Inside car park all 3 have almost same video quality. ( picture below )



Colour difference ( below )



Min 0801 has different colours than LS300W and Panorama2 ( below )



Analysing FOV ( below )

 

[niko]

Now for Night test drive.
Again, - it was not a perfect weather, - it was raining ( as usually ), but as previously mentioned, - this is the real life scenario where everyone might be driving. So no fancy editings, no perfect weather conditions. What you see is what you get.

( Microphone / voice is from Dod LS300W )

RAW video files:

Panorama 2 vs ( LS300W vs Mini 0801 ) (3).MP4 (425.1 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!TYRiWQLR!ByvMnTRCqM94Gx5aHvuYXnonvRFisf62BQcMJkmgbGc

Panorama 2 vs ( LS300W vs Mini 0801 ) (2).MP4 (425.2 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!rZQDQRia!UH5MkkDg63rj6Gl76Ad_HDYTzFAY7pIR_ulmi_3e_Cc

Panorama 2 vs ( LS300W vs Mini 0801 ) (1).MP4 (425.1 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!6AAEzJzL!JzN2jEu33przg8PM4EGmgjNzZ2c5vNGegiLpZZrj0K0

Mini 0801 vs ( LS300W vs Panorama 2 ) (3).MOV (380.0 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!2EZRDC7b!MEvwkHURhCyFB182PWk1NQTM2zEjNv-6lZdjzRPPOLg

Mini 0801 vs ( LS300W vs Panorama 2 ) (2).MOV (380.0 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!eIJWmJAD!NxVN-hk57B14i_hV3_PnSHEvpyk_vcHbGI7k27SZQSk

Mini 0801 vs ( LS300W vs Panorama 2 ) (1).MOV (380.0 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!DUpn2ALb!SoHw71Eh3-7pvcJLNqTvShcRKJNrL0U6kd-lJVM1FDk

LS300W vs ( Mini 0801 vs Panorama2 ) (3).MOV (590.1 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!6YRSmAxK!Pavs6yqFa5i-r0YstKWwUjp31714rKFPxWvn4qQHpTo

LS300W vs ( Mini 0801 vs Panorama2 ) (2).MOV (590.4 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!CEYFHBwD!NuYUAlneJmHqz7ny5pQerEnqgLJYrUd15M8DYoiAEBs

LS300W vs ( Mini 0801 vs Panorama2 ) (1).MOV (590.5 MB)
https://mega.co.nz/#!6RRl0QIT!TEVEmhyyYYG0xpkx1fvZBStbY8hpt3bWkljZoe1Plzw























I have also one comparison video clip made from same night, but later I discovered it has 0.5-1 sec shift of videos ( no synchronized properly all 3 dash cams ).
Also there are voice recordings overlapping each other from two dash cameras ( Dod LS300W + Mini 0801 ). My mistake, - frogot to mute one dash camera and did not check after editing. But still I share it. Maybe it will be useful for somebody.

 

[bn880]

Thanks, these are pretty good tests.

 

[Gearhead82]

Thanks Niko. All of your comparisons are great make it much easier to see the difference between different cameras. I had no idea the fov on the Panorama 2 covered that much more area than the others.

 

[niko]

Thanks Niko. All of your comparisons are great make it much easier to see the difference between different cameras. I had no idea the fov on the Panorama 2 covered that much more area than the others.

I am glad comparison test will be useful info to people.
Thanks.

 

[niko]

Thanks, these are pretty good tests.

Thank you for attention.

 

[efoo]

Thanks again Niko for your great effort.
The pic with the three dashcams on the windscreen just show off how much smaller and discreet that Mini 0801 is in comparison to both Panorama2 and LS300W.
Of all the actual recorded pictures I prefer the LS300W. I am guessing LS300W's exposure is truer to what our naked eyes see. The Mini 0801 is obviously darker, which is why I have the AE bias adjusted to +0.7 in the setting of mine. The Panorama2 is just too over-exposed, the daytime sky and cloud appear blownout and lack detail.

 

[jokiin]

Interesting observation

 

[niko]

Thanks again Niko for your great effort.
The pic with the three dashcams on the windscreen just show off how much smaller and discreet that Mini 0801 is in comparison to both Panorama2 and LS300W.
Of all the actual recorded pictures I prefer the LS300W. I am guessing LS300W's exposure is truer to what our naked eyes see. The Mini 0801 is obviously darker, which is why I have the AE bias adjusted to +0.7 in the setting of mine. The Panorama2 is just too over-exposed, the daytime sky and cloud appear blownout and lack detail.

For me ( and many others ) its not convenient twice per day changing EV. If manually set EV for night then need to change it back again for day later on. Thats why I always compare dash cams set on Auto or default 0 EV, that what majority users do.
Like Mtz mentioned in Mobius thread " dont care about 100% correct colours, or hiw blue / white is sky, or how correct green is grass trees, - most important vital data reading". Imagine some houligan from street throw brick into your moving car or any other vital side view action ( riots, fights, other cars impacts on the side of your view , etc ). Panorama2 would have best chances to handle this type scenarious.
I agree about size, mini 0801 would be also my choice of size, but not video quality. Best if mini 0801 had same performance as Panorama2, but it limited to size.
More practical for mini is to build it on nt96650 + ar0330 solution, - this is easy achievable as we can see from Mobius and Innovv.

Anyway, I am glad we can discuss and debate. Manufacturers can see what way to develop their future products based on what people talk.

 

[jokiin]

Anyway, I am glad we can discuss and debate. Manufacturers can see what way to develop their future products based on what people talk.

I think there's an attraction to a video result that looks like what we would see with our own eyes as it appears more natural, the reality is though that sometimes the results that we otherwise might not find appealing as such are more revealing of the relevant information that we need to collect in the case of an incident, you might not win any academy awards for cinematography with the Panorama2 but for my money it's giving a better result for this purpose than the others, rightly so though, it is a more expensive solution

 

[efoo]

For me ( and many others ) its not convenient twice per day changing EV. If manually set EV for night then need to change it back again for day later on. Thats why I always compare dash cams set on Auto or default 0 EV, that what majority users do.

I agree with your decision. I have my Mini 0801's EV adjusted to +0.7 for a week now, so far the day and night video looks brighter, probably closer to LS300W's EV 0 setting. The day video is not over-exposed either as the daytime weather in Sydney - Australia has been almost summer hot. I can just leave the Mini 0801's EV permanently at +0.7. No need to change it twice a day for day and night setting.

Mtz mentioned in Mobius thread " dont care about 100% correct colours, or hiw blue / white is sky, or how correct green is grass trees, - most important vital data reading". Imagine some houligan from street throw brick into your moving car or any other vital side view action ( riots, fights, other cars impacts on the side of your view , etc ). Panorama2 would have best chances to handle this type scenarious.

That is a good point. Brighter pictures will have better chance in capturing the important scenes.

Anyway, I am glad we can discuss and debate. Manufacturers can see what way to develop their future products based on what people talk.

Yes. Though I am annoyed with many of us having to pay for many of these dashcams, just to find some faults. Faults that are advertised supposedly to be working properly. We users here like guinea pigs having to do own our testing, at our own expense and time, to try rectify the problems when the manufacturers should have fixed them for us free of charge.

Not to be a racist (well I am a Chinese myself) I think a lot of the manufacturers, especially the Chinese manufacturers, are in the business to make quick profit. They have no regard for quality control and customer satisfaction. Guess it's "you get for what you paid" or "you paid peanuts, you get monkeys"

 

[jokiin]

I think a lot of the manufacturers, especially the Chinese manufacturers, are in the business to make quick profit. They have no regard for quality control and customer satisfaction. Guess it's "you get for what you paid" or "you paid peanut, you get monkeys"

it's not that they're all like that, it's just that 99% of them make the rest look bad

 

[efoo]

it's not that they're all like that, it's just that 99% of them make the rest look bad

Guess it will be a tough road ahead for you, jokiin. Trying to overcome the other 99%

 

[jokiin]

It's a challenge

 

[Rayman.Chan]

Anyway, I am glad we can discuss and debate. Manufacturers can see what way to develop their future products based on what people talk.

Thank you very much Niko for your great work and patience. we know how much time you spend on the videos and screenshots.
the images are impressive and give us a lot of elicitation.
Thanks again

 

[OldGoat]

Thanks again Niko for your great effort.
The pic with the three dashcams on the windscreen just show off how much smaller and discreet that Mini 0801 is in comparison to both Panorama2 and LS300W.
Of all the actual recorded pictures I prefer the LS300W. I am guessing LS300W's exposure is truer to what our naked eyes see. The Mini 0801 is obviously darker, which is why I have the AE bias adjusted to +0.7 in the setting of mine. The Panorama2 is just too over-exposed, the daytime sky and cloud appear blownout and lack detail.

efoo, do you change the ae bias depending on if your driving day vs night, or do you just leave the same for both conditions?

 

[efoo]

efoo, do you change the ae bias depending on if your driving day vs night, or do you just leave the same for both conditions?

Just leave AE bias at +0.7 at all time. It doesn't make the day video too bright as I think in its default exposure 0 setting, Mini 0801's video is generally a bit dark. You can experiment with different exposure setting yourself to find one that you like the most for both day and night video.

 

[OldGoat]

Just leave AE bias at +0.7 at all time. It doesn't make the day video too bright as I think in its default exposure 0 setting, Mini 0801's video is generally a bit dark. You can experiment with different exposure setting yourself to find one that you like the most for both day and night video.

Yep, I will give it a try. It is amazing how many different options this dash-cam has. I cannot wait until they release a version with WDR, I read on this site that may becoming soon.

 

[bn880]

That is a good point. Brighter pictures will have better chance in capturing the important scenes.

The bright pictures are definitely a benefit to seeing more of the scene yes. However the wide FOV can in some cases be detrimental to reading plates as was mentioned before. It depends I guess if you are looking to protect yourself from someone who remains at the scene, or from someone who tries to hit and run. IMO after viewing several of these vids you have much better chances to get the plate with a 300W.

Yes. Though I am annoyed with many of us having to pay for many of these dashcams, just to find some faults. Faults that are advertised supposedly to be working properly. We users here like guinea pigs having to do own our testing, at our own expense and time, to try rectify the problems when the manufacturers should have fixed them for us free of charge.

Not to be a racist (well I am a Chinese myself) I think a lot of the manufacturers, especially the Chinese manufacturers, are in the business to make quick profit. They have no regard for quality control and customer satisfaction. Guess it's "you get for what you paid" or "you paid peanuts, you get monkeys"

Well actually I bought a Sony Action Cam HDR-AS15 and spent a lot more than these dash cams. Ended up finding out that the bitrate is poor and the videos lack B frames afterwards. (so you get garbage when recording for example on bright days in forests) No reviews warned of this, nothing about it on Sony specs/website. Sony could fix this with their firmware updates, but IGNORED ALL requests from everyone having this problem...

In general, I would say that making a quick profit is the motto for 99% of companies worldwide, not just in China. And most of these western firms will hire factories in China to make their stuff too cheap, and then everyone complains about China even more. (including myself)
So there are two sides to the coin is what I'm saying. And its almost always down to consumers to find the faults.

 

[jokiin]

Well actually I bought a Sony Action Cam HDR-AS15 and spent a lot more than these dash cams. Ended up finding out that the bitrate is poor and the videos lack B frames afterwards. (so you get garbage when recording for example on bright days in forests) No reviews warned of this, nothing about it on Sony specs/website. Sony could fix this with their firmware updates, but IGNORED ALL requests from everyone having this problem...
.

to be fair Sony would have the resources to fix things like this, the likelihood that your message could actually get through to the right department in the first place though is very slim, that's often the problem with huge companies like this

In general, I would say that making a quick profit is the motto for 99% of companies worldwide, not just in China. And most of these western firms will hire factories in China to make their stuff too cheap, and then everyone complains about China even more. (including myself).

I agree, obtaining a profit should be a result of doing business, not the reason for doing business, if only motivated by a balance sheet then decisions will get made for purely financial reasons, this is a problem for public companies that make choices based on what it will do to the share price, consumers are the ones that suffer with the end result