Escort M1 Dash Cam. Opinions?

[JB-007]

https://www.escortradar.com/products/m1

 

[kamkar]

RJ45 port

 

[TonyM]

It's an interesting concept to use power and mount from a radar detector. It seems rather expensive for what it is. Max 32GB card is not great - that will give about 5 hours recording duration.

 

[jokiin]

It's an interesting concept to use power and mount from a radar detector. It seems rather expensive for what it is. Max 32GB card is not great - that will give about 5 hours recording duration.

seems like it needs the radar detector, it's not a standalone device, so I guess taking power from the radar detector makes sense

 

[Vortex Radar]

I've got one, but I haven't installed it yet. It seems to be designed for people who want a more integrated install or don't want to run an additional hardwire cable. One mount and cable for both the RD/dashcam. I guess it's fine for convenience, easier installation, and/or rental cars.

I had a chance to talk to Escort about it at SEMA and you can check out the video here.

Once I get it installed, I'll do review video about it and share some sample footage.

 

[RLS]

I've got one, but I haven't installed it yet. It seems to be designed for people who want a more integrated install or don't want to run an additional hardwire cable. One mount and cable for both the RD/dashcam. I guess it's fine for convenience, easier installation, and/or rental cars.

Just saw your YouTube video and came here. Look forward to a review!

I run a R3 and Max360 in a car of mine, and would be interested in how this handles bumpy roads... the magnetic mount on two of my max360’s does bounce around a bit LOL.

Hope the 32GB SD card limit will be changed... FFS... a 256GB Samsung Evo Select is like $60 on sale

P.s. keep up the awesome work! Looking into getting the ALP installed soon...

 

[Vortex Radar]

Just saw your YouTube video and came here. Look forward to a review!

I run a R3 and Max360 in a car of mine, and would be interested in how this handles bumpy roads... the magnetic mount on two of my max360’s does bounce around a bit LOL.

Oh nice! Yeah so I mounted it in my car last night and took it for a spin.

Initial impressions otherwise are okay I guess. It's really easy to mount which is the biggest appeal. You can then adjust the angle and placement to make sure it isn't physically hitting the windshield and it's aimed well. Sometimes it's easier to unmount the RD to get to the mount screws to tighten down the dashcam.

Video quality looks subpar. In the daytime, the video looks kind of muddled and while you can see what's going on around you, it's hard to make out details.

I hit a manhole at the end of that clip and that triggers the G sensor. By default it's set to sensitivity level 1. I changed it to level 3 to hopefully get fewer of those alerts. If not, I'll just disable the feature altogether like I usually do.

Next up, here's a night time sample clip. Video quality isn't anything super special here either. I do notice a fair amount of vibration in the footage, presumably from the mount. I'd like to take a look at how it compares to something like an A119 sitting next to it. I'll also try tightening down the mount screws even more to see if that helps. The phone also reflects in my windshield at times so for testing, I may need to move it elsewhere.

There's an annoying beep on startup and shutdown that I wish you could disable. It also triggers when you start manually recording and then when the manual record ends, as well as when the G sensor gets triggered by a pothole or something.

There's a blinking LED on the back that lets you know the camera is on and recording. It's a little distracting at first, especially at night when it blinks green and in your peripheral vision can look like the traffic light turning green when you're stopped and waiting at a red light. Otherwise you tune the light out pretty quickly, especially during the day when it's less noticeable. There's no way to disable the LED or reduce its brightness other than maybe with a LightDim sticker. Given the mounting style of the dashcam, it's not one you can easily hide behind your RVM the way you can with a normal dashcam.

I like that a lot of the key features are right on the back of the camera. The power button doubles as a manual record button which is super accessible. The memory card, status LED, and USB port for updates are also right on the back as well so physically interfacing with the dashcam is good.

The app is very similar to DOD's app. I think they used the same designer. It also shares the same quirk to where you have to stop recording before you can change any of the settings. Luckily connecting to the dashcam over WiFi doesn't break your internet connection the way it does with Blackvue which is important since you'll likely be using Escort Live as well.

The video quality is below average and the mount does introduce more vibrations that I'd like, but it's an okay first effort and nice to see something a little different.

Looking into getting the ALP installed soon...

Oh nice! Yeah those are some fantastic jammers.

 

[TonyM]

It looks to me like the focus point is rather close?

 

[kamkar]

There's an annoying

Reflection of NAV in the windscreen .
I get the same when i use my tablet and wedge it in under the lid of the dashboard top compartment, i will have to extend that lid with a inch or so to get rid of that annoying reflection of the tablet in my case.

 

[jokiin]

The app is very similar to DOD's app. I think they used the same designer.

the Novatek apps are all built on the same framework (Novacam) so they all pretty much look and operate the same anyway

 

[sysmg]

Just from the little I've read, it seems like it is not readily removable to either switch cars, or hide from theft. Also will make it more difficult to remove the radar detector for theft protection.

 

[raqball]

I didn't want to start a new thread so I guess I'll bump this really old one!

I have an Escort Redline 360c and I also currently have a BlackVue DR750X Plus 2ch system installed. I found someone on Facebook selling the M1 Camera, new in box, for $160. I offered $140 and they accepted...

I am going to attach the M1 to my Belndmount for the Redline 360c and use the M1 for the front camera. I am contemplating moving the BlackVue front camera to the rear. For the BlackVue's rear's camera I am thinking about mounting it to one of the rear side wing type windows, probably the driver side.

The only bad part of this setup is that the M1 does not have parking mode so I'd lose frontal area coverage.

Thoughts on this setup?

 

[raqball]

Well disregard.. Met the seller and it was not new in box. Not only that, but it was missing the arm that connects the camera to the detector... Figured I'd give it a shot for $140 but no dice...