Shadow RX300

[jokiin]

Yeah it happens more often than not

 

[Dashmellow]

Yeah it happens more often than not

It does.......but even with its flaws the whole concept of online tracking is a wondrous thing and is much better than in the "old days" before it existed.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Yes, I understand... But you all will agree... We are so impatient when it comes to receiving these "toys", we simply can't wait. Especially when tracking does not work the way it should.

Anyway, I've ordered from China couple of times in the past. The longest I had to wait for my package to arrive, was 7 days. One time I've ordered a cover for my old iPad 2 from SwitchEasy. At that time they did not have NA warehouse, it was shipped directly from Shenzhen. I placed an order around 6pm on Sunday. Very next Tuesday morning around 11 am, delivery guy came to our office with the package. I was blown away, I couldn't believe. So yeah... I had nothing but great experience with ordering from China, and that's another reason that made me little worried this time. They just sent me another email, and it says they're having New Year vacation time Jan 24th - Feb 7th. Not looking good

Well, I guess I'll just forget about it, and after a month when I finally receive my dashcam, I'll try to feel happy about it

 

[mariomart]

Yes, I understand... But you all will agree... We are so impatient when it comes to receiving these "toys", we simply can't wait. Especially when tracking does not work the way it should.

Anyway, I've ordered from China couple of times in the past. The longest I had to wait for my package to arrive, was 7 days. One time I've ordered a cover for my old iPad 2 from SwitchEasy. At that time they did not have NA warehouse, it was shipped directly from Shenzhen. I placed an order around 6pm on Sunday. Very next Tuesday morning around 11 am, delivery guy came to our office with the package. I was blown away, I couldn't believe. So yeah... I had nothing but great experience with ordering from China, and that's another reason that made me little worried this time. They just sent me another email, and it says they're having New Year vacation time Jan 24th - Feb 7th. Not looking good

Well, I guess I'll just forget about it, and after a month when I finally receive my dashcam, I'll try to feel happy about it

@quorthonrhar , as a stop gap measure, just go to your local pawn shop, buy an old Super8 movie camera for $5, bolt that mother to your rear view mirror and do it old school until your dashcam arrives

Cheers Mario

 

[Dashmellow]

quorthonrhar, my friend, I'm glad you are so excited about receiving your new camera but you seem to be making yourself a little crazy over this. Try taking a deep breath and relaxing a bit! It will arrive in due time.

This is really 'sposed to be a thread about the RX300 camera, not your shipping saga.

 

[quorthonrhar]

OK, message taken. I am truly sorry, I got carried away. Thank you for reminding me. I will delete couple of posts just to clean it up a bit. My intention really wasn't to steal this thread.

Again, sincere apologies

EDIT: I erased 3 or 4 posts. It should look a little cleaner now. Thanks for reminding me. I really don't want other people to hate me over something like this, and certainly I don't want to annoy anyone. I was just little too worried about possibility of never getting my package

 

[Dashmellow]

OK, message taken. I am truly sorry, I got carried away. Thank you for reminding me. I will delete couple of posts just to clean it up a bit. My intention really wasn't to steal this thread.

Again, sincere apologies

Hey, there's no reason to overreact or delete your posts. It's not like you've committed some sort of infraction here. I just felt you were getting a little carried away and wanted to get the thread back on track.

P.S. Looking forward to hearing your experience with the camera once it arrives.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Hey, there's no reason to overreact or delete your posts. It's not like you've committed some sort of infraction here. I just felt you were getting a little carried away and wanted to get the thread back on track.

No worries, I wasn't overreacting, after you brought it to my attentnion, I woke up from that dream and I simply realized I was hijacking this thread. Other people made sure to make it nice and useful for new RX300 owners, just like I should be one of them (if everything goes OK with my package of course), and I started polluting it.

I fixed it by erasing couple of totally non-related posts, but I also made sure I did not erase anything that would make other people's responses complete nonsense. I made sure thread still looks OK.

Thank you again, it won't happen again, I promise. I will let you know guys when I receive it and my opinion on RX300. Of course if any of you are interested.

 

[Dashmellow]

I've had this happen too. In fact, I have a hunch I am about to receive a parcel from Hong Kong tomorrow or so that I ordered December 23rd that tracking still says is "preparing shipment".

I'm quoting my own post from yesterday here. My parcel from Asia (from FoxOffer - shipped via Singapore) just arrived as I guessed it might. Usually, things I've ordered from honorable and reliable merchants like FoxOffer arrive here in the Northeastern US much sooner, perhaps around two weeks or a little more but I've been ordering merchandise from China too long now to be too upset if it takes longer. It has never taken longer than a month no matter who I order from which is why I predicted the item would arrive before this weekend. Tracking says it's now in a nearby state but still doesn't indicate when it is scheduled to arrive.

Anyway, after suggesting we get the thread back on track, now I've gone back to the shipping subject but I wanted to add closure to my post from yesterday. So, back to the RX300 discussion!

BTW, I did a Google search for the RX300 and had a good chuckle when all the results referred to the Lexus RX300 SUV. I wonder if the luxury car model had anything to do with the choice of that designation for this particular dash cam?

 

[quorthonrhar]

Yes, I've got nothing but search results in a shape of a car That's when I started typing Shadow RX300 in Google, and got a good number of decent search hits.

 

[quorthonrhar]

OK, I just received my package. Have to test everything on my commute to work tomorrow. For now, I just hope I am not breaking any forum rules. For those who might be interested, here is couple of photos of how everything looks like and what comes inside the box. Also, for those interested, everything was packaged safe and all contents were secured inside. My package was declared as $42, and I had to pay $21.90 duty when package was delivered (Hong Kong - Toronto). No additional fees to DHL, and I ordered it as Express. My buddies are still waiting, I am the first one who received it, and it happened around 8:30 pm today.

Note to forum moderators: if this breaks any forum rules about posting photos/media, please feel free to wipe this post.

I'll post some footage in next couple of days. It's little crazy in my studio right now, but I will try to post some night and day footage. For now, as I promised, couple of photos following:

SeeZeus Shadow Recorder RX300 Box

Shadow RX300 Close-up

Another angle...

Bottom of the camera, buttons

Camera from the side...

Back of the camera, LCD

5 HZ GPS Module

5 HZ GPS Module

This is how small it is. It literally fits in your palm. Size of a credit/debit card

 

[REyewitness]

OK, I just received my package. Have to test everything on my commute to work tomorrow. For now, I just hope I am not breaking any forum rules. For those who might be interested, here is couple of photos of how everything looks like and what comes inside the box. Also, for those interested, everything was packaged safe and all contents were secured inside. My package was declared as $42, and I had to pay $21.90 duty when package was delivered (Hong Kong - Toronto). No additional fees to DHL, and I ordered it as Express. My buddies are still waiting, I am the first one who received it, and it happened around 8:30 pm today.

Note to forum moderators: if this breaks any forum rules about posting photos/media, please feel free to wipe this post.

I'll post some footage in next couple of days. It's little crazy in my studio right now, but I will try to post some night and day footage. For now, as I promised, couple of photos following:

SeeZeus Shadow Recorder RX300 Box

Contents of the box

Contents of the box, close-up

Shadow RX300 Close-up

Another angle...

Bottom of the camera, buttons

Camera from the side...

Back of the camera, LCD

5 HZ GPS Module

5 HZ GPS Module

This is how small it is. It literally fits in your palm. Size of a credit/debit card

Looks good.. Too bad they dropped the on/off button on the 12v plug .
Hope it works well for you.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Looks good.. Too bad they dropped the on/off button on the 12v plug .
Hope it works well for you.

Yeah, especially my van (Dodge Caravan 2004) does not turn off lighter plug when car turns off. So, I have to unplug it when leaving my car. The thing is, I'm not leaving my camera inside the car anyway, it's so easy to detach it and it's so small, I just don't want to risk broken windshield or something

One funny thing I've noticed this morning... I've seen Niko talking about firmware v2.2G. I have 2.3G installed in this camera and the option Screen Rotation has only 2 possible options; ON and OFF. What the hell happened to AUTO? It looks like they removed it in this new firmware, so there is only manual screen rotation available.

Does anyone know if there is a place where to check for newest and download firmware for RX300? Thanks in advance!

 

[robbsonn]

OK, I just received my package. Have to test everything on my commute to work tomorrow (...)

I'll post some footage in next couple of days. It's little crazy in my studio right now, but I will try to post some night and day footage.

We'll be waiting impatiently for your first impressions of using this camera and for sample recordings. Please do not keep us waiting long

 

[quorthonrhar]

We'll be waiting impatiently for your first impressions of using this camera and for sample recordings. Please do not keep us waiting long

I will, as soon as I catch some free time, I promise I will be posting some links. For now, all I can say I am super happy with how this camera performs. Image is super sharp, compression levels are not bad at all (usual bitrate is around 15Mbps). I'd only love if the field of view is little bit wider than 140 degrees, but they do most of these little cameras with that FOV, so I guess it's OK. I'm just acting spoiled because I used my GoPro Hero3 as my dashcam for so long, and that impressive 170 degrees angle is something I love. Sure it distorts the image a bit, but there is nothing that can't be fixed in post production... plus, we're not doing any cinematography work here, so if there is a little bit of fish eye, who cares.

My other little problem is that Screen Rotation function. In this new firmware 2.3G, it looks like they removed AUTO option, there is only ON and OFF. I am not sure if that's something they did in purpose (no way I could think of any good reason for doing that), or they simple screwed up something while compiling new firmware.

This is more of a global remark, rather than just RX300 user interface one. Couple of these cameras have almost same menus like for example GT680W - what bugs me is the thing that's not going to affect a lot of people, and it still bugs me (note: it's totally not a functional issue, but cosmetic one), is these ugly looking totally non-intuitive menus with the ugliest font ever. It's like the kitchiest of all the kitch shows out there. Icons are everywhere, no color consistency, when you're inside the menus you simply have no indication where you are. There are two settings pages for the Video shooting and two pages for the Photo shooting. It's very difficult to navigate and tell where you are at some certain points. Some color highlights or something just to tell you, you're inside that particular menu, would be very welcome.

I love that GPS screensaver, so if I set it to 1 minute, after one minute instead of LCD showing what's being recorded outside, it kicks into the GPS screensaver mode showing you speed at which you're driving, compass and Latitude and Longitude information. It's great, although I'd change that too. I'd make MPH or KMPH a lot bigger. That's the most important information inside that screensaver and that's what I love to see, especially in this digital format. Current one is OK, but it is beyond me why they did that compass so large. Who is ever looking at that? I have couple of mock-ups here, couple of possible designs for new UI... if someone from SeeZeus would be interested in these. My long time hobby (over 22 years now) and my profession is very closely related to graphic design, I've designed more than enough UIs (User Interfaces) for some quite well known programs and applications, one of them being avast! antivirus).

Here is those two screens that bugs me the most... GPS screensaver one:

The current one

Possible new look

Current UI look (not bad, but could be improved)

Possible clean new look with icons that actually make sense. Removed that not-welcome bling-bling, set of light bulbs along the edge of the screen. Also, sub-menus like Video Settings 1 and Video Settings 2 are clearly divided, and when you're inside the menu 1, it's highlighted so you know you're changing settings for that particular one. Of course, these icons in my example can be even more simplified, they could even be in just one color and still look good if they're done the way so they make some sense.

I know we're not spending a lot of time in these setting windows, but it would be nice if it could look more attractive, and be little more intuitive. Plus, it would help the company to look more professional and not like some kind of UI that gives impression of unfinished product. These little cameras are very powerful little tools, why not giving them a little facelift if possible?

Of course, there will always be people who'd hate to see any change, and that's OK. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, free land, freedom of speech I'd just thought I'd bring this up. Please don't hate me for that

Have a wonderful rest of the day everybody!

 

[321]

Could you post a picture from the front in an angle to see the lens and it's shape?
From the pictures @FoxOffer I can see different lenses with the original RX300 an the "Non-brand" cheaper RX300.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Could you post a picture from the front in an angle to see the lens and it's shape?
From the pictures @FoxOffer I can see different lenses with the original RX300 an the "Non-brand" cheaper RX300.

This is original RX300. The other one doesn't have GPS capability. I've ordered mine with GPS Module. Also, Non-Brand one is quite cheaper, but you get what you pay for I guess.

It looks like they squeezed 170 degree lens in Non-Branded version. Still, no GPS function is a big turn down for me, plus not sure what is the quality of that lens (considering how cheap they are selling it).

Non-Branded RX300 has more convex lense, or at least it sticks out more. Not very practical if you're taking your cam out and drop it by accident on it's front. Quite easy to damage the surface of the lens. Original RX300 has more flat lens, or it's just an impression of a flat lens. Maybe it's just pushed more inside the casing, so it's better protected.

Here is the photo of my (Original RX300) lens close-up.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Here is one video. Actually couple of footages mashed into one just to show how it's recording under different light. There is some morning footage, cloudy day, sunny day, evening footage, night etc. Sorry for messy windshield, it's pretty ugly weather around here last couple of days, it's almost impossible to keep your windshield clean.

Anyway, here is YouTube video. I uploaded it in 1080p. Also, if it happens you notice skipping and jerky motion, I am assuring you it's YouTube and how it deals with buffering of the video. Again, original video shows perfectly smooth 30 fps, 1080p at constant bitrate of 15Mbps.

Linking here does not allow me to embed HD footage, so make sure you're watching it on YouTube in HD. Choose 720p or if your bandwidth allows, 1080p. Recent changes with YouTube made things even worse. Sometimes even when it says it's playing video in HD, it's not. You can tell that if you notice a lot of artifacts in the picture (blocks of smudged color areas). Videos this little camera is recording are perfectly sharp, I could maybe even upload the original one (non-re-encoded), but it's around 900 Mb, so downloading for some would be out of option.

Edit: I just realized I had my date wrong all this time. I guess I still live in 2013, lol.

 

[robbsonn]

Here is one video. Actually couple of footages mashed into one just to show how it's recording under different light. There is some morning footage, cloudy day, sunny day, evening footage, night etc. Sorry for messy windshield, it's pretty ugly weather around here last couple of days, it's almost impossible to keep your windshield clean.

Anyway, here is YouTube video. I uploaded it in 1080p. Also, if it happens you notice skipping and jerky motion, I am assuring you it's YouTube and how it deals with buffering of the video. Again, original video shows perfectly smooth 30 fps, 1080p at constant bitrate of 15Mbps.

Linking here does not allow me to embed HD footage, so make sure you're watching it on YouTube in HD. Choose 720p or if your bandwidth allows, 1080p. Recent changes with YouTube made things even worse. Sometimes even when it says it's playing video in HD, it's not. You can tell that if you notice a lot of artifacts in the picture (blocks of smudged color areas). Videos this little camera is recording are perfectly sharp, I could maybe even upload the original one (non-re-encoded), but it's around 900 Mb, so downloading for some would be out of option.

Thanks for this footage, the recording quality is as good as I thought, but like you said Youtube is not an ideal tool for sample videos when it comes to details. So if you could upload one movie on any server in free time, I would be extremely grateful.
And I also have questions about quality of the mount. Could you tell me is (in your opinion) the suction mount solid and durable? And is this (different from other Shadow cameras) type of connecting the mount and the camera solid and reliable? I read at Dashcamtalk, that one of forum members had problem with the little handle that release the camera from the mount, which just broke on first use. Is this really so delicate? I will often remove the camera for night and it's quite important.

 

[quorthonrhar]

Thanks for this footage, the recording quality is as good as I thought, but like you said Youtube is not an ideal tool for sample videos when it comes to details. So if you could upload one movie on any server in free time, I would be extremely grateful.
And I also have questions about quality of the mount. Could you tell me is (in your opinion) the suction mount solid and durable? And is this (different from other Shadow cameras) type of connecting the mount and the camera solid and reliable? I read at Dashcamtalk, that one of forum members had problem with the little handle that release the camera from the mount, which just broke on first use. Is this really so delicate? I will often remove the camera for night and it's quite important.

I didn't have any trouble with my suction cup mount. It's really strong and I can even mount it to that shaded part on the top of my windshield, which is not the case with various other dash cam mounts. I remove my camera from the car every single time I leave my car for longer periods of time. Of course, like with everything else in life, you have to be gentle, otherwise you can break even carbon fiber parts

Little release mechanism is small and you have to be gentle, you can't expect to jump on it and to last forever. As I said, I've never had any trouble with it, plus I believe Niko made one video how simple is to make your own DIY magnet powered mount. Super easy to make, super easy to mount and dismount your camera. Even if your original mount breaks at one point, it's not the end of the world. I'd always rather have great camera with mount that's not the highest quality, than lousy camera with the best mount out there

As far as original footage goes, I believe Niko already posted RAW files. Well, they are not RAW, but they are original MOV files that came straight from camera. Search these forums, you'll find his post with numerous videos made with RX300.