New to the market and looking for suggestions from owners

Hi all, I just started to get into the idea of blackboxing my car. I have done plenty of research including watching many reviews from people like techmoan and other youtubers who do reviews for dashcams. As for now, I have compiled a list of things that I wanted to look for in finding the dash cam for my car:

1. Video quality. I was very impressed by the video quality of FineVe CR-500 when I was watching those youtube clips captured by the CR-500 and I think it should be the kind of quality I seek in a dash cam. Also, I recently saw the review on a much cheaper G900 (link here: http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2013/6/1/t ... .html). The video quality of G900 impressed me even more given the price of the unit. Can anyone do a comparsion between the video quality of CR-500 and the G900? I would really like to see the difference in video quality (especially in low light).

2. Maintenance-free. I like to have a dash cam in my car that I can totally forget its existence as I'm driving. Of course that includes the camera best to be hidden out of my sight (so maybe small enough to be able to hide behind the rear view mirror). I shouldn't have to touch it either when I'm driving

3. Able to take footage without gaps between them. Now I have read reviews and posts on many dashcams and I noticed even on the same model of dashcam people have reported differently on whether there are gaps between clips. After some further investigation, I think it has less to do with model (given the dashcam was equipped with a good fast chip to begin with) but rather the length of each clip, type of memory card, and condition of the environment the camera was operating in. Can anyone agree with me on this one?

4. Life expectancy. When it comes to the price of a dashcam I really don't mind spending 300 to 400 dollars if the camera can last for what it is worth (maybe 3-4 years). I knew from reading reviews of FineVe CR-500 it has in general good reliability, but would it last for 4 years with daily use? How about those Chinese made units like the G900?

I really appreciate if anyone can give me some suggestions on those points and help me select a good dashcam for my car.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

Finevu is one of the most reliable Korean brands that widely known available outside Korea, but its video quality is not a bench mark any more. They started losing they top position about 4 moth ago.
They need to rise bit-rate and improve aperture.
G900 despite having large CMOS 1/2.5 they have bad aperture of F2.5
At present stage to be competitive and stay in top you need to have bit rate 12-15 Mbps, aperture at least F2.0, better F1.8 and best available at the moment is F1.6 used by TioTech group ( LS300W, GT300W, GT350W, LS400W ) and for sure to have WDR or similar technology.
From my point of view those both dash cams ( G900 and Finevu CR-500 ) they are not worth what they cost.You can get much better dash cams for the same price.
If you have time to wait couple of moth, then jokiin will have A7 based competitive dash cam. If no time, then get one of TioTech group dash cams.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

I currently have the jokiin A2S60 cam and am very impressed with it. Shipping was just over a week. Coming directly from Shenzhen, China, this is VERY fast.

I have uploaded 1 video to youtube and a couple others to mediafire for the RAW data footage. Here is the thread link. Hopefully it takes you to the proper page. The youtube link is on page 15 and the mediafire links are on page 16.

I will say that the WDR feature on the TioTech cams is something I am VERY curious about and would like to experience it first hand. But having the current A2S60 cam, I will wait for some major developments before making a change to any other cam at the moment, as the new A7 based processsors will be implemented in new cams in just a few months time.

I am looking forward to what jokiin's team will be releasing as well, as he is extremely motivated to release the best product available. He has a very talented team, so I am expecting great things for the next cam release.

EDIT: I will recomend that you download and watch the RAW data footage, as youtube does some crazy encoding to video's and drops quality dramatically.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

thanks for the confidence boost we will do a WDR model as well, might not be our next model though as there's some issues with WDR that need to be resolved which will take us a little bit of time to get sorted, working on a couple of models at the moment to try and cover a few different market needs, can't get it all in one design unfortunately (I wish we could), we're working on improving things though

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

As such a perfect world would have several perfect products that do the same thing for different markets. lol

At least that's the way I view it. I'm sure you guys will get these things sorted. Just don't start rushing products, for myself as a consumer who desires nothing but the highest standards and quality; and am willing to pay for it as such, I am willing to wait for the best that is available for current tech standards.

Also, wifi is not needed. It interferes with form factor. That's just me though. I enjoy my gadgets as much as the next guy, but gadgets within gadgets is starting to get to be a bit much.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

certainly not rushing things, it's frustrating me a little bit the time it is taking but that's just how it goes, not in a hurry to do a WiFi version, we probably will at some stage but it's really last on the agenda right now, at the moment I'd prefer not to have a WiFi version at all rather than having one that doesn't work too well

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

WhiteEightBall said:

I currently have the jokiin A2S60 cam and am very impressed with it. Shipping was just over a week. Coming directly from Shenzhen, China, this is VERY fast.

I have uploaded 1 video to youtube and a couple others to mediafire for the RAW data footage. Here is the thread link. Hopefully it takes you to the proper page. The youtube link is on page 15 and the mediafire links are on page 16.

I will say that the WDR feature on the TioTech cams is something I am VERY curious about and would like to experience it first hand. But having the current A2S60 cam, I will wait for some major developments before making a change to any other cam at the moment, as the new A7 based processsors will be implemented in new cams in just a few months time.

I am looking forward to what jokiin's team will be releasing as well, as he is extremely motivated to release the best product available. He has a very talented team, so I am expecting great things for the next cam release.

EDIT: I will recomend that you download and watch the RAW data footage, as youtube does some crazy encoding to video's and drops quality dramatically.

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Yes, WDR is doing its magics, but its not enough just on its own. If to have a good cpu and cmos, wdr is not gonna help if bit rate and aperture is low. Also having a good cpu, cmos and big bitrate, but poor aperture, even then wdr does not help. You need to have a perfect combination of all factors: fast reliable cpu ( like A7 jokiin working on ), good cmos, fast bit rate, quality glass lens, large aperture, firmware without bugs.
Good sample of Vico TF2 series and Mio 388. They almost could be at the top, but for some reason left bitrate at 8-9Mbps. All other aspects are great on those two models, maybe aperture could be better but still F2.0 on Vico TF2 EZ is good enough ( best would be F1.6 ).

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

Just to add some facts on adding a wdr where its full potential not working due to other factors.
I bought G1W and G2W for tests. They have same Novatek cpu as tiotech, aperture is F1.6, but still night recording result is not as good as on tiotech products despite having wdr. They must have cheaper cmos, non glass lens or glass lens but cheaper, there for those are two weak links on them. However for they price i must say they do a great job, but of course can not be compared to almost 2x higher in price of LS300W.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

jokiin said:

thanks for the confidence boost we will do a WDR model as well, might not be our next model though as there's some issues with WDR that need to be resolved which will take us a little bit of time to get sorted, working on a couple of models at the moment to try and cover a few different market needs, can't get it all in one design unfortunately (I wish we could), we're working on improving things though

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If CMOS and CPU is right, then WDR can be added in any other later stage. Its just a matter of firmware update as long as CMOS supports WDR needs ( 100 -120db ).

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

So I went off to investigate on WDR and I have to say after viewing many clips from LS/GT300W, the WDR technology has really improved the video quality on dashcams. I would say this technology should be a must for my future dashcam purchase.

About the suggested Jokiin dashcam, I have also reviewed the thread and video clips. It appears to physically resemble the DATACAM G6 but has video quality is similar to that of LS300W (I couldn't tell if this unit has WDR though). I couldn't find more pictures about this unit but I would say this, if this unit has a good and compact mounting system in addition to good reliability then it should be a good choice for me (hope this unit is on the same price range as other GS1000 based units)

One thing I mentioned about the mounting system is I really like how FineVe designed the mount for cr-500, small and short, you can tuck the whole thing behind the rear view mirror and it will be hidden out of your sight. In comparison, GS1000 based units, LS300W, and even LS400W has a rather long mounting system, I don't like to look at the camera when driving so I really didn't bother to look further on those units.

I also think a screen is rather obsolete design to be put on a dashcam. Clearly it can't be very big due to the size of most dashcams and looking at a small screen during driving is rather dangerous. It may be useful when you are not driving like adjusting where the camera is pointing at or reviewing recorded clips. But I think personally these tasks can be done without a screen just fine (a good mount and an android phone will do the trick).

GPS may be the only thing I'm still undecided about whether it is necessary for a dashcam. I have a good Garmin which records my last 1000 miles on the map. So for a dashcam the only thing I need GPS for is the speed recording. Not sure if there's anything else a GPS module is good for

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

Camcandy said:

So I went off to investigate on WDR and I have to say after viewing many clips from LS/GT300W, the WDR technology has really improved the video quality on dashcams. I would say this technology should be a must for my future dashcam purchase.

About the suggested Jokiin dashcam, I have also reviewed the thread and video clips. It appears to physically resemble the DATACAM G6 but has video quality is similar to that of LS300W (I couldn't tell if this unit has WDR though). I couldn't find more pictures about this unit but I would say this, if this unit has a good and compact mounting system in addition to good reliability then it should be a good choice for me (hope this unit is on the same price range as other GS1000 based units)

One thing I mentioned about the mounting system is I really like how FineVe designed the mount for cr-500, small and short, you can tuck the whole thing behind the rear view mirror and it will be hidden out of your sight. In comparison, GS1000 based units, LS300W, and even LS400W has a rather long mounting system, I don't like to look at the camera when driving so I really didn't bother to look further on those units.

I also think a screen is rather obsolete design to be put on a dashcam. Clearly it can't be very big due to the size of most dashcams and looking at a small screen during driving is rather dangerous. It may be useful when you are not driving like adjusting where the camera is pointing at or reviewing recorded clips. But I think personally these tasks can be done without a screen just fine (a good mount and an android phone will do the trick).

GPS may be the only thing I'm still undecided about whether it is necessary for a dashcam. I have a good Garmin which records my last 1000 miles on the map. So for a dashcam the only thing I need GPS for is the speed recording. Not sure if there's anything else a GPS module is good for

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Regarding ls300w mounting I have tested other dash cam bracket 100% suitable that allows ls300w, gt300w, gt350w to mount fully behind the mirror the way it blends with mirror and not sticking out. DOD or TioTech does not supply them even as extra accessories. I need to talk to some well known resellers if they can start selling them for retail, vecause most manufacturers wants minimum order of 100pcs and font like to deal with 1 pcs sales.
Will try to post pictures of that mounting solution soon.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

niko said:

Will try to post pictures of that mounting solution soon.

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interested to see which mount you're referring to

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

jokiin said:

niko said:

Will try to post pictures of that mounting solution soon.

Click to expand...

interested to see which mount you're referring to

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Its under many different names. Has same camera shell as ls300w. Will try post full review with pictures within few days.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

The jokiin cam I have mounts perfectly behind my rear view mirror. There isn't much space betwee my mirror and windscreen either, so I was a little concerned at first. When I tried it, it was just so, very tight fit, but it fit.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

This is quick picture. Will provide more info soon.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

Thats how it look like from the front. Blends in with mirror perfectly. If car would have tinten windows it would be even harder to see dash cam.

Re: New to the market and looking for suggestions from owner

niko said:

jokiin said:

niko said:

Will try to post pictures of that mounting solution soon.

Click to expand...

interested to see which mount you're referring to

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Its under many different names. Has same camera shell as ls300w. Will try post full review with pictures within few days.

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Foxoffer sells it undet gs600 name. I bought it from other source with other name