R280

The R280 HD Car DVR is a Chinese dash cam that records 1080p at 30fps and 720p at 60fps.  The video quality during the day is good and night quality is below average.  This dash cam has a narrow viewing angle as well.  Unfortunately most people who own this camera complain that the picture gets very blurry when the camera overheats.  The R280 uses the Zoran ZR364246BGCG processor.

There is a Russian version of this camera called the xDevice Black Box-28.

W100 Model

The W100 DVR is a dual lens camera that comes in a similar case as the R280.  This camera records 1920x720p at 30fps for the front lens.  The rear lens records at 1280*720p at 30fps.  This is likely 640p interpolated for the rear camera (640p x 2 = 1280p).

We have not been able to verify the quality of the W100 DVR and there is very little information available on this camera to date.

Known problems

Blurry when overheats

The main problem with this camera is a blurry / out of focus picture when the camera warms up.  This problem appears to occur in the majority of R280 dash cams.  The quality of the lens and lens holder appear to be the main issue.  Note that some versions with this camera come with a plastic lens, while others come with a glass lens.  Both versions suffer from this problem.

Here is a picture from the camera before overheating.

After overheating.

Some owners have replaced the lens with a higher quality one.  This typically fixes the problem.

Battery Capacity

Some users indicate that the battery capacity is very small and the camera will only run a couple of minutes on battery power.

Mounting the camera

Standard mount

Stealth Mount

Disassembling the dash cam

Sample Videos

Day Video

Night Video

Day Video – Blurry after overheating

Should I Purchase?

Unfortunately the blurry picture quality when heated afflicts so many of these cameras that we cannot recommend it.

Firmware

Currently there is no publicly known way to extract or upgrade the firmware in these dash cams.  There are numerous known firmware versions that have been sold:

• R000_0747
• R000_0812
• R000_0813
• R000_0826
• R000_0828

Specifications