Review: B40D Dual Lens Dashcam - Capacitor+NT96655+Aptina AR0330 (Gearbest)

[Sunny]

Thank you @GearBest for providing B40D dual dashcam for review.
It's available for purchase at Gearbest site for $52.74 with coupon code B40DGB: B40D 1080P FHD 170 Degree Wide Angle Dual Lens Car DVR - BLACK 186743601
A118C Upgrade Version / Super Capacitor / Novatek 96655 + Aptina AR0330 + Rear View Camera
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Summary: It's great camera to use as a single channel.
Pros: Front video quality is good. Colors are very natural and focus is good in all areas.
Audio is also very good.
Rear camera is very small and discrete.
Cons:
Rear video quality is bad obviously due to 480p resolution.
You can hardly make license plate of the car that is stopped behind you.
Audio is very good.

Rear can only be used as supplement to front video.
On its own, it doesn't have any reliable detail.
It's not worth the trouble of routing the cable from front to the back.
I wish the rear camera was at least 720p.
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Detail Review:
Description & Features:
B40D 1.5 inch H.264 1080P full HD car DVR dash cam video recorder
A118C upgrade version, Novatek 96655 chipset with AR0330 CMOS sensor
Come with a rear view camera (VGA 640 x 480P resolution)
Both front and rear camera support 1fps time-lapse video record
Advanced H.264 photography compression technology

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Package Contents:
1 x Car DVR, 1 x Rear View Camera, 1 x Car Charger (3m Approx.), 1 x Bracket, 1 x Sticker, 1 x USB Cable (80cm Approx.), 1 x Connection Cable for Rear Camera (4.5m Approx.), 2 x Screw

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Unboxing and videos of B40D Dual Channel Dashcam:

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B40D Dual Lens Dashcam images: Side-by-side with A118C/B40C.
They are pretty similar in desigh, button, LED etc... except B40D is bigger.
Right is B40D, left is A118C/B40C









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Test video coming soon...
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[Sunny]

B40D Folders and Files:
Folder is pretty straight forward.
CARDV-->MOVIE
Files have datetime so easy to find.
Front file has 'A' at the end and rear file is 'B' at the end.
Front VBR is around 10.7 mbps.
Rear VBR is pretty low at 3.7 mbps since it's only 480p resolution.



Install Pictures:
From the front: Not that noticeable.



From inside:





From the rear: Rear camera is very small and discrete.
The rear camera is supposedly external camera but I don't want to tear apart the panel so I installed it on the rear window next to LUKAS LK9390.



continued...

 

[Sunny]

Unboxing and videos of B40D Dual Channel Dashcam:

 

[Sunny]

Daytime Videos: Well it's cloudy afternoon...
1.
Front camera @ 1080p: Front video quality is good. Colors are very natural and focus is good in all areas.
Audio is also very good.

Rear camera @ 480p: Rear video quality is bad obviously due to 480p resolution. You can hardly make license plate of the car that is stopped behind you.
Audio is very good.

2.
Front camera @ 1080p:

Rear camera @ 480p:

Screenshots:

 

[Sunny]

B40D Dual Channel Dashcam Night Videos:
Night video is average but lighted areas have decent quality.
Rear is not good.
Front camera:

Rear camera:

Screenshots:

 

[GearBest]

Thank you for the review. Looking forward to see how's the video quality.

 

[Sunny]

Thank you for the review. Looking forward to see how's the video quality.

Added unboxing and review video plus day and night videos.

Front video quality is good. Colors are very natural and focus is good in all areas.
Audio is also very good.

Rear video quality is bad obviously due to 480p resolution. You can hardly make license plate of the car that is stopped behind you.
Audio is very good.

Rear can only be used as supplement to front video.
On its own, it doesn't have any reliable detail.
It's not worth the trouble of routing the cable from front to the back.
It's great camera to use as a single channel.
I wish the rear camera was at least 720p.

 

[jokiin]

when used as dual channel is the front channel video 1080p30 or 1080p24?

 

[GearBest]

Added unboxing and review video plus day and night videos.

Front video quality is good. Colors are very natural and focus is good in all areas.
Audio is also very good.

Rear video quality is bad obviously due to 480p resolution. You can hardly make license plate of the car that is stopped behind you.
Audio is very good.

Rear can only be used as supplement to front video.
On its own, it doesn't have any reliable detail.
It's not worth the trouble of routing the cable from front to the back.
It's great camera to use as a single channel.
I wish the rear camera was at least 720p.

Yeah, the 480p resolution of rear video quality is not good. Hope the manufacturer can make it at lest 720p. A few of them can do 1080p. It's rare.

 

[Sunny]

when used as dual channel is the front channel video 1080p30 or 1080p24?

Both are @ 30fps as mentioned above.

 

[jokiin]

ok they've improved it then, previously the chipset would drop from 1080p30 to 1080p24 when the rear channel was used

 

[Sunny]

Sunny daytime videos:
Front 1:

Rear 1:

Front 2:

Rear 2:

 

[engineer]

 

[SawMaster]

On flash sale right now. Wish I could get one for this price but money is tight right now. Would use the rear cam on the side though and a better cam in the rear. Pretty good for a budget cam overall.

Phil

 

[Sunny]

I just found that Viofo A118 beta firmware works with this B40C model and adds options like time lapse, license plate stamp.
Not responsible if it bricks the camera as I haven't tested it.
Someone commented in my video.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22493212/A118C/VIOFO_A118C_FW_0727_Beta.zip

 

[mcdull]

I just found that Viofo A118 beta firmware works with this B40C model and adds options like time lapse, license plate stamp.
Not responsible if it bricks the camera as I haven't tested it.
Someone commented in my video.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22493212/A118C/VIOFO_A118C_FW_0727_Beta.zip

You meant other B40C or this B40D?
From the B40 forum I read, some said this B40D other than the look is similar, it is different than A118/B40
If indeed it can use A118 firmware, does it still support rear camera recording?

Anyone knows what's the rightmost 3.5mm jack for?
The menu didn't even say the center jack is for the rear camera and I had to try that to find out.

 

[jokiin]

the 2 channel model won't work with the A118 firmware, the hardware is different