402G Dashcam replaced THREE times under warranty - how do I get the most out of the battery?

[Jackpody]

Hi people!

I'll get straight to the point - I've had my Nextbase 402G replaced THREE times under warranty for a faulty battery and it seriously just happened again. I shut the car off, the screen on the camera goes black and after a short moment goes into a frenzy of turning itself on and off - to my dismay! I've even been really god damn gentle with it this time, always turning off the camera manually before the power is cut to make SURE that god damn battery would always have maximum charge.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there someone up there in the clouds trying to turn me into a psychopath? I'm getting really annoyed by this fault which just keeps coming back, so is there something I can do so the battery will last longer?

Thanks for reading my post, which I hope didn't radiate too much sourness.

 

[jokiin]

see if you can get your money back and buy something that uses super capacitors instead of a battery, or at least buy a better quality product

 

[Jackpody]

see if you can get your money back and buy something that uses super capacitors instead of a battery, or at least buy a better quality product

Thanks for the quick response! I'll definitely see if I can get my money refunded, it's way too expensive for the company having to keep replacing my camera, and it's too much of a hassle for me as well. Do you have any reccomendations? I just want a camera which has GPS (so I can see my speed on the screen), the same or better video quality than the 402G and a little USB plug for the computer (not really too important, but it's nicer than having to take out the SD-card every time).
Thanks man!

 

[jokiin]

plenty of suitable candidates I'm sure, I would think after three replacements for the same issue you shouldn't get any argument about getting your money back

 

[Jackpody]

plenty of suitable candidates I'm sure, I would think after three replacements for the same issue you shouldn't get any argument about getting your money back

Looking at some of BlackVue's models, and even though they don't have a USB port, I think they seem to be a little nicer (and hopefully a bit better put together). Is there a particular go-to Dashcam one would recommend?

 

[jokiin]

As I manufacture cameras I don't like to recommend unless you have some criteria which leaves for only some obvious choice, I prefer to remain impartial

If you want to shortlist models you're interested in I can most often tell you which are the better choices and why, if you have something particularly bad picked out though I will let you know that

 

[2000rpm]

Yes, there seems to be a problem with the NB402G and severely premature battery failure.
Quite a lot of people in the UK have the problem (meaning last file doesn't save which is the one you need in an accident) and some people seem to have had multiple failures, either of repaired cams or replacement cams.

Reportedly it's a combination of small/low quality battery and poor/defective design of its charging circuit. I wouldn't be surprised to see some NB402G catch fire as a result but that's just speculation on my part.

When mine failed after a short time I had a bad feeling and got a refund, which I used to buy a more reliable cam.

 

[Jackpody]

Yes, there seems to be a problem with the NB402G and severely premature battery failure.
Quite a lot of people in the UK have the problem (meaning last file doesn't save which is the one you need in an accident) and some people seem to have had multiple failures, either of repaired cams or replacement cams.

Reportedly it's a combination of small/low quality battery and poor/defective design of its charging circuit. I wouldn't be surprised to see some NB402G catch fire as a result but that's just speculation on my part.

When mine failed after a short time I had a bad feeling and got a refund, which I used to buy a more reliable cam.

Very interesting! Which camera did you decide to buy and did you find it better than the 402G's quality and features?

Also I'm looking at cameras right now, I'll make sure to update this post in a moment when I've categorized them into a list. Thank you guys!


Update! Alright, here's what I've been able to find that seems to fit my needs:
BLACKVUE DR750 LQ-2CH - seems good, albeit a bit expensive. I guess you pay for the build quality here.

BLACKVUE DR600GW - not quite as expensive, but I'm not sure if I like that it has no LCD screen.

NextBase 512G - Seems like it has good quality, but it's also quite a bit more expensive and I'm obviously afraid the battery will be at fault again.


I'm aiming for the BLACKVUE DR750 LQ-2CH at most. Is that an alright camera?

 

[2000rpm]

Very interesting! Which camera did you decide to buy and did you find it better than the 402G's quality and features?

I replaced it with a Panorama II S which has been 100% reliable for nearly a year. The Panorama doesn't have GPS but the very similar SGZC12SG does. The Panorama uses a capacitor instead of a battery.
Panorama has a moderately wider field of view compared to the NB402G and better night capability. Downside of the Panorama is that colours can be slightly different to reality and it can 'white out' some parts of the image in some bright light situations although not enough to make it ineffectual as evidence in the event of a crash.

...Also I'm looking at cameras right now,!...

So am I. My wife has just bought a new car so it's a good time to upgrade. It will probably be fitted with two SGZC12RC (one front, one rear) because they are discreet, can be mounted almost anywhere to get a good view of the road, use a Sony sensor for good night performance and use a capacitor which is less likely to be troublesome than a battery.
Video evidence from the current SGZC12RC-V2 in my car saved my @rse when someone reversed into me several weeks ago (they could have claimed that I drove into the back of them, which is quite common, and I would have had to pay half via my insurance and lose my no-claims history). Topic here >link<
The SGZC12RC-V2 saved me the £350 excess on my policy, saved me losing my NCB and saved me from a significant increase in the cost of insurance on our three cars. The SG-RC has more than paid for itself in less than six months since purchase.
Video from the GPS-enabled SGZC12SG that I mentioned in the previous paragraph is likely to be similar to the SGZC12RC.

.....NextBase 512G - Seems like it has good quality, but it's also quite a bit more expensive and I'm obviously afraid the battery will be at fault again....

I wouldn't be surprised if they've used many of the same internals. As time has passed my opinion of Nextbase/DOD has gradually gone down to the point where I don't trust them and won't buy their products. Even if someone gave me a NB512G I probably wouldn't use it. Why take a chance on a camera that might not capture an important moment or might even have a meltdown due to battery/charging problems?

 

[Deleted member 46308]

As I manufacture cameras I don't like to recommend unless you have some criteria which leaves for only some obvious choice, I prefer to remain impartial

Definitely a strength

 

[Jackpody]

Alright, I decided to pull the trigger on the BlackVue DR750 LW-2CH. Seems to fit my needs and I went ahead and followed the suggestion that it should be with a capacitor instead of battery - so hopefully, this will work! I also bought the GPS antenna for it, but that will first arrive next week.

Thank you all for the suggestions!

 

[Jackpody]

Update! It works just great, I absolutely love the better quality and the rear view camera! I should probably make a thread in the BlackVue section but I do seem to have some motion blur happening that wasn't present with my NextBase. I can't really read the plates of cars in the oncoming direction at any speed higher than 20 mph. Hmm, anyone know why this would be? Doesn't seem to happen to other people.

 

[jokiin]

Update! It works just great, I absolutely love the better quality and the rear view camera! I should probably make a thread in the BlackVue section but I do seem to have some motion blur happening that wasn't present with my NextBase. I can't really read the plates of cars in the oncoming direction at any speed higher than 20 mph. Hmm, anyone know why this would be? Doesn't seem to happen to other people.

motion blur will have a lot to do with lighting, what time of day etc, the Nextbase has higher bitrate than the Blackvue so the encoding is better and it will be a bit more forgiving in the more difficult circumstances

 

[Jackpody]

motion blur will have a lot to do with lighting, what time of day etc, the Nextbase has higher bitrate than the Blackvue so the encoding is better and it will be a bit more forgiving in the more difficult circumstances

Ah, alright. I was recording in the dusk so that might explain why.
I took this still from my camera, I was probably going around 5 km/h and the plate is unreadable.

I can definitely live with it, but I hope it won't have this much motion blur when there's normal daylight outside.

 

[jokiin]

the Nextbase might have fared a bit better in this scene but late in the day motion blur and the angle you're moving at compared to the parked vehicle will work against you, have a look at this to understand how the sensor works to know why the angle is a problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter

 

[Jackpody]

Ah, I thank you very much! I'll definitely give it a go tomorrow in the broad daylight to make sure I'm not having some weird issue, haha. Other than that, it does seem like everything worked against me in the above screenshot. I'll post an update tomorrow.

 

[Jackpody]

I'm sorry for double-posting but I'm looking through a lot of other videos by BlackVue and it really doesn't seem like they have that issue when pausing the video:

Around 22 seconds in - that car on the right seems to be in the same place as the car in my video and it's sharp and clear in BlackVue's demo video. Is that major difference because I recorded mine in the dusk and their's seems to be in broad daylight?

 

[jokiin]

Lighting has a lot to do with it, as does direction

 

[Jackpody]

Lighting has a lot to do with it, as does direction

Alright, I will definitely update this thread tomorrow then! If it works in broad daylight, then I will be more than satisfied because the overall video quality seems nicer than the NextBase I used before. The NextBase seemed to film at night in lower quality, but didn't seem to have too much blur.

Thanks for all the help man, would have been stumped without it, heh.

 

[Jackpody]

Update! I should probably make a thread in the blackvue secction, but I'm pleased with the results! I can pause the video and see the license plates. The only niggle I've found is that the camera overall seems just a bit out of focus compared to my old NextBase 402G. Here's a comparison:

Take a look at the Mercedes star or the car in the oncoming direction - it's really just as if the lense is slightly out of focus. Is there something I can do under warranty to improve the focus a bit?