Any opinions on this HDVR-150 Dash Cam?

[DashDot]

HD CAR DVR Rear View Mirror G SENSOR 32GB SD card accident camera video recorder HDVR-150

It gets good reviews on amazon.

Made by KiWAV. Not listed on this site. I suppose KiWav makes things likes mirrors and this is actually someone else's dash cam in their mirror?

 

[DashCamMan]

Re: Any opinions on this Dash Cam?

Hi DashDot,

You can read more about that camera in this thread and this thread. Seems good in theory but the large size is a common complaint. Video quality gets mixed reviews.

 

[Mtz]

Re: Any opinions on this Dash Cam?

And why not a title like:

Any opinions on this HDVR-150 Dash Cam?

Forums with bad (general) titles are ugly.
Also I saw 2 threads with stupid titles like NEW 2013 bla-bla, full bla-bla, mega bla-bla.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[DashDot]

Good point!

I fixed it.

 

[DashDot]

Large size problem did occur to me, blocking front vision.

 

[Mtz]

And also must be sure the lens to be on the same place where the driver is. For UK for example, the lens must to be on the right.
The reason is because the mirror is rotated to some angle depending on driver side and the lens adjustable angle rotation is not so big to compensate an opposite direction.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[airbender]

I have this for 5-6 months now. It is very reliable. It has worked without major issues. The video quality is also very good. So far I am unable to find a better product to replace this. I tried BlackVue DR500GW-HD which has very poor video quality. Upgraded firmware caused issues. I tried GS8000 and the unit stopped working even before I used it in my car. However the HDVR-150 is working without issues. Sometimes I have to push the SD card a little hard to make sure it is seated properly. Unlike others that need a TF/Micro SD cards which are difficult to handle as they are small you could use a standard SD card on the HDVR-150. Other than that the reason why I want to replace it are:

1. The mirror is shaky. They could have just had a unit with an LCD display that seats on one side of the mirror using the same bracket while allowing customers to continue to use the stock mirror. You will not have the auto dimming feature if your stock mirror has it.

2. The angle is only 120. I like to be able to see corners so when someone tries to cut lanes in front of me I have more proof.

3. It does not compress using the H.264 compression. So files are typically 1 GB for 5 minutes of video at 720p. 1080p mode uses the same amount of space however the video is not smooth. 720p video is very good.

Both the BlackVue DR500GW-HD and the GS8000 are not reliable enough to be able to replace it. The only issue with the BlackVue was they did not support a higher quality bit rate by default. GS8000 is one of the worst quality product I have purchased.

I have ordered LS300W from DOD Canada. It has been shipped. I will update as soon as I receive it and install it.

 

[niko]

For the past 8 month I have tested 5 different mirror DVR-s, 4 Chinese and 1 ABEO Made in Taiwan and agree with "airbender", - it's great mirror dvr, more reliable then other Chinese ones.
I bought first ABEO HDVR-150G in septeber 2012 when they first came out with G-sensor + 1080p, but in FullHD it records only 15fps.
2 month ago vendor provided me totally new firmware upgrade. Whole menu graphics changed and added parking mode ( not motion detection, but parking mode ), this model called ABEO HDVR-150G2
You may find it from eBay seller "kiwaveuropa". They have great service and instant replay.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Car-DVR-FHD-Rear ... 19d7b946aa

Very good day time video quality, but night video quality is average, however for the price you pay I can assure it is the best mirror dvr at the moment. The only drawback I see is being too wide ( as earlier mentioned ) and 15fps at 1080p.

 

[niko]

And also must be sure the lens to be on the same place where the driver is. For UK for example, the lens must to be on the right.
The reason is because the mirror is rotated to some angle depending on driver side and the lens adjustable angle rotation is not so big to compensate an opposite direction.

enjoy,
Mtz

I have tested this mirror dvr with camera on the right side on both car types: driving in Ireland ( right side steering wheel ) and in EU ( left side steering wheel ) and did not found any difficulties to move and set correct camera angle. Actually I never saw Abeo producing mirror dvr-s where camera is mounted on the left side of the mirror.

 

[cybermall]

For the past 8 month I have tested 5 different mirror DVR-s, 4 Chinese and 1 ABEO Made in Taiwan and agree with "airbender", - it's great mirror dvr, more reliable then other Chinese ones.
I bought first ABEO HDVR-150G in septeber 2012 when they first came out with G-sensor + 1080p, but in FullHD it records only 15fps.
2 month ago vendor provided me totally new firmware upgrade. Whole menu graphics changed and added parking mode ( not motion detection, but parking mode ), this model called ABEO HDVR-150G2
You may find it from eBay seller "kiwaveuropa". They have great service and instant replay.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Car-DVR-FHD-Rear ... 19d7b946aa

Very good day time video quality, but night video quality is average, however for the price you pay I can assure it is the best mirror dvr at the moment. The only drawback I see is being too wide ( as earlier mentioned ) and 15fps at 1080p.

Hello niko, do you know where can I get this firmware for HDVR-150? I got it second hand from other people last year
august and is it easy to upgrade the firmware? Thanks.

 

[Jedd]

That might be an interesting alternative (at least on paper)
http://www.iro-electronics.com/en/productshow.php?id=70
A2S60 + OV2710, but who knows what lens and firmware quality.

 

[unbiased]

I recently purchased this HDVR-150-G3 dash cam from amazon.com on sale for $94. It was my first venture into dash cams and I thought it had decent acceptable video in the daytime. At night it wasn't as crisp nor clear as daytime videos. However as I grew more critical and noticed that it could not resolve license plate numbers nor street names clearly at all unless it was directly right in front of you, I returned it for a refund and opted to go for the more expensive higher model HDVR-180-G2 which is specified as having a 5MP sensor vs the 1MP sensor in the HDVR-150-G3. I got the HDVR-180-G2 and it is much much better at resolving the details in daytime driving. Night time videos however still blurred over license plate numbers and you cannot see the numbers. I also had to return the 1st HDVR-180-G2 due to it was buggy and would lock up and freeze on me when I went to start the car. I had to keep resetting it. So I returned it and ordered a 2nd one to try out. I have the 2nd one I bought now and it has not locked up on me so far. I bought them at a sale price (from Kiwav seller) fulfilled by amazon prime. However, I believe these lowered sale priced units are "B" Stock units because the 2 units I received have a defect in that the video has sparkly hot pixels flashing around the screen randomly and most notably during mild bright scenes. It appears like static noise or snow on a tv screen but not enough to distract from the video. I had tried contacting Kiwav support about this but they keep ignoring my question about it and acting pretty dumb about it. So I think the ones that are selling at the lowered price (while they last) have slight defects. Also, on these units that I got, I cannot change the time stamp format to MM/DD/YYYY format. It has a configuration menu to change the time stamp display format, but after you exit the settings, it does not change on the video displays. It remains always as time format YYYY/MM/DD. Kiwav refused to answer me about a firmware fix or why this was the case also when I emailed them many times over asking about this quirk. So much for reports saying that their support is excellent. I don't think so from my experience so far with them... it is only one lady answering the emails and she does not respond to answer all your questions most of the time. I asked if these were defects and if I need to get a repair or replacement under warranty. No answer to that from them and all she said was to return it to amazon for a refund if I don't like it. That is not good support IMHO. I will keep the HDVR-180-G2 since I do think it has excellent detail video in the daytime and the night time videos are mostly adequate for documenting accidents or mishaps. I do not recommend the HDVR-150-G3 if you want to see details like license plate numbers or street signs.

 

[jokiin]

Some people mistake customer service for support, one happens before the sale, the other after