Argh - so confused! Any advice appreciated!

Which camera should I buy?

  • A118C

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Joovuu X

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Mini 0806

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other (please let me know your recommendation)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4

belime

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Hi all,

If anyone can help me consider the most suitable camera to buy after considering my needs below that would be much appreciated.

I've previously used an Itronics ITB-100HD, which from what I recall did everything well except perhaps night time video quality. I'm now looking to ultimately have front and rear cameras in a Citroen DS3 (but with a view to being able to fairly easily move them to a different car, yet to be chosen, early next year).

Purchasing considerations are:
1. Would like to spend no more than £100 (approx $150) right now. This will most likely mean 1 camera now, and a second one for the rear at some point in the future.
2. Clean, tidy and discreet install is important to me. Doesn't necessarily have to be the smallest possible, but not something where the only option is a large camera hanging off a bulky mount.
3. Reliability is very important - the Itronics was good to me and I want something that will be reliable.
3. Image quality, day and night is definitely important - I don't want something that's feature packed at the expense of quality
4. GPS I'm not so bothered about.
5. G-Sensor parking mode would be a bonus if the camera can be powered in this mode from a power bank unit (I won't be hard wiring this time).

Options I've seriously considered include:
1. A118C (good price and simple, but put off by reported poorer quality video - especially at night)
2. Joovuu X (like everything about this, except I think it's probably too early and I'd rather not be an early adopter and have to deal issues that sound fairly common like DAB interference and other bugs. Could be one I come back to for camera no.2 unless these issues are soon to be resolved)
3. Mini 0806 (or 0805) (sounds unreliable, which definitely puts me off - or have these been resolved)
4. Mobius (probably the winner so far - would like to be clear on a mounting option that will be discreet, and how to aim it simply - I have an Android phone, iPhone and a Mac with Windows in Bootcamp)
5. BlackSys CF-100 (seems great value for money at £60 - put off by reports of weak mount (can this be resolved?) and poor rear video quality - although I had the thought that at the price I could still add a 2nd separate rear camera at some point and move the Blacksys rear cam to the side or somewhere else.

So, that's where I'm at right now. Are there any worthy options that I haven't considered and does anyone have any thoughts or advice on which camera I should go for?

Thanks!
 
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I got the CF-100 4 months ago when the price first came down, it's been totally reliable and the rear video isn't all that bad. I can still see number plates behind, and that's with the remote cam being mounted just a couple of inches above the rear deck of a convertible, over to one side. A couple of weeks ago I did have to pack the balljoint socket of the main cam slightly to stop it moving so easily, but that was the work of about 15 minutes including realigning/testing/correcting afterwards. For the packing I used a very small piece of some neoprene draught excluder tape that I've had for donkey's years, it seems to be enough.
 
Thanks all for the quick responses and opinions. CF-100 does seem a lot of camera for the money. Slight concerned about the auto emergency saving which apparently can't be turned off, is too sensitive and chimes each time. My car has poor ride quality, so I wonder if it will trigger a lot and drive me crazy?

Joovuu X appeals and I'm sure will continue to be refined but some of the issues sounds quite widespread and annoying at the minute:

https://joovuu.com/community/index.php?thread/391-dab-interference/&pageNo=8

For parking mode to work with the CF-100 could I use a battery pack as an alternative to hardwiring?
 
My (personal, hardly expert) recommendations are in reverse order for the reasons, already stated by you
5- if you can still get one at such price. All inn, minor issues... ah well, not like buying a house, but best set up for £ ($).
2- has improved greatly, latest feedback on forum and latest price with e-mail discount code -strong contender!
1- nothing to "fall over", but seems to be near best "£($)" value and decent performance all-round.
4- is awesome camera, but not that "superior" to none other, I'd say oriented more for enthusiast.
3-... if you feel lucky or like lottery, might be great, might be a pile of poo also, just as all or any of mini series.

Edit:
I see what you did in here!
Nobody could make a final decision for you ;) it is tiny bit of a "plunge" and report back!? Times had changed, whereas it has been big risk of getting a dud for big £($) , it a matter of choosing and personal preferences of what exactly product would have an appeal factor.

Sadly, the late-April FW update on my two X-cams made them unusable in my car due to the cams not liking my ignition-switched socket.
The April FW made the X far more susceptible to shutting itself down when there are flickers in the 12v supply caused by turning the key through the notches of the ignition barrel or the flicker in power when the starter motor draws its power to start the engine.

I tried to roll the cams back to the late-January FW which had been satisfactory for me (although other users had problems) but for some reason the FW seems stuck on late-April although I haven't had time to investigate why so it could be something I'm doing wrong.
I don't have a wifi-capable phone so I have to borrow my wife's if I want to change the X-cam settings after a change of FW. I haven't been successful with getting any of the X-cam PC software to work on my old computer and, again, haven't had time to investigate why.

At some point I'll have another go at returning the cams to late-January FW but for about the last six weeks the two X cams have been sat on the top of my desk gathering dust or waiting to get knocked off onto the floor and broken. At the moment they're worth nothing to me, no matter what discount is available. A couple of older (spare) cams have gone back in their place.

I think the X has potential to be the best all-round cam out there if/when the firmware is stable and assuming newer cams from other manufacturers haven't matched or outclassed the X by the time it's stable.
 
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Sadly, the late-April FW update on my two X-cams made them unusable in my car (and my wife's new car) due to the cams not liking my ignition-switched socket.
The April FW made the X far more susceptible to shutting itself down when there are flickers in the 12v supply caused by turning the key through the notches of the ignition barrel or the flicker in power when the starter motor draws its power to start the engine.

I tried to roll the cams back to the late-January FW which had been satisfactory for me (although other users had problems) but for some reason the FW seems stuck on late-April although I haven't had time to investigate why so it could be something I'm doing wrong.
I don't have a wifi-capable phone so I have to borrow my wife's if I want to change the X-cam settings after a change of FW. I haven't been successful with getting any of the X-cam PC software to work on my old computer and, again, haven't had time to investigate why.

At some point I'll have another go at returning the cams to late-January FW but for about the last six weeks the two X cams have been sat on the top of my desk gathering dust or waiting to get knocked off onto the floor and broken. At the moment they're worth nothing to me, no matter what discount is available. A couple of older (spare) cams have gone back in their place.

I think the X has potential to be the best all-round cam out there if/when the firmware is stable and assuming newer cams from other manufacturers haven't matched or outclassed the X by the time it's stable.

That's a real shame to hear, sorry you've not had a good time with them. I think that pretty much confirms what I've been thinking and rules the Joovuu out for the time being at least. Like you say, once the FW has matured it could be great.

So I think I'm left with:
- A118C
- Mobius
- CF-100

CF-100 appeals because of value for money and parking mode - BUT, that is only a benefit to me if it can realistically be used with power from a battery back.
 
That's a real shame to hear, sorry you've not had a good time with them. I think that pretty much confirms what I've been thinking and rules the Joovuu out for the time being at least. Like you say, once the FW has matured it could be great.

So I think I'm left with:
- A118C
- Mobius
- CF-100

CF-100 appeals because of value for money and parking mode - BUT, that is only a benefit to me if it can realistically be used with power from a battery back.

Video quality of the CF-100 is erratic, depending on the lighting. On tree-lined roads in daylight the video quality can be fairly poor due to 'blockiness' due to its processor or firmware appearing to struggle with data throughput.
It also isn't great at capturing details, a problem with most wide-angle cameras but made worse when blockiness appears. At night the image is brighter than most other cams due to its Sony sensor.
Setup is a bit fiddly due to having to use its PC program to put settings into its micro sd card before inserting the card into the cam.
It has a very long boot-up time, taking around 20 seconds to start recording after it's plugged in. Most cams boot up within 5-10 seconds.

However, I've been testing CF-100 since last year and reliability has been 100%. Not 99%. Not 99.9%. It has been 100%.
Reliability counts for a lot. A while back I said:

......things I really want from a dash cam.

1. Reliable.
2. Reliable.
3. Did I mention: reliable?.....
4......


Clip below showing CF-100 struggling with tree-lined roads (blockiness, stuttering) and is most noticeable when viewed full-screen. It's not a problem at night and shouldn't be a problem while parked.

 
Thanks all for the quick responses and opinions. CF-100 does seem a lot of camera for the money. Slight concerned about the auto emergency saving which apparently can't be turned off, is too sensitive and chimes each time. My car has poor ride quality, so I wonder if it will trigger a lot and drive me crazy?

I turned the sensitivity on mine down to zero (I tested that this still triggers OK in an emergency stop and/or sudden swerve, so I expect it would also be fine in any shunt) and I still get the odd chime out of it over some of the dodgier road surfaces on my regular routes. But with the sound output turned down to 3 I hardly hear them (although the announcements for recording start and GPS connect are still heard just fine). More so on both counts with the roof down as the car is less rigid and there's more ambient noise. I'm using the original 16GB card that came with my cam so I just take it out, review the latest recordings and check/delete the EVENT files every couple of weeks or so. This is recommended in any case so that you know it's still working OK. I get maybe a couple of dozen EVENT files, but nowhere near the 20% of the card space that it automatically reserves for them. On a 32GB card it will reserve twice the space in terms of GB so you really shouldn't have any issue there.

@2000rpm's video is definitely indicative of the low-light/high-detail blockiness you get, but because of what YouTube does to videos it will look better than that when you play from the card on your PC, especially if you download the free VLCPlayer.
 
Well I've just gone ahead and ordered a Mobius to try out. In the end the others were discounted because:
  1. A118c - night quality put me off, and inflexibility of mounting options.
  2. Joovuu X - too many early adopter problems (potentially).
  3. 0806 - too risky and not keen on style / form factor.
  4. CF-100 - not discreet enough, poor mount design, blocky video issue (& poor rear quality), parking mode probably wouldn't get used.
And Mobius was ordered because:

1. Reliable and mature firmware
2. Well supported (software, hardware, accessories & community)
3. Potential for discreet mounting
4. More 'fun' to mess around with
5. Decent quality day and night

I think I've made the best choice for me, but we'll see once it's up and running...!

Thanks again to all for your comments and advice.
 
Well I've just gone ahead and ordered a Mobius to try out. In the end the others were discounted because:
  1. A118c - night quality put me off, and inflexibility of mounting options.
  2. Joovuu X - too many early adopter problems (potentially).
  3. 0806 - too risky and not keen on style / form factor.
  4. CF-100 - not discreet enough, poor mount design, blocky video issue (& poor rear quality), parking mode probably wouldn't get used.
And Mobius was ordered because:

1. Reliable and mature firmware
2. Well supported (software, hardware, accessories & community)
3. Potential for discreet mounting
4. More 'fun' to mess around with
5. Decent quality day and night

I think I've made the best choice for me, but we'll see once it's up and running...!

Thanks again to all for your comments and advice.
Nice choice!
 
Mobius has landed! First impressions are it's a great bit of kit. Much higher quality (physically) than I was expecting to be honest. Feels really solid and tight. Haven't got anywhere near the car yet, just getting it set up etc.

I think I've got to grips with mSetup (In Boot Camped Windows; will try OSX MobiusManager shortly) - just wondering if there are any universally accepted best or recommended settings when using as a dash cam? I'm thinking mostly about the advanced image settings rather than the basic, misc or video settings. But, would also like confirmation on:
1. Video Date Rate: Standard or High
2. WDR: Off, On or Low Light

I've had a decent look for recommended advanced image settings, but only really found settings from people using it with RC drones etc (and possibly the objectives for image quality are different, maybe not though).
 
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