only if your lighter is powered all the time. the power cord for my cf100 didn't have a light, but most phone chargers do - you can easily plug one in and see if the lighter stays on when you turn off the key. if not, it will still work to record while driving, but that's it - once you turn off the car, it stops recording.I got mine yesterday from Newegg and was about to set it up in my car. I was wondering if I have it mounted all the time and plugged into the cigarette lighter, will it use my cars battery?
so now that i've ordered one of these, i may make the Y-cable.
4-conductor 3.5mm male to 2x 4-conductor 3.5mm female splitter cable. i could easily cut off one of the female jacks and solder on a female RCA jack to have the video out. unfortunately this cable is sold out and can't be backordered from this company. but here's another which costs a bit more.
to keep it tidy near the camera itself, here's a 4-cond 3.5mm right angle adapter
or... roll your own cable instead of hacking up some other cable:
TRSS (3.5mm 4cond) male 90 degree plug - goes to camera: http://www.showmecables.com/product/3-5mm-Plug-TRRS-Right-Angle-Connector-Plastic.aspx?link=YMAL
TRSS female - goes to GPS: http://www.showmecables.com/product/3-5mm-Jack-TRRS-Connector-Plastic.aspx?link=YMAL
female RCA - video out: http://www.radioshack.com/inline-phono-jack-4-pack/2740337.html#q=rca+jack&start=7
i'm sure spending a little more time searching amazon, mouser, or monoprice would come up with better results. but you get the idea. easily hook up gps + video out at the same time, without voiding your warranty by hacking up the cables or devices that came with the camera.
I haven't tried and now that the cam is installed and already aimed properly, i don't really see the need to have both. Especially since the video out can't be used to review recordings. I could potentially hook it up to the video input of the van's aftermarket DVD player, but not sure what that would gain me. Might entertain the kids for about 3 seconds but then they'd be bored one they realize it's just what they can already see outside.
dunno about voice guidance (i don't remember seeing any options for it in the software), but I have confirmed that while the unit is searching for a GPS fix, it is NOT RECORDING. I specifically went on a few short trips to test it, and sometimes the recording would start within a few hundred feet of my house, but sometimes it'd be a few miles away. Plenty could have happened during that time. this is bad. they really need to release a fix for this. I'm going to disconnect the GPS antenna for now, to make it more reliable. Having speed and location isn't anywhere near as important as having actual video at all times. The video itself should be more than enough to give a location, since most signs are legible.
@OJOCam - i actually got this unit from you (via amazon)... do you know of any firmware updates later than 1.2? can you ask the manufacturer about this GPS issue?
well noted Gibson99.
Here is the new firmware i received from the manufacture:
Firmware installation guide
@OJOCam i've just receive the dual channel with GPS over the mail from you guys yesterday.
hooking up the camera out of the box with GPS receiver and rear camera. i notice the dual channel recording not working. and didnt receive GPS signal as well.
is there something wrong? so mine now is singal channel recording only w/o GPS. i hope it's not a defective unit.
the connection for the rear camera i've double check its secure and tug in properly. one of the sign that i've notice it not recording dual channel is that the voice prompt "car dvr is starting" instead of "dual channel recording is start" as stated in the review earlier.mine took about 15 minutes and 2-3 miles of driving to get a gps fix the first time, but once it had a fix, the longest it takes is about a minute from cold start.
as for rear cam, are you using the player software that came with it? remember that the rear video is embedded in the same video file as the front. VLC (VideoLAN) will also play these dual files and show both views. windows media player will not, nor will most other players.
otherwise, check the rear usb connection - i remember it took a little bit of force for it to snap in the last few mm's.