F550-F750 Flaws, suggestions and fixes

[Dee_82]

The F750 and 550 are remarkable pieces of gear but like all complex devices they have their problems.

What I hope to do here is keep a list of issues, suggestions and fixes for anything to do with these devices, the more people that come on and post and the better this list is, the more likely Thinkware will take note of us and where possible do something about it.

Something's understandably can't be fixed but something's can.

A week ago I wrote to Thinkware with my thoughts and have had no reply, I have just sent a wee reminded and a link to this website.


F750
Physical Device
Device comes with ugly white/grey stickers, consider black replacements
Device doesn't have 90 degree bends on USB connectors, consider extenders
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321727998529?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=510630657091&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
SDCard socket is mechanical and will fail at some point with repeated use
Blue LED on rear camera won't turn off, very bright when seen head on.

Device software
No means to access camera directly without iOS or Android, or removal of card, consider web service

Mobile / Computer software
Installation of PC Dash Cam views doesn't scale correctly, buttons are half off the screen (see pic)
Unable to view both map and rear camera on PC version of software
Unstable and crashes often with no apparent reason
No means to add speed into video
Requires Admin access for some reason, consider saving data to user area
Clips must be full files, consider adding ability to crop length of clip and or join multiple files
Language mistake on settings page, initialise actually means reset settings to default (see pic)
Font Scaling is far to small where the video list is sited. (See pic)

 

[Graham Beale]

I'll add to this:

• Support for 128GB cards and/or another storage solution. Currently the 64GB cards only store two days of travel for me!
• Ability to turn off the annoying start up and shut down music
• Ability to export video from a specific start and end point via the desktop application.
• More frequent speed camera updates. Whilst on the M5 the F750 tells me about roadworks which have finished 3/4 months ago.
• Ability to configure the information given on the recorded video.
• Ability to flip the camera around for right hand drive countries.
• Bluetooth app notifications generated from parking mode.
• An easy to attach screen holder. It takes me about 10 attempts to get the camera onto the rails!
• Remove all Korean language from the iOS application. Currently errors appear in Korean.
• Number plate recognition on the desktop application.

BTW, I think it is a great device - I'm just very picky about my tech!

 

[Dee_82]

I had a reply to some suggestions ive made, have to say, I'm not overly happy


Thanks for your interest in the design of the Thinkware F750 and your suggestions. Herewith our replies.

• The use of an SD card slot is not a design flaw and we are perplexed that you think it is. The F750 is the third generation of this ID and it is not a point of failure having manufactured hundreds of thousands of these products. If it were a problem Thinkware wouldn’t be in the number 1 position in the Korean market with 38% market share. Thinkware is continually looking at ways to improve reliability with the use of Super Capacitor power backup instead of rechargeable batteries and providing a dual save capability with inbuilt memory to save the last event, should the SD card itself fail, being prime examples. We will continue to find ways of improving the quality and reliability and doing away with the SD card slot as it stands is not one of them, as it is not a problem.
• There is already a plan to introduce an L shaped connector for the cable connecting the two cameras however it is anticipated the end with the L will be plugged into the front camera and not the rear.
• We are currently testing black coloured 3M tape and once it has passed QA it will be introduced into production.
• It is necessary to provide an LED to confirm the camera is operational.
• Windows works in weird and wonderful ways and we are pleased you got it working
• You will have to buy a MAC if you find switching between the map and the rear view inconvenient. I personally prefer the Windows viewer.
• Thank you for your HTML5 suggestion however needing to have fast internet connectivity able to support 1080p video raises a whole host of issues. We are currently focusing on improving the functionality of the iOS and Android apps to enable reliable streaming of the video without needing to download the files prior to viewing on the Smartphone. Windows mobile and Blackberry are changing so that they can support Android apps so at some point in the future you will be able to manage your Thinkware Dash Cam via most smartphones available on the market.

Its really good they are looking in to the 90 degree bends and dark sticky pads, I had kinda figured the LED would be on for that reason but for those of us that like our cars to remain discrete we shall just have to cover the light over with a bit of tape.

I'm not at all convinced that the SD card slot is as sound as they make out, everything mechanical has a "life span" in this case the manufacture of the slot will have tested the device and will only give it a certain number of uses before its likely to break, to say they because all the previous versions of this device were ok is also a little daft given that I believe almost all of those devices has access via a cable.

The "buy a mac" comment has pissed me off somewhat and makes be believe that the software on the PC is of little concern, the PC software is the most flaky part of this device to date, it routinely crashes, dodge scaling, missing features, not happy with this one!

As for android apps working on WP, that has not been confirmed yet, various APIs may not be supported. Its great they are trying to get android an ios working better, but the functionality is there to allow downloading from remote devices, there is no technical challenge in allowing windows to do this on a computer, yes WP is a slightly different matter but this is not rocket science either.

 

[jokiin]

something else will fail long before the SD slot wears out, not something I'd worry about

 

[Dee_82]

Dont get me wrong, the device functions very well, there are many aspects I like about it especially the quality of the video front and rear which was the primary reason I got this device.


I don’t use the Lane or collision warning systems, if drives are incapable of driving they shouldnt drive! I think a better option to add would be to warn cars who drive to close to the car in front, not just those who approach to fast, that would be really handy for some people esp if you could tie it in to the speed of the car, very few folk know about safe distances to drive and could easily be a major selling point.

Do you know the mechanical life of the SD card slot then? Roughly I mean!

Its a pure pain in the arse having to remove the card especially since I know the facility to download the video is built in to the device

 

[Graham Beale]

I had a reply to some suggestions ive made, have to say, I'm not overly happy

Haha, it looks like the engineering team has taken over customer service duties. Some of those responses made me laugh!

 

[jokiin]

Do you know the mechanical life of the SD card slot then? Roughly I mean!

10,000 times if it's a reasonable spec component, and I'd expect that it would be

Its a pure pain in the arse having to remove the card especially since I know the facility to download the video is built in to the device

pulling the card from the device would be preferable, you'll access files a lot quicker by putting the card in a reader into your PC

Korean playback software is typically pretty ordinary, I can't think of any that are outstanding in that respect

even if their responses are technically correct (not saying they all are) it's delivered with a bit of attitude which is not the way to talk to someone that spent good money to buy your product, I think anyway

 

[Dee_82]

10k is a decent number, and if that is the case then it sounds like it would be fine, I think the issue is because its such a small card, it really is a bit of a pain and every time I take it in or out I'm expecting something to snap!.

That Mac comment has got me fuming tho!

I think ill see if I can work out how the android app communicates with the devices, with a bit of luck it will be wide open to for us to use else where

 

[djsteve]

That Mac comment has got me fuming tho!

I'm a Mac user but I agree with graham-beale, the entire reply (especially the Mac comment) was unprofessional and likely sent directly by an engineer who got a little butt hurt seeing a bunch of "complaints." There is no way this should have cleared through customer relations. Was it signed? Did it come from an address that might identify the respondent? If so (perhaps even if not) I'd suggest forwarding to the company's relations department. They are currently making a big push outside of the Korea market and they need to do much better than that to avoid a bad image. I'm hopeful that this will be an isolated occurrence, as I've personally received much nicer replies on their Facebook page.

Regarding the Windows mobile support, I feel your pain having to remove the card every time. However, the reality is that Windows phones account for about 2% of the market, so many times it just doesn't work out financially to do the work to support it. Like I said above, I'm a long time Mac user and I've been in the same boat back when Apple accounted for less than 5% of all computers - it sucked to constantly find that software was either unavailable or seriously lacking compared to Windows.

As an engineer I can tell you that you don't need to worry about the card slot giving out, as the whole camera will likely experience a failure of some sort well before the contacts wear!

 

[jokiin]

engineers never respond to customers, this would come from someone in sales, forget customer relations, this in not a US company

 

[Tourman40]

With both the front and rear cameras installed for the F750, I have some criticisms to add:
1- Eliminate Korean messages on the screen
2- Sensitivity of the forward collision warning system and the parking modes are too great even at their lowest settings
3- Make extra mounts available to enable switching the unit from car to car
4- Develop a polaroid lens cover for the unit to cut down glare
5- The unit is far too sensitive to the make of SD card. I cannot get Lexars to work at all. Please make Thinkware SD cards available that are guaranteed to work (have them engineered to your specs)

Make no mistake; I love this unit as well as the H50 that I also own. But a great product can be improved further with customer feedback.

 

[Gael]

With both the front and rear cameras installed for the F750, I have some criticisms to add:
3- Make extra mounts available to enable switching the unit from car to car

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B00XLW6KFI

 

[boredom.is.me]

My complaint, this camera is useless if I can't use the data it acquires. That data is what I liked about it, but I'm finding out that I can't actually have that in the footage.

I already requested a return. I'll be getting one of the Garmin Virb. A friend of mine got it right after I got my F750. I don't think the picture is as good, but it's a worthy compromise considering I can overlay speed, location, g-forces, throttle input, brake input, rpm, altitude, angle...the list doesn't end.

I fail to see how Thinkware won any awards. I'm wondering if they are just awards that no one actually cares about...

 

[Dee_82]

The camera is good, but I've yet to get anything close to a positive response from their customer service, so much potential. The video software continues to disappoint, apparently the only solution is to buy a Mac.

Speed overlay Would also be nice. Not sure what else to try tbh, are they doing anything or are they just not listening

 

[liuping]

4- Develop a polaroid lens cover for the unit to cut down glare

There is a third party polarizer available here: http://www.edr-auto.fr/shop/thinkware/104-polarizer-filter-thinkware-f750.html

 

[RocketRancher]

Perhaps not a flaw, but an uncertainty: Are the hood guidelines visible in the live view supposed to be manually-positionable or are they only "automatically calibrated" while underway? The legend in live view implies they can be dragged into position but the manual only speaks of automatic calibration (which, btw, does a bad job of finding hood-center, so I guess there is a flaw here)

Otherwise, I, too, have fed back to ThinkWare expressing wishes to selectively disable the audibles and for speed and heading to be added to the video recordings, independent of the viewer app.

 

[qmantran]

Am i the only one that doesn't get any audio when viewing the videos over wifi on my phone? Even if i download the video directly to my phone i get no audio.

If i put the SD card into my note 10.1 2014 edition it tells me there is a audio codec error.

My phone is a galaxy S6

But there is audio when viewing the videos on the computer

 

[wotor]

Hi everybody
My complaints:
1. Lack of windows phone app (i don`t have android or iOS device)
2. Dashcam restarts randomly (SD card problem? I`m using Samsung EVO 64GB 10 class) without any warning*
3. Sometimes during powering on i hear "SD card Error" few times then after few restarts everything works fine*
4. Annoying warning every few weeks "regularly format your SD card"
5. They should update more often "Speed Cam Data"

*problems 2 and 3 occurred after i installed rear camera

 

[jokiin]

I'd try a different card

 

[-Pizdys-]

I've got F750 (front and rear), build quality is very high, but some firmware improvements will be helpful...:

RED - important
GREEN - good if is possible...


1) blinking LED when camera recording- will be very useful...
2) Is it possible to setup time for WiFi on (in not use)? is quite annoying when WiFi switch off after about 3min when is not in use...
3) is it possible to record and stream live picture at the same time?
4) looks like 128GB memory works fine (samsung evo 128GB, ADATA 128GB, Kingston 128GB- all OK) ...but currently camera allocate by % how much space will be left for emergency recording files etc, so looks like is 30-40% of total memory is not in use at all....nice if user can setup by % how much will be allocate for "other files"
5) is will be grate if user can decide how big will be 1 video segment, so far is just 1 min. per file... 1/3/5/10min in setting will be great.
6) L shape connector for USB camera (that front <->rear one), even short adapter is good....
7) is it possible switch off rear camera LED light or i need to cover it?
8) is it possible manually add Speed Camera location? so far no false alarms and all cameras recognized fine, but everything can happen (this is not important but if is easy to do....)


however, the camera is very solid as for dual channel dash-cam,
picture and build quality is no.1 in the market in my opinion (for today 03/12/2015)....
well done Thinkware!