M2 Discussion

1. There is no ETA for firmware, might come out tomorrow, in a year or not at all.

2. New firmware doesn't guarantee anything, in fact it might even get worse.

I'm not saying its dead, but take all options into consideration.
I bought M2 since it has better specs and was hoping with a firmware update it will surpass the M1.
Now I am waiting for it.
 
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M1. There is no ETA for firmware, might come out tomorrow, in a year or not at all.

2. New firmware doesn't guarantee anything, in fact it might even get worse.

I'm not saying its dead, but take all options into consideration.
I bought M2 since it has better specs and was hoping with a firmware update it will surpass the M1.
Now I am waiting for it.

The Mobius 1 was introduced four years ago and received more firmware updates than virtually any other camera available until it achieved a remarkable level of performance along with features unavailable in any other camera. In the meantime the M1 received circuitry improvements on two different PCB revisions, an improved housing, a high capacity battery and new lens offerings. What more do you expect at this point?
 
It's all about the M2
Typing on cellphone didnt notice it had an M before the first point.

Mobius 1 is great for its price.
 
It's all about the M2
Typing on cellphone didnt notice it had an M before the first point.

Mobius 1 is great for its price.

OK, now it makes more sense. I thought you were talking about the M1 camera, especially since you used the term twice in your post.

Unfortunately, the M2 has serious shortcomings and I am very pessimistic at this point that the camera will ever live up to its promises.
 
The night time performance of the early firmware was abysmal; that much we know. What I was referring to was better apparent clarity and motion blur performance during the day with the early dual frame WDR firmware. Wish I had kept my examples but I tend to eventually purge stuff when I clone my drives for back-ups.
Daytime comparison still frames from last week's driving on v1.36 and v2.08.
The early v1.36 WDR has better dynamic range, but the foliage and texture detail is rather mushy. I think v2.08 is better all-round, with not a lot to choose between WDR on or off in these conditions.
By comparison, the GC looks softer, although it applies less sharpening than the M2 by default.

v2.08 1080p60 WDR on
MOBIUS0002083.mp4_20170502_130743.902.jpg
v2.08 1080p60 WDR off
MOBIUS0002082.mp4_20170502_130645.143.jpg
v1.36 1080p30 Dual-Frame WDR
MOBIUS0000002.mp4_20170502_130525.657.jpg
v1.36 1080p60 (no WDR)
MOBIUS0000004.mp4_20170502_130608.959.jpg

SG9665GC 1080p30 WDR on
2017_0426_175237_331.MOV_20170502_132255.879.jpg
 
My final v1.36 vs v2.08 comparison from last week, this time at dusk with just a little light left in the sky. Noise is controlled better in v2.08 than 1.36. Since the M2 is running at 60fps without frame-doubling, it exhibits less motion blur than the GC running at 30fps.

I've not tried the M2 on v2.08 at 30fps yet to see how that performs. In my previous M2 metering test with v2.03 last year I found a marked difference between 30fps and 60fps at night.

v2.08 1080p60 WDR on
MOBIUS0002088.mp4_20170502_133650.878.jpg
v2.08 1080p60 WDR off
MOBIUS0002087.mp4_20170502_133724.767.jpg
v1.36 1080p30 Dual-Frame WDR
MOBIUS0000012.mp4_20170502_133800.183.jpg
v1.36 1080p60 (no WDR)
MOBIUS0000013.mp4_20170502_133826.719.jpg
SG9665GC 1080p30 WDR on
2017_0426_201827_382.MOV_20170502_133935.703.jpg
 
The early v1.36 WDR has better dynamic range, but the foliage and texture detail is rather mushy.


Yes, that "mushy" appearance was ultimately the reason the dual frame WDR was abandoned. And as you point out, it is especially pronounced in foliage and textures. It's too bad they couldn't make it work better as the dual frame WDR was quite effective. I found this to be especially effective during the day when the camera would reveal details in the shadows, such as when driving past a wooded area far better than any other camera.

What I recall from some of my early tests that surprised me was that in a direct side by side comparison between the M2 using dual frame WDR and the GC was that the M2 often captured subtle details of oncoming cars (and the drivers) that the GC didn't.
 
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The current low light footage look like 3D noise reduction are off
 
Not in the settings we can mess around with, but i figure all cameras have some form of noise reduction going in the background.

On CCTV cameras you can mess with those.
 
I should have noted that the M2 image quality settings were not at default values when I did my latest tests.

I have Saturation +16, Sharpness +32, everything else at default. These will have an impact on the amount of noise in the recorded video.
 
I should have noted that the M2 image quality settings were not at default values when I did my latest tests.

I have Saturation +16, Sharpness +32, everything else at default. These will have an impact on the amount of noise in the recorded video.

Sadly, nothing in the settings will work to fix the inherent flaws with this camera. :(

I appreciate your enlightening efforts here @TonyM.
 
Always best with any model is judge it on what it offers at time of purchase, if improvements come that's a bonus, if it remains the same then nothing lost

I appreciate everyone's efforts here. Those who know cameras and are experienced with getting the most out of them have shown that the M2 isn't living up to anyone's expectations. Not a bad cam but not at all a good one, and no real reason anyone should buy it :eek:

I would have owned this cam but for a lack of $$ and honestly I would have been disappointed by it thinking it would develop better than it did. Jokin is right, and now that the money is available I'm not going to waste it one the M2. Worse is that now I'm not so sure about anything Mobius save for the original one where you know what you'll get and that there's nothing much more that can be done with it.

M3? Likely not until it has been well-proven simply because of what happened (or more correctly didn't happen) with the M2. My faith is shaken :(

Phil
 
I appreciate everyone's efforts here. Those who know cameras and are experienced with getting the most out of them have shown that the M2 isn't living up to anyone's expectations. Not a bad cam but not at all a good one, and no real reason anyone should buy it :eek:

I would have owned this cam but for a lack of $$ and honestly I would have been disappointed by it thinking it would develop better than it did. Jokin is right, and now that the money is available I'm not going to waste it one the M2. Worse is that now I'm not so sure about anything Mobius save for the original one where you know what you'll get and that there's nothing much more that can be done with it.

M3? Likely not until it has been well-proven simply because of what happened (or more correctly didn't happen) with the M2. My faith is shaken :(

Phil

The new King is Dead! Long Live the old King!
 
I am wondering how the new mobius mini are doing, don't hear much about those since launch.
 
I am wondering how the new mobius mini are doing, don't hear much about those since launch.

they're not suitable for dashcam use at all and very much just aimed at the RC crowd which I would think would make them much less of a topic here, from what I have seen they seem to be doing much better than the M2 is
 
I know, just vondering in general terms in regard to its IQ, but then i searched it on youtube and newest video was some guy velcroing his mobius mini to the front of his car :playful:
 
Anyone knows if theres anything in development? Any beta testers here?
 
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