Mobius Actioncam vs Mini 0801

[salatoimikud]

Hey,

I want to buy this month new car dvr.
Choosing between mobius and mini 0801.

I know that mobius have some heating problems. But price is very good and video quality very good with that price.

But mini thread is 72 pages long. That too much to read, so few questions.
1. Is there are any problems with that?
2. Anyone have share raw video. Youtube videos dosnt tell much.

 

[niko]

Hey,

I want to buy this month new car dvr.
Choosing between mobius and mini 0801.

I know that mobius have some heating problems. But price is very good and video quality very good with that price.

But mini thread is 72 pages long. That too much to read, so few questions.
1. Is there are any problems with that?
2. Anyone have share raw video. Youtube videos dosnt tell much.

Unfortunately 0801 and Mobius are not that great at night. At least they loosing other NT96650 + AR0330 + WDR based dash cameras.

Some of my side by side tests involving Mobius

Mobius RAW video files you may find from my tests:
Lens APERTURE F1.6 vs F2.8 ? Mobius vs LS300W vs Panorama2

Daytime test for mobius:
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/mobius.1303/page-13#post-27914 ( post 255 and 256 )

post 262 :
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/mobius.1303/page-14#post-27974

Below is test of what could be best dash camera 70-100usd:
4x dash cam video test: Dod "neutral" VF300W vs LS300W, LS650W, DL-5

 

[Mtz]

Mobius will be better because of next firmware releases.
DVR 0801 will be better because of a new product inside the same case.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Yeah the NEW revised mini 0801 is good to go. (any firmware equal to or greater than 09132013)
A next generation 0801 is in the works rumored to have WDR (better night vision) and should be out by December.

 

[BobDiaz]

The more I research this the more I realize that the "ideal" car camera doesn't exist. Everything seems to be a trade-off and you just have to decide what trade-off best fits you needs.

Mobius is a nice camera in many ways, but the heat issue does cause some doubt if there will or won't be long term problems. Adding an external heat sink will help, but as of now, no one can say how much or how little it will help and maybe adding a heat sink is unnecessary. All the worry over excessive heat may be for nothing. However, adding a larger external heat sink will never hurt.

The Mini 0801 is also a nice camera, but I've read about some firmware issues. The Mini 0801 does output the video files as xxx.TS I haven't tested the files on my Windows 7 PC, but some of the programs on my MAC do not like the xxx.TS format. The Toast conversion program on my MAC does convert the file to a format that is more useful to me.

IF you can hold off a month or two or three, you can see what changes are coming to both. However, if you have to decide now, you'll need to make a list of pros and cons of each model and decide from there.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Wow we (0801 owners) finally have our OWN Mini 0801 section in the Forum as of today.

You're right, the
Smallest Ambarella Car DVR a.k.a. Mini 0801
thread was getting out of control. (72 pages!)

It's time everyone starts new Threads on specific questions etc.
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?forums/mini-0801.37/

P.S. The mini 0801 only records in .TS on older firmwares. It uses .MOV now.

 

[OldGoat]

I would like to add that the 0801 I have received from e-prance last week with firmware 20130903 has been working without any recycle problems. I am using a 32g SanDisk microSDHC Class 4 card, it has been filled for the last 3 days recycling fine so far. I am using the 3 minute recycle setting.

 

[Lowen]

I have had my 0801 for 4 days now, it was supplied by Givoe and came with firmware 20130913 and seems to be completely stable, recording and overwriting old files. Seems to be well made and is wonderfully small and inconspicuous when installed. I also have 3 x Mobius action cams and these are brilliant little dash cams but of course no GPS which is why I purchased the 0801.
The video performance of both these camera's is far superior to that of my Blackvue 400 that I have had for nearly 2 years now.

Roger

 

[Jaranson]

After my 500 word ramblings Mtz sums it up in two sentences. .....

I can also sum up the entire Bible in one sentence: "be excellent to each other!"

 

[jokiin]

The more I research this the more I realize that the "ideal" car camera doesn't exist. Everything seems to be a trade-off and you just have to decide what trade-off best fits you needs.

.

I suspect this will always be the case, there's no one size fits all solution

 

[jokiin]

If FW 20130913 is so stable, whats the consequent revisions for?

there are different hardware versions, the revisions are not necessarily because of changes or bugfixes but different versions depending on the hardware version in use, that's why interchangeability is a problem, get your firmware from your vendor to make sure it matches your hardware

 

[Jaranson]

I hate to correct you, but thats from the writings of Bill and Ted.

where else would it be from? Party on, dudes!

 

[niko]

Mobius will be better because of next firmware releases.
DVR 0801 will be better because of a new product inside the same case.

enjoy,
Mtz

Mobius reacted on need of new firmware to improve video quality after my side by side tests with LS300W. Before that they were very conservative co-operating with "us" in RCGroups forum as you know yourself, where TF always tried to "push you out" of there with non-RCgroups related questions. Wish mobius would be more non-RCgroups concentrated and listen to others, MORE potential users than small market of rcgroups. Hope after isoprop joined DCT, - there will be more changes that will lead mobius being more universal camcorder, than rather only one narrow group concentrated.

 

[BobDiaz]

niko,

Any rough estimate on when the new updates are coming? 1 month, 2 months , 3 months, ... ????

 

[russ331]

Hey,

I want to buy this month new car dvr.
Choosing between mobius and mini 0801.

I ended up with the same shortlist as you, mainly because my number one priority is the smallest, most discrete, dashcam that I could fit & forget without worry of it being noticed by opportunist thieves.

Ultimately I decided against the 0801, partly because I don't want anything fixed to the windscreen, as it attracts unwanted attention, even if the fixing is a small pad. Also, I didn't like the hardware variations, the firmware issues, the hypersensitivity to card specification &, after studying many, many clips I'm convinced that video quality is not quite as good as Mobius by day or by night, but especially at night.

Here's a couple of 'raw' video clips I've taken with the Mobius at the lowest of it's 3 quality settings, using a 3 year old, unbranded, Class 4 card...

https://mega.co.nz/#!FB9nDZJa!G4fUX0UXj12GiI5YVxlfIF5jJgEmmUxHjRYH9iXJThU

https://mega.co.nz/#!dJMVRAhC!ICKNnz5xJbF1_JOgZ5a7QW41oh9tur5xIX5XAC-Fpjw

As you live in Estonia, you're not like likely to be troubled by Mobius heat issues for a while. If leaving the car parked out of the shade on hot summer days, it would be prudent to take the Mobius with you when you get out of the car, otherwise it's battery may fry if the interior's temperature exceeds about 47 degC.

Regular Mobius firmware updates will make it better & better over time. It's night video quality may further improve, as it's hardware spec is very similar to dashcams with currently slightly better performance, the difference being down to firmware.

You have a choice of two good quality, 7-element Japanese lenses. It's internal battery lasts 80 minutes between charges, so you have the option of using it's action cam capabilities if you feel the urge.

I've only had my Mobius a short while but, so far, it's been a hassle-free experience, & I still find it hard to believe that a camera the size of a small pack of TicTacs can produce such good quality video.

 

[russ331]

niko,

Any rough estimate on when the new updates are coming? 1 month, 2 months , 3 months, ... ????

Isoprop posted this earlier...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26376189&postcount=3766

Note that the question was raised by someone who couldn't actually be bothered to find the most up to date firmware version, which is v0.47

Edit. Just noticed that Tom Frank posted this today...

"Another FW update release should be posted later today with some interesting new features and bug fixes, but the Step 2 FW Upgrade which will have the user toggles for WB and other image quality adjustments is still a work in progress. It will be posted here for download when it's fully tested and ready... not before."

 

[niko]

niko,

Any rough estimate on when the new updates are coming? 1 month, 2 months , 3 months, ... ????

russ331 found correct answer.

Some time I have a feeling that there is a big mess inside Mobius.
After growing that big as they are now, with such a huge back-round history of 808, with relatively big success in mobius sales, - managers still struggle to push programme developers to work harder to meet end customer needs. I do not talk about hardware changes as we have proposed in Mtz opened thread, I am talking about much simpler stuff like firmware.
I totally understand if it would be slow selling product with very little demand, where profits are not generated, but commooon, Mobius, you got your share / earnings from thousands units sold, - now please push harder your engineeres / developers team so we ( end customers ) could be happy with a product.
I like Mobius as a concept in present form, it has huge potential if marketing and engineering department would work together as a team.

 

[russ331]

In my imagination, the Mobius is the creation of a one-man-band perfectionist, with the assembly work contracted-out to a factory local to the developer.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Street Guardian USA]

As posted in this new thread:
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/mini-0801-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly.2746/

Mini 0801
LIKE:
-It's tiny enough to fit behind the rear view mirror and not attract too much attention to it from outside. (smash and grabs)
-Building on my first point, I can't even see the DashCam at all while driving, completely blocked by the rear view mirror. (nice)
-Even though it's tiny, it still has a play back screen! (amazing)
-The GPS is built into the base, no need to run a long wire and separate GPS antenna.
-The price is right, any full featured best bang for the buck DashCam needs to be around $100 in my opinion.
-@17Mbps the video quality is mighty nice in such a small package!
-Auto Exposure Control is very smooth driving through shadows etc. (instant, natural looking)

Mini 0801
Don't Like:
-I don't like that they have so many hardware revisions and confusing firmwares out there. (that's what happens when too many cooks are in the kitchen)
-It's a race to the bottom with this low price DashCam's (enabling the last point I just made)
-I had to return my first one from dead pixels and incompatible hardware to use the latest and greatest fixed firmware.
(They (e-prance) paid for my return shipping at least!)
-The instructions are confusing that it says not to use Class 10 cards, yet all the re-sellers are bundling Class 10 cards for sale.
-The Night recordings are "acceptable" but I'd really like to see WDR/HDR
-The Mono audio should be mixed mode, but they instead made it record as 2-channel stereo all in the left speaker. (hardware bug apparently)

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Maybe we should just put the Mobius and 0801 in a candle lit room and put on some romantic music and pour a class of wine and see what happens........

If they shove a Novatek NT96650 inside the body of the 0801 it's possible to have WDR!
It's possibly in the works, have a read here:
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index....ra-gs608-120-degree-wide-angle-g-senser.2738/