My Mobius 2 / M2

I'm using the cable that's supplied with the M1.
 
I'm using the cable that's supplied with the M1.
I'm afraid I don't have that cable to test, but I don't see why it shouldn't work. OTG is OTG. The only difference is in the quality and length of the cable.
Using my homemade 1 meter cable I can connect to my phone without a problem, but turn on the camera first and then connect the cable.
 
I had tested a shorter cable (25 cm) which is used for charging my phone but the result was no different. Will give it another shot with the M2 turned ON. Thanks
 
I have found that connecting to the M2 OTG is hit and miss, whereas the M1 connected every time. Sometimes my phone will not see the M2, other times it will connect for only a few seconds. Very frustrating for changing settings away from a computer.

When I ran my recent metering tests on the M2 I used a laptop in the car as I knew it would take so much longer OTG.
 
I have found that connecting to the M2 OTG is hit and miss, whereas the M1 connected every time. Sometimes my phone will not see the M2, other times it will connect for only a few seconds. Very frustrating for changing settings away from a computer.

When I ran my recent metering tests on the M2 I used a laptop in the car as I knew it would take so much longer OTG.
That indicates a connection problem somewhere. I can only suggest you try another cable. I doubt your charging cable is OTG, but maybe worth checking with a multimeter/ohmmeter if you are uncertain.
I have absolutely zero problems connecting the M2 to my phone.

If you have a few spare cards I would strongly recommend you prepare them with different syscfg2.txt files. Make sure to set the files to read-only so they don't get deleted when you update the camera.
This method enables you to set your pre-defined parameters very quickly without the need for any external equipment.
 

That indicates a connection problem somewhere. I can only suggest you try another cable. I doubt your charging cable is OTG, but maybe worth checking with a multimeter/ohmmeter if you are uncertain.
I have absolutely zero problems connecting the M2 to my phone.

If you have a few spare cards I would strongly recommend you prepare them with different syscfg2.txt files. Make sure to set the files to read-only so they don't get deleted when you update the camera.
This method enables you to set your pre-defined parameters very quickly without the need for any external equipment.

If the adaptor and cable is working with the M1, it should also work with the M2, unless there's a deeper undiscovered issue or the power draw requirements are different from the M1. Doesn't seem like an isolated issue with just my M2.

Multiple cards with the configuration file is an inconvenient workaround at best.
 
Sorry guys.. false alarm!

There seems to be an issue with my phone, as now it isn't connecting even with the M1. Tried using a different device and both the M1 and M2 turn-on and connect without a fuss.

OTG is working just fine! :)
 
Last edited:
If your phone is a Galaxy Note 7, please check it closely for flames as this cam is not fireproof :D :p

Phil
 
If your phone is a Galaxy Note 7, please check it closely for flames as this cam is not fireproof :D :p

Phil

HTC loyalist for a while now. Could never get myself to like Touchwiz.
 
I'm afraid I can't agree with your comment about a 'sad state' when the firmware was released. I agree that a lot of parameters were missing when the M2 was first released, but the M2 worked from the beginning and didn't prematurely turn off like some cameras still do after being on the market for over a year! What I call a 'sad state' is if a camera can't be relied on or the parameters can't be set correctly after many months on the market.

You have to remember that the M2 is completely different than any other camera of this type/size. It doesn't use a 'standard' DSP where all the developer needs to do is call a supplied library function in order to set a given parameter. The M2 firmware, which uses linux as it's OS, has had to be written entirely from scratch. Not something most developers can or want to do! Because of this, it took the developer a lot longer to develop the M2 than expected - it appeared almost a year too late. I know this delay was a big disappointment for a lot of people. I'm sure the developer would have liked to add more parameters before releasing the firmware, but the pressure form the groups and forums was too great.

Tom Frank has done an amazing amount of testing for these cameras, literally many thousands of hours in his free time and unpaid. None of the Mobius cameras would ever be as good as they are without all his work. But yes, you are right. Like me, he is not a 'real' dashcam user so his dashcam testing is limited.

The developer has been monitored these forums for a long time. One of the main reasons for choosing the image sensor was exactly because of the low-light requirements so often posted in these forums! Tests showed that the sensor used performs better than the Sony IMX206, used in similar cameras, in low light and way better with 1080p @60fps. The image quality from sub-sampling 16M pixels was not acceptable (artifacts, out of focus). The developer tested the IMX206 with both the NTK96660 and A7 but was not satisfied with the results.

You can be assured that the Mobius developer is trying to squeeze out the best low light video with the hardware available, but I don't think we should expect wonders with today's technology in this price segment.

Oh, all this new stuff about the LEDs being too bright - well, I'm pleased they are so bright. At last I can actually see them in sunlight. Having LEDs that could be dimmed would require more space on the already tiny board. But... a(nother) good idea.

I'm sure there are a lot of people on this forum who would provide feedback and testing in return for a free camera. That's not to say Frank doesn't. Just that some of us use car cams for every journey, and there are knowledgeable people on here who can pinpoint picture issues.

My own issue with the Mobius M2 (if it can be said I have one), is image quality./ Quite frankly, and I don't in any way mean to be rude by saying this, only be very honest and frank with my opinion, no-one buying a camera cares 1 jot about how much effort or development has gone into it or the firmware. All they care about is the price, image quality, reliability and user experience.

You can put a million hours into firmware development and hardware choice. However, if the camera delivers a poor quality picture, no-one is going to care 1 jot about your development.

At the end of the day, the camera is going to be judged mainly on it's image quality and from what I've seen posted and from what others have fed back, atm, it seems to me, in my opinion, that the M2 is worse in many situations than the M1 and terrible in low light. It also falls way behind the arguably the best cameras such as the Yi 4K, SJ pro etc. and in low light, even some much older dash cams.

On a car cam or action cam, quality is king and what people are seeking is Red Epic quality in a small car cam. The latter might not be achievable (yet). However, people are seeking something as close as possible and that inevitably means a razor sharp picture day and night with readable number plates and signs at distance, little to no macro blocking or compression artefacing (low compression / high data rate from a quality codec), a crystal clear lens that renders natural contrast with no misty effect, beautiful natural colours and low to no distortion especially around the edges. Perhaps no car cam has reached all of that yet. However, some are coming much closer than others. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, in my opinion, the M2 has some way to go to get close to the best of the rest in daylight and at night it's one of the poorest. Just my opinion though.
 
You are judging an unfinished product- even the manufacturer says there is more development to do. Most cam manufacturers don't upgrade their products; instead they introduce a new cam which forces you to buy a new one again and again to stay apace with the market. Mobius doesn't do things that way- they will in time fully develop the M2 until it's the best there is using that hardware. So you get to keep using their cam for years, buying only once instead of several times. I happen to like that approach. And they've stated the development might be slower than with the M1 because they're using a different approach to software programming with the hopes that it will allow them to develop the M2 even more completely than was possible with the M1.

So far, the criticisms of the M2 are mostly stating the obvious; actually most are just saying again what Mobius has already told us. I'm as impatient as everyone else. I'm as dissatisfied with the current IQ and night-time performance as everyone else. This cam isn't currently viable in the market it's aimed at, but when they're done I think it will be one of the the best cams around for it's crazy low price, which is something else I appreciate well. You can't really expect a <$100 cam to perform equally against one costing significantly more.

We're not going to get anywhere bashing Mobius or allowing our anger with the slow development to make itself another problem they have to contend with here. It will be better for all to simply state the problems, issues, and quirks you find in this cam here then try to work with Mobius to get them sorted out. As long as they're trying, we should try to be patient with them. If and when they stop trying then that will be an appropriate time to bash (and I'll join you then :eek: ). Look in the mirror and listen to yourself before you say things publicly and consider how your message will come across to the audience you're directing the words to. We can all do better and in doing that we will hopefully get what we want faster and in more quantity which will make everyone happy (and it makes you look better too) :cool:

Phil
 
You are judging an unfinished product- even the manufacturer says there is more development to do. Most cam manufacturers don't upgrade their products; instead they introduce a new cam which forces you to buy a new one again and again to stay apace with the market. Mobius doesn't do things that way- they will in time fully develop the M2 until it's the best there is using that hardware.

Phil

I will quibble a bit. An unfinished product is one that is not yet mature enough to be truly market ready. If the product was market ready it would be finished. I do accept that the M2 has solid engineering for its build. It is NOT reported as having problems with overheating, crashing, or just not working. If we could go forward in time 2 years I am sure we would see multiple firmware upgrades resulting in very good image quality. I am sure it would look much better than the M1 does now.

When I spend my $$$ on a product I expect it to work like it should out of the box. I do not expect to buy it now and then have to wait for 9 months to receive a software update that allows it to finally work like it should. Yes, I have the same gripe when it comes to computer programs including OS such as windows. I am not sure if the M2 should have waited longer for release. It does seem that when sold it should be with the clear explanation that it still requires future software upgrades that are necessary to get great video quality.

If I choose to buy something that I am told is a work in progress I am not disappointed. I knew going in what to expect. When I expect it to be great and it needs upgrades I have to wait endless months to happen that is what causes disappointment in the product. It is much better to buy a cam that firmware can fix instead of a cam that has physical defects.
 
I won't quibble that the M2 wasn't (and possibly still isn't) market-ready for the masses, but we here aren't the masses and we've known since it emerged that there was a lot more work needed before it was really ready. Yet still, some of us 'knowledgeable people' are being vociferous in debasing the product and the people developing it and we should know better than to be doing that. One in particular is much like "the pot calling the kettle black". Another develops cams themselves so should know what it's like to be sent angry words instead of hearing constructive criticism. Isn't the goal here to show what the cam is capable of (or not) and to try to make it better? I don't like seeing us stoop to bashing- we're better people than that.

Yes, the M2 deserves the criticism it's getting which is a fair assessment of it's current state. But that criticism can be done better and we should be considering that how we say things and what we say are being seen by the masses who we want to hear and respect those words. My complaint is not so much the "what" is being said as it is the "how". There's never a need to bash and your words are better heard and far more effective when you don't. Let's try to be the example of civility we want to see in others- we've got a pretty good record of doing that which is worth maintaining.

Nuff said; no more from me on this but only comments on the cam from here on.
Phil
 
I got a M2 pretty fast, and i think i have always been pretty standup about its performance, and providing YT and RAW footage for people to judge from them self.
Yeah so we first adapters is more or less beta testers, it cant be much different with these little companies.
Then again helping out we get to put a thumbprint on a product that people down the line will enjoy thanks to us.

But if you are a first time shopper, then it might be a good idea to steer clear of startup efforts like this.

PS. i dont seem to feel as bad about the M2 as other owners, but that just go to proof we are all different in what we know and want and see and hear and so on :)
 
You are judging an unfinished product- even the manufacturer says there is more development to do.....

If it is an unfinished product (your words not mine), it shouldn't be released to open market in all fairness. Talking generally and not about Mobius, if a manufacturer wants feedback, they should give their product to a handful of beta testers (possibly from on here) and ask them for feedback and develop it from there. No-one should be selling a product to people in an allegedly unfinished state. It's unfair to expect people to shell out hard earned cash for a product, if for example, it is allegedly promised to perform better than an existing product but is reportedly at least by some, performing worse. I would suggest that also potentially contravenes consumer laws in some countries with regards to representations and expected quality. You can't use the paying public as alpha and beta testers for an unfinished product. If the product performs well, by all means release it and develop it further. However, if it's not meeting minimum expectations or represented quality, it shouldn't be released until it is.

We're not going to get anywhere bashing Mobius or allowing our anger with the slow development to make itself another problem they have to contend with here. It will be better for all to simply state the problems, issues, and quirks you find in this cam here then try to work with Mobius to get them sorted out. As long as they're trying, we should try to be patient with them. If and when they stop trying then that will be an appropriate time to bash (and I'll join you then :eek: ). Look in the mirror and listen to yourself before you say things publicly and consider how your message will come across to the audience you're directing the words to. We can all do better and in doing that we will hopefully get what we want faster and in more quantity which will make everyone happy (and it makes you look better too) :cool:

Please re-read what I said above Phil.

I don't believe anywhere have I "bashed" Mobius. I gave them a quite honest, frank and polite opinion of the current state of things from my perspective and made it quite clear that was what I was doing. There was no "bashing" involved, just good honest feedback. Prior to that I gave what I consider to be a fair opinion that they may not be able to extract the low light performance they want from the chip they're using judging on current image feedback posted on here. Whether that turns out to be the case is another matter. But again it was good, honest polite feedback from an amateur, and an opinion. Sugar coating opinions doesn't help development. Honest and frank but kindly put feedback and opinions enables issues to be seen and development to progress.

I do agree with your comment in so far as wars of words between manufacturers go. Although I would suggest other manufacturers have a right to criticise a manufacturer who puts out an allegedly unfinished product for general sale, because if it turns out it is not market ready (I'm not saying that is the case here, I don't actually know and I'm talking generally), it potentially brings the whole industry into disrepute. However, my product is better than your product videos are another thing and to that end I like to see independent test comparisons to ensure that an even playing field with regards to settings is adhered to. I also don't think my product is better than yours arguments are productive. It's best left to the consumer to make comparisons and manufacturers to make more general claims such as on specs or through claims such as "In our tests our camera produced the best quality picture in the opinion of the independent test subjects polled". Then let the consumers pass judgement.
 
I got a M2 pretty fast, and i think i have always been pretty standup about its performance, and providing YT and RAW footage for people to judge from them self.
Yeah so we first adapters is more or less beta testers, it cant be much different with these little companies.
Then again helping out we get to put a thumbprint on a product that people down the line will enjoy thanks to us.

But if you are a first time shopper, then it might be a good idea to steer clear of startup efforts like this.

PS. i dont seem to feel as bad about the M2 as other owners, but that just go to proof we are all different in what we know and want and see and hear and so on :)
I, for one, am very appreciative of your raw footage of comparison videos. It's only with raw videos that were taken at the same time from the same position that true comparisons are possible.
There is absolutely no point in criticizing a camera's image quality if there's nothing to compare it to. You are one of the very, very few people who have made a real-world comparison.
I also believe it's constructive criticism to point out what one feels are the good points and the not-so-good points of the cameras involved. And I also believe one should be allowed to state his/her point of view or defend his/her point of view in a civilized manner. This way the manufacturers are made aware of what needs improving/fixing.
Personally, I would like to see many more comparison videos. Maybe when the next firmware version is released (50Hz/30fps issue fixed) would be a good opportunity? Like you said, people can then make their own judgements.
I take it comparison videos aren't too much off-topic in the M2 forum?
 
I will soon get other new cameras to compare to, i just need to get my hands on some video software so i can put them side by side in one video.
And i will get updated versions of my current cameras, so i will also be able to test side by side against something old - good and well proven.

I also wish i was able to afford a new windscreen for my car, but that i have to push right to the end of the list of things i need/want

If push come to shove i might be able to borrow my friends software, he got pinnacle studio ultra 20 some time ago, thats way better than movie maker or registrator viewer that i use now.
 
I too was an early M2 buyer - having enjoyed my M1 for 3 years - and was so disappointed with the M2 that I very nearly sent it back on day one. However I decided to give it a few more days, and found some things I really liked about it, plus a few more than I still don't. It was supposed to become my main dashcam, but I decided to buy a SG9665GC instead which is proving to be a better all-round camera at the moment.

I've taken to testing the M2, reporting issues as I find them, and looking for ways to get the best out of it. I'm enjoying testing the M2 alongside the GC and my old M1 to see what the M2 is good at, and where it can improve. I appreciate that's not for everyone, and understand why newcomers to Mobius could be annoyed if they feel they have bought an unfinished product. I'm working on making a few more comparison videos to better appreciate the advantages and shortcomings of the M2, in the hope that they will be useful to more people than just myself.
 
From what I understand, most people that currently own a M2 are more of enthusiasts that follow its development here and on RCG (judging by the sales at least) and know exactly what they were/are getting into. I don't think a regular customer looking for their first action cam or dash cam will be looking at the M2 to begin with.

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy a M2, video samples from users have been available since its release. If you don't like what you see, simply look elsewhere.

This thread was started with the intention of sharing and soliciting other M2 users (utilising the publicly released firmwares) to share their experience, feedback and videos; which could possibly go towards bettering the device and its performance.

A humble request - Please stop using this thread to bash the M2 and its developers.
 
Last edited:
Personally, I would like to see many more comparison videos. Maybe when the next firmware version is released (50Hz/30fps issue fixed) would be a good opportunity? Like you said, people can then make their own judgements.
I take it comparison videos aren't too much off-topic in the M2 forum?

I couldn't agree more and those who've posted them have done a great job. The only videos I'm not so keen on is when 1 manufacturer compares their product quality in video to another. There's no guarantee when that happens there's a level playing field and there's at least 1 video in another section of this forum that doesn't look quite how it should to me when I view separate videos from other sources from both cams. It could just be me, co-incidence or imagination. However, I think it's always a better comparison when enthusiasts make the videos independently and with total impartiality, and ensure the settings match.

A humble request - Please stop using this thread to bash the M2 and its developers.

I must be missing something because apart from a few manufacturer to manufacturer comments that some might regard as non-constructive, most people in this thread have provided genuine feedback. Without feedback, progress slows or stops. I'm personally all for people pointing out faults, provided it's done in the correct manner. All this talk of bashing, I find quite annoying. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen....
 
Back
Top