raqball
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2017
- Messages
- 173
- Reaction score
- 84
- Location
- Washington State
- Country
- United States
- Dash Cam
- BlackVue 750X Plus
My Thinkware F800 review:
A little about myself. My 1st dash cam was back in 2010 and it was a VIO 1.5 Moto in car camera system. The system had a small flashlight sized camera that was mounted to my rearview mirror and DVR type box with a screen that was mounted elsewhere. This system was compact, discrete but was very pricey (it was like $600 back in 2010). It had a few faults like no loop recording, no auto recording start and no parking mode. I did not use the camera on a steady basis as the card constantly needed to be formatted (no loop recording) and I’d always forget to start recording.
Fast forward to 2017 and I was looking for a new camera. I originally got a Garmin Dash Cam 45 and hardwired it into my Audi A3. The camera developed an issue and needed to be returned. Overall the Garmin was a fine camera but during my use of it, I realized I wanted something without a screen and something that would give me ability to add a rear camera later on down the line.
After a lot of research I decided on the Thinkware F800. Why not the F800 Pro? Well a few reasons. I got the F800 on sale (price match) for $224 which is a full $100 less than the Pro. I do not need, nor would I use, the Pro’s cloud feature and I don’t need extended parking mode. The only upgrade the Pro offered me, that I had interest in, was the 128GB card size and that was not worth paying $100 more for.
Okay, now onto my brief review of the Thinkware F800..
I picked it up locally at Best Buy and also purchased the Thinkware hardwire kit. Hardwiring it was a breeze and was done while I was removing the Garmin Dash Cam hardwire kit. All in all it took me about 45 minutes to get the old wire removed and the Thinkware hardwire installed. I ran it alongside the mirror mount in my Audi A3 and used the included wire clips (see photos). Then into the headliner and across to the driver side a-pillar. Down the pillar to the fuse box.
The camera was mounted on the passenger side of the rearview mirror mount with the camera’s body touching up against the mirror mount. The camera lens extends a bit from the camera body so mounting this way almost puts the camera lens dead smack centered on my windshield. See photos for a visual view of how I have it mounted.
After hardwiring and installing I connected the camera to my Google Pixel 2 phone via WiFi then connected via Hotspot to my phone. After connecting it as a hotspot I was alerted to a firmware update, which I ran. The Firmware update took about 5 minutes to download, install and update. Once that was all done I set the camera up.
For my usage, I don’t need or want the lane departure warnings nor do I want the front collision warnings so I turned them off. I live in California and there are red light cameras everywhere so I turned that feature on, and it works great!
The red light camera alerts worked great. In my driving since I installed it I’ve came across about 10 red light cameras and the unit has alerted me everytime to them. You get spoken text about 1/10 of a mile away and then a ding sound when you reach the intersection.
The Thinkware app is fantastic! It’s night and day better than the Garmin Virb app that I used with my Garmin Dash Cam 45. The app connects every time to phone, it’s fast to load live view and it’s fast to download video clips. Overall I am very impressed and pleased with their app.
I have parking mode turned on but only for impact and I have it set to only record / be active for 6 hours. I do not need parking mode when at home and the 6 hour setting time frame works for when I am out and about and parked in public places. I am retired and do not work so if someone does then maybe the 12 hour setting would be best so you’d be covered while parked at work.
Video from the camera is more than sufficient. I don’t see the need to read plates from cars 2 lanes over when traveling at highway speed. My reasons for wanting a camera are for parking mode and to capture an incident if I am involved in an accident. I understand some are obsessed with camera quality and they’d like to see the nose hair of the other driver but that’s not me. All I need is for the camera to clearly capture what happened before, during and after the incident and the F800 camera quality will do that just fine.
Pros:
--Discrete
--Well built
--Support (I actually called them about the WiFi light listed in my cons)
--Price is reasonable
--Video quality
--Capacitor
--Ability to add rear camera later
Cons:
--WiFi light blinks non stop (I had a passenger in my car and they complained about it)
--30 FPS -- Should really offer 1080p @ 60 FPS considering the price of the camera
--SD card sized limited to 64GB. Not an issue now but will be if I add a rear camera
I called Thinkware to inquire about the WiFi flashing light. They said I was the 1st person ever to complain about it but I find that hard to believe. My front seat passenger said it was a distraction and since it constantly blinks, it was drawing her attention to it the entire time she was in my car. I asked them if the function could be reversed. Steady light when in record mode and flashing when connected and was told they’d forward the request up the chain. Can’t complain as my phone call was answered within one minute of dialing, the rep was friendly and overall I ended the call with a sense of good customer support.
Overall I am very happy with the purchase. I will be adding a rear camera at some point. The video is crisp and clear from the unt. I have no problems reading plates in parking mode, I have no problems reading plates during city driving and I can read plates at highway speed as long as the other vehicle is close.
I ordered a CPL for the camera to cut back on windshield glare from DashCamBros so I’ll report back after it arrives and I’ve tried it out. I am using a Samsung EVO Plus 64GB card in the camera and have not experienced any issues at all using this card.
Photos of my install location:
Car = Audi A3
Exterior Views:
View from drivers seat:
Wire guide view: (the wire is to thick to fit inside the mirror housing)
Nothing fancy video footage: (crappy weather)
A little about myself. My 1st dash cam was back in 2010 and it was a VIO 1.5 Moto in car camera system. The system had a small flashlight sized camera that was mounted to my rearview mirror and DVR type box with a screen that was mounted elsewhere. This system was compact, discrete but was very pricey (it was like $600 back in 2010). It had a few faults like no loop recording, no auto recording start and no parking mode. I did not use the camera on a steady basis as the card constantly needed to be formatted (no loop recording) and I’d always forget to start recording.
Fast forward to 2017 and I was looking for a new camera. I originally got a Garmin Dash Cam 45 and hardwired it into my Audi A3. The camera developed an issue and needed to be returned. Overall the Garmin was a fine camera but during my use of it, I realized I wanted something without a screen and something that would give me ability to add a rear camera later on down the line.
After a lot of research I decided on the Thinkware F800. Why not the F800 Pro? Well a few reasons. I got the F800 on sale (price match) for $224 which is a full $100 less than the Pro. I do not need, nor would I use, the Pro’s cloud feature and I don’t need extended parking mode. The only upgrade the Pro offered me, that I had interest in, was the 128GB card size and that was not worth paying $100 more for.
Okay, now onto my brief review of the Thinkware F800..
I picked it up locally at Best Buy and also purchased the Thinkware hardwire kit. Hardwiring it was a breeze and was done while I was removing the Garmin Dash Cam hardwire kit. All in all it took me about 45 minutes to get the old wire removed and the Thinkware hardwire installed. I ran it alongside the mirror mount in my Audi A3 and used the included wire clips (see photos). Then into the headliner and across to the driver side a-pillar. Down the pillar to the fuse box.
The camera was mounted on the passenger side of the rearview mirror mount with the camera’s body touching up against the mirror mount. The camera lens extends a bit from the camera body so mounting this way almost puts the camera lens dead smack centered on my windshield. See photos for a visual view of how I have it mounted.
After hardwiring and installing I connected the camera to my Google Pixel 2 phone via WiFi then connected via Hotspot to my phone. After connecting it as a hotspot I was alerted to a firmware update, which I ran. The Firmware update took about 5 minutes to download, install and update. Once that was all done I set the camera up.
For my usage, I don’t need or want the lane departure warnings nor do I want the front collision warnings so I turned them off. I live in California and there are red light cameras everywhere so I turned that feature on, and it works great!
The red light camera alerts worked great. In my driving since I installed it I’ve came across about 10 red light cameras and the unit has alerted me everytime to them. You get spoken text about 1/10 of a mile away and then a ding sound when you reach the intersection.
The Thinkware app is fantastic! It’s night and day better than the Garmin Virb app that I used with my Garmin Dash Cam 45. The app connects every time to phone, it’s fast to load live view and it’s fast to download video clips. Overall I am very impressed and pleased with their app.
I have parking mode turned on but only for impact and I have it set to only record / be active for 6 hours. I do not need parking mode when at home and the 6 hour setting time frame works for when I am out and about and parked in public places. I am retired and do not work so if someone does then maybe the 12 hour setting would be best so you’d be covered while parked at work.
Video from the camera is more than sufficient. I don’t see the need to read plates from cars 2 lanes over when traveling at highway speed. My reasons for wanting a camera are for parking mode and to capture an incident if I am involved in an accident. I understand some are obsessed with camera quality and they’d like to see the nose hair of the other driver but that’s not me. All I need is for the camera to clearly capture what happened before, during and after the incident and the F800 camera quality will do that just fine.
Pros:
--Discrete
--Well built
--Support (I actually called them about the WiFi light listed in my cons)
--Price is reasonable
--Video quality
--Capacitor
--Ability to add rear camera later
Cons:
--WiFi light blinks non stop (I had a passenger in my car and they complained about it)
--30 FPS -- Should really offer 1080p @ 60 FPS considering the price of the camera
--SD card sized limited to 64GB. Not an issue now but will be if I add a rear camera
I called Thinkware to inquire about the WiFi flashing light. They said I was the 1st person ever to complain about it but I find that hard to believe. My front seat passenger said it was a distraction and since it constantly blinks, it was drawing her attention to it the entire time she was in my car. I asked them if the function could be reversed. Steady light when in record mode and flashing when connected and was told they’d forward the request up the chain. Can’t complain as my phone call was answered within one minute of dialing, the rep was friendly and overall I ended the call with a sense of good customer support.
Overall I am very happy with the purchase. I will be adding a rear camera at some point. The video is crisp and clear from the unt. I have no problems reading plates in parking mode, I have no problems reading plates during city driving and I can read plates at highway speed as long as the other vehicle is close.
I ordered a CPL for the camera to cut back on windshield glare from DashCamBros so I’ll report back after it arrives and I’ve tried it out. I am using a Samsung EVO Plus 64GB card in the camera and have not experienced any issues at all using this card.
Photos of my install location:
Car = Audi A3
Exterior Views:
View from drivers seat:
Wire guide view: (the wire is to thick to fit inside the mirror housing)
Nothing fancy video footage: (crappy weather)
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