New G1W look alike from eBay that is too good to be true.

[upsss]

I just receive a new G1W look alike from HK for $9.00 including shipping. The eBay listing looked very legit except that nowhere it said it is a G1W. All pictures and specs looked like any other G1W including a Novatek NT 96650 processor. I knew it sounded too good to be true and I was curious, knowing that I would be able to get my money back if not true, I ordered it anyway.

The dashcam arrived in the standard orange box including an HDMI cable. The orange box had a backed-in layer of dust on it. The included mount didn’t fit the dashcam, I had another mount that did fit. I fully charged the battery and it looks like the battery is dead, it holds charge for about 60 second only. The dashcam records in full HD .MOV format with poor quality, possible out of focus, see picture. RTC doesn’t keep correct time, after 24 hours of being off it loses about 2 hours. All setup menus look almost identical to the menus I have seen online, except 2 entries which I never seen on any G1W, see picture. LDWS and FCWS looks like stands for Lane Departure Warning System and Forward Collision Warning System, these two functions are available on fancier dashcams and I have no idea how they work or if they do anything on this dashcam. No mention of these functions in the included user’s manual which looks worse than the standard crappy G1W manual. The eBay listing stated a 170 degree viewing angle, but the manual states only 120 degrees. The manual states 4X zoom but on the dashcam you can set only 2X.

After complaining to the vendor, I finally received a full refund. I intend to open the dashcam replace the battery, figure out the RTC problem, try to fix the focus and find out what kind of processor it uses. The Version listen on the menu is WDF20150615 so it looks like a relative new version and it had one of these hologram stickers that said WDF 2016, whatever that means. I don’t know if this dashcam is from a defective batch or what. If they would have said, “defective dashcam” I think they still would have been able to sell it for $9.00 without people complaining and getting their money back. BTW, they are all “sold out”.

I am curious if anyone knows anything about this Dashcam.

 

[Mtz]

A person which want to be sure that his dashcam is always recording a good quality FullHD video, even he will start by buying a $9 dashcam will end with an ~$75-$100 dashcam.
If you are a G1W series fan maybe is better to wait a little for a G1W with a Sony sensor for under $70. A $9-$25 dashcam will always create problems and in the end will be lost money because you will buy something better in short time. Buying a good camera from the start will make you wait about 2 years to buy a new and even better dashcam.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[jokiin]

don't think they have an RTC battery on these, will just be the dead battery that is the problem, replace that and it will probably work ok

 

[SawMaster]

Being Christmas-poor ATM but wanting a 4th cam for my van I ordered an "Original G1W" on the cheap from GB. About $27 IIRC but claiming a NT96650 processor. I don't expect much from it- if it lasts till springtime I'll be happy enough as I'll have better replacement cams by then. As a side cam (or a secondary cam) it should do OK but I'd never chance it as a primary cam. Just a "toy" for me to play with rather than a serious cam I'm still impressed with my 2 G1W-HC's for about $10 more each; they're looking like a real bargain a couple months into using them

Blame it on "Old 45/70" and his trying out some of the super-cheap cams then telling us about them here. It's an area almost nobody else goes into and perhaps there are at least a few cheap cams worthy of their price (even if that isn't saying a lot of good for them compared to what decent cams do!)

Phil

 

[Bungus]

Even "Old 4570" cannot beat @upsss purchase of $9.00 and full refund.

 

[upsss]

don't think they have an RTC battery on these, will just be the dead battery that is the problem, replace that and it will probably work ok

I just ordered a new replacement battery, I didn't expect a separate battery for the RTC, but I don't understand why it doesn't keep proper time. The battery dies after a minute of fully running the dashcam but but is should have plenty power to run just the RTC for a couple of days with the thing off, there may be something wrong with the circuit.

 

[jokiin]

if the battery only runs for a minute it's near death already, will still self deplete and you'll lose the time, new battery should sort things out as long as nothing else has failed with it

 

[upsss]

Thanks johiin, as you can tell I am new here but I already found out that you have been here for a long time and it looks like you know your stuff.

I am curious what do you think about the LDWS and FCWS settings on this unit. Is it for real and did you ever seen them before on this type of dashcam.

 

[jokiin]

those features are a gimmick at best, a major annoyance at worst, try them if you want but you'll end up turning them off, everyone does

 

[Edgardo]

At least the signal lights, red and yellow in the picture, appear as the colors they are, not as white spots.

 

[upsss]

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/another-inferior-quality-processor-on-a-g1w.25814/
See the internal pictures of this "G1W" and its inferior processor.

 

[acvegas]

I just receive a new G1W look alike from HK for $9.00 including shipping. The eBay listing looked very legit except that nowhere it said it is a G1W. All pictures and specs looked like any other G1W including a Novatek NT 96650 processor. I knew it sounded too good to be true and I was curious, knowing that I would be able to get my money back if not true, I ordered it anyway.

The dashcam arrived in the standard orange box including an HDMI cable. The orange box had a backed-in layer of dust on it. The included mount didn’t fit the dashcam, I had another mount that did fit. I fully charged the battery and it looks like the battery is dead, it holds charge for about 60 second only. The dashcam records in full HD .MOV format with poor quality, possible out of focus, see picture. RTC doesn’t keep correct time, after 24 hours of being off it loses about 2 hours. All setup menus look almost identical to the menus I have seen online, except 2 entries which I never seen on any G1W, see picture. LDWS and FCWS looks like stands for Lane Departure Warning System and Forward Collision Warning System, these two functions are available on fancier dashcams and I have no idea how they work or if they do anything on this dashcam. No mention of these functions in the included user’s manual which looks worse than the standard crappy G1W manual. The eBay listing stated a 170 degree viewing angle, but the manual states only 120 degrees. The manual states 4X zoom but on the dashcam you can set only 2X.

[QUOTE

I also got burned from this same person to off of eBay (from China) a few weeks ago; I ordered two. Very POOR quality video with lots of "video noise". Before purchasing this piece of crap. I have an identical looking car cam from a totally different eBay seller I purchased about two years ago. The video quality from my older car cam is excellent; true clear HDTV. At that time I got it for $30 (eBay). It's still working with no problems. But this eBay seller is no longer selling car cams.

How can you tell the good car cams from the poor video quality car cams on eBay?

 

[SawMaster]

There are a few known good and recommended sellers on Ebay- it's a gamble with the rest. Asking the right questions can help, such as which chipset is used or what the firmware version is If true and honest answers are forthcoming you can get a handle on what you should expect with that information.

The big problem is that many sellers will repeat what they were told without checking it out, or won't answer the questions, or will lie to get the sale knowing that a lot of people won't ask for a refund. And a lot of sellers get closed down only to open another account and do their evil deeds again and again

Personally I don't Ebay any more if I can find what I'm seeking elsewhere. In it's original concept it was a great marketplace but now it simply stinks in comparison, especially for the smaller sellers it was intended to promote and serve I can get cheaper prices and better service elsewhere so that's what I do.

BTW, the G1W I ordered was a fake with a GP chipset, but I knew it was risky buying since they didn't advertise chipset specs and they lied about the video format which turned out to be .avi But knowing the seller and the risks with them I'm not complaining. I got what I paid for and it works good enough for me

Phil