1 Week Review of WF1
Pretty pleased with the performance after using it for a few days now. The night/low light quality is quite impressive. I'm using the high setting for night time mode and +0.5 on the exposure setting. There is a transition point that is quite obvious when the expanded dynamic range kicks in at low light just before dusk - In reviewing the videos, I noticed it come on/off in low light when I would turn towards the setting sun versus away from it (depends how the light hits the sensor, I guess).
We've had all overcast days, so I haven't seen whether the +0.5 setting washes out the image too much during a bright sunny day (it's also pretty much dark in the morning/evening when I go to and from work).
The camera has a bit of a problem adjusting to almost all-white (snow) conditions, tends to wash out the image just a bit since there really isn't much to focus on. The colour/contrast of the images is not quite as good under this situation as well. Nothing major though.
There was a bit of judder in the image, so I've really tightened down the connection and that seems to have solved that for now.
I've been taking the WF1 out of my car when I get to work in the morning (yesterday we had a high temp of -28 C with below -30 C in the morning hours) because I don't want it sitting in extreme cold for 8 hours. I'm not sure the internals have been designed for that. Since I park in a heated underground space overnight, that isn't an issue.
I like the auto WiFi off feature, I have it set for 3 minutes auto off, which gives me enough time to play with any settings that I might like to change before I start driving. That was a good idea. I've left the LED on since I can't see it, and the voice volume at medium seems OK to me.
Also, shout out to Alex at BlackBoxMyCar, who helped me through the WiFi connection issues I was having. He provided timely support and suggestions to me, which was appreciated.
This morning, the camera did not power up when I started the car. Couldn't figure it out. Finally just held down the button for about 8 seconds and that seemed to reset it. Adjusted the settings back to my liking and all is good. I think what happened is I pulled the adapter too quickly during shut down and maybe surged it. I'll have to watch that.
So far, no really interesting video captures yet. Taking it on the highway this weekend for a small trip, so we'll see how that goes.
Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase.
PS - On the legality of using it in my province (Manitoba), I contacted the government run car insurance company (we have no private insurance) to ask, and they wouldn't comment directly. They mentioned it would depend what I wanted to do with the video, who I was recording, etc (maybe privacy concerns). They also pointed to a traffic bylaw that prohibits anything in your car that blocks a 180 degree view out the front windshield. So, it is actually illegal to hang anything from your mirror or mount anything on your dash in my province since they would block part of your view. But, since my WF1 is directly behind the rear view mirror and I can't see it, I should be OK on that front. They also tried to suggest operating a hand held electronic device in the car might be against certain bylaws, but I don't think this is an issue really. The definition of hand held device is quite broad, but doesn't meet the criteria of a mounted camera that has no display or e-mail/text features.