OUMAX RV55HD-M Mirror Dash Camera - Review ( Part A )

[old4570]

Video information for the mirror cam

Video information for the rear cam

Product Link

Youtube Video





First Impression :

I have never used a mirror cam before and have always wondered . My car has to many cams to the left of the mirror ( camera is located on the left side of this mirror cam ) so I had to put it in my brothers car . Instillation was very easy , especially as the rear cam is powered from the mirror cam . Should you chose to activate / make active the reversing cam , you will need to tap into the reversing lights . Speaking of the rear cam , in normal use it is 480 resolution , it might revert to 720 when you use the cam as a reversing cam , but for normal use it is 480 . So , painless to install and the menu is very simple and easy to set up . I might have to say possibly one of the easiest cams I have set up . Now it actually looks like there might be GPS ? , I will have to try a GPS antenna / receiver and see if there actually is a functioning GPS . That will be latter .



Using the cam :

Once again very un challenging , I was a little surprised at just smoothly the install went . The rear cam particularly , just plug it in and route the cable to the back and use some double sided tape to fit the cam to the rear window . ( Sounds too easy - it actually was just that easy ) . There was plenty of cable , and if anything perhaps a little too much . ( Perhaps not as there are larger cars out there / vans / station wagons )

If you like you can have the video show on the mirror constantly or have it turn off ( video output ) so as not to bother you . Now I left it on to see just how much it might bother / distract . Nada - Nothing ! ( During the day ) . The video image vanishes as you drive and is barely noticeable as you drive and watch the traffic behind you . To see the video image in the mirror you really need to concentrate hard . So during the day , it was neither here nor there for me .

Installing and removing the micro SD card was not hard at all . Even with my short fingernails I was able to install and remove it . I would how ever have liked for the card to protrude ever so slightly for even easier insertion and removal . Maybe if the card stuck out 2mm it would make removal and insertion easy even for people with dexterity problems . ( Old people )



Video Quality :

With the resolution @ 2304 x 1296 and the bit rate at 8000kbs , I think the video is a good compromise for size VS quality . Though I can not help feel that this cam much like so many others I have tested is not focused quite at the sweet spot . ( To me it seems focused a little too close to the cam - near focus ) I would have liked to have seen the lens focused for infinity ( Focused further out ) . This is something I have seen with a lot of cams regardless of price and might be a case of pot luck . ( I may need to play to see if I can't improve the focus ) Now my brother does already run a mirror cam that is 1080 ( FHD ) and the video quality on the Oumax RV55HD-M is better than that of my brothers cam .

The rear cam @ 480 is a little disappointing but functional . ( Watch the video ) For some strange reason the rear cam is reversed making it look like I am driving in America (?)



Audio Quality :

I was pleasantly surprised , the audio is good ! Nothing worse than having a decent cam with bad audio , such is not the case here and the audio is good . Again I recommend watching the included video sample .





So Far :

Really easy to set up , no problems . Rear cam was easy to set up . Removing the Micro SD card is relatively easy . I will have to take it for a night time drive as well see if the cam actually has a functioning GPS . As well I will have to play with re-focusing the cam and see if I can improve the video quality . I would say the RV55HD is probably ideal for countries with left hand drive , here in Australia we are right side drive so it would have been better if the lens was located on the right side of the mirror cam . Over all I would have to say this is a well thought out package . I would have liked to have seen a higher resolution rear camera and better focus on the front cam and have the micro SD card protruding ever so slightly for even easier insertion and removal . Other than this , the Oumax RV55HD-M is pretty damned good .

So ends part A . ( Be back with part B )

 

[old4570]

Lets talk a little bit more about the cam . I had to set exposure to 3 as at 0 exposure value the captured video was some what dark , 3 seems to be the sweet spot for both day and night video . Power consumption is bellow one amp and the variable here would be the state of the internal battery . But I did use a powerbank with USB doctor and recorded :

0.81 to 0.83 amp with both front and rear cams running , pulling the rear cam ( un plugging ) power consumption was about 0.75 amp and with video recording turned off and playing with the menu power consumption was 0.5 amp .

Loops recording can be set to 1 - 2 - 3 or 5 minutes and delayed shut down can be 5 seconds 10 or 30 seconds ( or off ) . The screen saver ( video to screen is turned off ) can be set to 1 or 3 minutes or left off ( constant video output ) .

I have as yet not tested the variable - PAL vs NTSC . Sometimes with cams one is superior to the other so it pays to check it out . If you want to take a picture just push the down key while the cam is running , the up key changes the video output . You can have output ( to screen ) set to front cam only - front cam primary with rear cam secondary - rear cam only - rear cam primary with front cam secondary . ( Scroll through the options till you find what you like ) .

I am going to leave the Oumax RV55HD-M in my car for a while , especially to test PAL vs NTSC and see if there is any difference . The night time video is just excellent and I am not sure I have seen better . So for now I am pleased with the mirror cam and just a little disappointed with the rear cam ( low resolution ) and overall I have to say it works . I found the install painfully simple and unchallenging . The menu is very easy to navigate and more importantly understand .

If you are into mirror cams then you need to consider the Oumax RV55HD-M

1) Very stealthy

2) Easy install ( very easy )

3) Easy to set up preferences

4) Excellent night time performance

5) Very good daytime performance ( front cam )

6) There appears to be no GPS (?)

7) Comes with a 16Gb Micro SD card

8) Front and rear video coverage ( point the rear cam where you want )

9) Very good audio

10) Seamless video recording

11) The mirror itself is good , I actually am starting to like the mirror .. Sharp and clear and magnifies a little . Much better than what's in my car .

12) Rear cam resolution whilst recording - not that great .

13) There is no video resolution options in the menu for front or rear , you stuck with the factory settings .

 

[old4570]

I can verify that not turning off the video screen is annoying and distracting at night time ..
Currently I have the cam in my car ( rather than my brothers car ) , so excuse the clutter ( all the other cams ) .

 

[Paul Iddon]

My rear cam is reversed too. I had to turn it over and round but for me my editing software makes it easy to show correctly in no time at all, not that I have any incidents to view since putting it in.

 

[old4570]

RIP - 23 July 2019
Today I acknowledge that this cam no longer records video and has been removed from my car .
When it did work , it did a good job .

Feb 8 2018 to July 23 2019 ( RIP )

 

[old4570]

Well , it's back in the car - for now !
I dont know whats wrong with it ..
It does have a hole for the hard re-set .. But apparently there is nothing inside , so putting something in there = nothing .
So in a last ditch effort , I formatted the card in the cam ..
I have only driven the car once since I detected an issue , and maybe corrected it ?
( Was it simply the card that was the problem ?? )

But this be the 3rd time the cam has been returned to the car .