Replace my G1WH

[blackpanther]

Hi folks,
I have a G1WH purchased in January 2014 which is showing its age. I have replaced the battery twice, but a battery-equipped camera does not seem to be the right choice for my purposes (capacitor would be better I think), and the battery is dead again. I could deal with this issue, but it seems as if the lens has become damaged by sun exposure (one side of the image is blurry) so it's time to look for a replacement.

Some considerations to be aware of:
I own 5 vehicles, and wish to have one camera which I can freely move between vehicles. This means the mounting mechanism should be easy to release and also fairly durable. The G1WH has been fine in this regard; I've got mirror mounts in each car and can move the camera easily. Ideally, the new camera will use the same mounts, but I understand this may be impossible.

All of my vehicles leave the cigarette lighter socket hot at all times, not interrupted by the ignition switch. If I were to hardwire the camera (this is preferred but I haven't gotten around to it yet), the same would apply, hot at all times. I would like to have the camera remain 'on' 24/7, and only record when it sees motion.

I do not care about GPS.

I would like to be able to connect to the camera wirelessly, such as from my smartphone, so I do not ever need to remove the microSD card from the camera. If the camera has this functionality, then I am not worried about the size or quality of the screen on the camera.

I do not need a rear-facing lens, but will consider cameras equipped with them as long as the rear lens records to a separate video file than the front lens.

I like the Chupad D501, but am concerned about how it mounts. It does not look like it would be easy to move between vehicles. I think the perfect choice is a G1WC with Wifi, but unfortunately that doesn't exist.

I appreciate any suggestions you can make to help narrow down the options on the market. Thanks!

 

[blackpanther]

A gentle bump...
As mentioned I'm essentially looking for a G1WC with Wifi (but the ability to view the camera in real time from my phone would also make the screen optional). If anyone knows a camera that might help achieve my goals mentioned above, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Nigel]

If you want to stay cheap, how about a Blueskysea B1W? A lot smaller than your current cam with wifi and easy to move about.
For mounting in multiple vehicles, see: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/blueskysea-b1w-dashcam.31173/post-387653

Edit: It's parking mode is vibration triggered, not vision triggered so not quite to your spec...

 

[blackpanther]

If you want to stay cheap, how about a Blueskysea B1W? A lot smaller than your current cam with wifi and easy to move about.
For mounting in multiple vehicles, see: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/blueskysea-b1w-dashcam.31173/post-387653

Edit: It's parking mode is vibration triggered, not vision triggered so not quite to your spec...

You know, I looked at that cam briefly but for some reason had interpreted the mount as being a permanent adhesive where you could not just pull it off and put it in a different car (I had not seen the post you linked to, only the page here)

Unless I'm mistaken there's a small chance that mount might even be compatible with the G1WH mirror mounts I have in my cars already.

This may just be the answer to my problem! Of course if any functional competitors come to mind I'll gladly take more suggestions.

Thanks!

Edit: the other thing that made me hesitate about it originally, the video quality isn't earth-shattering. I have a feeling my G1WH may have been better, before the aforementioned degradation of the lens. Hard to be sure.

 

[Nigel]

Edit: the other thing that made me hesitate about it originally, the video quality isn't earth-shattering. I have a feeling my G1WH may have been better, before the aforementioned degradation of the lens. Hard to be sure.

It is not movie quality, but it does contain a lot of detail so as an accident camera it is pretty good, and excellent for the price. A lot sharper image than your G1WH would have been.

When people say it is not earth-shattering, they are comparing it to current cameras 2 or 3 times the price, for example my comparison with the Viofo A129: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a129-under-trees-with-some-big-frame-grabs.34305/ - clearly the A129 has a much better image, but it doesn't do much better at reading license plates and it will cost a fair bit more. (Note that away from the trees the B1W will do better.)

Bit difficult to suggest higher quality cameras because they tend to come with GPS mounts that can't easily be moved, the A129 being one of those.

 

[blackpanther]

The G1WH is a pretty well known cam, of course, but I'll offer up some examples from my own, which I've been quite pleased with:

Pardon the commentary, but a night clip:

As is typical it's pretty clear at low speeds and turns fuzzier when it has to take in more with low light. Not really an issue.

The B1W is appearing to be better than my initial impressions (and maybe about on-par with the G1WH in its better days). Sample clips in this review...

...are quite a bit better than, say, this one:

Lots of variables of course, like any processing done to the clip prior to upload.

I may just buy one and see how I like it. It won't exactly bankrupt me even if I go on to replace it after a trial period.

 

[Nigel]

Lots of variables of course, like any processing done to the clip prior to upload.

And what YouTube does to it!

I'm fairly sure you will find the B1W records more detail than your current camera, it is also decent at night with it's Sony IMX323 - one of the better sensors.
It will at times be more pixelated due to low bitrate and does have a tendency to over expose unimportant things, but that doesn't matter for dashcam footage.

If you don't get on with it, it does make a nice rear or side camera since it is so small.

 

[blackpanther]

I've received my B1W purchased via AliExpress, and have been playing with it at my desk at work. Initial impressions are very good and the app functionality is great.

After further opportunity to see how it performs in the real world I may pop back in to report on how it's performing. Thanks for the pointer! I'm using a 64GB Samsung microSD with it.

I'm wondering how well the app would play in, say, Bluestacks (Android emulator) to pull video files via Wi-Fi from a computer. Not really in-scope for the camera, but it's something I'll experiment with.

Edit: Yes, the B1W can use G1WH mounts, but not vice-versa (in case anyone had wondered that question). Of course, this kills some of the low-profile benefit of the B1W, but it means I don't need to immediately buy a bunch of the adhesive mounts which is nice.
Unfortunately, my suspicions about the video quality were right. The G1WH produced significantly higher quality video with clearer fine details (such as license plates) at distances and in motion that the B1W just can't compete with. However, I will likely continue using the B1W due to its other benefits. Very conflicted about this.