Review: Conbrov T17 Dashcam - "The worlds smallest dashcam".

[Paul Iddon]

Conbrov T17 Dashcam Review

Thanks to Allen at Conbrov for providing this dashcam for review.

It is advertised on the box as the worlds smallest dashcam, and having seen it, I can safely say this is most likely! Once opened, the box revealed the usual components, but the most striking being the camera itself, which as you will see in the unboxing video is amazingly small. Lets see what is in the box...

Here are photographs of the individual contents:

Moving on to the video, and despite it diminutive size, the cam does OK, with 30fps at 1080p at a bitrate of 20386kbps (less than comparative B1W & Z-Edge). Unfortunately, there is evidence of softness in the recordings. I am unsure though if this is because here in the UK, we use PAL rather than NTSC and I can see no way in the dashcam to change or check which format the camera uses.

Another noticeable thing is when driving directly into the sunlight, the sun itself shows as a black hole in the sky – the lens/sensor seemingly unable to cope well with intense brightness.

There are example videos below which display just the T17, and then comparisons against 2 other 1080p dashcams (the Z-Edge Z3 Plus – the most expensive) and a Blueskysea B1W which is similar in price depending where you buy.

If you take a snapshot from the videos, you can see the softness:

In the menus you can change resolutions from VGA, HD to FHD (640x480, 1280x720, 1920x1080). The video is in AVI format. There are options Loop Recording (OFF, 3, 5, and 10 minutes).
You can set the date/time stamp to be on or off. There are time enabled screensavers, and two frequencies of 50Hz and 60Hz. The video can be recording flipped, by setting the sensor flip to on, allowing more flexibility for mounting. The T17 has a G Sensor, which has 3 settings, each of which seemed to work.

The dashcam comes with an internal 85mAh battery, powering a 110° lens, and the unit will support a 32Gb micro SD card.

Mounted on the windscreen by the suction cup, the camera is relatively discreet, though the (nice) silver edge around the lens housing may be better suited being black for more “stealth”.

The small screen is useable for accessing menus, though not for replaying video – this is best done by transferring the card to a computer for viewing.

Overall, I like the camera, but there is room for improvement in either or both the lens and/or sensor to improve video performance. One thing I did notice is the video recordings at night change from colour to black and white part way through, which I find odd.

For those on a budget and who like to have a dashcam that is hard to spot this may well suit you, especially because it is tiny, but there are other options, though not with a tidy discreet design such as the T17 offers.

You can get the Conbrov T17 from Amazon on the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B076TYQFSG

For buyers outside of the USA, the dashcam can be bought (shipping free) direct from Conbrov via their official site:

https://www.conbrov.com/product/car-dash-cam-conbrov-t17/


Paul.

 

[Sabe]

Fine review, and funny because of that black sun. Daytime this is poor but night was very bright, this could be nice backup camera for dark situations.

 

[Nigel]

...30fps at 1080p at a bitrate of 20386kbps (less than comparative B1W & Z-Edge). ...

Not sure if you meant that the way I read it, but 20.4Mbps is nearly double the bitrate of the B1W at 12.6Mbps, and I don't see more detail despite the narrow field of view.

Wonder what the resolution of the sensor is, looks a more like 480 than 720, certainly not 1080...

 

[Paul Iddon]

It's 1080 resolution yes Nigel.

 

[jokiin]

It's 1080 resolution yes Nigel.

it might output 1080 but I suspect he was eluding to the fact that it may be an upscaled (interpolated) resolution and not the native resolution of the sensor

 

[Paul Iddon]

Possibly m8 Yes.

 

[jokiin]

It looks pretty ordinary so he's possibly on the money

 

[Mtz]

I don't like when I see gadgets self-advertising with some great features without winning a prize from some institution, blogger, magazine, etc. So this camera is declared smallest just by the manufacturer. It is very possible to be the smallest, I can agree with this, but look at the picture with the mount:


You have also the B1W which is also a small camera but not advertised as smallest camera in the world and you will help the forum users if you will put both cameras side-by-side to see how small it is by comparison. You can even add more 2-3 cameras, put all on the table with mount included and people to judge.
I hope you agree.
I wrote sometimes that the mount can kill the size of the camera. When creating a small camera more factors should be taken into consideration not only the camera size.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Nigel]

I don't like when I see gadgets self-advertising with some great features without winning a prize from some institution, blogger, magazine, etc. So this camera is declared smallest just by the manufacturer. It is very possible to be the smallest, I can agree with this, but look at the picture with the mount:
View attachment 35468

You have also the B1W which is also a small camera but not advertised as smallest camera in the world and you will help the forum users if you will put both cameras side-by-side to see how small it is by comparison. You can even add more 2-3 cameras, put all on the table with mount included and people to judge.
I hope you agree.
I wrote sometimes that the mount can kill the size of the camera. When creating a small camera more factors should be taken into consideration not only the camera size.

enjoy,
Mtz

The specifications don't seem to give the dimensions, all we are told is that it is smaller than a credit card, but I only have one action camera / dash camera that doesn't fit within the width & height of a credit card - the one that looks the smallest, the B1W

 

[Harsh]

"WORLD'S SMALLEST DASH CAM:Half of a Credit Card size – The mini and ultra thin size and design is easily concealed – doesn't obstruct your vision and distract you while driving."

Let's make a tiny dash cam that looks inconspicuous and then we'll go out of our way to make it visible. Is this how these manufacturers think? Not like the mount helps.

What's with this obsession to slap chrome on everything.

 

[kamkar]

Seem large compared to the smallest phone.

 

[Mtz]

"WORLD'S SMALLEST DASH CAM:Half of a Credit Card size – The mini and ultra thin size and design is easily concealed – doesn't obstruct your vision and distract you while driving."

Let's make a tiny dash cam that looks inconspicuous and then we'll go out of our way to make it visible. Is this how these manufacturers think? Not like the mount helps.

What's with this obsession to slap chrome on everything.

Yes, you are right, the chrome (and the mount) is killing the size!
But it is not obsession because other companies are not putting bling-bling on their dashcams. Some companies dont know the real world and create a product inside an office, behind 4 walls. On the PC everything is looking great.
Look at jokiin how is taking the information from our feedback and spending few hours/day just to answer and read on this forum. He is providing also useful informations, not only taking and judging about how many things he knows about dahscams, he can be the first dashcam teacher in the world.
I know that some markets are asking for bling-bling and visibility but if this is true, they should use only chinese and korean words on the camera to be sure are sold only in that part of the world. Why wasting money on stocks in countries where bling-bling is not required?

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Module 79L]

The mini and ultra thin size and design is easily concealed – doesn't obstruct your vision and distract you while driving."

How many more times have you seen that sort of phrasing describing dashcams? Yet, almost every copycat manufacturer use it as a selling point, like their camera is the only one with those features.

 

[Module 79L]

Yes, you are right, the chrome (and the mount) is killing the size!

To me it's not that, it's that humongous lens barrel!

 

[Module 79L]

@Paul Iddon, the picture softness has nothing to do with the TV system type (NTSC), that setting is only for video playback. Funny thing, though: the camera doesn't appear to have any analog video output. Or any sort of output, for that matter.

 

[gr1nch]

Perhaps a more realistic claim is "World's Most Toy-like Dashcam" [emoji849]. Looks like it came out of a posh Christmas cracker!

Sent from my G3112 using Tapatalk

 

[Module 79L]

Just went through their page and it's nothing but LOL's from top to bottom.

 

[Mtz]

To me it's not that, it's that humongous lens barrel!

I agree the camera is very small and I expect inside that lens barrel to be also parts from the camera, for sure is the CMOS PCB, but maybe other things like the battery. Looking at the camera from many angles I imagined that is a round camera like the WR1 which have all internals including 2 supercaps inside the „lens barrel”, but T17 received a LCD for viewing instead of Wi-Fi. That round part is smaller than the WR1.
I agree the camera is very small, but I expect in year 2018 people to record dashcam videos in Full HD at least. Real Full HD and real 30FPS because I have the feeling that there are duplicate frames in the video to increase the FPS from 20-25 to 30.

Paul, you made nice comparisons, your presentation is very OK and you used for sure few good hours from your free time to do this.
But I consider people like you which are doing reviews and are reputable forum members should not accept doing this without the real specs offered by the manufacturer. For example I donyt want to waste my time testing a camera in 2018 which is not at least real Full HD. I dont want to review a camera which is upscaling the video, I need to know the real specs before receiving the camera.
Looking at your images I consider this camera is using a poor and old chipset, not Full HD and a poor CMOS. I think you are not feeling OK when you say the camera is Full HD and some other member (which is right) to tell you that is max. 720p.
On their website there is no word about chipset and CMOS.
Also on Amazon are no specs, camera is rated as 5/5, so if looking only there you can think it is a great deal. People which are visiting dashcamtalk want more info than the stars from Amazon or ebay given by some guys which are happy just because the screen is on, for $50 paid.

When some guy asked if the camera have Night Vision, the seller responded that this camera can record in complete darkness.

Seriously? Or are they trying to say that this camera is recording video also when is sun on the sky, also when it is inside a pocket. Yes, it can record in total darkness but the video is completely black. Also my smartphone can record in my pocket.

I am using google translate when I am not sure about some words and this description from amazon and official website:
delivers stunning image quality day and night
is not translated like the videos I watched in previous comparison.
I remember 5-6 years ago when watching russian accidents recorded with poor cameras that all poor cameras had that reddish color during night. That was showing me from the start that the video I am watching is poor quality from a camera with a poor Novatek chipset. So I expect this camera to be with some 480p-720p Novatek chipset made 5 years ago.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[dash riposki]

What the heck is the 'Unicef' card, and why is UNICEF misspelled on it?

 

[jokiin]

The devil is in the detail, they don't claim it's the "worlds smallest dashcam" (that's an error in the title here), I know already there are smaller dashcams than this, they're calling it the "worlds smallest starlight dashcam" call them out on the size and I'm sure they will point out this minor detail, (I'm also sure they're not using a real starlight lens so it's a moot point), but that's what the marketing genius that came up with this will no doubt claim