Review: Dome G5WA 1080P Dual Camera Ambarella A7LA70 Sony IMX322 sensor Dashcam-Gearbest.com

Sunny

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Dash Cam
More than I can review. ;)
Gearbest.com sent this dual channel dashcam for review. Thank you @GearBest .
This camera is available here:

This is the first Ambarella A7LA70 based dual camera dashcam for me.

Front and rear cameras both are 1080p @ 30fps.
It has built in 1GB internal memory that can be valuable when you forget to put SD card in.

Box is generic like most others I received.
Package contents:
1. Front Camera
2. Suction mount for front camera.
3. Rear camera with a long ball mount attached that rotates. The mount folds in middle to provide more mounting options.
4. Car charger with proprieratory plug.
5. Rear camera min USB cable but the tips are unusually longer than regular mini USB plugs. Haven't measured but it looks very long and should be enough even for vans.
6. miniUSB to USB cable for computer.

DSC02237-G5WA.jpg
DSC02239-G5WA.jpg


Physically, front camera looks a lot more like G90 but the body is thinner/slimmer with similar lens module and height with a chrome ring on the bottom of lens housing.
It has a big 3" LCD screen.

Top ports: GPS AV Out, mini HDMI, mount, 5v power port (this is not the regular usb, it's proprieratory plug), AV Out/USB.
DSC02242-G5WA.jpg

Left of LCD: Menu, Up, Down, Mode buttons.
DSC02241-G5WA.jpg


Right of LCD: Power, REC buttons.
DSC02243-G5WA.jpg

Bottom: Mic, Reset, microSD slot.
DSC02240-G5WA.jpg

Rear camera: Rear camera is little different shape compared to other dual channel dashcams. It's more like a square instead of common flat round design.
The rear mount has a ball joint to rotate followed by a folded design in the middle.
Flat end of mount has two holes, probably for screwing on the car roof or headliner parts.
I'll use a dual side tape or velcro to attach rear cam mount.

DSC02245-G5WA.jpg
DSC02246-G5WA.jpg
DSC02247-G5WA.jpg

Unboxing Video: Play at 2X speed if you want to save time... ;)
Detail rotation of rear camera mount at 3:00 mark.

Review and sample videos to follow once I get enough footage.
 

Attachments

  • DSC02244-G5WA.jpg
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Side-by-side with other popular dashcams:
Left top: G90.
Left bottom: G5WA front camera.
Right top: Rexing F9 (similar size as G1WH).
Right bottom: Lukas LK-7950WD front camera.

DSC02249-G5WA.jpg
DSC02250-G5WA.jpg

DSC02251-G5WA.jpg

Review and sample videos to follow once I get enough footage.
 
rear camera design is quite unusual
yes it's quite unusual design compared to round cylinder ones that are more common.
 
can't say I understand the thinking behind the bracket they're using either

Here is a screenshot from a video I found that shows how the rear camera is mounted.

G5WA-rear-cam-mount.png

Looks like it's designed to stick on the vehicle's roof liner instead of rear window.
I was expecting a 3M tape or something to suggest how to attach the mount.

Anywho, I'll have sample videos and screenshots soon.
I mounted it little differently.
 
Mine is just stuck on the glass mate, seems to work ok and I got the angle I needed - haven't checked the footage yet though.
 
Folder and files: Same as other Ambarella based cameras except the files are named by date time (much better than sequential numbered file names) and rear camera's clips have SEC at the end of file name.

G5WA-Folder-Files..PNG

3 minute clip videos are 245mb for front and 164mb for rear.

Front
overall bit rate: 11.2mbps
Video bit rate: 11mbps
Audio bit rate: 128kbps
Frame rate: 29.970 fps

Code:
General
Complete name               : F:\NORMAL\2014-09-02-12-38-54.MP4
Format                      : MPEG-4
Format profile              : JVT
Codec ID                    : avc1
File size                   : 240 MiB
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Overall bit rate mode       : Variable
Overall bit rate            : 11.2 Mbps
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
AMBA                        :

Video
ID                          : 1
Format                      : AVC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : Main@L4
Format settings, CABAC      : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames   : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP        : M=1, N=8
Codec ID                    : avc1
Codec ID/Info               : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Variable
Bit rate                    : 11.0 Mbps
Width                       : 1 920 pixels
Height                      : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio        : 16:9
Frame rate mode             : Constant
Frame rate                  : 29.970 fps
Color space                 : YUV
Chroma subsampling          : 4:2:0
Bit depth                   : 8 bits
Scan type                   : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.177
Stream size                 : 236 MiB (98%)
Title                       : Ambarella AVC
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
Color range                 : Full

Audio
ID                          : 2
Format                      : AAC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile              : LC
Codec ID                    : 40
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 64.0 Kbps
Nominal bit rate            : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                  : 1 channel
Channel positions           : Front: C
Sampling rate               : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode            : Lossy
Stream size                 : 1.38 MiB (1%)
Title                       : Ambarella AAC
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54

Text
ID                          : 3
Format                      : Timed Text
Codec ID                    : text
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Source duration             : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 2 083 bps
Stream size                 : 45.9 KiB (0%)
Source stream size          : 45.9 KiB (0%)
Title                       : Ambarella EXT
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:54

*******************************************

Rear overall bit rate: 7445 kbps
Video bit rate: 7000 kbps
Audio bit rate: 128 kbps
Frame rate: 29.970 fps

Code:
General
Complete name               : F:\NORMAL\2014-09-02-12-38-55-SEC.MP4
Format                      : MPEG-4
Format profile              : JVT
Codec ID                    : avc1
File size                   : 160 MiB
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Overall bit rate mode       : Variable
Overall bit rate            : 7 445 Kbps
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
AMBA                        :

Video
ID                          : 1
Format                      : AVC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : Main@L4
Format settings, CABAC      : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames   : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP        : M=1, N=8
Codec ID                    : avc1
Codec ID/Info               : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Variable
Bit rate                    : 7 000 Kbps
Width                       : 1 920 pixels
Height                      : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio        : 16:9
Frame rate mode             : Constant
Frame rate                  : 29.970 fps
Color space                 : YUV
Chroma subsampling          : 4:2:0
Bit depth                   : 8 bits
Scan type                   : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.113
Stream size                 : 150 MiB (94%)
Title                       : Ambarella AVC
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
Color range                 : Full

Audio
ID                          : 2
Format                      : AAC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile              : LC
Codec ID                    : 40
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 64.0 Kbps
Nominal bit rate            : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                  : 1 channel
Channel positions           : Front: C
Sampling rate               : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode            : Lossy
Stream size                 : 1.38 MiB (1%)
Title                       : Ambarella AAC
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55

Text
ID                          : 3
Format                      : Timed Text
Codec ID                    : text
Duration                    : 3mn 0s
Source duration             : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 2 083 bps
Stream size                 : 45.9 KiB (0%)
Source stream size          : 45.9 KiB (0%)
Title                       : Ambarella EXT
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55
Tagged date                 : UTC 2014-09-02 12:38:55

From the bit rate alone, this is much better than the other dual channel cameras I have.
Even much more expensive one had only 6-7mbps for front and this G5WA has 11mbps front and 7mbps rear, very good assuming other things work out as expected.
 
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Daytime screenshots:
Rainy and sunny, off and on day:
Front Camera in the morning:
2014-09-03-00-29-39.MP4_20150702_164408.813.jpg
2014-09-03-00-29-39.MP4_20150702_164440.090.jpg
2014-09-03-00-29-39.MP4_20150702_164459.372.jpg
2014-09-03-00-32-39.MP4_20150702_164545.049.jpg
2014-09-03-00-32-39.MP4_20150702_164555.986.jpg
2014-09-03-00-44-41.MP4_20150702_164850.284.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42.MP4_20150702_165035.008.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42.MP4_20150702_165054.165.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42.MP4_20150702_165058.909.jpg
 
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Daytime screenshots:
Rainy and sunny, off and on day:
Rear Camera in the morning when camera was cold.
Rear camera video is very good , much better than other dual channels I have:

Rear camera is 1080p as well.

2014-09-03-00-32-41-SEC.MP4_20150702_164615.407.jpg
2014-09-03-00-38-41-SEC.MP4_20150702_164748.258.jpg
2014-09-03-00-41-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_164820.755.jpg
2014-09-03-00-44-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_164933.403.jpg
2014-09-03-00-44-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_164947.178.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_165147.174.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_165220.653.jpg
2014-09-03-00-47-42-SEC.MP4_20150702_165237.564.jpg
2014-09-03-00-53-43-SEC.MP4_20150702_165640.613.jpg
2014-09-03-00-53-43-SEC.MP4_20150702_165652.343.jpg

Very good rear camera video quality.
 
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Front night screenshots:
Auto exposure control works great. Papago had much blacker video compared to G5WA due to AE.
G5WA with AE makes night videos much brighter, much clear. Nice!

I have same night screenshots from Papago GoSafe 520 here: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...rella-a7l-chip-ultra-hd-2k.12384/#post-161558
and Papago GoSafe 272 here for comparison: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...ull-hd-1080p-dashcam.12429/page-2#post-161555

As you can see, G5WA night is much better without any processing.
Papago 520 may have same detail but need to manually up the exposure to match.

2014-09-02-12-44-56.MP4_20150702_082522.316.jpg
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2014-09-02-12-44-56.MP4_20150702_082548.947.jpg
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2014-09-02-12-44-56.MP4_20150702_082612.940.jpg
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2014-09-02-12-47-57(000035.297-000300.446).mp4_20150702_082836.913.jpg
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2014-09-02-12-47-57(000035.297-000300.446).mp4_20150702_082922.622.jpg
2014-09-02-12-47-57(000035.297-000300.446).mp4_20150702_082931.467.jpg
 
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Rear camera NIGHT screenshots:
Very good!
2014-09-02-12-44-57-SEC.MP4_20150702_082637.056.jpg
2014-09-02-12-44-57-SEC.MP4_20150702_082716.604.jpg
2014-09-02-12-44-57-SEC.MP4_20150702_082722.359.jpg
2014-09-02-12-44-57-SEC.MP4_20150702_082737.477.jpg
2014-09-02-12-44-57-SEC.MP4_20150702_082812.608.jpg
2014-09-02-12-47-57-SEC(000035.000-000300.446).mp4_20150702_082957.597.jpg
2014-09-02-12-50-58-SEC(000000.000-000115.000).mp4_20150702_083132.929.jpg
2014-09-02-12-50-58-SEC(000000.000-000115.000).mp4_20150702_083144.489.jpg
 
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To conclude:
G5WA has excellent quality for dual channel camera.
Both front and rear are 1080p and video is great.

There are some issues that I've sent feedback to supplier.
Once they are fixed, this will be great dual channel dashcam and much better than the dual channel I have that cost much more .

due for new speakers there I think ;)
Just the grill covers couldn't handle temperature change from Texas to Colorado.
Speaker works fine.
I'd replace them but I'm selling the car so let the new owner deal with it.
 
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How well does the collision warning system work?
 
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