A couple weeks ago I bought a ThinkWare F750 at BestBuy in Surprise, AZ. I paid $300 for the camera, $25 for the hard-wire kit, $30 for a larger capacity (64GB) SD card and $55 for the GeekSquad mobile guy to install it. I am sure I could have done it myself, but the wife insisted on a professional installation. (She is the one who wanted the dashcam anyway...)
My appointment was 1:00 PM that Saturday. I showed up a few minutes early and talked to the installer (Trevor). He went over the installation, corrected the price estimate (lower than the sales guy thought it would cost) and got my cellphone number so he could call me when it was done. He showed me where it was going to be mounted and made sure I was good with it, said how he planned to run the wires and where he would connect it to for power.
I left and hung out in the bookstore for an hour until he called me to let me know he was done. I came back and he showed me how to operate it. He showed me where the wiring was and gave me back the boxes, extra parts that were not used (spare stickers for the camera, wire bundlers etc.) and manual.
I then drove the 25 miles home and pulled the card to review the videos on my computer. I downloaded the Mac and Windows versions of the PC Viewer application as well as the iOS app for my iPhones.
On my main computer (iMac) I installed the viewer and watched the drive home and several videos of Trevor adjusting the view and camera angle and his jaunt around the parking lot to check for proper operation. Everything seemed to work fine except the map was not displaying. I then tried it on the wife's iMac and then my MacBook Air and still no joy. I then tried it under Windows on my iMac (with Parallels) and the map worked fine. I posted a message on the Thinkware forum here and a user (Bexx) eventually provided a new plist (preferences file) and instructions on how to install it and it worked great. One of my 3 Macs seems to be stuck displaying speeds in KM instead of miles, that remains to be resolved.
I then replaced the memory card and tried to connect with our cellphones. My phone connected right away and I was able to view live and recorded video with no problem. I could not however get my wife's iPhone to connect. I then updated the firmware on the F750 and after a few more attempts I got her phone to connect and operate.
Since then I have connected via WiFi a few times and usually it connects fine. Sometimes however it refuses to connect. Yesterday for example I was parked in a questionable area and wanted to check Parked Mode video. I could not connect. I shut off my iPhone and turned it back on and it connected right away. I suspect this is more an iOS issue than one with the camera...
I am very happy with the video quality and recorded sound of the camera. The Speed Cam warnings are pretty cool but the data could be better. The speed camera nearest me is properly indicated, but there are some areas noted for speed cameras that haven't had them for years.
I will likely however disable the audible warnings at some point. I can see how they may become annoying pretty quickly.
The F750 records continuous video in 60-second chunks. I suspect that I could connect them with some sort of video editing software if I chose or needed to. I like the pre-event buffer (10 seconds) for motion detect and incident recording as well as for the manual recording button.
For a $410 investment The Thinkware F750 seems to be a good deal. Other than some software and Wifi glitches it seems to work well. I wonder however if the upcoming summer heat here in the Phoenix area might melt the thing if I park in the sun for a long time. One other nit pik is that when viewing videos via a smartphone app the camera is not recording. This might lead to a loss of an incident if it occurs when connected so perhaps future versions might include a way to record and view simultaneously.
I was pleasantly surprised with the installation from BestBuy's GeekSquad. For $55 he did a nice job, made sure it worked right and made sure I understood how to use it.
I would buy the F750 again and I would use this store's installer again if the need arises.
My appointment was 1:00 PM that Saturday. I showed up a few minutes early and talked to the installer (Trevor). He went over the installation, corrected the price estimate (lower than the sales guy thought it would cost) and got my cellphone number so he could call me when it was done. He showed me where it was going to be mounted and made sure I was good with it, said how he planned to run the wires and where he would connect it to for power.
I left and hung out in the bookstore for an hour until he called me to let me know he was done. I came back and he showed me how to operate it. He showed me where the wiring was and gave me back the boxes, extra parts that were not used (spare stickers for the camera, wire bundlers etc.) and manual.
I then drove the 25 miles home and pulled the card to review the videos on my computer. I downloaded the Mac and Windows versions of the PC Viewer application as well as the iOS app for my iPhones.
On my main computer (iMac) I installed the viewer and watched the drive home and several videos of Trevor adjusting the view and camera angle and his jaunt around the parking lot to check for proper operation. Everything seemed to work fine except the map was not displaying. I then tried it on the wife's iMac and then my MacBook Air and still no joy. I then tried it under Windows on my iMac (with Parallels) and the map worked fine. I posted a message on the Thinkware forum here and a user (Bexx) eventually provided a new plist (preferences file) and instructions on how to install it and it worked great. One of my 3 Macs seems to be stuck displaying speeds in KM instead of miles, that remains to be resolved.
I then replaced the memory card and tried to connect with our cellphones. My phone connected right away and I was able to view live and recorded video with no problem. I could not however get my wife's iPhone to connect. I then updated the firmware on the F750 and after a few more attempts I got her phone to connect and operate.
Since then I have connected via WiFi a few times and usually it connects fine. Sometimes however it refuses to connect. Yesterday for example I was parked in a questionable area and wanted to check Parked Mode video. I could not connect. I shut off my iPhone and turned it back on and it connected right away. I suspect this is more an iOS issue than one with the camera...
I am very happy with the video quality and recorded sound of the camera. The Speed Cam warnings are pretty cool but the data could be better. The speed camera nearest me is properly indicated, but there are some areas noted for speed cameras that haven't had them for years.
I will likely however disable the audible warnings at some point. I can see how they may become annoying pretty quickly.
The F750 records continuous video in 60-second chunks. I suspect that I could connect them with some sort of video editing software if I chose or needed to. I like the pre-event buffer (10 seconds) for motion detect and incident recording as well as for the manual recording button.
For a $410 investment The Thinkware F750 seems to be a good deal. Other than some software and Wifi glitches it seems to work well. I wonder however if the upcoming summer heat here in the Phoenix area might melt the thing if I park in the sun for a long time. One other nit pik is that when viewing videos via a smartphone app the camera is not recording. This might lead to a loss of an incident if it occurs when connected so perhaps future versions might include a way to record and view simultaneously.
I was pleasantly surprised with the installation from BestBuy's GeekSquad. For $55 he did a nice job, made sure it worked right and made sure I understood how to use it.
I would buy the F750 again and I would use this store's installer again if the need arises.
