Reviewing and Testing the Vantrue S1 Pro Max

[kamkar]

The whole reason we're given these cameras to test and review! Help companies find bugs so consumers get an optimal product without them!

The best part of reviewing in my opinion!

I agree.

I do wish we just was not left so alone with the job, having to find like minded in here.
I would prefer if there was a little more oversight from the factories, this to me would also make them look more engaged in the process.

Or maybe it is just me getting old and even more lazy ? i do need a kick in the behind now and then.
I have often found when i find something with a system, someone have already done the same and forwarded it, and so i have not felt a strong urge to repeat that report.
BUT i must also admit that i do not geek as much out on dashcams as i use to do, so not really doing systematic testing on each and every setting / combination of settings, that only happen if someone have reported something and i think WTH ???? i better see if i can replicate that.

My main concern is pretty much, can this system do what i like to do ( settings and features ) and do it do so well factoring in price.
Then i also like to test the memory cards, CUZ this is the first thing a new buyer can make a mistake by buying a not supported one.

Adding to that i would assume the brands also test this, but then again, looking at recommended memory cards on brand pages,,,,,, in my testing i find the systems work just fine with a lot more models, well at least for the not so fussy brands / models, the fussy ones are fortunately brands i have never been given the opportunity to test.

 

[jsmith]

I agree.

I do wish we just was not left so alone with the job, having to find like minded in here.
I would prefer if there was a little more oversight from the factories, this to me would also make them look more engaged in the process.

Or maybe it is just me getting old and even more lazy ? i do need a kick in the behind now and then.

Technology is rush to consumer product. Imagine spending 50 million DKK / 6.7 Million Euros on developing a product. The longer you wait to release, the less time you have to recoup your investment. Companies often do a balance between "workable and sufficient" and we'll correct any bugs later on upon being notified for two reasons

1. Engineers cannot test every scenario or issue in lab testing.

2. Once a product reaches the masses of consumers, companies get free "beta testers" who will likely notify them immediately of any issues. Almost every new piece of technology comes with some growing pains.

 

[kamkar]

I heard stories.
But in my PC geeking days, building a new PC almost 2 times a year i only once ran into problems and that was RAM incompatibility issues with a system i build for my friend, the same as mine only he did not want top tier OC RAM.
I have to be honest and say back then i never even considered RAM incompatibility problems, i only learned of QVL lists in that situation.

But otherwise building and updating, not least the BIOS deaded by so many, never had a single issue, hell my PC even ran fine OverClocked on the hated Win ME OS, though i did get a BSOD now and then but at the same time i was also messing around in regedit doing things i dident really understand much of.

But yeah if we can just dig out the problems, then engineer’s can focus on replicate them and solve them, and really in this day and age new systems are working quite fine, at least not something i would personally be ashamed of selling.

I would have ben SO happy to think " i was a little part of bringing this to market "
But i soon realized that was not really what i was doing, well most times, though i have a few times had access to very early stuff that could warrant such feelings.

 

[EricSan]

@EricSan if you park somewhere with constant ambient lighting, you could record a series of short video clips at different EV settings to see what effect it has.

Here you go, this is the full range of adjustment for the S1 Pro Max. Circular Polarizer on, HDR on, PlatePix off. This adjustment definitely works as expected.

EV +2.0

EV +1.6

EV +1.3

EV +1.0

EV +0.6

EV +0.3

EV 0.0

 

[EricSan]

EV -0.3

EV -0.6

EV -1.0

EV -1.3

EV -1.6

EV -2.0

 

[EricSan]

Here is a comparison of resolutions, MPEG bit rates, and overall file sizes for each of the cameras that I have now. The Parking Mode data is from 1080P Low Bit Rate mode, which seems to be what most users here are using.

The surprise for me was the comparison between the E1 Pro and the S1 Pro Max. Both use the same IMX687 sensor, so I was expecting to see more similarity between the bit rates and file sizes. This would seem to give the image quality advantage to the E1 Pro, though I haven't directly compared the two of them head to head yet. Another interesting point is the differences in file sizes among parking modes for all Vantrue cameras given the same resolution and data rates - though the differences are very small.

 

[EricSan]

Another feature that I appreciate on the S1 Pro Max is its form factor. When mounted at the top of my windshield next to the car's safety systems, it complete hides behind the sun visor and does not interfere with the range of movement for the visor at all. The mounting method essentially keeps it parallel to the windshield and the swivel mechanism for the lens itself allows a nice range of movement so I can aim camera in the manner that I desire. Although it's a bit larger than the E360 camera, it keeps itself out of the way a much better.

 

[EricSan]

Since the S1 Pro Max dashcam comes with a weather sealed 4K rear camera, I was very eager to see what the video feed would look like with the camera mounted externally. It would eliminate the terrible rear dash and window glare that I'm getting and the result will fill the frame with a full rear view from the car rather than giving me half a frame of trunk lid and rear dash. I did spend some time removing a few trim pieces from the exterior of my trunk and looking for a relatively easy way to run the USB cable from the outside of the car to the inside. The cable on the rear camera has a 15mm wide USB plug on it. That's a pretty large hole that needs to be drilled, then you need to find a mounting grommet that is "just" the right size. Then it needs to be caulked.

I didn't have a suitable place on my car to accomplish this, so I did a quick and dirty external mount using the clear static mounting sheet and just ran the cable in through the trunk lid for a quick drive. The USB cable itself has a 5mm diameter, which is a pretty substantial cable. Instead, I just ran the cable back into the trunk, clamping the cable with the trunk lid. This is less than ideal and I only wanted to leave it for a short time period so it didn't deform the trunk lid seal. Here is what the mounting looked like:

There was plenty of room on the overhang area of the trunk, right next to my backup camera by the rear license plate. The mounting mechanism works well, but the thickness of the cable makes it rather stiff and inflexible. This made it somewhat difficult to achieve and maintain the desired positioning of the camera. As I adjusted it, the spring in the cable pushed it back out of place again. After some fiddling around, here is what I ended up with.

Anyhow, here are two videos that I made with the rear facing camera mounted externally. I have to say that I REALLY like this view and I enjoy the unobstructed field of view that it provides. VERY NICE! The perspective is a bit lower than being mounted at the top of the windshield, but I really like this view and the lack of window glare. It's just too bad that I can't keep the camera there. With a ribbon cable or other suitably thin cable, I would definitely leave the camera on the outside of the car!

Edit: Ha, the camera picked up some Classic Yes that I was listening to while I drove. Surprised youtube didn’t flag it for IP…

A few thoughts and suggestions for @Jeff_Vantrue
- the cable that exits the rear of the camera sticks straight out. Because the cable is relatively stiff (due to thickness) the camera needs too much space behind it to accommodate a bend in the cable. This limits mounting positions.
- is it possible to use a flat ribbon cable instead of a 5mm diam round cable for the rear camera? This would facilitate easier mounting, either by running the flat cable under a trim piece or just clamping it down through the lower trunk seal. In the second case, I could probably run the cable down behind my license plate and then just run the thin cable across the trunk seal without much risk of water intrusion
- maybe also consider a flat USB connector as well (just a blade that fits into a USB connector like some USB string lights use), rather than the bulky oval one that is used. This will make sealing the connection to the rear camera cable with heat shrink more difficult, but will better enable easier external mounting.
- i would be very willing to test a prototype flat cable rear camera for you 🙂

Here is an example of a thinner USB plug from an LED strip. Not perfect, and it’s a USB-A example, but thinner would be better. If Vantrue could make a thin cable mount for the rear camera, I’d leave it there forever!

A little thinner than this would be ideal 👍 Then I could tuck it under the trunk release mechanism without risking much water intrusion during the rain.

 

[TonyM]

Since the S1 Pro Max dashcam comes with a weather sealed 4K rear camera, I was very eager to see what the video feed would look like with the camera mounted externally. It would eliminate the terrible rear dash and window glare that I'm getting and the result will fill the frame with a full rear view from the car rather than giving me half a frame of trunk lid and rear dash. I did spend some time removing a few trim pieces from the exterior of my trunk and looking for a relatively easy way to run the USB cable from the outside of the car to the inside. The cable on the rear camera has a 15mm wide USB plug on it. That's a pretty large hole that needs to be drilled, then you need to find a mounting grommet that is "just" the right size. Then it needs to be caulked.

I didn't have a suitable place on my car to accomplish this, so I did a quick and dirty external mount using the clear static mounting sheet and just ran the cable in through the trunk lid for a quick drive. The USB cable itself has a 5mm diameter, which is a pretty substantial cable. Instead, I just ran the cable back into the trunk, clamping the cable with the trunk lid. This is less than ideal and I only wanted to leave it for a short time period so it didn't deform the trunk lid seal.

I'm surprised you managed to get the static film working on an external bodywork surface like that. That's rather impressive.

In some ways I like the unobstructed rear view, however just like with a telephoto camera you've lost the context with respect to the car body that you get with a normal internally-mounted rear camera, so it's harder to judge how close or far away things are. I like my rear-facing camera to show the bottom edge of the rear window for that purpose.

 

[jsmith]

Since the S1 Pro Max dashcam comes with a weather sealed 4K rear camera, I was very eager to see what the video feed would look like with the camera mounted externally. It would eliminate the terrible rear dash and window glare that I'm getting and the result will fill the frame with a full rear view from the car rather than giving me half a frame of trunk lid and rear dash. I did spend some time removing a few trim pieces from the exterior of my trunk and looking for a relatively easy way to run the USB cable from the outside of the car to the inside. The cable on the rear camera has a 15mm wide USB plug on it. That's a pretty large hole that needs to be drilled, then you need to find a mounting grommet that is "just" the right size. Then it needs to be caulked.

I didn't have a suitable place on my car to accomplish this, so I did a quick and dirty external mount using the clear static mounting sheet and just ran the cable in through the trunk lid for a quick drive. The USB cable itself has a 5mm diameter, which is a pretty substantial cable. Instead, I just ran the cable back into the trunk, clamping the cable with the trunk lid. This is less than ideal and I only wanted to leave it for a short time period so it didn't deform the trunk lid seal. Here is what the mounting looked like:
View attachment 82390

There was plenty of room on the overhang area of the trunk, right next to my backup camera by the rear license plate. The mounting mechanism works well, but the thickness of the cable makes it rather stiff and inflexible. This made it somewhat difficult to achieve and maintain the desired positioning of the camera. As I adjusted it, the spring in the cable pushed it back out of place again. After some fiddling around, here is what I ended up with.
View attachment 82391

Anyhow, here are two videos that I made with the rear facing camera mounted externally. I have to say that I REALLY like this perspective and I enjoy the unobstructed field of view that it provides. VERY NICE! It's just too bad that I can't keep the camera there. With a ribbon cable or other suitably thin cable, I would definitely leave the camera on the outside of the car!

A few suggestions for @Jeff_Vantrue
- is it possible to fit the rear facing camera with a flat ribbon cable instead of a fat round cable? This would facilitate easier mounting, either under a trim piece or just clamping it down through the lower trunk seal. In this case, I might be able to run the cable down behind my license plate and then tuck a thin cable in the regular trunk seal.
- maybe also consider a flat USB connector as well (just a blade that fits into a USB connector like some USB string lights use), rather than the bulky oval one that is used. This will make sealing the connection to the rear camera cable with heat shrink more difficult, but will better enable easier external mounting.

WOW, external mounted camera makes a world of difference on clarity when not obstructed by defrost lines.

Small world.. answered that Volvo Question....Already! You and I share similar placement on our backup cameras. That area gets dirty a lot!

Thus, back to my original concern of the S1 Pro Max rear camera facing same dilemma.

 

[EricSan]

I'm surprised you managed to get the static film working on an external bodywork surface like that. That's rather impressive.

That probably won’t work for others. My car is polished and ceramic coated, so the paint is smoother than the proverbial baby’s bottom.

True, there is some perspective loss with an outside mount because there is no fixed reference point. I was expecting to be able to see the top of the rear bumper, but that didn’t happen.

 

[EricSan]

WOW, external mounted camera makes a world of difference on clarity when not obstructed by defrost lines.

What kind of Volvo do you drive? Model and Year? My Volvo has the same rear mounted backup Camera (2015 S60) and that thing gets dirty with rain, snow, etc. Luckily, the screen is large enough and I can see backing up when that happens.

It’s a 2019 S60 sedan. The camera is right next to the car’s rear facing camera, so I’d just wipe each one before getting in. That won’t help much during the rair, but then again, the rear view is going to be bad no matter where you mount it when it’s raining. Either the lens itself has raindrops on it when externally mounted, or the rear window has rain drops on it when internally mounted. To avoid rain, I’d recommend moving the the US southwest (arizona, new mexico, etc) but then that introduces other problems… 😉 I used to live there.

 

[jsmith]

It’s a 2019 S60 sedan. The camera is right next to the car’s rear facing camera, so I’d just wipe each one before getting in. That won’t help much during the rair, but then again, the rear view is going to be bad no matter where you mount it when it’s raining. Either the lens itself has raindrops on it when externally mounted, or the rear window has rain drops on it when internally mounted. To avoid rain, I’d recommend moving the the US southwest (arizona, new mexico, etc) but then that introduces other problems… 😉 I used to live there.

Suv's and station wagons usually have rear wipers, which would alleviate droplets on the rear windshield. Sedans like ours are screwed either way.

 

[lufa6977]

It will be interesting to see the difference in nighttime images between the lower mounted, external camera and the interior rear camera. I would guess the headlights would change the quality and clarity of the images.

 

[jsmith]

It will be interesting to see the difference in nighttime images between the lower mounted, external camera and the interior rear camera. I would guess the headlights would change the quality and clarity of the images.

Good point. @EricSan you've been nominated for another test!

 

[EricSan]

I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, here are two full resolution images out of the front and rear cameras made with the "Take Photo" voice command. I'm not sure how much they will be down-sized with the forum software.

Interesting: These two images were made with the same voice command, yet they happened at different points in time. The front image is from when I was waiting for the light - you can see that it's still red, the rear photo didn't happen until a few seconds later when I was already past the intersection. @Jeff_Vantrue - can you provide some insight as to why these two images did not happen simultaneously?

I'm REALLY loving that rear image without the back dash, window glare, and my trunk line! Jeff, I'm really serious about that rear camera using a flat cable so I can tuck it under a trim piece- that would be AWESOME!!! If you can make one, I'd be very happy to receive it and install it more permanently in my car!

 

[EricSan]

@EricSan you've been nominated for another test!

I'll see if I can remember tonight. Trouble is that I live in the middle of no where and because it's summer, I need to wait until 9p or later. By that time, the roads are pretty quiet. Since this is 4th of July weekend, maybe there will be more traffic tonight.

 

[EricSan]

@Jeff_Vantrue, given that super clean externally mounted rear camera, I’m thinking I’d really appreciate a remote mounted FRONT camera as well. Tuck the whole thing into the glove box and have wires leading to the front and rear cameras. But, I suppose now we’re just looking at your Falcon 1 camera…

 

[jsmith]

@Jeff_Vantrue, given that super clean externally mounted rear camera, I’m thinking I’d really appreciate a remote mounted FRONT camera as well. Tuck the whole thing into the glove box and have wires leading to the front and rear cameras. But, I suppose now we’re just looking at your Falcon 1 camera…

Curious, how did you route the wires from the front camera to the rear through the trunk and out to the hood? Did you put down the rear seats to get the cable into the trunk?

 

[EricSan]

Here are some videos when it's a bit darker out. Night quite totally dark, and there isn't much traffic out, but you can get an idea of how things look when it's darker out with the S1 Pro Max rear camera mounted externally.