SEMA 2025

jsmith said:
What model Uniden are you testing? Sounds cool. Are there Laser Jammer forums like this to get into beta testing / trialing products?
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That one specifically is the R9w.

As for forums, yeah RDF is the best forum for discussing all this by far. When it comes to beta testing, usually that geared towards experienced testers who own and have run a bunch of different detectors, own an assortment of police radar and laser guns, and have done a bunch of radar and laser testing over the years.

It's a bit of a different animal when testing a dashcam that costs a few hundred bucks vs a custom installed RD/LJ like the R9w which retails for $4k and often requires professional installation that's far more involved than a dashcam hardwire.
 
lufa6977 said:
The SAFY 9 looks very interesting. I have avoided the Blackvue line for various reasons, but this SAFY 9 and its simplicity looks very appealing.
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@lufa6977 Starvis (Safy9) vs. Starvis 2 is one hell of a tradeoff, but I'm guessing this is Blackvue's attempt at capturing the budget market. It'll all depend upon the price differential for whether the savings is worth the cost.

For reference purposes, an acquaintance had their car totaled in a wreck recently, Had a junk dashcam but served its purpose. Anyway, I told her to get something of quality, but with a car payment her budget is limited. I told her for the price range, an S1 Pro Max (4K Front) and 2.5K Rear with Starvis 2 is the best use of money to get both "Modern" and "Affordability" packaged into one.

The Safy would have to compete with similar "older" but more affordable models with modern equipment. Blackvue tends to be on the more expensive side so wondering how that'll play out.
 
jsmith said:
@lufa6977 Starvis (Safy9) vs. Starvis 2 is one hell of a tradeoff, but I'm guessing this is Blackvue's attempt at capturing the budget market. It'll all depend upon the price differential for whether the savings is worth the cost.

For reference purposes, an acquaintance had their car totaled in a wreck recently, Had a junk dashcam but served its purpose. Anyway, I told her to get something of quality, but with a car payment her budget is limited. I told her for the price range, an S1 Pro Max (4K Front) and 2.5K Rear with Starvis 2 is the best use of money to get both "Modern" and "Affordability" packaged into one.

The Safy would have to compete with similar "older" but more affordable models with modern equipment. Blackvue tends to be on the more expensive side so wondering how that'll play out.
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One of the things I keep in my noggin is that there are 12 to 15 members who log in every day and are dashcam enthusiasts. These members will always be looking at bigger and better. 🙂 There is a large base for simple and easy-to-use dashcams. This market is one that manufacturers are keenly aware of, and it appears Blackvue is targeting it. I do think it is priced about USD 30.00 too high, where this cam in the USD 170.00 market, many people looking for a basic, but competent dashcam would have a difficult time passing up the SAFY 9.

These are the specs for the SAFY 9:

SAFY 9 Technical Specifications

These are not bad specs at all. Not what the DCT state-of-the-art enthusiasts want, but these are good specs.

If BlackVue sent me a SAFY 9, I would not mind doing a non-comparison evaluation and review of the camera.
 
Here's a look at Thinkware's U3000 Pro and the cabin cam and LTE module, as well as the ARC, ARC 700, and ARC 900:


Here's a short comparing the three different ARC series models:


I also made a short comparing the ARC 900 and U3000 Pro. I thought shorts can be horizontal as long as they're under 1 min, but YouTube is categorizing it as a long form video so I'm keeping this video unlisted for now.

 
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lufa6977 said:
One of the things I keep in my noggin is that there are 12 to 15 members who log in every day and are dashcam enthusiasts. These members will always be looking at bigger and better. 🙂 There is a large base for simple and easy-to-use dashcams. This market is one that manufacturers are keenly aware of, and it appears Blackvue is targeting it. I do think it is priced about USD 30.00 too high, where this cam in the USD 170.00 market, many people looking for a basic, but competent dashcam would have a difficult time passing up the SAFY 9.

These are the specs for the SAFY 9:

SAFY 9 Technical Specifications

These are not bad specs at all. Not what the DCT state-of-the-art enthusiasts want, but these are good specs.

If BlackVue sent me a SAFY 9, I would not mind doing a non-comparison evaluation and review of the camera.
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The Vantrue S1 Pro Max 4k Front + 2.5K Rear with Starvis 2 is $199 USD on Amazon.com. Older model as newest is 4k + 4K. Comparatively speaking between the Safy 9 and S1 Pro Max 4k + 2.5k, spend $170 for an old Starvis or spend $199 for Starvis 2.

You're right, the Blackvue is probably at least $30 maybe $50 USD too expesive. People want simple, but if simple borders on the cusp of "Better", I would go for better.

Agreed. I am not against testing a product, but I would certainly give feedback that the pricing isn't practical unless it somehow outperforms competition at a similar price range. Given the specs of the Safy 9, nothing screams even "moderately" state of the art on paper.
 
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Vortex Radar said:
Here's a look at Thinkware's U3000 Pro and the cabin cam and LTE module, as well as the ARC, ARC 700, and ARC 900:


Here's a short comparing the three different ARC series models:


I also made a short comparing the ARC 900 and U3000 Pro. I thought shorts can be horizontal as long as they're under 1 min, but YouTube is categorizing it as a long form video so I'm keeping this video unlisted for now.

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@Vortex Radar Thank you so much for covering the U3000 pro. I'm a bit confused by the LTE module though. Do we need both a data plan + Thinkware subscription (free for 3 years) or is the data included as part of the thinkware subscription?
Their website seems to imply that the data is included in the thinkware subscription

thinkwarestore.com

LTE Module – U3000 PRO | Thinkware

Never wonder about your car’s safety again. The THINKWARE Connected LTE Module links your U3000 PRO dash cam to the
thinkwarestore.com thinkwarestore.com

Q2: Do I need a separate data plan for it to work?
A2: Yes, the LTE features require a subscription plan through the THINKWARE CONNECTED app.
 
jsmith said:
The Vantrue S1 Pro Max 4k Front + 2.5K Rear with Starvis 2 is $199 USD on Amazon.com. Older model as newest is 4k + 4K. Comparatively speaking between the Safy 9 and S1 Pro Max 4k + 2.5k, spend $170 for an old Starvis or spend $199 for Starvis 2.

You're right, the Blackvue is probably at least $30 maybe $50 USD too expesive. People want simple, but if simple borders on the cusp of "Better", I would go for better.

Agreed. I am not against testing a product, but I would certainly give feedback that the pricing isn't practical unless it somehow outperforms competition at a similar price range. Given the specs of the Safy 9, nothing screams even "moderately" state of the art on paper.
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Yep, at $200, the SAFY is also competing with the Viofo A129 Pro Duo, a dashcam I own and think does an excellent job.

But SAFY is a member of the BlackVue family, so I expect that lineage will help with SAFY sales.
 
lufa6977 said:
Yep, at $200, the SAFY is also competing with the Viofo A129 Pro Duo, a dashcam I own and think does an excellent job.

But SAFY is a member of the BlackVue family, so I expect that lineage will help with SAFY sales.
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Isn't the Viofo A129 Duo Pro only Starvis and not Starvis 2? So I guess it would be even comparison between Safy 9 and Viofo A129 Duo Pro for head to head on video test. The S1 Pro Max 4k + 2.5k is Starvis 2 at same price rage.
 
jsmith said:
Isn't the Viofo A129 Duo Pro only Starvis and not Starvis 2? So I guess it would be even comparison between Safy 9 and Viofo A129 Duo Pro for head to head on video test. The S1 Pro Max 4k + 2.5k is Starvis 2 at same price rage.
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As I recall, the A129 Pro Duo front camera is an Exmor CMOS, the rear camera is the Starvis.
 
lufa6977 said:
As I recall, the A129 Pro Duo front camera is an Exmor CMOS, the rear camera is the Starvis.
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Ah you are right. How's the A129 Duo Pro Front Camera with Exmor Compare to Starvis or Starvis 2? Only the rear is Starvis of the A129 Pro Duo.
 
jujuji said:
@Vortex Radar Thank you so much for covering the U3000 pro. I'm a bit confused by the LTE module though. Do we need both a data plan + Thinkware subscription (free for 3 years) or is the data included as part of the thinkware subscription?
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Yeah I believe you need to buy a SIM card from a cellular provider and put it into the LTE module. Thinkware's cloud features are a separate charge.
 
Vortex Radar said:
Here's 70mai:


I also did a short on the M800 which is a bit odd since it has 128 GB of eMMC and doesn't support MicroSD cards.

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I've been testing the M800 for a while now, if it's priced right it could be a nice option for budget users - unfortunately only has WiFi 5 speeds. Audio prompts are done exceptionally well on this dashcam though I must admit. I am surprised it is being released though, because it's been in the china market for over a year and a half now.
 
Here's Viofo. In this video I take a look at some improvements I learned about on the A119M Pro, and some upcoming features coming in a future firmware update, as well as a hands-on look at their upcoming dashcam battery pack, the BP100.


I also did some sorts of each of them. First is the A119M Pro:


and next is the BP100:

 
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At least 70 mai and Vantrue have a small free cloud service, which i personally feel is just fine, at least with my modest need for parking guard.
I am a bit amazed that some would not have a similar offer.
 
kamkar said:
At least 70 mai and Vantrue have a small free cloud service, which i personally feel is just fine, at least with my modest need for parking guard.
I am a bit amazed that some would not have a similar offer.
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I worry that it will only be free for a while and then they'll start charging. I totally understand that cloud storage hosting costs a company big money, but with Thinkware and others I wonder how much profits they are making by charging exuberant costs for their cloud services.
 
Yeah.
I have no idea what things like that cost.
I am assuming little as storage is pretty cheap, and little processing is needed, so on top of that only come bandwidth which i assume could get high if a lot of people have events at the same time.
So you might need something a bit more fat then the record commercial connection which here is 5 gbit.
On the other hand i don't think the average bandwidth need would be super much, but of course you will need a hefty overhead to be prepared for the worst.
 
@Vortex Radar "Shared" this in his SEMA coverage, although I didn't see him talk about it any. Therefore, I feel comfortable sharing this information. Based upon feedback and testing, I suggested Vantrue redesign their hinged cameras due to unstable nature and flexing of the hinges. The hinges causes video shot from the rear dashcam (S1 Pro Max and N4 Pro S) to have vibrations. Vantrue recommended using 3m VHB to attached the top and bottom hinges together, and while the "work around" did resolve a majority of the vibrations, most consumers would see the problem and simply return the product without reaching out to Vantrue Support.

Therefore, @Jeff_Vantrue shared my feedback with the engineering team, and the S1 Pro Max and N4 Pro S rear cameras are getting redesigned. The N4 Pro S has started production in early November, and should be out to the public in late November / Early December. The S1 Pro Max has yet to begin production.

Note: I have yet to test the "Redesign Camera". For the moment, pictures only.

Here are images of the N4 Pro S featured in @Vortex Radar SEMA coverage with the Old Rear Camera versus New.


1. Left is Redesigned Camera. Right is "Old Camera".

1.webp



2. The Rear Cable plugs directly into the Redesigned Rear Camera on the Left. On the right, the old Camera uses a "Pig Tail".

2.webp


3. The Redesigned Rear Camera (Left) uses a Swivel Concept. The Old Camera on the Right uses a Hinged Design.

3.webp


4. Both Cameras use a 1.8 Fixed Lens and 5M Cmos Sensor

4.webp


5. Redesigned Camera (Left) uses a Swivel and Fixed Mount. Old N4S Pro Rear Camera (Right) used a Pig Tail and Hinge Design

5.webp
 
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