Hi All,
Been a guest of this forum for a while trying to choose which dash cam to purchase. For quite a while I had my eyes on the Thinkware F770 because of the dual camera capabilities and it seems like it has quite good picture quality. However eventually settled on the Street Guardian because of a couple of things; firstly the presence of Street Guardian representatives on the forum giving advice and support, secondly the image quality seems to pip the F770 as it has the option of 60 FPS and overall higher bitrate, thirdly the lens is symmetrical to the body and not offset (OCD) and finally the extras provided within the box is amazingly comprehensive.
As per the title I have a BMW 420D (Grand Coup with the 4 doors), one frustration I did have when researching the net in general is the lack of install experience with BMWs. So I am sharing my experience and issues I had when installing the SG9663DC. It is not complete yet, but hopefully as issues are resolved or not I will update this thread.
I have currently only the front camera installed. I will get onto why the rear is still boxed later. The front camera install was pretty straight forward. I did not have to remove any trim luckily which I was apprehensive about. The A pillar did not have an airbag installed along its length, only starting from near the top along the top of the window. I was able to just remove the door rubber and use a cable rod to pull the power cable through. Biggest difficulty was getting the ferrite choke through the gap.
The camera is situated adjacent to the rear view mirror housing. I might look to move this below the mirror housing at a later date because of the curvature of the front windscreen and the dash cam is direct mount, it means that if I install the camera level, the camera would point towards the passenger side of the road. Currently it is mounted at a slight angle to have the road central within the field of view, however this means that the horizon is tilted at 2-3°? It is pronounced and may annoy me enough to facilitate the move later. (Did I mention OCD earlier?). Cabling is unobtrusive in this position though. Perhaps I could fabricate a small shim to offset the curvature of the screen, or double up on the adhesive on one side.
The dash cam mount once clipped in is secure and doesn't wobble. Haven't noticed any rattles from the mount or the cables during the test drive. I have a fairly stiff suspension and the UK roads are not the smoothest. The position it is in at the moment also means I do not see the flashing red recording light, which may be distracting if I move it towards a more central location. I did not see a need to alter the exposure yet. But the weather has been pretty overcast. Did not notice any hot pixels yet during the night run.
The camera is unobtrusive looking from the outside, it is not noticeable with a casual glance as it blends in with the rear view mirror. The black adhesive helps.
Now to the biggest issue I currently have and it is to do with the rear camera and interference with the DAB (digital radio in UK) radio, not thought of trying it with FM or AM, I don't listen to those anymore. With the 420D the antenna array is the embedded wires on the upper 1/4 of the rear screen, the lower 3/4 is the heating elements.
With the 3m cable, I cannot place the rear camera closer than 20cm to the antenna without loss of signal to DAB. Big disappointment as I mainly purchased this dash cam for the dual capability. I tried a couple of other tests to see what was causing the interference.
Back onto the practical side, the 3m cable looks to be marginal on the length (can't tell unless properly installed), 4m would have been definitely OK. 6m I will have to take a long detour to use up the extra length as I am not sure where I can tuck the spare length.
I will be interested in getting the hardwire kit to use the parking features when it is available. The firmware that comes with the camera already has the features in the menu.
Anyways this has been my experience so far, welcome members to ask any other questions.
Kind Regards
AYYC
Been a guest of this forum for a while trying to choose which dash cam to purchase. For quite a while I had my eyes on the Thinkware F770 because of the dual camera capabilities and it seems like it has quite good picture quality. However eventually settled on the Street Guardian because of a couple of things; firstly the presence of Street Guardian representatives on the forum giving advice and support, secondly the image quality seems to pip the F770 as it has the option of 60 FPS and overall higher bitrate, thirdly the lens is symmetrical to the body and not offset (OCD) and finally the extras provided within the box is amazingly comprehensive.
As per the title I have a BMW 420D (Grand Coup with the 4 doors), one frustration I did have when researching the net in general is the lack of install experience with BMWs. So I am sharing my experience and issues I had when installing the SG9663DC. It is not complete yet, but hopefully as issues are resolved or not I will update this thread.
I have currently only the front camera installed. I will get onto why the rear is still boxed later. The front camera install was pretty straight forward. I did not have to remove any trim luckily which I was apprehensive about. The A pillar did not have an airbag installed along its length, only starting from near the top along the top of the window. I was able to just remove the door rubber and use a cable rod to pull the power cable through. Biggest difficulty was getting the ferrite choke through the gap.
The camera is situated adjacent to the rear view mirror housing. I might look to move this below the mirror housing at a later date because of the curvature of the front windscreen and the dash cam is direct mount, it means that if I install the camera level, the camera would point towards the passenger side of the road. Currently it is mounted at a slight angle to have the road central within the field of view, however this means that the horizon is tilted at 2-3°? It is pronounced and may annoy me enough to facilitate the move later. (Did I mention OCD earlier?). Cabling is unobtrusive in this position though. Perhaps I could fabricate a small shim to offset the curvature of the screen, or double up on the adhesive on one side.
The dash cam mount once clipped in is secure and doesn't wobble. Haven't noticed any rattles from the mount or the cables during the test drive. I have a fairly stiff suspension and the UK roads are not the smoothest. The position it is in at the moment also means I do not see the flashing red recording light, which may be distracting if I move it towards a more central location. I did not see a need to alter the exposure yet. But the weather has been pretty overcast. Did not notice any hot pixels yet during the night run.
The camera is unobtrusive looking from the outside, it is not noticeable with a casual glance as it blends in with the rear view mirror. The black adhesive helps.
Now to the biggest issue I currently have and it is to do with the rear camera and interference with the DAB (digital radio in UK) radio, not thought of trying it with FM or AM, I don't listen to those anymore. With the 420D the antenna array is the embedded wires on the upper 1/4 of the rear screen, the lower 3/4 is the heating elements.
With the 3m cable, I cannot place the rear camera closer than 20cm to the antenna without loss of signal to DAB. Big disappointment as I mainly purchased this dash cam for the dual capability. I tried a couple of other tests to see what was causing the interference.
- With the 3m cable, minimum distance the rear camera module can be to the antenna is 20cm without interference.
- With the 6m cable, the minimum distance with the rear camera module drops down to 2-3cm. I am assuming this is due to the attenuation of the longer cable.
- With the 6m cable, this time keeping the camera at a safe distance, moved just the cable to within 2-3cm of the antenna, no radio signal also, suggesting the cable may not be well shielded.
- What if I try some DIY shielding?? Covering the entire camera and 10cm of cable with aluminium foil I was able to place the camera module against the glass without interference.
- Covering just the last 10cm of the 6m USB cable, didn't work, again 2-3cm minimum distance to the glass before the radio cut out.
- Covering the upper half of the camera housing and the last 10cm of the cable, leaving the lens showing, I was again able to place the camera against the glass without interference.
- With either length cable and no camera plugged in, no interference.
Back onto the practical side, the 3m cable looks to be marginal on the length (can't tell unless properly installed), 4m would have been definitely OK. 6m I will have to take a long detour to use up the extra length as I am not sure where I can tuck the spare length.
I will be interested in getting the hardwire kit to use the parking features when it is available. The firmware that comes with the camera already has the features in the menu.
Anyways this has been my experience so far, welcome members to ask any other questions.
Kind Regards
AYYC
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