Street Guardian SG9663DC (DC = Dual Channel)

I haven't heard of anyone taking one to death valley for some cooking, but several users of SG products in the hot southern states, and elsewhere on the globe in hot places.
Only one minus living in a very hot place and thats using parking mode while parked out in the sun, but any brand will have the same problems here ( cabin getting hot in parked car and camera generating its own heat on top of that )
But for parking ( storage ) temperature and then recording while driving there should be no issues with quality cameras.
 
As much as we try, we can’t alway park in the shade. So, cabin temp gets up to ~160 (or higher), but, the sun beating on the windshield and the cam is the concern I have.

As noted on my post, I’m replacing 7950WD,which the sun took its toll (my thinking).
 
Just make sure you don’t put up any reflective heat shields when you park. That would create an amplified oven around the Dashcam.
 
nrvous1 said:
Would a cloth type of sunscreen be a better option to keep some of the sun out?
Click to expand...

Depends where you place the cloth. Anything that traps the heat of the sun into a small compartment just inches around the mirror and dashcam is going to be bad for any electronics. (heat won't be able to dissipate evenly)
 
Street Guardian USA said:
Depends where you place the cloth. Anything that traps the heat of the sun into a small compartment just inches around the mirror and dashcam is going to be bad for any electronics. (heat won't be able to dissipate evenly)
Click to expand...
I guess if I can place the dash cam as far up on the windshield it should help keep it from being trapped in that confined space of heat. It may vent better being high enough and out from between the windshield and the sun screen. The one I have is a cheap Amazon type of foldable sun screen. Not a reflective type, but more of a nylon type with two sides. A silver non-reflective side and a black side.
 
I just got my sg9663dc with the HW kit. This is my first dashcam so I do not have a good point of reference especially with the "better" more expensive dashcams out there. I just hardwired it a couple of a days ago after doing some good readings and watching some vids. Here are few observations about the device:




Pros:
-Relatively solid feel.
-Video quality seems good.
-Packaging includes a lot of goodies including a cable mesh wrap thing (loved that one).
-Very quick and prompt customer service. Probably the fastest I have encountered. Good job SG.
-Setup seems intuitive and straight forward. Make sure you read the online manual.
-One of the best manuals for an electronic device out there.
-I went through few pages in here about SG's firmware development ...it looks like SG's development guys end up delivering ....
-It works 🙂

Minor Annoyances:
-Not as slick and "cute" as a Thinkware or other dashcams, but not extremely ugly.
-I didn't realize the GPS module is separate (it is included with the kit) but it requires an additional cable installation. I think that's just stupid and the GPS should be attached to the dashcam mounting bracket like the Viofo A129.
-Few other dahscam manufacturers have some additional bells and whistles in their models...(but sometimes having a solid device means having a simple device that just works well-so this can be a good thing not an annoyance!).

Cons:
-Some other cameras have a wider angle.
-I have a slight shadow by the top left corner.
-Wifi not yet officially supported, but the NovaCam app suggested works fine.
-No Bluetooth.
-Park mode is semi useless. Impact G-sensor isn't enabled yet on park mode. If you set up your SG on a 5 fps mode and your car gets dinged...you are still unlikely to know when and what happened.
-No live camera on Park-Mode (not sure they will enable this).

Major annoyance (My biggest beef 😡😡 ):
-The 2 included mounts are extremely hard to mount the SG on. I had to lube the contact plastic parts hoping for it to slide better but it is still extremely hard to get in and out. This was infuriating ... I am afraid to to take off the dashcam from the mount, as I would think I'd rip the mount off the windshield. That's just $hitty engineering work, $hitty design and/or $hitty manufacturing...


Final thoughts.
Good product and everything is working well. I will have to see how the product works in the long run and especially with extreme temperatures. I am still not sure which is better the SG9663dc or the Viofo A129 (much cheaper) which has a couple of better specs on paper...Incidentally, both products look suspiciously very very similar !!!
 
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kanonengedonner said:
I just got my sg9663dc with the HW kit. This is my first dashcam so I do not have a good point of reference especially with the "better" more expensive dashcams out there. I just hardwired it a couple of a days ago after doing some good readings and watching some vids. Here are few observations about the device:




Pros:
-Relatively solid feel.
-Video quality seems good.
-Packaging includes a lot of goodies including a cable mesh wrap thing (loved that one).
-Very quick and prompt customer service. Probably the fastest I have encountered. Good job SG.
-Setup seems intuitive and straight forward. Make sure you read the online manual.
-One of the best manuals for an electronic device out there.
-I went through few pages in here about SG's firmware development ...it looks like SG's development guys end up delivering ....
-It works 🙂

Minor Annoyances:
-Not as slick and "cute" as a Thinkware or other dashcams, but not extremely ugly.
-I didn't realize the GPS module is separate (it is included with the kit) but it requires an additional cable installation. I think that's just stupid and the GPS should be attached to the dashcam mounting bracket like the Viofo A129.
-Few other dahscam manufacturers have some additional bells and whistles in their models...(but sometimes having a solid device means having a simple device that just works well-so this can be a good thing not an annoyance!).

Cons:
-Some other cameras have a wider angle.
-I have a slight shadow by the top left corner.
-Wifi not yet officially supported, but the NovaCam app suggested works fine.
-No Bluetooth.
-Park mode is semi useless. Impact G-sensor isn't enabled yet on park mode. If you set up your SG on a 5 fps mode and your car gets dinged...you are still unlikely to know when and what happened.
-No live camera on Park-Mode (not sure they will enable this).

Major annoyance (My biggest beef 😡😡 ):
-The 2 included mounts are extremely hard to mount the SG on. I had to lube the contact plastic parts hoping for it to slide better but it is still extremely hard to get in and out. This was infuriating ... I am afraid to to take off the dashcam from the mount, as I would think I'd rip the mount off the windshield. That's just ****ty engineering work, ****ty design and/or ****ty manufacturing...


Final thoughts.
Good product and everything is working well. I will have to see how the product works in the long run and especially with extreme temperatures. I am still not sure which is better the SG9663dc or the Viofo A129 which has a couple of better specs on paper...Incidentally, both products look suspiciously very very similar !!!
Click to expand...
Great review and I can agree on most points. I'll post my thoughts on the a129 when it gets here in about a week.
 
the mounts will only be tight the first couple of times you use them, they have to be mounted to the window get the camera on and off effectively, if you try and do it when not mounted it's quite difficult, don't add the EVA tape to the back of the camera until the mounts have bedded in or it will be extra tight

G-Sensor is enabled in parking mode, we haven't adjusted the sensitivity of that yet, other parking related stuff is still to be done and will be in a later firmware release

we specifically use external GPS to avoid some of the issues that occur with internal type or mount type GPS solutions, reception issues, interference issues, relying on pins to transfer signal etc, it was a choice of function over form
 
nrvous1 said:
Great review and I can agree on most points. I'll post my thoughts on the a129 when it gets here in about a week.
Click to expand...


looking forward to it..btw, any info on why the SG and Viofo look very similar (other brands look similar too)? Who got in first ... similar mother company maybe?
 
kanonengedonner said:
looking forward to it..btw, any info on why the SG and Viofo look very similar (other brands look similar too)? Who got in first ... similar mother company maybe?
Click to expand...
From my understanding, SG shared their housing design for the rear camera only and used a similar design to SG for the front camera. SG was first to the scene with their design with the 9663 which took over 18 months to release, which is appreciated because they launched a solid camera with great support. Then came viofo's a118 then a119 series of cameras.
 
jokiin said:
the mounts will only be tight the first couple of times you use them, they have to be mounted to the window get the camera on and off effectively, if you try and do it when not mounted it's quite difficult, don't add the EVA tape to the back of the camera until the mounts have bedded in or it will be extra tight

G-Sensor is enabled in parking mode, we haven't adjusted the sensitivity of that yet, other parking related stuff is still to be done and will be in a later firmware release

we specifically use external GPS to avoid some of the issues that occur with internal type or mount type GPS solutions, reception issues, interference issues, relying on pins to transfer signal etc, it was a choice of function over form
Click to expand...


ok, thanks for the info. Makes good sense.

On the mount issue... I understand the need for a solid, vibration free design, but I still think it is a clumsy system. I mounted the camera on and off maybe 50 times prior to putting it on the windshield ... still stiff AF.

My personal opinion - not an engineer 🙂.
 
kanonengedonner said:
On the mount issue... I understand the need for a solid, vibration free design, but I still think it is a clumsy system. I mounted the camera on and off maybe 50 times prior to putting it on the windshield ... still stiff AF.
.
Click to expand...

as I said it's always difficult when the mount is not on the window
 
Go with 3M Dual Lock on the mount instead and you wont have that lifting issue. Not that it was an issue for me.
The mount can now stay on the cam when you want to remove it from the windshield.
That’s just my opinion and I may be wrong here.
.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DockingPilot said:
Go with 3M Dual Lock on the mount instead and you wont have that lifting issue. Not that it was an issue for me.
The mount can now stay on the cam when you want to remove it from the windshield.
That’s just my opinion and I may be wrong here....
Click to expand...
You're not wrong - that's also my preferred method of mounting, others as well.
 
Got hw kit a few days ago, just started mounting the camera and doing the wiring. Didn't realize that one bracket is thin while another is thick. One bracket would fit only after 10 minutes of pushing it, but then I had to remove it since I forgot to apply the EVA foam to the back of the camera. After applying the foam I couldn't get that bracket to fit after another 10 minute pushing struggle session. I gave up on it and tried another bracket, which fit rather easy, within 10 seconds, so I went with that one. I know that a tighter fit is better, but, uh, I'm not going to battle the tighter bracket for 30 minutes.

Turns out I used a thicker bracket. There is no practical difference between the two, right? Aside from having more clearence to turn the camera around with the filter on it.
 
Debating over where to attach the rear camera in 2014 Toyota Prius. It has two glass pieces in the back. One is very big horizontal-ish window, the wiper is on top of it. Another is a small vertical window right below the spoiler where the car's backing up camera is. The cord is only long enough to attach the camera to the top of the big window, but I'm worried that the camera will have 1-2 meter blind spot right behind the car due to the window angle and the spoiler obstructing the view. Maybe it's better to extend the power+data cable (buy some female mini usb to male mini usb cord off aliexpress) and attach the camera to the vertical window below the spoiler?

Here are pictures of what I'm talking about:

JTDKN3DP1E3052648-2014-Toyota-Prius-Plug-in-rear-right-21286329.webp


JTDKN3DU7E1815726-2014-Toyota-Prius-rear-right-21541521.webp


Toyota-Prius-2014-rear-copy.webp
 
you can't extend the cable, we have longer cables available but that said if you ran the cable through the roof (cable just needs to be tucked behind the airbags) instead of the floor you would have more than enough cable already, that very bottom glass would be a great vantage point for the camera
 
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