Thinkware F770 known issues.

[Rafael Zavala]

I saw another posting here regarding Parking Motion mode and the sensitivity settings.
I also had this issue and noticed that regardless of the level selected, the firmware will cut portions of the clips and do so inconsistently.
I have collected over 15,000 clips and motion set from insensitive to very sensitive and still the the clips cut off anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes between clips. There is a funny response from the so-called "HQ" team, they blamed me and my "expectations".
Long story short, some a-hole hit my car and the motion sensor only picked up after the hit and nothing after even though the car was leaving after the hit. The company will say anything to not fix it but hey as a first time customer, it is refreshing reminder that we expect to much lol.

------------YOUR TICKET NUMBER:************------------

Hi *****,
Thank you for contacting Thinkware Dash Cam.
Thank you for your patience with us.

As we stated in the previous email that your inquiry has been forwarded to HQ, HQ has replied to us in regards to this issue.

While in parking mode, the dash cam will save any footage triggered by the dash cam's motion detection. It cannot unfortunately saves footage continuously. This is due to the fact that recording continuously induces a lot of stress on the SD card, which in turn may reduce its longevity and reliability.

And also, our built-in motion sensor does not capture a person or car. Instead, the motion sensor is more likely triggered when there are noticeable changes in amount of light and pixel at the center of the lens, which means that if person or car is far away from the center focus, this would not be stored on your SD card.

For example, the motion sensor would not capture the person below.

However, in the same video, the audi car was passing by so that the motion detection was triggered and saved. In other words, if we assume that there was no audi car at that moment and the person was walking at the same point, the motion detection would not be triggered.

We are very sorry that the dash cam does not function as you expected. Should you need help in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will be very happy to assist you.

 

[Maddog1974]

I am surprised to read this as in 2 years of us selling Thinkware i don't recall one phone call about that. Sometime ago i did a very rough test of motion detection. Parked in a road and just got someone to cross the road in front of my car. On maximum sensitivity it picked up someone crossing from 25m away. On minimum it would pick them up at 5m away.

Would you be better using time lapse recording instead? Also this is a very 'long shot' but do you have a large dashboard reflection when you view your footage? Just wondering if the motion detection is focusing on that more than the road ahead?

 

[Ralph2]

It cannot unfortunately saves footage continuously. This is due to the fact that recording continuously induces a lot of stress on the SD card, which in turn may reduce its longevity and reliability.

Interesting.. I wonder how the "park" recording differs from the "driving" recording?

 

[flip9]

where did your car get hit?

the motion sensitivity on the F770 is too sensitive in my case...

 

[Rafael Zavala]

I am surprised to read this as in 2 years of us selling Thinkware i don't recall one phone call about that. Sometime ago i did a very rough test of motion detection. Parked in a road and just got someone to cross the road in front of my car. On maximum sensitivity it picked up someone crossing from 25m away. On minimum it would pick them up at 5m away.

Would you be better using time lapse recording instead? Also this is a very 'long shot' but do you have a large dashboard reflection when you view your footage? Just wondering if the motion detection is focusing on that more than the road ahead?

I have been struggling with accepting it was not me, but I assure you that the issue lies with the camera itself.
To answer your question, I currently have it set to time_lapse however when an impact occurs, instead of having a separate file in parking events in 1x speed. it only shows a sped up clip and unfortunately the plates are unreadable (night/day). The issue is not the distance of the object but the object in view and the camera ceases to continue recording as said object moves about. The object whether near or far will cut out, this has happen with a vehicle making a U-Turn in front of my car and the clip cuts out mud U-Turn... I don't mind sharing the dropbox link here, it's the same one I sent to Thinkware. You are welcome to inbox me and I'll shoot it over for you to view.

 

[Rafael Zavala]

where did your car get hit?

the motion sensitivity on the F770 is too sensitive in my case...

My car was hit on the Drivers side mirror. The F770 was set to motion and only picked up the car once in had cleared the front of my car and was on the side. No way to get a license plate. All I saw was the the driver side door and the driver.

 

[Rafael Zavala]

Interesting.. I wonder how the "park" recording differs from the "driving" recording?

Ralph, I honestly think that their reply was a B.S. tactic at blaming the consumer instead of the company, the exact language used was "we are sorry the dashcam did not work the way you expected" rather than, "We are aware of the issue with the F770 and we are working on a firmware update to resolve it". The company language has no place for direct consumers in this day in age. There is no difference in Cont_Rec and Park_Rec. aside from the GPS being active.

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

In parking mode, it records at half the frame rate and bitrate.
What was your G-Sensor parking sensitivity set at when the vehicle was hit? I'm surprised the G-sensor didn't pick up a shock like a mirror getting knocked off, mine gets triggered just by trucks and busses driving by (no contact)

 

[Rafael Zavala]

In parking mode, it records at half the frame rate and bitrate.
What was your G-Sensor parking sensitivity set at when the vehicle was hit? I'm surprised the G-sensor didn't pick up a shock like a mirror getting knocked off, mine gets triggered just by trucks and busses driving by (no contact)

The sensitivity was set to the highest, middle and lowest. The results were all the same.
I think that I am not explaining the exact issue at hand.
(IIIIX IIII)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>~^
(IIIIIIIIIII)
The "I" Represents other cars whereas the X is my car reversed into the stall (space). The top row and bottom row are parked side-by-side, the the arrows represent a car approaching from the East and pulling in head-first into the parking stall. The Dash Cam should Sense the Vehicle approaching from the East and start to record the approach up to the Vehicle pulling in. The issue is, the F770 only picks up the car already in the stall trying to adjust, the vehicle hits the mirror with probably their mirror, thought it was me. It's not!
My offer still stands, Inbox me if you want to see the clip of the incident.
clip only captures the brief seconds before the impact. The vehicle leave but the clip only records after another car is in the spot. There is no record of the new vehicle parking into the stall.

Dude, if you love your car then of course this is something to know about. Re-read the email from thinkware. They say it in plain sight that the camera doesn't continue recording while in parking mode. B.S. it does and does so in Time_Lapse. Motion is less stressful as the camera only records when two-four frames differ from one another. Time_lapse just records the whole time it's parked thus it being more stressful.

 

[flip9]

If the shock sensor was triggered from the impact, the video will go in the Parking_rec folder not in the motion_timlapse_rec.

Also the Thinkware has a dual save feature, log into the cam via the app and check the onboard memory.

 

[Rafael Zavala]

If the shock sensor was triggered from the impact, the video will be in the Parking_rec folder not in the motion_timlapse_rec.

Also the Thinkware has a dual save feature, log into the cam via the app and check the onboard memory.

I appreciate the advice. I am very aware on the formatting and sorting of the thinkware camera (Format A,B,C)
This is not a PEBKAC scenario, again I appreciate you chiming but I get the feeling you did not thoroughly read the thread in it's entirety. Please excuse me if this is not the case, if it's not please disregard my feeling.