THINKWARE F800 PRO

[TJVideo]

This camera is full of issues. Premium? No way! This is a failed project financed by the unsuspecting buyers.

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It would help if you could explain the issues so that others can help or learn from your experiences.

 

[actualvane]

Wow, they are so many. I'll only name top 10.
1. Sometimes the camera can't get out of parking mode. You have to unplug/replug;
2. File length 1 minute - that's it? Even the cheapest Mio allows you to choose 1, 3, 5 10 minutes;
3. Can't transfer the files by wire. You either stay 1/2 hr in the car to download them to phone or take the card out addind wear and tear to it;
4. Heating like hell. uSD card becomes hot;
5. BTW: can't use even famous brands of cards;
6. uSD file system wastes 1/2 of its capacity;
7. Annoying voice! If you forget to put the card back this voice really chases you;
8. No mobile, no settings;
9. Blinking LED forcing you to connect to Internet;
10. The cloud feature=The spy in your car giving you nothing back. If you really want to geofence/monitor something you need to leave a mobile phone in the car. Otherwise it will notify you about what you are doing that moment. Ridiculous!

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[TJVideo]

1. I have never had an issue with this. Something might be wrong with your connection maybe?
2. This is something that could be improved;
3. This is true, but with all of the camera's I have used I have always found it much easier to remove the card and place it into the computer than to attach a wire to the camera. I guess everyone has different preferences on this. Transferring by wire could also produce wear and tear on the connections used.
4. I have not had an issue with this.
5. I agree that this can be an issue, but I haven't had any problems at all with the Thinkware brands.
6. I don't know much about this. It can be an issue sometimes when in parking mode depending on the settings.
7. The voice can be switched off in the settings.
8. This is one of the main reasons why I purchased this camera. I use the Thinkware App on a PC to change all of the settings so that I do not need to use a mobile phone.
9. The blinking LED is an issue for some.
10. I agree that the cloud feature does need some improvement.

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

Wow, they are so many. I'll only name top 10.
1. Sometimes the camera can't get out of parking mode. You have to unplug/replug;
2. File length 1 minute - that's it? Even the cheapest Mio allows you to choose 1, 3, 5 10 minutes;
3. Can't transfer the files by wire. You either stay 1/2 hr in the car to download them to phone or take the card out addind wear and tear to it;
4. Heating like hell. uSD card becomes hot;
5. BTW: can't use even famous brands of cards;
6. uSD file system wastes 1/2 of its capacity;
7. Annoying voice! If you forget to put the card back this voice really chases you;
8. No mobile, no settings;
9. Blinking LED forcing you to connect to Internet;
10. The cloud feature=The spy in your car giving you nothing back. If you really want to geofence/monitor something you need to leave a mobile phone in the car. Otherwise it will notify you about what you are doing that moment. Ridiculous!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Hey there,

Definitely can explain some of those issues here. Not going to take sides, but our staff and customers have definitely been enjoying the F800 PRO.

1. This might be a wiring issue, if the unit doesn't get out of parking mode a wiring just may be loose.
2. The File Length is 1 min to help prevent have large files potentially being corrupt. Definitely understand other brands like Blackvue has more recording time options, but at this time, Thinkware feels like 1 min would be the safest option.
3. I don't believe any higher end camera would have an option to transfer files by wire. By doing so, manufacturers would have to create a Micro USB slot or any slot to support this. This would mean larger cameras with more hardware.
4. This would be normal as the majority of parking mode dashcams would operate 24/7. Depending on where you're situated, the heat during the summer can add to this. However, Thinkware does have a cutoff that will turn off the unit if it reaches a dangerous level.
5. I am unsure what you mean by this? We have tested Thinkware products with other brands of SD cards such as SanDisk, Transcend, Lexar, and even our in-house SD card.
6. Are you able to elaborate on that? I don't believe that is true.
7. This would be a helpful feature in my opinion. I don't believe anyone wants to have a dashcam running without an SD card!
8. I am unsure of what you mean by this as well, the camera can be connected via Smartphone to change settings, you can alternatively change setting on the computer. This would be common for cameras without a physical screen/buttons.
9. Agreed! This feature is quite odd with the newer F800 PRO, however the F770 you can have this option turned off. I hope in the future Thinkware implements this.
10. This feature is definitely in the works still. Although, it is not as complex as the Blackvue Cloud, it only has about a year of real field testing. Blackvue has spent years refining their Blackvue Over the Cloud which makes it one of the best today. However, when Blackvue first launched the Cloud, it wasn't that great either with plenty of bugs and lack of features.

I hope this helps explain some of the issues you're unhappy about!

Cheers!

 

[actualvane]

1. No wiring issue. Measured, tested. etc.
2. This is something I would have liked to know BEFORE buying this overrated and well promoted and strongly defended (by you ) product;
3. The uUSB is already there for connecting the back camera. We could've use a short ext cable not to wear the camera port, but the cable port. Got the picture?
4. Heating in any circumstance. Cutoff is the last thing I want from a dash cam. Right ?!??!
5. C'mon! People tested and the result is: get Thinkware uSD! Indeed there are few other cards that accidentally work. probably 1 out of 10 or even less;
6. My original T-ware card after moving ALL recorded files from ALL folders - There is a huge parasitic folder, Thinkware support says about: ".TWSYS is thinkware systems for crucial files and diagnostics"

7. No card, no settings. Helpful, sure! You want to get out of the parking spot and the virtual lady pisses you off every few seconds. "Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!. Got this picture, too ?
8. "This would be common for cameras without a physical screen/buttons" it has 5 buttons or so. And it is not my problem the absence of the display. Cost reduction, price increase. This is cheap and disgusting IMO. GoPRO revised this ugly policy.
9. Thank you both for agreeing;
10. Thanks again!

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

1. No wiring issue. Measured, tested. etc.
2. This is something I would have liked to know BEFORE buying this overrated and well promoted and strongly defended (by you ) product;
3. The uUSB is already there for connecting the back camera. We could've use a short ext cable not to wear the camera port, but the cable port. Got the picture?
4. Heating in any circumstance. Cutoff is the last thing I want from a dash cam. Right ?!??!
5. C'mon! People tested and the result is: get Thinkware uSD! Indeed there are few other cards that accidentally work. probably 1 out of 10 or even less;
6. My original T-ware card after moving ALL recorded files from ALL folders - There is a huge parasitic folder, Thinkware support says about: ".TWSYS is thinkware systems for crucial files and diagnostics"
View attachment 43081
7. No card, no settings. Helpful, sure! You want to get out of the parking spot and the virtual lady pisses you off every few seconds. "Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!Insert am memory card!. Got this picture, too ?
8. "This would be common for cameras without a physical screen/buttons" it has 5 buttons or so. And it is not my problem the absence of the display. Cost reduction, price increase. This is cheap and disgusting IMO. GoPRO revised this ugly policy.
9. Thank you both for agreeing;
10. Thanks again!

I hope we didn't step on some toes there! Just wanted to leave our input here as well, hopefully, others can chime in on some of the likes and dislikes of a product.
Did you ever contact your reseller? Maybe you receive a defective product? Alternatively, maybe another camera would be better?

 

[actualvane]

Actively looking for both car and bike cams.
More friendly and better value for the money.

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[BlackboxMyCar]

Actively looking for both car and bike cams.
More friendly and better value for the money.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

I'd say bike cameras are hard to come by, our team has tested many in the past... none of which were user-friendly.
Go-Pro seems to dominate that market as of now.

 

[actualvane]

I hope we didn't step on some toes there! Just wanted to leave our input here as well, hopefully, others can chime in on some of the likes and dislikes of a product.
Did you ever contact your reseller? Maybe you receive a defective product? Alternatively, maybe another camera would be better?

Updates:
1. The camera was replaced and most of the issues are gone. Including use of 3rd party uSD and coming out of parking mode. It was a defective product.
2. Last Friday, 26 F/-3 C, it refused to start. I know it has high temp protection, not sub-zero protection. Anyway, even after the in car temperature reached summer values, the camera remained dead. Unplug-wait-plug back in etc. nothing worked. After some time spent into a underground parking everything was fine again.

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

Updates:
1. The camera was replaced and most of the issues are gone. Including use of 3rd party uSD and coming out of parking mode. It was a defective product.
2. Last Friday, 26 F/-3 C, it refused to start. I know it has high temp protection, not sub-zero protection. Anyway, even after the in car temperature reached summer values, the camera remained dead. Unplug-wait-plug back in etc. nothing worked. After some time spent into a underground parking everything was fine again.

I am glad most of the issues were fixed. However, our customers in Alberta, Canada have zero issues under -10 degrees Celsius.
This is quite odd, I would recommend checking/changing your grounding? Hopefully, that helps!

 

[mellda]

Is it possible to enable the timelaps parking mode and when anyone bumps in my car (detected by g-sensor) the camera starts normal video (with buffered couple of seconds)?

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

Is it possible to enable the timelaps parking mode and when anyone bumps in my car (detected by g-sensor) the camera starts normal video (with buffered couple of seconds)?

At the moment, it would be continuous non-stop recording. It will not buffer videos.
However, impact sensitivity will still work, so finding footage won't be hard at all.

 

[mellda]

Is there any imporvements in video quality? I have seen this video comparing cuple of dash cams and the F800 Pro was the worst of the 4 compared cams.

EDIT:
I mean the increasing of the low bitrate. It is 10 mbps I read. 15 mbps could help I think.

 

[mellda]

At the moment, it would be continuous non-stop recording. It will not buffer videos.
However, impact sensitivity will still work, so finding footage won't be hard at all.

So do I understand it correctly that there will be timelaps and then normal video (which is not buffered)?

 

[BlackboxMyCar]

So do I understand it correctly that there will be timelaps and then normal video (which is not buffered)?

No, it would only be in timelapse mode.
As for the quality of the video, I don't believe there have been any changes to this at this point in time.

 

[0rlan]

Hi TJ

I have a suggestion for Thinkware on the manual recording function and that is to extend the recording time to 20 seconds or more before you press the button as I missed some vital footage that may have been used in a legal battle as I was concentrating on the road ahead before I pressed the button. I did notice that the manual record button didn't work at one point and I had to press it a few times to get it to work.

I know this is a reply to your post that's over 12 months old but it's exactly the problem I have.

I don't even get 10 seconds - possibly more like 4 or 5 seconds. Did you ever find a way of extending the recording buffer or get the camera to 'protect' the file recorded immediately prior to manual button press?

(Note to Thinkware - surely 'protecting' the previous recording file should not be difficult...)

 

[actualvane]

Mivue features this. Protects the current, previous and the next file. Plus, you can set the file lenght to 1,3,5 or 10 minutes.

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[TJVideo]

Hi TJ

I know this is a reply to your post that's over 12 months old but it's exactly the problem I have.

I don't even get 10 seconds - possibly more like 4 or 5 seconds. Did you ever find a way of extending the recording buffer or get the camera to 'protect' the file recorded immediately prior to manual button press?

(Note to Thinkware - surely 'protecting' the previous recording file should not be difficult...)

Sorry about the delay, I don't think I received a notification for this.
I haven't seen or heared of another way to do it yet. Sometimes I use the continuous recording to view footage, but depending on the setup, you will need to copy the files over to external media before it is deleted when continuous recording is set up to overwrite the files on a continuous loop.

 

[TJVideo]

Updates:
1. The camera was replaced and most of the issues are gone. Including use of 3rd party uSD and coming out of parking mode. It was a defective product.
2. Last Friday, 26 F/-3 C, it refused to start. I know it has high temp protection, not sub-zero protection. Anyway, even after the in car temperature reached summer values, the camera remained dead. Unplug-wait-plug back in etc. nothing worked. After some time spent into a underground parking everything was fine again.

1. I have not been able to use 3rd party SD cards since the first week of me purchasing the F800 Pro, which was when it was first released in the UK. Good to hear that this has been solved for you.

2. Recently I am having issues with the camera not recording for long periods of time when in parking mode. I used to get at least 48 hours from the camera, but I don't anymore. I am wondering if it might be my car battery on it's way out. I have no issues strarting the car though. (In timelapse mode I am lucky to get an hour out of it now whereas before It used to last all night!)

I have seen that there are posts with issues about the car number plates not being seen clearly. I find this varies on the time of day and the sunlight. Some days the number plates can be read clearly and on other days they can't.

 

[actualvane]

Yesterday, 32F/0°C, same story, refused to start. This time I've just unplugged it for few more minutes and it was back in business when plugged in. Still disappointing we need to do all these mitigations and workarounds to make a premium product do basic things, like coming up!