Thinkware vs. Blackvue

Cornetti

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Hello,
I am looking to purchase dashcams for my new Model X. Here are the features I plan to have.

Parking mode
24/7 access
hardwiring and not 12V cigarette socket connectivity
over the air feed access
interior cabin feed

Based on my research it seems like I would choose between the following options. What are guys' thoughts?

https://www.blackboxmycar.com/produ...-dr650s-2ch-ir-dr650s-1ch?variant=34097875143

https://www.blackboxmycar.com/products/rideshare-bundle-thinkware-f770-2ch-ir?variant=42871102343

Thank you so much.
 
Last edited:
the Thinkware can't do what you want

Okay, so I should stick with Blackvue. What is the best set up for the front, back and interior view? I was thinking getting the DR750 2-CH, which has night vision and then the best available IR 1-CH camera. I am not sure a 750 version has been released for that camera.
 
Okay, so I should stick with Blackvue. What is the best set up for the front, back and interior view? I was thinking getting the DR750 2-CH, which has night vision and then the best available IR 1-CH camera. I am not sure a 750 version has been released for that camera.

Hi Cornetti, it would be a good idea if you went to the Blackvue camera on this site an familiarize yourself with some of the models you might be interested in by what people have to say about them,
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/forums/blackvue.6/ Just my opinion, but you might find it interesting.
 
Only Blackvue has cams that meet your requirement but they are not without issues. The perfect cam has never been built and never will be so you're left with having to compromise lesser points to get the ones you want most ;)

IMHO any cam which is not utterly reliable or does not have good video quality is not worth considering no matter who makes it. Do read the forums on the cams you're considering as people's real-world experiences are far more important than brand names and listed specs :) Once you do this you might decide to widen the scope of your search or to re-arrange your priorities to more closely match what is available. At worst you'll know what to really expect from your chosen cam so you won't be as disappointed by it.

Phil
 
Only Blackvue has cams that meet your requirement but they are not without issues. The perfect cam has never been built and never will be so you're left with having to compromise lesser points to get the ones you want most ;)

IMHO any cam which is not utterly reliable or does not have good video quality is not worth considering no matter who makes it. Do read the forums on the cams you're considering as people's real-world experiences are far more important than brand names and listed specs :) Once you do this you might decide to widen the scope of your search or to re-arrange your priorities to more closely match what is available. At worst you'll know what to really expect from your chosen cam so you won't be as disappointed by it.

Phil

Thanks, Phil. You do raise a good point. Focusing on priorities seems to be best approach with most things, including dash cams. I have been reading the forums and for every positive experience there has been one that has not been as good. Given the specs I mentioned above, would you say this set up I am currently considering would be fitting the bill? DR650 IR 2-channel for 1080P front view, 720P infrared interior view and DR750 1-CH 1080P for rear view. The rear view may be overkill and was thinking about getting the DR650 1-CH and with the money saved purchase 2 128GB industry grade SD cards. What do you think?
 
Either is a viable choice. As long as you can afford the cards and have no problems requiring factory service or assistance, then Blackvue does make quality cams with the best parking mode though I have little else good to say about them. Your needs and wants are not mine so make yourself happy ;) You could do a lot worse than this so if you like those cams go for it :D

Phil
 
Either is a viable choice. As long as you can afford the cards and have no problems requiring factory service or assistance, then Blackvue does make quality cams with the best parking mode though I have little else good to say about them. Your needs and wants are not mine so make yourself happy ;) You could do a lot worse than this so if you like those cams go for it :D

Phil

What were the things you were looking at when making your dash cam purchase? I wiykd imagine there are better cameras out there.
 
I can't afford expensive cams though I do read about them here to keep up to date on all the possibilities :cool: For me reliability is paramount- no mercy and no quarter will be given there for any reason to any cam at any time :cautious: Next is video quality both day and night. Since you can't get the best of both in any one cam some compromise is always involved here :rolleyes: With the emergence of cheaper Sony Exmor sensors you can now get more than dim images at night on any budget- no more 'daytime only' cams for me in important positions such as front and rear ;) Maybe with side-cams or as a second cam alongside one that does nights well enough. Beyond that not much interests me personally because of how I use my cams.

My preference is 24/7 recording where needed with auxiliary cams used for driving protection as needed :D Use a large enough card and you can't possibly miss anything but if you discover parking damage then you're going to be digging through all the files to find the one you need. Inconvenient but certain and parking damage is only a slight possibility with my lifestyle and habits so it works for me :) If the rest of the features work that's nice but I probably wont be using them. I respect quality products while being realistic about pricing. I see each cam model as an individual and I am not loyal to any brand because anyone can make a crappy cam, even the better-known names :eek: I don't care who makes it; only that it does what I want it to do. And I'll pay accordingly but no more beyond that as I hate wasting money!

As you can see, I'm not the typical dashcam user so my preferences and priorities will be different :whistle: This is why it's important that you know what you need and set your own priorities accordingly: your cam, you decide. All I'm doing here on DCT is to try to help keep you from getting any unpleasant surprises from your choices which seem OK to me.

Phil
 
I can't afford expensive cams though I do read about them here to keep up to date on all the possibilities :cool: For me reliability is paramount- no mercy and no quarter will be given there for any reason to any cam at any time:cautious: Next is video quality both day and night. Since you can't get the best of both in any one cam some compromise is always involved here :rolleyes: With the emergence of cheaper Sony Exmor sensors you can now get more than dim images at night on any budget- no more 'daytime only' cams for me in important positions such as front and rear ;) Maybe with side-cams or as a second cam alongside one that does nights well enough. Beyond that not much interests me personally because of how I use my cams.

My preference is 24/7 recording where needed with auxiliary cams used for driving protection as needed :D Use a large enough card and you can't possibly miss anything but if you discover parking damage then you're going to be digging through all the files to find the one you need. Inconvenient but certain and parking damage is only a slight possibility with my lifestyle and habits so it works for me :) If the rest of the features work that's nice but I probably wont be using them. I respect quality products while being realistic about pricing. I see each cam model as an individual and I am not loyal to any brand because anyone can make a crappy cam, even the better-known names :eek: I don't care who makes it; only that it does what I want it to do. And I'll pay accordingly but no more beyond that as I hate wasting money!

As you can see, I'm not the typical dashcam user so my preferences and priorities will be different :whistle: This is why it's important that you know what you need and set your own priorities accordingly: your cam, you decide. All I'm doing here on DCT is to try to help keep you from getting any unpleasant surprises from your choices which seem OK to me.

Phil
Thank you, Phil.
Once I decide on a dash cam that fits my needs, I will certainly get the largest SD card available to allow for the 24/7 recording.
I appreciate your follow up response. My problem is I am trying to balance the need for 24/7 recording, including driving and parking mode. There aren't that many dash cams that do both of those things.
 
No Blackvue and Thinkware are not the best cameras available, but they are the brands that have the most "smart" features and so attract a lot of people.
People that often get frustrated with their new camera, and often first camera and also often a pretty expensive camera.

Looking for a dashcam people should focus on 2 things.

1: is it reliable ? long team ( 2 years at least )
2: Are the video footage good, and will it remain good ( dont matter if you have video if the focus have shifted and it is very blurry )

A 3 thing thats also important to me personally is if the camera fit well ( stealthy ) in my car

Last but not least people need to remember a dashcam are not set and forget, no matter the price of dashcam and memory card you need to keep a eye on things, this are not a big problem i use about 5 - 10 minutes on the computer / card reader every month on this.
And its time well spent cuz we often hear from people that put "this" dashcam in their car 2 years ago, and now they been in a accident and found out the camera have not been recording for months.

In a good dashcam its most often the memory card that will fail first, and even a top brand memory card can fail after a month, so you should not buy a cheap memory card of some internet store on the other side of the world.
And you should also know most memory cards, well they actually have small writing in the warranty section saying dont use with dash cameras, doing that will void warranty. ( thats most of the cards i personally use )
Other memory cards are high endurance and will be okay from the maker for use in dash cameras.

Blackvue and Thinkware both seem to go out of their way to make sure as few as possible memory cards work with their dashcams, and really it should be the other way around so people have a choice in what memory card to buy.
 
Thank you for the comment, so you confirm that Blackview and Thinkware are the best :)

- They are reliable long term, and certainly more than 2 years.
- Video is good and remains good (why it would change ?)
- Fit well, I find this common idea so useless, or maybe in your country people break cars to steal dashcams ? Or what is the purpose to hide the dashcam ?

Of course it's good to check the sd card sometimes, but I didn't know that some do not work on blackview and thinkware ?
By the way, do you know if when I will be in the car it is also possible to record the blackview or thinkware video on my phone ?

Thanks again.
 
Blackvue and Thinkware both seem to go out of their way to make sure as few as possible memory cards work with their dashcams, and really it should be the other way around so people have a choice in what memory card to buy.
This is very true. I have been digging the forums to find what cards work in my cameras. My Thinkware is the most troublesome for cards. Since my Blackvue is an older model, cards are easier to find, but there are some limitations. I have had good luck withthe SanDisk A1 cards in both cameras.

After using both brands for over a year, I like the Blackvue more than the Thinkware. Even though this model has lower quality video.

Also be a bit picky where you buy. There are some sellers that will give great support, taking care of warranty issues and more. I have dealt with BlackboxMyCar and had nothing but great service. Some of the others in here should be able to steer you to a reliable seller.

Lunch over, back to work.
 
Yes people will break into car to steal anything of value, if not local Danish people, then the ones that come here from other countries.
So yes want camera to be as little visible as possible, both to guard against people stealing them, but also some people might not like to get filmed and can get very angry ( the last i can see by comments on my youtube videos )
Also you cant put just anything in any place of the windscreen, or have things dangling off your mirror. It is however not laws many bother much about ,,, even the police, but for the normal law abiding people then size of gadget and where to legally put it can be a problem.
 
BlackVue tends to be more popular with Telsa it seems, so installation videos are easier to come by (though I hope you get it professionally installed unless you understand how to do everything)
Normally I tend to tell people they can do it themselves but the more electronics your car has, the easier to muck something up.

BlackVue definitely has a better cloud service, but you should know that it's attached to a paywall.
There is a free BlackVue cloud account you can get, which would mostly work fine for the average user.
However, looking at that rideshare bundle, that wouldn't be an average setup.

With the free account, you can only use live view for 10 minutes a day.
Also, you would only be able to look through the Front Camera/IR camera, as you can only register one camera for free.
(I suppose you could register the rear DR750S but then you'd only be able to see the rear feed)
Of course, if you pay monthly $10-$20 depending on what sub you go with, you could register both of the DR750S and get the unlimited live view.
(technically you could create two free blackvue accounts, but you can only be signed into one at a time on your mobile device, so not ideal)

I just realized that BlackVue bundle seems a little strange, probably just a mix up with the pictures...
But it's slightly confusing since at one point it looks like they're selling a DR650S-IR + DR750S-1CH...
The first main pic shows this - but the other pics are showing multiple DR650S...
So you should confirm, overall it sounds like it's two DR750S, one being a 1CH (for the rear), and the other being an IR model.

There is a DR750S IR version out now.

You may want to decide what's more important, having a good front cam with IR that you can view live feed, have access to the cloud services, then pay more for the cloud to gain access to the rear camera.
Or, getting the front cam + IR and a standalone simple camera for the rear.

PS. if you go with BlackVue, make sure to get a Power Magic Pro with it for hardwiring installation.
 
Thank you for the comment, so you confirm that Blackview and Thinkware are the best :)

- They are reliable long term, and certainly more than 2 years.
- Video is good and remains good (why it would change ?)
- Fit well, I find this common idea so useless, or maybe in your country people break cars to steal dashcams ? Or what is the purpose to hide the dashcam ?

Of course it's good to check the sd card sometimes, but I didn't know that some do not work on blackview and thinkware ?
By the way, do you know if when I will be in the car it is also possible to record the blackview or thinkware video on my phone ?

Thanks again.

Well aren't you precious! His reply was a BIG NO, he doesn't think those 2 cameras are the best. You are just trying to put words into an answer that mean NOTHING!

KamKar gave you a great answer that was absolutely the truth:cool:! From my point of view you are what is called a "Ringer", that is someone who in this case joined DCT to promote and retaliate against anyone saying bad things about a product that they have $$$ interest in. GOT IT!
 
@BuyThisDashcam - if you don't know about common issues like heat-related focus shift and Blackvue's poor reputation for warranty service then you do some learning before giving advice to others. They both make cams which may have a specific feature found in no other which makes them a good choice for a specific purpose, but they almost all fail in other important areas, even when compared to some much cheaper cams. They exist in the market mostly because of the hype about them from people who know no better.

You will find numerous people here on DCT who know a lot about dashcams. You can choose to learn from them if you want to and you should, especially if you are a seller. If you do this you'll understand why there is often a better choice than what Blackvue and Thinkware have on offer for the majority of dashcams users. They are not bad cams, but except for specific features they are not exceptionally good cams either; they are only priced that way.

Phil
 
I think there is a agenda with BTD, ill leave it with that and the forum members and mods.
 
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