VANTRUE Nexus 2X (N2X) - 30 Day Review

Gunslinger4u said:
Yes, Parking Mode, motion, middle (default) sensitivity option, but that is for the intended purpose of recording motion activated videos. I'm not sure why it takes still pictures in Parking Mode. There does not appear to be an option that explicitly mentions taking still pictures in Parking Mode.
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I don't have mine hardwired (I've got two cameras already hardwired). I'll have to take a look and see if I can access parking menu.

One bug I noticed is when camera crashes and reboots, it takes a photo. However, that issue is in relation to the LTE Modem.

Question:

Do you see parking mode videos when your car is turned off? Is it recording with video at 15 Frames per second?

Do the Photos happen at the same time as the videos? I.E. Is there an event taking place?

Disable Motion Detection (if theres an option) Also disable low frame rate if that's enabled.
 
jsmith said:
I don't have mine hardwired (I've got two cameras already hardwired). I'll have to take a look and see if I can access parking menu.

One bug I noticed is when camera crashes and reboots, it takes a photo. However, that issue is in relation to the LTE Modem.

Question:

Do you see parking mode videos when your car is turned off? Is it recording with video at 15 Frames per second? Yes, it makes recordings of motion events, along with the pics. I do not know the frame rate, but I believe it is the standard 30fps. I believe that the four? options available under parking mode are "mutually exclusive". So, you can have either collision/bump(I forgot what they call it), motion, 15fps continuous, or another low bitrate setting selected, but only one of those will function at a time, but not any combination of them.

Do the Photos happen at the same time as the videos? I.E. Is there an event taking place? Yes, the photos seem to occur around the same time as the motion detected videos.

Disable Motion Detection (if theres an option) Also disable low frame rate if that's enabled. - I did that, but with the hardwire kit, if I disable motion detection (ie. Parking Mode), then it just leaves the camera on full time until the battery drops below the hardwire cutoff point option (currently at 11.9v).
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Thank you for engaging me in this conversation, I really appreciate your insights!
 
Gunslinger4u said:
Thank you for engaging me in this conversation, I really appreciate your insights!
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Hello I checked my vehicle and took some screenshots. Please test these settings. Again, you NEED TO CHECK your SD Card / Check Camera that Parking videos are Recording properly and creating videos. Once you verify the hardwire kit is setup properly, try selecting these settings.

1. In Parking Mode, select Low Bitrate Mode

Turn of Motion Detection
Turn off Low Frame Rate Mode


Collision.webp


2. Be sure Time Lapse is set to "OFF"

.
Time.Lapse.webp


Check G-Sensor Setting.. Is it at 3?

G-Sensor.webp
 
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jsmith said:
Hello I checked my vehicle and took some screenshots. Please test these settings. Again, you NEED TO CHECK your SD Card / Check Camera that Parking videos are Recording properly and creating videos. Once you verify the hardwire kit is setup proper, try selecting these settings.

1. In Parking Mode, select Low Bitrate Mode


View attachment 77128

2. Be sure Time Lapse is set to "OFF"

.View attachment 77129

Check G-Sensor Setting.. Is it at 3?

View attachment 77130
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I will check those settings.... thank you.
 
I didn't get the hardwired version as my testing bundle, so those functions unfortunately will not be covered in my review. I will preemptively say, before my official review, as a plug and go device it's well worth the price point.
 
I submitted a question to Vantrue tech support asking what the "expected" power on/off behavior should be using their VP01 (5 voltage selection) hardwire kit. "MY" expectation, is that if I don't turn on Parking Mode, and don't turn on any of the low bit rate or low frame rate settings, that when I turn the car off, the Dash Cam should also power off, just like being connected to a switched / ACC cigarette lighter. But it does not appear to behave this way. It appears to stay on, in "normal" driving mode. Just sitting in the garage, recording loops of my garage wall and the inside of the car, filling the Micro SD card with video clips and still pictures (and I still don't understand why they are even being created). To me, this does not make sense. One should be able to tell the unit whether to record or not after the car is shut down, hence the "Parking Mode" functionality. This unit is proving to be very frustrating, and counter intuitive. I will have to test my older N2 Pro with the hardwire setup and see how it functions when I disable Parking Mode (I do not believe it has any other low power or reduced bit/frame rate settings).
 
Gunslinger4u said:
"MY" expectation, is that if I don't turn on Parking Mode, and don't turn on any of the low bit rate or low frame rate settings, that when I turn the car off, the Dash Cam should also power off, just like being connected to a switched / ACC cigarette lighter. But it does not appear to behave this way. It appears to stay on, in "normal" driving mode. Just sitting in the garage, recording loops of my garage wall and the inside of the car, filling the Micro SD card with video clips and still pictures (and I still don't understand why they are even being created). To me, this does not make sense.
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The main reason of an hardwire kit it is to always power the dashcam.
Your acc cigarette car lighter and most others cars lighter doesn't have permanent power. When you turn off the engine or when you lock the car, the power for the lighter it is switched off. That's why the cam it's shutting down.

Well, the Bat wire of a hardwired kit it is connected to an always on power fuse. This means that despite the fact that you turn off the engine and lock the car, the dashcam is still powered. So, how exactly you are expecting for dashcam to shutdown if it is provided with power?!
The dashcam it's working fine, as it should, and all the dashcams are working the same way.
If you don't want parking mode all the time, you have to manually shutdown the cam when you enter the garage. Next time, when you unlock the car it will start recording automatically.
 
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Dadi_T said:
The main reason of an hardwire kit it is to always power the dashcam.
Your acc cigarette car lighter and most others cars lighter doesn't have permanent power. When you turn off the engine or when you lock the car, the power for the lighter it is switched off. That's why the cam it's shutting down.

Well, the Bat wire of a hardwired kit it is connected to an always on power fuse. This means that despite the fact that you turn off the engine and lock the car, the dashcam is still powered. So, how exactly you are expecting for dashcam to shutdown if it is provided with power?!
The dashcam it's working fine, as it should, and all the dashcams are working the same way.
If you don't want parking mode all the time, you have to manually shutdown the cam when you enter the garage. Next time, when you unlock the car it will start recording automatically.
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Thank you for your response. And that does seem to be the way it's operating. However, I still do not understand why it's taking still pictures? I also do not understand why the hardwire kit has an ACC wire to tell the dashcam when the car is on and off, if it is ignored because the BAT wire is always connected. Why even have that third wire (ACC) at all if it's not used for anything? All that is needed is just the BAT and Ground wires, it would seem.
 
Gunslinger4u said:
Thank you for your response. And that does seem to be the way it's operating. However, I still do not understand why it's taking still pictures? I also do not understand why the hardwire kit has an ACC wire to tell the dashcam when the car is on and off, if it is ignored because the BAT wire is always connected. Why even have that third wire (ACC) at all if it's not used for anything? All that is needed is just the BAT and Ground wires, it would seem.
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1. Did you test what I listed above?

2. You still haven't answered whether the N2X is recording parking videos

3. Hardwire kit = Camera stays on using the car battery, when car is turned off, until reaching 12V (25% battery life) and shuts off once it reaches that threshold by the voltage cutoff

4. Basically, the camera should be recording unless the car battery gets low. So if the camera remains on after turning off the car, the Camera is working properly.

5. If that camera boots out of parking mode to Normal Record Mode, then camera is working properly.

Now if the camera is NOT entering parking mode, and only recording normally, you've got an improper fuse selected for Accessory (yellow wire) that doesn't turn off when car turns off
 
Gunslinger4u said:
However, I still do not understand why it's taking still pictures? I also do not understand why the hardwire kit has an ACC wire to tell the dashcam when the car is on and off, if it is ignored because the BAT wire is always connected. Why even have that third wire (ACC) at all if it's not used for anything? All that is needed is just the BAT and Ground wires, it would seem.
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Some words or a combination of words from you, passengers, or car radio may trigger voice commands option. It's not a perfect technology. Luxury cars have this problem also with their voice commands.
Also, if G sensor settings are to high, even small road imperfections can lock a video and also take a photo.
The ACC wire it is connected to an not always power fuse and the Bat one to an always power fuse, to know if the dash cam need to use parking mode or normal recording mode. That's it.

Of course, if the hardwired kit it is properly mounted.
 
jsmith said:
1. Did you test what I listed above?

2. You still haven't answered whether the N2X is recording parking videos

3. Hardwire kit = Camera stays on using the car battery, when car is turned off, until reaching 12V (25% battery life) and shuts off once it reaches that threshold by the voltage cutoff

4. Basically, the camera should be recording unless the car battery gets low. So if the camera remains on after turning off the car, the Camera is working properly.

5. If that camera boots out of parking mode to Normal Record Mode, then camera is working properly.

Now if the camera is NOT entering parking mode, and only recording normally, you've got an improper fuse selected for Accessory (yellow wire) that doesn't turn off when car turns off
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1) I'm sorry, I thought that I had answered your questions line by line, within your quoted message.
2) Yes, the N2X IS recording parking videos! But is it ALSO creating parking still pictures! I do not want it to do that, I do not even see that as a configurable option!
3) That's not how I understood the hardwire kit to operate. My understanding is that it makes use of the ACC fuse tap to tell the camera to switch in and out of Parking Mode, if Parking mode is configured with one of it's (four) options. My hope is that when using the hardwire kit, with the ACC line, if one chooses NOT to use Parking Mode when the Engine is shut off, then the camera should turn itself off, just like using a cig lighter or ACC USB port. If one wants to record all the time, even with the car shut off, then that's when the optional "low frame rate" and "low bit rate" options are turned on and used for.
4) I disagree, I think it should only be working when a) the car is on or b) the parking mode, or low bit rate, or low frame rate options are turned on. Otherwise, it should turn itself off.
5) my camera does go back and forth between Parking Mode and Normal mode, unless I have Parking Mode turned off, in which case, it stays in normal mode, which I do not want it to do!
I do not want it to stay on when a) the car is off, and b) I have Parking Mode turned off!

Why even have both a BAT fuse tap, AND an ACC fuse tap, when they are NOT using the ACC fuse tap to do anything? It makes no sense!

Thank you for hearing me out.....

David
 
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Why have you bought an hardwire kit if you don't use parking mode and you don't need parking mode?
Hardwire kit it only for parking mode.
The standard power supply for cigarette lighter that comes with the dashcam works as you want.
 
Since you want to use the hardwire kit to supply power to your N2X dash camera, but not take advantage of any of the parking modes, you can alter the wiring of the hardwire kit to operate like the cigarette lighter adapter (CLA). Instead of connecting the hardwire kit's BAT wire to a constant power source, connect both the BAT and ACC wires to a switched/accessory power source. Since the N2X draws below 1 Amp of power, I would assume the fuse box fuse socket you've connected the hardwire kit's ACC wire to in the fuse box should have sufficient available amperage to power the N2X.

This will replicate the CLA behavior and it should result in the N2X powering down when the vehicle's ignition switch is turned off.
 
Dadi_T said:
Why have you bought an hardwire kit if you don't use parking mode and you don't need parking mode?
Hardwire kit it only for parking mode.
The standard power supply for cigarette lighter that comes with the dashcam works as you want.
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I want to have the CHOICE of whether I use it or not. It also keeps my cig lighter area free from additional cords, and makes for a cleaner installation. It's the same reason people buy lamps that have on/off switches on them! Sure, you could just unplug it from the wall, and plug it back in again, but it's far easy to keep it plugged in all the time, and just use the switch! Same with the Dashcam. Sometimes I want it to record motion events after I've turned my car off, and other times, I don't want it to. It seems that having the Parking Mode function configurable in the settings should transfer to whether the camera functions with the car on or off as well. It just seems like a half assed deployment of the feature.
 
rcg530 said:
Since you want to use the hardwire kit to supply power to your N2X dash camera, but not take advantage of any of the parking modes, you can alter the wiring of the hardwire kit to operate like the cigarette lighter adapter (CLA). Instead of connecting the hardwire kit's BAT wire to a constant power source, connect both the BAT and ACC wires to a switched/accessory power source. Since the N2X draws below 1 Amp of power, I would assume the fuse box fuse socket you've connected the hardwire kit's ACC wire to in the fuse box should have sufficient available amperage to power the N2X.

This will replicate the CLA behavior and it should result in the N2X powering down when the vehicle's ignition switch is turned off.
Click to expand...

This is a nice alternative to using the cig lighter. However, I did not say that I did not want to use Parking Mode. I said that I want it to be something I can turn on and off in the software, and subsequently, have the camera either record "events" while the car is off, or not record anything with the car off, based on whether Parking Mode is on or off. As I said, it just seems like an incomplete implementation. Apparently, with the hardwire kit, the device will ALWAYS record something, no matter whether Parking Mode is on or off. As long as the unit is getting power. That is not ideal. You should be able to tell the device NOT to record anything when the car is off, but still be able to use the hardwire kit for it's convenience.
 
Gunslinger4u said:
This is a nice alternative to using the cig lighter. However, I did not say that I did not want to use Parking Mode. I said that I want it to be something I can turn on and off in the software, and subsequently, have the camera either record "events" while the car is off, or not record anything with the car off, based on whether Parking Mode is on or off. As I said, it just seems like an incomplete implementation. Apparently, with the hardwire kit, the device will ALWAYS record something, no matter whether Parking Mode is on or off. As long as the unit is getting power. That is not ideal. You should be able to tell the device NOT to record anything when the car is off, but still be able to use the hardwire kit for it's convenience.
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Simply put.

1. Yellow Wire (Accessory) is a fuse active when the car is turned on. It disables and does not receive current when the car is off.
2. The Red Wire (Battery) is hooked to a fuse active whether car is turned on or off.

How a hardwire kit works is twofold.

A. It senses the Accessory fuse as being "OFF" and reverts to the battery Fuse for power.
B. It monitors voltage and cuts off at a pre-selected voltage cutoff to keep your battery from going dead.

Below is what percentage of battery remains per voltage You'll want to select no less than 12.

12.6 = 100%
12.4 =75
12.2 = 50%
12.0 = 25%

Software Enable / Disable: Go into the menu (pictured below) and simply turn off parking mode if you don't want to use it.

Turn off Motion Detect, Low Bitrate, and Low Frame Rate in the Software Menu. Off is shown in the picture. Also you can turn off collision detection (camera wakes up and records if car is hit while parked) if you want, too. In this photo it is shown as Enabled. Grey = disabled.

Parking Mode will be disabled

Note: You do want to use parking mode... Trust me.

The whole purpose is if someone hits your car while parked, vandalizes your car, etc the Camera captures it.

1738185641989.webp
 
rcg530 said:
Since you want to use the hardwire kit to supply power to your N2X dash camera, but not take advantage of any of the parking modes, you can alter the wiring of the hardwire kit to operate like the cigarette lighter adapter (CLA). Instead of connecting the hardwire kit's BAT wire to a constant power source, connect both the BAT and ACC wires to a switched/accessory power source. Since the N2X draws below 1 Amp of power, I would assume the fuse box fuse socket you've connected the hardwire kit's ACC wire to in the fuse box should have sufficient available amperage to power the N2X.

This will replicate the CLA behavior and it should result in the N2X powering down when the vehicle's ignition switch is turned off.
Click to expand...

Not the best advice. Best to turn it off in the menu. Then car comes on with accessory and turns off. If he wants to use parking mode, he can enable and disable in menu.


1738185783021.webp
 
jsmith said:
Simply put.

1. Yellow Wire (Accessory) is a fuse active when the car is turned on. It disables and does not receive current when the car is off.
2. The Red Wire (Battery) is hooked to a fuse active whether car is turned on or off.

How a hardwire kit works is twofold.

A. It senses the Accessory fuse as being "OFF" and reverts to the battery Fuse for power.
B. It monitors voltage and cuts off at a pre-selected voltage cutoff to keep your battery from going dead.

Below is what percentage of battery remains per voltage You'll want to select no less than 12.

12.6 = 100%
12.4 =75
12.2 = 50%
12.0 = 25%

Software Enable / Disable: Go into the menu (pictured below) and simply turn off parking mode if you don't want to use it.

Turn off Motion Detect, Low Bitrate, and Low Frame Rate in the Software Menu. Off is shown in the picture. Also you can turn off collision detection (camera wakes up and records if car is hit while parked) if you want, too. In this photo it is shown as Enabled. Grey = disabled.

Parking Mode will be disabled

Note: You do want to use parking mode... Trust me.

The whole purpose is if someone hits your car while parked, vandalizes your car, etc the Camera captures it.

View attachment 77135
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying. I have the black wire connected to a good ground. I have the yellow wire connected to a "switched" ACC fuse location, and I have the red connected to an always hot fuse location. My experience is different than what you are saying. I can only speak for my situation, but if I turn Parking Mode off, and bit and frame off.... the unit simply stays powered on in "normal" driving / recording everything mode. It does not turn off, unless I either unplug the USB C connector from the dashcam mount, or press and hold the power button on the far left to turn it off. If that is not how it's supposed to work, then my unit is defective.
 
jsmith said:
Not the best advice. Best to turn it off in the menu. Then car comes on with accessory and turns off. If he wants to use parking mode, he can enable and disable in menu.


View attachment 77136
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I understand completely. My experience is different, as I replied above. If I disable ALL Parking Mode functionality, and turn the ignition OFF, my unit will stay on recording. It will not switch to Parking Mode, because I have parking mode turned off. It simply stays on and recording as if the car was still driving down the road. If I have any of the Parking Mode features active, it will switch to that Parking Mode feature when the car is turned off. So I know that it is getting the ACC signal..... it's just that my unit is either Parking Mode functionality, or ON. There is no "OFF" mode unless I do it manually somehow. (or, it reaches the preset voltage cutoff that I selected, which I believe is 11.9 or 12).
 
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