Full description not available
2**P
Excellent quality camera that you can "hide" from view
Picture quality is as good as you can get for a windscreen-mounted camera. The WiFi interface is slow - possibly as a consequence of the files being large, which is itself a consequence of having good quality video - so the best way to review pictures is to remove the micro-SD card and play it from a PC (or copy it).Clips are saved as 1-min files. I originally thought this was a pain but the speed of copying files makes this a sensible compromise.The shape of the camera means I can "hide" it in front of my rear view mirror, and the rear camera is small enough that it simply doesn't get in the way at all. Don't be fooled into buying a dashcam with a built-in screen. Those small screens are absolutely useless at showing you whether you have captured the detail you need, so why bother having them? They make the cameras bigger and the screens are a distraction when you're driving. Complete waste of time. I always know when I see one in a car that the owner did absolutely no research before buying one.Cabling up the BlackVue is, of course, a piece of work. I managed to locate the rear camera cable above the headlining, along its edges, levering the door rubbers away slightly and using the included plastic spudger tool so I didn't damage anything.On my Merc GL, the hardest part was to thread the cable through the concertina hose leading to the tailgate. For this, I taped the end of the cable to a large tie-wrap and pushed it through this way, patiently squeezing and releasing the hose to help the tie-wrap through. It takes a long time but now that it's all working, it was worthwhile.Powering the camera was another piece of work which involves a separately-purchased box (PowerMagic) that compares the voltage of your battery to ensure the camera doesn't kill your battery. the camera detects the lack of movement and enters parking mode, which is a lower power consumption mode but even so, you might want to consider the PowerMagic box. That said, my camera switches off very soon after I turn off the car engine. I suspect my battery may not be in great health even though it starts my engine with conviction every time. There is an accessories battery alongside my starter battery but that too seems to work faultlessly. So I don't know why my camera won't stay on. I have been tempted to remove the PowerMagic box and just wire the camera directly into the battery however I do know that is just tempting fate and I'll find myself with insufficient charge to start my car one day.Anyway, the main thing to consider when you buy a dashcam is whether you can read registration plates and see the detail of faces captured. If you can't then there's probably not much point in it. These BlackVue cameras are the sort of quality everyone else wishes they had but please test fit the camera before permanently locating it because in some cars, the windscreen curve will lead your camera to point off to one side, or dashboard reflections will spoil the captured video.
J**9
Highly Recommended but WiFi unreliable and requires Polarising Filter
I have installed witness cameras in my cars for some years now and (unfortunately) I have found the recorded evidence to have been extremely useful on occasion.With a recent car change I upgraded to the BlackVue DR750S-2CH and also added a BlackVue B-112 Power Magic Battery. I decided to use a SanDisk Ultra 128GB Memory Card SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC Memory Card + SD Adapter with A1 App Performance up to 100MB/s, Class 10, U1 to save on cost.Installation took no more than an hour (including coffee breaks) and most of the time was spent hiding away the cabling behind the car trims. A trim tool was included as well as spare adhesive fixing pads.I did add a couple of Ferrite Split Core Chokes to reduce radio interference. With my previous Blackvue camera (DR550GW-2CH) I found that Dab radio reception was badly affected (perhaps due to the aerial location) but so far this doesn’t seem to be a problem with this camera.When I first installed the camera, I found that the video file time stamps were wrong and I had difficulty connecting to the device via WiFi. However, using the Blackvue windows viewer application it was easy to amend the configuration settings on the SD card (a USB adapter is provided). Now that the time-zone is corrected everything seems to be recording fine.I was also able to turn off selected LED indicator lights on the cameras through the configuration settings, as well as record custom text (eg license plate) directly to the video files. Unusually, no firmware upgrade was required.The application can also flip the video so it does not matter how the cameras are orientated. GPS location, time, speed etc are all recorded.For some reason my mobile will only connect to the camera reliably (via WiFi) while outside of the car. The most useful thing about being able to connect this way is to immediately see the effect when making small adjustments to the cameras. I generally find it easier and quicker to remove the SD card and copy the video files directly.Daytime video quality is excellent both front and rear, although night recordings so far are poor. The parking mode night enhancement is a marked improvement, though.I mounted the front camera behind the central rear view mirror but I found that internal reflections from the windscreen were rather extreme in the new car, so I have added a CPL filter (non-Blackvue to save on cost). This has all but eliminated the reflections and also improved the daytime video recording quality. Considering the price of this package, a polarising filter really should be included as standard.I have not tried any of the cloud functions and the use/cost of these could be better explained by Blackvue in my view.My one criticism is that the camera seems slow to switch between parking mode to normal recording, but I suspect the answer may be to find the correct the configuration settings.Overall, I am very pleased with the camera so far.
P**N
Good hardware, security issue with your location appearing to anyone.
Fitted to Range Rover Sport Supercharged.Immediately replaced SD card with Sandisk 128gb and disabled crash saving. Think I’ll know when that happens.Fitting : Rear camera fits in wiper blade area to ensure clean filming with limited rear view obscuration, rear camera to front camera cable is over 1m longer than required to work around roof lining to front. Front camera would be fine in RHD, but in LHD must be fitted upside down on passenger side to give focus to road side turnings and as cars sensors on centre mirror would be obscured. Power cable is JUST enough to reach front socket embedded in linings and under floor mat, 10cm short to reach back seat socket. No where enought to reach boot socket.APP : Iphone app is fine if you do not use Cloud, if you add Cloud you will be visible to the world, car thief paradise. Your car is unbelievably displayed to house and street while you are parked. Shocking. Remember Cloud is also charged extra per month, not included in puchase price. Also WIFI connection seems to stop mobile data so no maps or firmware updates(???)If you fit camera to right of centre mirror ‘upside down’ your video is filmed upside down. Only rear camera can be inverted for some stupid reason. Front is unable to be change in App, if you need video you must rotate lock your iPhone and then hold upside down?!?!Camera is bigger than older models in a wierd twist of technology. No way to leave on windscreen in most carparks if you like your windows - far to big and obvious, when returning you must connect power and trickey second camera cable and then line up to film front of car. Usability was not in the plans.*** UPDATE ***Software update and firmware update now allows front camera 180 rotation. Seems someone is listening!
Trustpilot
1 month ago
2 weeks ago