Any interest in a dash cam group buy?

honestly I been going back and forth now on the blackvue or thinkware. cant make my mind up I should go witt the cheaper 590 doubt I will ever use the cloud feature. only thing that has me hung up was that one review you did where I think it was the F800 had a lag between park mode and normal recording where you almost got hit pulling out of the parking lot and it wasn't recording or am I mixing the two up?

 

I don’t need the cloud, but being able to watch files on my phone via Bluetooth or WiFi would be good.

 

you are correct, glad you actually watched my reviews haha. that lag is an issue, but i still prefer the parking mode thinkware does. i like that i can set priority to parking mode files on the memory card because I don't need 10 hours of driving footage.

i also like that the thinkware has a timer built in, because i use the cellink battery b (i live in minnesota and with the cold weather id prefer not to use the vehicles battery, but its not necessary either) and the cellink has no timer like the power magic pro. so if i were to use a blackvue (which i did up until the F770) i would have no timer. i don't like to have it recording non stop with no way of turning it off besides unplugging it.

i was hoping the new cellink would have a timer but it appears to also have no timer.

 

the dr590-2ch and sggcx2 are the only ones that have no wifi option of the ones i recommended. the sg9663dc does have wifi but its not activated yet as a feature as they iron out the firmware. not sure when it will be activated.

personally i prefer the thinkware f800, posted somewhere above my reasons but its pretty expensive.

i think wifi is convenient but if its the difference between $100-200 it sort of makes me question if its worth it if you don't want to spend $300-400. thats why i think the dr590-2ch is great, you still get pretty similar video quality, same sony image sensor, same parking modes of the high end cams, but if you ever get in an accident you'll just have to copy the file from the memory card without a smart phone app.

 

I am very curious why the DC model of Street Guardian has not had more interest. According to reviews it has the best video playback and the hardwire kit for all the extras will be available in March or so. The video is second to none with the camera lens setup. Should I be changing what camera I want @USDashCamera ?

 

@USDashCamera Am I allowed in on the group buy?

 

Only if you want to get a thinkware or Blackvue cam

 

absolutely, still open.

 

the street guardian cams have great video quality but as a company they are behind on many of the high end "advanced" features people expect out of blackvue or thinkware. personally i would choose blackvue or thinkware because while street guardian may have better video quality i dont think their parking mode is as good, and wifi is still something they are working on.

its really just a trade off. if you want the best parking mode i would recommend thinkware or blackvue (blackvue especially if you want cloud features) but if you don't need or want parking mode and just want good video quality while driving, street guardian is the way to go.

all the cams have their pros and cons.

even tho street guardian is getting a parking mode, i still dont think its as good compared to blackvue or thinkwares parking mode. i like that blackvue/thinkware use pre buffered recording so if you want you can just use impact detection and when an impact is detected it doesnt start recording right after, it has 10 seconds prebuffered on internal memory so you get 10 seconds that lead up to the impact. that means when someone hit and runs you in a parking lot you don't just see the aftermath, you see the actual act of them backing into you.

street guardian is getting around this (from my understanding) by using a time lapse mode where in parking mode it is ALWAYS recording in a low frame rate. from what they told me if there is an impact it should record in a higher frame rate.

it seems like a good compromise because their chipset apparently cant support pre buffered parking recording like blackvue or thinkware but theres more to it then that. blackvue and thinkware cams will tell you with an audio alert how many times your car was impacted while it was in parking mode. sometimes you slamming your door shut when you get back will set it off but as long as you pay attention to the beep you'll know if its just a false alarm. thinkwares f800 and f800 pro also will tell you how many times motion detection was set off. some people hate this because that means everytime you get in your car it might say "parking mode detected 10 times impact 1 time" or something like that. i personally like it because its possible to not realize someone bumped you in a parking lot, what if you don't notice the damage and then by the time you do the footage is recorded over? those audio alerts are another level of protection for you to notify you if someone hit and ran you.

but again, street guardian is still a great company with great support, i just personally want the best parking mode possible so thats why i prefer the thinkware cams (or blackvue). but I sacrifice video quality, but i think the video quality is still good ENOUGH for what I feel I will need it for.

 

Definitely a Thinkware F800 Pro. @USDashCamera

 

It looks like the Thinkware F800 (non-pro) has the features I want, but it's the same price as the BlackVue

$821 DR750S-2CH with Power Magic Pro Hardwire Kit | 2-Channel WiFi Cloud Dash Cam Night Vision 1080P Full HD Car DVR Recorder 16GB SD Card

DR750S-2CH.

Decisions, decisions.

 

personally the thinkware f800 has a big issue for me that would make me lean towards the dr750 if you arent getting the f800 pro. the f800 only supports 64 gb memory cards which i think was a big mistake by thinkware. the dr750, dr590, f800 pro all support 128gb cards. i also really dislike the gray color of the f800 non pro. makes it so visible.

 

How much recording time is in a 64gb card? I don't think that would be a problem for me. I don't see a time where I'd have to wait days to save an event video.

 

The part that gets you is parking recording. The thinkeare f800 can record about 26 hours of fottage but it's two channels so it's more like 13. Now say you are using parking mode with motion detection and your work has constant traffic driving around. One 8 to 9 he day at work with parking mode can nearly fill up your memory card. So now say you only have a 64gb card and only get 6 to 7 hours front and rear. Maybe yesterday you were bit and ran in a parking lot but you didn't notice until after the next day after your 8 hour shift. That footage could already be recorded over.

I don't think big memory cards with days of recording are a necessity unless you are using parking mode.

The nice thing is thinkware and soon street guardian offer a time lapse mode where it only records look ow framerate time lapse footage until you are actually impacted. Traditional motion detection can use up a lot of memory card space if you park in high traffic areas.

 

How long before it's too late to join? Just trying to figure out if I can swing the funds

 

That makes more sense to me now. So either the 800 Pro or the 750. Reviews make them seem pretty even, with the 750 having a better camera but the 800 being a little more user friendly.

How did anyone else decide which one to get?

 

I did a few days of research, I need a dash cam and I don't necessarily 'need' all the functions on the BlackVue and Thinkware but from the reviews they are good cameras, also BlackSys appears to be a quality camera as well, although I did not find as many reviews on it.
My first dashcam cost 100$ and you get what you pay for!
I basically flipped a coin deciding between the Blackview and Thinkware.

 

I drive older Highlanders for work and not really worried about parking issues. Which one one of these cameras provides the best bang for the buck for recording rear and front accidents and the ability to view on an android or iPhone? In my years of driving I have seen some bad stuff, one time a guy went right out the rear window while the car summersaulted down the highway.

 

the link to pay the $20 deposit is supposed to go up today I think. I am hoping to give people maybe a week to buy in, but i don't want to wait too long as many people have been waiting patiently. if successful we might be able to do more in the future, I have a pretty good relationship with blackboxmycar through my reviews.

 

link is up for the blackboxmycar group buy:

https://www.blackboxmycar.com/products/tacomaworld-group-buy-deposit?variant=5263568961573

so after 16 or more people buy the deposit, we receive the temporary coupon code. if anyone wants to buy more than one cam, they can buy multiple deposits and that counts as 2 or more towards the 16. you will recieve a refund on the deposit once the purchase is made. I am gonna try to give a week for people, i hope thats not too long for anyone but i just want to make sure the last few people still deciding get a chance.