When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I'm on my fourth dash cam in the last several years and have some experience about what is practically useful. With a 128GB card you will easily capture more video than you need even with the 4K camera's additional data. Unless the compression is truly lossless I wouldn't care if it did take more space since too much compression would offset the benefits of the extra resolution.
My current Thinkware F800 has plenty of recording time at 1080p with a 64GB card at 60 fps (which it can do if you don't have a rear camera), which would theoretically generate about half the data of the 4k BlackVue at its 30 fps limit before any changes in compression. All you really need is enough recording space to take in whatever length of drive you'll likely do in a day's drive. If anything of great consequence happens you'll mark if for saving right away anyway. If you just want to go back and review something less urgent from your day's drive then you'll almost always pull it at the end of your drive that day. At least that's my experience. Remember that parking mode video isn't continuously stored so it doesn't generally add up to a lot of space unless you are using motion detection mode and are parked facing a busy place for a long time. (A nice thing with my F800 is it can be set to record only 1 frame per second when parked so it can record 30x to 60x more parking time for the same space).The tape they use to mount these high end cameras is more than sturdy enough to hold up for track use. One thing to consider if you do use the D900 at the track is to record at the lesser 1080p resolution so you can get 60 fps. You will find the higher frame rate of more use at track speeds than the higher resolution.
Alex_c: Thank you for the nice writeup! Now I have a new top-choice on the radar for my next upgrade. It's not a big loss if I do since I trickle down my old cameras to my other vehicles and pass on the oldest ones to my sons.
As an aside... my son just recorded an incident at a 4-way stop last week. He wasn't directly involved other than stopping to help the possibly injured. He gave the police the video showing that the two other drivers at the intersection didn't come to a stop even though he had stopped there first... and then they just accelerated and rammed each other at a surprisingly high speed for a 4-way stop intersection. Full airbags deployed and the axle of the Q5 completely sheared off. Craziness!
Thank you for your comments and feedback! I think we are in the same page regarding real life use of the space and file size.
Interesting story about the crash, and glad your son was lucky enough to just watch it and not be part of it!
I dont think we are in disagreement here. As I said, recording at 4k will mean that within 24 hours the card will be overwritten. Based on what you said, within 11 hours it will be overwritten and if you add the rear camera files to that, then you are looking at perhaps 7 hours overwritten. To me that is the deal breaker. I often leave cars in a garage or forget to transfer to laptop. Your experience differs from mine with transferring to phone as I found it very cumbersome, slow and difficult to retrieve the actual clip I want as each clip was 1 minute long, 60 per hour and 300 in 5 hours. Finding the one minute clip wasn't so easy for me. Yes, major impacts do get stored to internal memory, but all of them have this feature.
I also want the best clarity in a dash cam and the 4k front camera is certainly one of the top in its class. However, there are caveats to the quality like file size, night recording and there are other quirks with the Blackvue that I was unhappy with. This isnt a debate over what camera is better, Blackvue, Thinkware and Iroad are all top cameras and you cant go wrong with any. I just found out about the Iroad and thats where I am going. I will link it below and you can see all of the features it has that the others dont. If they appeal to you then great and if not then pick one of the others that better suits what you want.
No need to format card or get that annoying "format memory card to preserve data integrity" message.
No need to add any external battery drain accessory as it is built into the unit and it uses less power than any other camera
Wider viewing angle than the other cameras
Better nighttime recording than the other cameras
1080 front and back and 30fps
Best app of any dash cam and to me this is of most important as I am not the greatest with apps
Is it better to mount the rear in the middle of the glass or at the corner? I noticed Nick M. mounted his rear in the top corner of the glass to be more clean look. I wonder if that'll impact the viewing.
Is it better to mount the rear in the middle of the glass or at the corner? I noticed Nick M. mounted his rear in the top corner of the glass to be more clean look. I wonder if that'll impact the viewing.
Looking at the car from the outside, if you didn't know the camera was there, you may not even notice it.
I think centered will give you maximum coverage around your vehicle.
I’ve owned a Blackvue 650 since it came out and i’m planning to upgrade soon, other than the battery function is iRoad quality higher than the new 900 when comparing both at 1080p?
Originally Posted by PTS-BRG
I dont think we are in disagreement here. As I said, recording at 4k will mean that within 24 hours the card will be overwritten. Based on what you said, within 11 hours it will be overwritten and if you add the rear camera files to that, then you are looking at perhaps 7 hours overwritten. To me that is the deal breaker. I often leave cars in a garage or forget to transfer to laptop. Your experience differs from mine with transferring to phone as I found it very cumbersome, slow and difficult to retrieve the actual clip I want as each clip was 1 minute long, 60 per hour and 300 in 5 hours. Finding the one minute clip wasn't so easy for me. Yes, major impacts do get stored to internal memory, but all of them have this feature.
I also want the best clarity in a dash cam and the 4k front camera is certainly one of the top in its class. However, there are caveats to the quality like file size, night recording and there are other quirks with the Blackvue that I was unhappy with. This isnt a debate over what camera is better, Blackvue, Thinkware and Iroad are all top cameras and you cant go wrong with any. I just found out about the Iroad and thats where I am going. I will link it below and you can see all of the features it has that the others dont. If they appeal to you then great and if not then pick one of the others that better suits what you want.
No need to format card or get that annoying "format memory card to preserve data integrity" message.
No need to add any external battery drain accessory as it is built into the unit and it uses less power than any other camera
Wider viewing angle than the other cameras
Better nighttime recording than the other cameras
1080 front and back and 30fps
Best app of any dash cam and to me this is of most important as I am not the greatest with apps
It has better night recording that increases brightness over the Blackvue. Something to do with a new sensor or all glass lens.
The app is one of the main reasons I want it.
I’ve owned a Blackvue 650 since it came out and i’m planning to upgrade soon, other than the battery function is iRoad quality higher than the new 900 when comparing both at 1080p?
There's actually a lot of review/comparison against 750S on Youtube. Look up Vortex Radar specifically. He did side by side comparison as well. I've watched quite a view before I decided to get the 900RS. It seems the 4k really is noticeable in terms of clarity. Last thing you need is dealing with ambiguity in an unfortunate event but the camera can't provide a clear answer.
Remember that a wider viewing angle is not necessarily better. A wider angle reduces the resolution of details in the image, actually making license plates less readable. In my opinion an angle just wide enough to capture any likely event is more desirable than a larger angle due to the increased detail at a larger distance.
None of these cameras I've tried can read license plates at a significant distance, but I'd prefer to make that distance as great as possible as opposed to capturing more info off to the sides that I think is less likely to be important.
For the same reasons I'd prefer a 4K resolution camera over a smaller one like the 1080p I currently have (and plan to change out soon). Four times more pixels is a significant increase in resolution as long as compression doesn't degrade it too much.
This is why different cameras have different features. For me the wider viewing angle is of most importance. If someone comes up to your car from either side and keys your car, the narrow viewing angles will not capture it. Imagine tunnel vision where all you capture is directly in front and behind. With these new wide angle cameras, you get more of a cone effect where the view is wider to the left and right and still captures everything in the middle. Again, to each his own. For me the Iroad built a nearly perfect camera package for what I need.
Ah. that Iroad has that same irritating options as driver assistance like the thinkware does, I've seen videos and reviews of people being irritated by that non-stop voice of the driver assistance. I just want the thing to record when needed as clear as possible while being user-friendly.
I'll be getting the 4K BV900 as my car is a daily driver and I don't leave it for days or weeks without driving.
This is a good video review of the upgrade from the Blackvue 750 to 900, consider it's not just a bump in pixels but the lens is noticeably better. The new h.265 codec creates 4K files with the same file size as 1080p. I still haven't found a video that compares Blackvue 900 to iRoad x9.
As the title says, inspired by another thread asking about dashcams, I decided to go ahead and order the newly released BlackVue D900 4K kit with dual cameras for front and back (back cam is just HD, not 4K) to install them on my Carrera T. I also ordered the 128 GB micro SD card and the hard-wire kit.
Since I didn't have the additional fuse tap that I needed (you need two taps, one for constant power and another one for switched power), I decided to finish the installation and just connect the whole thing to the 12V plug on the passenger footwell. The advantage of that 12V plug is that it remains active up to 30 minutes after you shut down the car, so you get up to 30 minutes of Parking mode recording. I will setup the full hard-wired kit later in the week as soon as I can go get the additional tap needed.
Buying.
At first I tried going directly to BlackVue.com to place an order, but according to their site they were sold out of the pre-orders. Bummer! But then I tried blackboxmycar.com and to my surprise, they actually showed the D900 in stock. And on top of their regular discount, they had an extra $20 off due to their 6 year celebration. Ordering was fast and easy, and I got my box two days later from Canada. No complaints whatsoever. Good prices, good follow-up emails with tracking info, etc. Would buy again from them.
Installation.
After reading the instructions, and watching the online video, it looked extremely easy to do. I've installed plenty of things on my cars before, but not a dash cam. This was way easier than expected. The videos from BlackVue are extremely clear and well made. Kudos to BlackVue for that.
In short, you just need to position the camera behind the rearview mirror (optimal position as you can get the camera perfectly centered), attach it with the double sided tape already included, and then route the power cable down to the passenger side footwell 12V power socket. Very easy to route the cable behind the mirror trim, then all along behind the headliner, down the A pilar between the cover and the glass, then between the dashboard and the A pillar, down the door frame behind the door rubber seal, and then behind the carpet on the passenger footwell. I took me around 10 to 15 minutes for the whole thing. The package also included a trim tool to help you push the cable behind the trim. Another thumbs up.
The camera itself is a real marvel. Besides being full 4K, it includes a built-in GPS and WiFi, so you can connect your phone to the camera via the camera's WiFi network! After downloading the BlackVue app and checking the settings (I left everything by default, just setup the car's hotspot so the camera can upload to the cloud) I tested with live view to my phone and everything seem to be working perfectly.
Then I installed the rearview camera, at the very top of the back glass, and centered the lens. You can use the visual "line" between the two rear seatbacks to center the camera if doing it by yourself.
I was dreading having to route the video cable all the way from the back camera to the front one, but it was way easier than expected. Just route the cable along the headliner to the C pillar, tuck it behind the trim and across to the B pillar, then down the trim between the rear glass, and then all the way down (or up) using the door rubber gasket until you reach the front of the door. Keep going up to the A pillar, and then move to the headliner, and all the way to the mirror. Then down to the camera. Easier done than trying to explain it. You can't see any cables anywhere!
After plugging the second camera, the video from both is perfectly sync, so you can swap between front and rear camera view in the app, along with a map and GPS location, including your speed if you want it to.
All in all, a great product, and very pleased with it so far.
Here are some pictures of the installed camera and a couple of videos, one from the front camera and one from the back. If interested, watch the full one minute video from the front, as it was twilight, very difficult lighting conditions, and there is a transition under a bridge and out to a sunset right in front of the camera. Very good light control from the camera, as it could have been under/over exposed very easy.
Go ahead and ask any questions. Hope this helps other forum members trying to decide on installing a dashcam!
I just ordered one, will be here on Friday. I've never had a dashcam before. Any installing tips for the novice? (I won't be hardwiring mine.)
I think the best thing is to just take your time to route the cables carefully. Start from the camera and then go down towards the 12v plug under the passenger footwell. Very easy to route the cable all around to keep it hidden.
Also helps if you have someone from the outside helping you confirm the camera looks straight before you glue it to the windshield.
I think the ves tío is to just take your time to route the cables carefully. Start from the camera and then go down towards the 12v plug under the passenger footwell. Very easy to route the cable all around to keep it hidden.
Also helps if you have someone from the outside helping you confirm the camera looks straight before you glue it to the windshield.
I just ordered one, will be here on Friday. I've never had a dashcam before. Any installing tips for the novice? (I won't be hardwiring mine.)
Like Alex_c says it is fairly straightforward. On my prior cars I always just used the tuck-in method for the cord. Along the windshield it's easy. But there was always a bit of cord visible running from the corner of the windshield area to the door jamb area where the cord was visible... although neatly tucked along the A-pillar base and I don't think anyone other than me ever noticed it.
This time I decided to pop off the a-pillar and make it totally disappear. It is the only thing that makes for some extra work. If you decide to do this, here is a thread discussing how to do that. There are apparently two variations... and since your car is pretty new I assume the first one flick_roll calls out will be yours.
See: https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1048...r-removal.html
Realize that without hardwiring you won't get parking mode recording, but that isn't important to many. You will get a short recording until the power outlet turns off though. The drain is not a problem as long as the cutoff works as expected.
05-27-2018, 11:44 AM
