One installer said I should get an external battery as the Power Magic Pro sometimes throws error codes as the trickling of voltage is misidentified by your car. Anyone experience this? The battery almost doubles the cost and makes it so you cant switch off the unit (I dont need it recording in parking mode in my garage) so I would prefer not to get it.

How much parking standby time do you get with Power Magic Pro?

Where is the best place to buy the BlackVue and blend mount?

Did you evaluate the 900 vs the 750? Do you see much difference for the price spent on the 4K version? I heard the 1080p is better at night?

Finally, someone asked about Orange County installers and no one really had any suggestions of people that were excellent on that thread. Some stated they did it themselves. Anyone willing to help in Orange County. Concerned with interfering with airbags and such.

 

I have the 750 + Power Magic Pro.

I get about 4 hrs of parking standby time with it.

Don't know about the higher version of the camera but the 750 with 2 channels (front and back) is plenty good enough for me.

Bought the camera, PMP, blendmound (hardwired a V1) and got it installed at Audio Lab in Lake Forest. It's been a year and everything is great. I would suggest a battery tender if you won't be driving the car for over a week.

 

Audio Lab does great work! I’ve had them hardwire radar detectors, wrap front windshields, etc
The do all the stereo installs on the Rezvani’s (pictured here in front of my TTS)

 

Here's comparisons from BBMC -

Gives a clear idea on the quality difference.

 

If you are not going to be using parking mode, then you don't need Power Magic Pro or External Battery Pack.

Buy from Blackboxmycar.com - They are one of the first and very reputable BlackVue distributor that has a stellar reputation.

Technology is an ever chasing game, if I was to be buying now today, I will buy the 2-CH 900. However I am not going to purposely buy it just to upgrade when the 2-CH 750 that I bought 2 years ago meets my requirement. The only deficit of 4K is that you get lesser storage time because of the file sizes, otherwise it is the natural progression.

And only the front is 4K on the 2-CH 900.

 

I plean on using parking mode. Its just that most of the time my car is in the garage. I appreciate your and everyone else's input

 

I have the 900 with the Power Magic Pro and I just unplug the camera when it is in the garage at home. It takes all of 2 seconds to unplug or plug back in.

-TJ

 

Here is my recommendation, I have stayed away from their ancient Power Magic Pro because of inconsistencies and parasitic draw.



Match either dash cam with their battery pack, no splicing, no hardwiring, you only need to use one of the 12V sockets (the one in the passenger footwell is the most ideal one). The battery pack can also be tucked behind the carpet, trim close to the firewall without having to bolt, screw anything in. Coincidentally the space around the passenger footwell close to the firewall has plenty of room to fit this snugly without it moving anywhere.

And then it's just patience and time to simply tuck all the wiring into the trim, don't even need to take any of the trim off, no ugly clips, no exposed wiring. Everything can be nicely tucked and hidden and it will look factory OEM + no potential parasitic draw from splicing or hardwiring.



Best of all, you get real-time notifications from the app (fully customized to your expectations) when a slight jolt or bump or vibration is felt in parking mode and also have the ability to view your dashcam via WiFi or Cloud with no additional charge.