Blackvue DR550GW - Full UK Review

[Jet2004uk]

lol mate yeah, I just got a 2nd Zenec head unit see if the first one was defective, In car cams are great (imo) I modified mine as in painted the silver parts black just to get it to blend in a bit more, scrotes round my way would gladly smash the window and grab the cam if they saw it, if am honest I do remove it at night ( missing the point of having a cam ) I do a lot of traveling so thats where it comes in pretty handy

 

[AK47UK]

Fair play mate, I have turned all the LEDs off on mine in the hope it doesn't make it an extra reason to break into the car. Is your Zenec now working ok> How much did you get it for and where from? I was fortunate enough to get a second hand one too.

 

[Jet2004uk]

Paid the £800 from Car audio Direct, had a few problems regarding their after sales service, old unit was draining my battery the replacement seems to be ok but I not fully tested it yet, and yes flashing LEDs do attract magpies lol

 

[97catalunya]

Hi guys I have just installed my Blackview 550 in a MY14 A3 hatch with DAB

I have all but lost my DAB reception (happened as soon as I offered the camera up to the rear window) I believe I have the new cable labeled AL (or is it TV very small print)
Is there a newer cable than this or an alternative fix?
The location of the rear cam is top middle of the rear window, this does place it very close to the cars antenna, could this be the issue?
Should I move the cam (Can't think where too) or is there a way to shield the antenna better ie tin foil inside the headlining?

Thank you for your help

Chris

 

[Anthony566]

The new cable is the one marked AL and 90 degree connection at each end ... I have mine in my A4 and there has been almost no impact on the DAB radio I asume you are only looseing the radio when the rear camera is powered on ??

 

[97catalunya]

The new cable is the one marked AL and 90 degree connection at each end ... I have mine in my A4 and there has been almost no impact on the DAB radio I asume you are only looseing the radio when the rear camera is powered on ??

That's correct. Mine has the AL 90 degree plugs on the cable.
I had the ignition on using WiFi to align the camera so by default the radio was on as I lifted the cam up to the rear window the radio cut out, the cable was still hanging down at this point so it was not due to the cable running alongside the aerial cable. I wonder if it could be the camera itself?

 

[97catalunya]

P.S as I have not yet installed my power magic pro so if I pull the power to it the radio comes back on immediately.

 

[Anthony566]

Was the cable plugged all the way into the rear camera ? It does click into place

 

[Anthony566]

Was the cable plugged all the way into the rear camera ? It does click into place

also do all of your DAB stations go ?? it may affect weak ones ..

 

[97catalunya]

Thanks Anthony I will check if it will click home any tighter.
Yes the weak ones are the issue, unfortunately they are the local ones I listen to on my commute for the traffic news, often when they cut out I don't even pick up the FM equivalent

 

[Anthony566]

Thats a shame .... I have one station that I can't pick up when leaving the house but it comes back a few miles down the road .. you could also see if routing the cable form one side of the car helps .. mine is routed to the left side of the car ( passenger side ) across the back window it is tucked in the edge of the roof lining and the excess cable curled up above the light cluster in the front

 

[MrAudi]

i have the 550 in my 2012 RS3 since november last year without DAB & have the 'AL' rear lead but still get a lot of interferance on the radio, i read that some of you have run the rear cable above the doors, but with me i run in down the rear quarter and along the bottom of the doors as my car has curtain airbags in the headlining so was worried about the cable getting in the way in an airbag deployment

but a word of warning if you run the cable the same way i did DO NOT leave even a inch of slack anywhere or the cable will not reach the front cam.

would be so much easier if i could run the cable down the centre of the headliner but with built in light, bumps & god knows what else is hiding up them can seem to get a straight path through.

also my rear cam is looking through a tint & it is quite dark towards the edges of the picture & if you increase the brightness the front then becomes to bright.

 

[MrAudi]

this a direct quote of an announcement today:


**Pittasoft Discontinue 3 more of their DashCams**
So we've just heard that Pittasoft have announced they are now adding three more DashCams to the pile along with the DR380. These are:
DR500GW
DR550GW
DR500-HD
Now it's not a massive surprise as to why this has been done considering that the new range of cameras are about to hit the market.
Hopefully they will continue to support the DR500GW and DR550GW for a short while longer especially as there are A LOT of owners.

 

[Jet2004uk]

Most people have not had their models long, I guess this is how manufacturers make their money, I will have to keep with my old DR500GW HD as its only a few months old

 

[Anthony566]

I thought the 550 was being replaced buy the 650 ??? And they also have a large screen 750 launching as well ...

 

[cemerson]

I have the 550, it still has overheating issues. PITA really. I have to unplug it and plug it back in every now and then to get it to respond again.

 

[Phil-1]

I'm going to wait until the 650 comes out then see about getting a 2 camera setup. I see the new version is less than the 550.

 

[AK47UK]

I updated my 550 fw to the latest custom fw and it was too hot to hold the unit, couldn't believe it! Wifi was off as well.

 

[Nawaid]

Hi guys!!

As a lot of you know, we sell quite a few cameras here in the UK and we were sent the latest camera from Pittasoft to Review...

They sent us the Blackvue DR550 GW - 2 Channel System featuring a Front & Rear Camera!As some of you know we sell a lot of cameras over in the UK and we were lucky enough to be sent the newest camera from Pittasoft to be reviewed. Well here it is, in Full HD!

In the review I go over:

• Un-boxing
• Brief going over the cameras
• Connecting up the cameras
• Connecting to the App with Live Footage
• Installed In a Vehicle

Hope you enjoy!

If you want to see any more details or tech specs then please check out the link below!

Blackvue DR550GW 2 Channel In-Car Camera| Advanced InCar Technologies

Comes just in time after the latest articles on the BBC Website:

BBC News - Warning over 'flash for cash' scam

&

BBC News - Lane hogging and tailgating on-the-spot fines in force

Any questions then just shout

Any group buy discounts/ fitting offers for ASN members?

 

[Breezey]

Guys,

is anyone having any success with a custom firmware? I've been disappointed in my DR550 sinse i got it (imagine quality is shocking nothing new there!) i read a couple of posts above saying the firmware brings overheating back? is there a middle ground of increased quality but no overheating?

 

[MrAudi]

I no longer have my DR550, but when did I managed to improve the quality quite a lot just by using a better micro sd-card, I ended up using a scan disk extreme pro 64gb there no cheap at £60-£65 but did the job

 

[Breezey]

Thanks for the heads up!