Dashcam - DAB issue

[royalsteve68]

After using dashcams for over 7 years and well before they were mainstream on my various cars, i like alot of people had loads of problems with car cameras and DAB when trying to install car cameras in the Audi S£ 8V.

Installed a blackvue 500 in front - worked great

After a month i had a winycam 300 rear camera installed after advise not to install a blackvue on the rear due to major DAB issues.. The 300 is really a front camera.

This worked well for a year but developed issues, so i swapped it for a winycam 100 which was brilliant. However, both cameras caused battery issues on the car

So i had an anypower battery installed in the glove compartment and at the same time i had a winycam 200 installed. The 200 front camera was great but rear camera was terrible and it also caused major DAB issues

So on Friday i had a Thinkware 750 installed and so far its great with no DAB issues, though its early days. The pic quality is as good if not better than the blackvues, though the winycam 100 had the best pic quality. Only issue with the thinkware so is the extra features like collison warning and lane departure warning are annoying but can easily be turned off. Also, the sd card port isnt in the best place and the camera holder doesnt look as robust as the blackvue ones

I still cant believe that after years of DAB issues, blackvue have done NOTHING to address the problem

Thinkware 750 pros

• Mobile app is far better than blackvue
• Dual save to internal sd card mode is handy i guess
• Extra features - collision warning, lane drift warning, speed camera warning are useful
• Nice audio feature letting you know at start up if there have been any events in eg parking
• night light looks rather nice
• Liveview is handy
• Windows app is far better than winycam or blackvue
• Camera unit feels solid

Thinkware 750 cons

• Some extra feature like collision and lane drift are a bit annoying
• night light might attract attention but can be turned off
• no screen
• Liveview is low res
• micro sd card in odd place at top so you have to remove the until to access it
• night time footage is grainy and a little pixelated but all camera are like that or worse

 

[jungle650]

After using dashcams for over 7 years and well before they were mainstream on my various cars, i like alot of people had loads of problems with car cameras and DAB when trying to install car cameras in the Audi S£ 8V.

Installed a blackvue 500 in front - worked great

After a month i had a winycam 300 rear camera installed after advise not to install a blackvue on the rear due to major DAB issues.. The 300 is really a front camera.

This worked well for a year but developed issues, so i swapped it for a winycam 100 which was brilliant. However, both cameras caused battery issues on the car

So i had an anypower battery installed in the glove compartment and at the same time i had a winycam 200 installed. The 200 front camera was great but rear camera was terrible and it also caused major DAB issues

So on Friday i had a Thinkware 750 installed and so far its great with no DAB issues, though its early days. The pic quality is as good if not better than the blackvues, though the winycam 100 had the best pic quality. Only issue with the thinkware so is the extra features like collison warning and lane departure warning are annoying but can easily be turned off. Also, the sd card port isnt in the best place and the camera holder doesnt look as robust as the blackvue ones

I still cant believe that after years of DAB issues, blackvue have done NOTHING to address the problem

Thinkware 750 pros

• Mobile app is far better than blackvue
• Dual save to internal sd card mode is handy i guess
• Extra features - collision warning, lane drift warning, speed camera warning are useful
• Nice audio feature letting you know at start up if there have been any events in eg parking
• night light looks rather nice
• Liveview is handy
• Windows app is far better than winycam or blackvue
• Camera unit feels solid

Thinkware 750 cons

• Some extra feature like collision and lane drift are a bit annoying
• night light might attract attention but can be turned off
• no screen
• Liveview is low res
• micro sd card in odd place at top so you have to remove the until to access it
• night time footage is grainy and a little pixelated but all camera are like that or worse

I agree with vast majority of the above. We have a Thinkware 750 installed on another car and its a great it of kit. I like the fact it has inbuilt volatge parameters negating the need for something like the magic pro, although still wish it went higher than 12.3V max setting.

Video quality during the day is very similar between Blackvue 650 and Thinkware 750. Blackvue looks more natural colour wise and Thinkware out of the box is a little lighter more washed out. Yes these can be tweaked.. Night vision Thinkware has the edge, especially with the rear full 1080P rear camera.

Totally agree about warnings, we had to turn them off as for 99% of journeys where u know where u are going and speed cameras might be they were far too over zealous and annoying. Nice to have feature though.

The only other negative is its not as stealthy install as its quite a big unit and why do they supply it with a grey/white sticky pad rather than a black one!. Yes you can buy alternatives but you should not have to.. There is a new unit out now which is marginally smaller ( new model number) but still not as well designed as the blackvue aesthetically in my opinion.

We have ours mounted high up in the windscreen for descrete recording but cables and mount are definately designed for mounting in a left hand drive market. USB cabling is robust but the connectors do not easily allow for a descrete mount as they cannot be bent much. Yes once again you can buy adaptors or replacement cabling but why should you. Also with the mount you have to slide the camera off to the right which means you have to mount further over to the left ( hope that makes sense). Not major but still a consideration.

Overall I think both the Blackvue and the Thinkware are great units. I love the fact that Blackvue provide free cloud storage which Thinkware do not.

I agree that with so many people having some kind of issue with DAB u would have thought Blackvue would evolve / improve shielding even further than they already have.. I do suspect that its to do with the location of the ariel and proximity to canera/ cabling.etc in our cars though.

Anyway glad you have found peace with the Thinkware and DAB !!

They are expensive but great bits of kit.

Jungle

 

[royalsteve68]

I agree with vast majority of the above. We have a Thinkware 750 installed on another car and its a great it of kit. I like the fact it has inbuilt volatge parameters negating the need for something like the magic pro, although still wish it went higher than 12.3V max setting.

Video quality during the day is very similar between Blackvue 650 and Thinkware 750. Blackvue looks more natural colour wise and Thinkware out of the box is a little lighter more washed out. Yes these can be tweaked.. Night vision Thinkware has the edge, especially with the rear full 1080P rear camera.

Totally agree about warnings, we had to turn them off as for 99% of journeys where u know where u are going and speed cameras might be they were far too over zealous and annoying. Nice to have feature though.

The only other negative is its not as stealthy install as its quite a big unit and why do they supply it with a grey/white sticky pad rather than a black one!. Yes you can buy alternatives but you should not have to.. There is a new unit out now which is marginally smaller ( new model number) but still not as well designed as the blackvue aesthetically in my opinion.

We have ours mounted high up in the windscreen for descrete recording but cables and mount are definately designed for mounting in a left hand drive market. USB cabling is robust but the connectors do not easily allow for a descrete mount as they cannot be bent much. Yes once again you can buy adaptors or replacement cabling but why should you. Also with the mount you have to slide the camera off to the right which means you have to mount further over to the left ( hope that makes sense). Not major but still a consideration.

Overall I think both the Blackvue and the Thinkware are great units. I love the fact that Blackvue provide free cloud storage which Thinkware do not.

I agree that with so many people having some kind of issue with DAB u would have thought Blackvue would evolve / improve shielding even further than they already have.. I do suspect that its to do with the location of the ariel and proximity to canera/ cabling.etc in our cars though.

Anyway glad you have found peace with the Thinkware and DAB !!

They are expensive but great bits of kit.

Jungle

Its the dumb placement of the DAB arial on the rear screen that's the problem and the lousy EM shielding