My second Budget dashcam review

Ok the 3rd Dashcam came today ( where is the 2nd ? ) ...

This one was $25USD from Ebay

What we have here is another budget dash camera ( Whats its name ? GT300 or something )

Video capture is 1920 x 1080 @ 30FPS

I set the camera to 1 minute segments , and the join is seamless ( amazing for such a cheap camera )

Number plates are still hard to see , but video quality is up .

Also the camera handles light a lot better but there is significant flare when pointed toward the sun , or bright reflection ( Its a cheap camera )

Sorry , I didnt do audio this time around ..

I minute = 150MB or there abouts , so a 16GB card is good for ?? maybe 100 minutes , so compression is not brilliant .

I will just go upload the video now :

Thanks for the comparison.

I guess if you want to pick up any form of detail, these cheap cameras are not what you want.

It’s “Full HD”, but you can’t even make out the sign on the back of a bus, that’s right in front of you, lol.

Maybe it’s not possible to get such a wide angle, with decent focus as well?

Looking forward to your next review, hopefully for you, you will find a ‘keeper’.

:beer:

Hmmm , I have two more budget cameras on the way ..

After that ?

B40 + GPS logger ? capacitor version

or

G1W-C perhaps , for something permanent ...

I want one camera for the front and another as a rear camera .. But this one is not terrible , its not great ether ! Its very average , and for $25USD , its actually a decent deal . I mean you can spend upward of $400USD if you want , or 20 times the cost of this one .. I think we need to keep some perspective .

What does a bucket of KFC chicken cost these days ? or taking the family to MacDonald's ? So for that cost ( very budget ) you get some peace of mind if your in an accident . What do you do if a car full of idiots back into you and when the police arrive they all say you ran into them ? , and then some self opinionated bystander say's yeah , your at fault ( he recons ) .

Nothing like having it on video , now Im not claiming this product to be the one to buy , no no no . That is something folks will have to decide for themselves , but for the price I have no intention of Po pooing this one , it does a decent job for the money . ( For the money )

G1W-C looks good from what I have seen.

I looked into dash cams a little while ago, but ended up buying torch parts instead…. :bigsmile:

I guess if all you want is to prove that ‘the green car ran into me’, then most of the cheap cameras will do the job.

But if you want number plate details from a hit & run for example, then you need something better.

or if you want to provide the best meteorite footage around:

As I mentioned elsewhere (and on dashcamtalk) I don’t think the G1Wc is quite ready for prime-time. The results are just too mixed ATM; some seem great and some are, well awful. I think they will be OK in time as their manufacturer does upgrade them some while many cheaper ones never do.

These are as fun and as addicting as flashlights- you have been warned!

Phil

One or two things :

How many factories make the G1W ?

Which is real which is clone ?

Distributors , are they all selling the same spec , or have they specified cheaper components ?

Just like flashlights , anyone can put in a order , and ask for cheaper components , or better components ..

You probably dont want one built on Monday or Friday

Anyhow , I would expect more options for capacitors as time goes on ..

I ordered a G1W-c from a trusted seller ( ? ) I hope .

There are several different factories which make dashcams, including the G1W series, even the real ones. It’s Chinese business as usual where your company subcontracts it all out, giving the specs to different factories, then you choose who to go with. It’s still up to the company to make sure they followed your specs instead of substituting cheaper parts. So there is no real single “manufacturer” here, but several. There is no single “real company” for the G1w series I can find either (unlike Lukas, Panorama and some others). And as soon as production starts, someone (often several) will build a cheaper look-alike. Flashaholics will know the game.

Check the specs from whoever you’re buying from- that’s the first way to avoid fakes. The real G1Wc’s use the Novatek NT96650 processor and the Aptina AR 0330 CMOS sensor. The other components can vary in spec even in the real ones but have little effect on things in comparison. The real ones do HD @ 1080P; many of the fakes only do 720P. Real ones record in .MOV format, most fakes do it in .AVI only. There are a few firmware versions of the G1Wc and what you get may or may not be the latest one, but it can be upgraded. Whatever firmware they send you should work fine. All the G1w series tend to be picky about the SD cards. Best bet is either a Samsumg or Transcend Class 10 32GB, smaller will work. SanDisk likely won’t, nor will many other brands, nor will most lower card-speed classes. That varies with each cam so all you can do is try; each is something of a rule only unto itself.

If the seller you used is on the recommended list, you’ll get a real G1Wc. As of right now, there are few fakes of this model (those are just appearing) but on all other G1w series dashcams there are numerous fakes out there with only a very few being decent or almost comparable. It can be a minefield and Dashcamtalk is the map to use to get through it.

If it works right and is real, this is a dashcam you’ll really like. Promise!

Phil