Torn between Dashcams...

[SMAlset]

FWIW and regardless of what camera you go with, I will mention that some people who bought theirs off Amazon and sites offering group buys had more difficulty if they needed to return their unit for service because these sites weren't equipped to handle service requests.

We ordered ours from B&H Photo (NY) when they had a sale on them. They currently have the 650S-2ch for $249.95 (16GB blackvue micro SD card). Sale ends tonight before midnight ET. They don't sell the Blackvue cards separately so we've bought our 128GB card from another source and use the lower capacity card when we pull out the 128GB card or as temp back up when we eventually need to replace our 128GB workhorse card. Blackvue | B&H Photo Video We ordered our 128GB card from The Dashcam Store. We'd recommend both places, best pricing will depend on ongoing sales. I see that TheDashcamStore also has an end of year sale going on dashcams: The Dashcam Store | Sales, Install and Support for U.S. and Canada They are sold out of the 16 and 32GB units (more expensive than B&H on sale) but the 64 and 128GB units are available.

 

[SMAlset]

The Blackvue units come with a plastic protective film around the camera barrels. If you go with a Blackvue, make sure those plastic films are removed on install otherwise they cover the ventilation and can result in overheating of the camera. I know our installer and another user's installer left these sleeves on during a summer install, and another user who did a DIY install said he left his on too. Problem was realized when the other user's camera failed on him and he alerted the forum to the cause. Surprised to find it left on ours but it's something that can happen and cause a failure. Actually you can see the plastic still in place on the front camera photo I posted LOL. and yep on the rear one as well. Nice clean install on the liftgate though. No wires visible except at the camera.

 

[Nosken]

@Nosken and @Insureit1

How exactly did your Blacvues fail? Outright shutdown not to be powered ever again? Just didn’t record? Powered but trip record event didn’t happen during event/hit? I’m confused. I just purchase two new 750S’s and am interested in your responses. Thanks in advance for any info or what to look out for.

Ski

Twice mine did not keep video of 2 different parking lot inciDENTS that dented my car. One was very bad. The video was not on the card, in fact--it overwrote the card and destroyed all data. I checked the card within an hour of each incident. It seems that it was formatting the card every time it powered up.

 

[SMAlset]

Twice mine did not keep video of 2 different parking lot inciDENTS that dented my car. One was very bad. The video was not on the card, in fact--it overwrote the card and destroyed all data. I checked the card within an hour of each incident. It seems that it was formatting the card every time it powered up.

We've never had a situation where the dashcam reformatted the card on it's own. Only reformatted when the small button was held down. Curious about the comment about it powering up. Were you using a Power Magic for parking mode instead of having the unit hardwired into the car?

Our unit has been on 24/7 since being installed and we've only shut it down when we changed cards or did a firmware upgrade and then had it power up. Any chance when you went to take the card out to check the video that instead of just pushing the card in to pop it out you might have pressed the WiFi/Format button in causing it to reformat? If the unit isn't properly power down before trying to remove the card (it's still recording until you do) the data can be damaged or the unit can malfunction.

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

The Blackvue units come with a plastic protective film around the camera barrels. If you go with a Blackvue, make sure those plastic films are removed on install otherwise they cover the ventilation and can result in overheating of the camera. I know our installer and another user's installer left these sleeves on during a summer install, and another user who did a DIY install said he left his on too. Problem was realized when the other user's camera failed on him and he alerted the forum to the cause. Surprised to find it left on ours but it's something that can happen and cause a failure. Actually you can see the plastic still in place on the front camera photo I posted LOL. and yep on the rear one as well. Nice clean install on the liftgate though. No wires visible except at the camera.

View attachment 270250
View attachment 270251

Love this install. How did you find your installer? After they in the Midwest?

 

[banned-66611]

4k cameras often have worse video quality than 1080p ones, especially at night. The basic problem is that as the pixels get smaller each one receives a smaller amount of light.

That's why proper cameras with interchangeable lenses have really big sensors, to make the pixels physically larger. Smaller ones like the ones in phones can't match the dynamic range, which is especially problematic at night.

Often you find that car number plates are illegible blobs of glowing light on dashcams. 4k just makes it worse for the most part.

 

[SMAlset]

Love this install. How did you find your installer? After they in the Midwest?

Sorry, West Coast. We did get referrals from the forum here. Always best to hear from fellow Tesla owners. You might want to check out and post a referral request in the TMC Community area for your region: Midwest/Great Lakes

 

[hiroshiy]

As a guy who have used both DR650S and DR750S (both 2CH), I'd like to drop my 2 cents. If you plan to remove microSD card from the dashcam to view the footage on your PC, their difference is the rear camera resolution only.

However if you plan to use WiFi or cloud to download your footage to your phone, DR650S is painfully slower than DR750S. If you use WiFi I strongly recommend DR750S over 650.

 

[banned-66611]

Would it be possible to make a new plastic party at the front with a USB port in it?

Could 3D print a prototype. There must be 12V or 5V in that sensor housing somewhere.

 

[verygreen]

As a guy who have used both DR650S and DR750S (both 2CH), I'd like to drop my 2 cents. If you plan to remove microSD card from the dashcam to view the footage on your PC, their difference is the rear camera resolution only.

However if you plan to use WiFi or cloud to download your footage to your phone, DR650S is painfully slower than DR750S. If you use WiFi I strongly recommend DR750S over 650.

View attachment 270354 View attachment 270355 View attachment 270356

Interesting mirror setup.

You know that by doing this you are sacrificing capability of dimmable side mirrors too (there's only one light sensor and it's in the in-the-cabin rear mirror), right?

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

Interesting mirror setup.

You know that by doing this you are sacrificing capability of dimmable side mirrors too (there's only one light sensor and it's in the in-the-cabin rear mirror), right?

I thought only the model 3 had dimmable side mirrors...

 

[verygreen]

I thought only the model 3 had dimmable side mirrors...

Huh? Ever took a testdrive in an S or X in the dark hours? They have dimmable side and interior mirrors (not sure when it appeared in the original S, but all modern ones have it and the pre-AP loaner I had from 2012 had it too, I think).
I noticed my X had dimmable side mirrors on the first drive from pickup back home (granted, that was a 3 hours-long drive).

 

[SMAlset]

Verygreen is correct. Our Model S has them. Notice the greenish area in the image triggered by the headlights of the car behind us.

 

[outie]

Interesting mirror setup.

You know that by doing this you are sacrificing capability of dimmable side mirrors too (there's only one light sensor and it's in the in-the-cabin rear mirror), right?

Not only that, you also sacrifice the sun visors

 

[run-the-joules]

Interesting mirror setup.

You know that by doing this you are sacrificing capability of dimmable side mirrors too (there's only one light sensor and it's in the in-the-cabin rear mirror), right?

Whoa, SUPER glad I randomly clicked on this thread. Guess that's a good reason not to tint the rear too dark.

 

[hiroshiy]

Interesting mirror setup.

You know that by doing this you are sacrificing capability of dimmable side mirrors too (there's only one light sensor and it's in the in-the-cabin rear mirror), right?

Yeah I know. The default dimming is too dim for me at night. In Tokyo and Japanese highways everything is well lit so I didn't feel blinded even without auto dimming mirrors. And of course radar detector within a rearview mirror is hard to ignore or miss, so I'm always safe

Still considering purchasing Tesla OEM channel for three cables.

 

[Insureit1]

@Nosken and @Insureit1

How exactly did your Blacvues fail? Outright shutdown not to be powered ever again? Just didn’t record? Powered but trip record event didn’t happen during event/hit? I’m confused. I just purchase two new 750S’s and am interested in your responses. Thanks in advance for any info or what to look out for.

Ski

In my case I would just keep getting errors that the SD card was not working. Was using a Blackvue supplied card. Was told by tech at Blackboxmycar to try a different specific SD card, which I bought and it worked for about a week until that same message that SD card was not working came back. Tried same cards in my other Blackvue and they worked fine. Was then told this issue has been a problem and not 1st instance they have had with the same issue. I will be installing the new Blacksys cameras in my other cars once the weather warms a bit. I also like that I control battery voltage (for parking mode) in the Blacksys app instead of having to also install Power Magic pro with Blackvue (in the non Tesla vehicles). For my purpose Blacksys cameras were less expensive and thought I would give them a try.

 

[SMAlset]

Whoa, SUPER glad I randomly clicked on this thread. Guess that's a good reason not to tint the rear too dark.

Or your side windows if you plan on seeing through them tinted and into a dimmed side mirror at night; read people express that issue as well.

 

[run-the-joules]

Or your side windows if you plan on seeing through them tinted and into a dimmed side mirror at night; read people express that issue as well.

I don't plan on going particularly dark with the sides, but yeah still a good point.

 

[Insureit1]

@Nosken and @Insureit1

How exactly did your Blackvue fail? Outright shutdown not to be powered ever again? Just didn’t record? Powered but trip record event didn’t happen during event/hit? I’m confused. I just purchase two new 750S’s and am interested in your responses. Thanks in advance for any info or what to look out for.

Ski

Well I finally got around to installing the BlackSys camera in my wife's Lexus and so far so good and I like it. Video quality seems on par with Blackvue and App viewing seems just as easy as the Blackvue (actually a bit easier IMO). Very easy to view front and rear camera video. Also seems like a lot more customizing options available with Blacksys. With built in battery voltage monitoring this is less bulky install than having to add a power Magic Pro with the Blackvue (not really an issue with Tesla). Look and form factor is a matter of opinion but I like the easier access to the SD card and wifi buttons on the Blacksys but the look of the Blackvue is a bit sleeker. There is also a button to start to record an "event" but if you are everything already not sure why that would be needed. I am not interested in uploading video to the cloud so that feature was of not concern to me. I am not making home movies with this camera setup and for what it was designed to do I am quite pleased. For those looking to save a few hundred bucks compared to the Thinkware and Blackvue this could be a nice option.