Update 2/19/2016 I made changes to my prior update. And after being run off the road by a driver who came up behind me fast, went around me to the left, and then cut in between me and the car in front of me and off the exit, a maneuver that caused me to go onto the shoulder of the exit to avoid a crash, I've decided to put a camera in my rear window to compliment the recordings from the front windshield.
Update 2/6/16: This particular camera had been running in my vehicle for a year without any intervention. It turns itself on when I start the car (because it is plugged into a cigarette lighter that has power only when the key is on). I had occasion this month to remove the SD card to provide the recording of an incident to police. Picture quality from the SD card on a 19" computer monitor wasn't outstanding but was pretty good. But the stunning thing was the officer said my recording was about as good as the recordings from their squad cars on cameras that cost hundreds of dollars. The biggest difference is that this camera is more "wide angle" so distant objects are smaller (but you take in more of in front of your vehicle so it shows things coming from the side which would be good in the case of a crash from the side at an intersection). And to my surprise the sound (including my comments about the incident - so watch it!) was a lot better than I originally believed it was. And I discovered that based on my driving history (I drive about 1,000 miles a month, more than half at highway speeds) a 32 Gbyte card holds a month's worth of driving. I'm upping my rating from four to five stars with a caveat - I've purchased nine of these cameras, three were defective, and two I have not installed yet. At under $20 each it is not worth returning them - especially as I had sent the defective ones (unopened) to family members out of state so shipping costs were exceeding the cost of the cameras just to find they were defective. Condition seems to depend on the seller (based on when I forwarded them), and unfortunately I cannot associate defective cameras with particular seller(s) as I didn't keep records.
Note to reviewers that complain that this camera does not record long on the built in battery. It appears the battery is intended primarily to maintain stored information. On SOME of the cameras there is a choice of whether to power solely from an external source (which I elected when offered) or from the battery. Others don't seem to offer an option. I did by accident put one camera in battery mode and it recorded for about 40 minutes while I was in a restaurant - but whether that was the cause or whether I'd done something else, the wrap-around when the card was full didn't function. I have therefore (2/19/2016) executed a "reset" and reprogrammed the camera. Based on experience when doing the programming I chose the 5 minute segments. I still would not expect the camera to function for hours on the built-in battery. But with external power it works well and even keeps pretty accurate time over months.
And one more thought (which is why I've purchased nine cameras). With a 120 V to 12V cigarette plugged adapter this would make an extremely inexpensive security camera. Now to find time to install and try out this idea.
UPDATE 6/12/2016 Have only tried one camera from Elecmall. After three weeks it is working fine.
UPDATE 9/2/2015 First the good news. Driving through a town with 10K population I saw a town owned vehicle make a dangerous maneuver. I decided to write a complaint to the police department because it was so egregious and dangerous (there'd have been a head-on crash if I had not been alert). I wrote the letter and then attempted to copy the recording of the incident from my dash cam. Watching the dash cam I saw why the vehicle had done what it did and cannot fault the driver (hit my car or a child). Tore up the letter. Convinced me these things are useful. I purchased two dash cameras from FX Victoria in response to a reviewer recommending that vendor. The two dash cams from FX Victoria are still working perfectly and producing very clear images and time stamps.
I was so pleased with the dash cams that I ordered three more, but FX Victoria was out and Amazon placed my order with Beelike.
Now the bad news. Beelike must sell reconditioned or defective dash cams. First one was bad out of the box. Second one developed fuzzy green lines before the first time I tried playing back my SD card. I tried to order three more from FX - Victoria and Amazon is listing Elecmall as the seller. As another reviewer rating the dash cams a one-star said, apparently some sellers are selling knock offs or refurbs or simply bad units returned for a refund. Be suspicious of low prices. There are huge profits to be made by selling, even for a low price, stuff that should have gone in the trash bin. I'll update later on the quality from Elecmall (for $13.50 each).
Original review with installation instructions:
Seems to be a good device for the cost. Picture is pretty clear on the device screen but I suspect it will be pretty "grainy" on a large computer monitor. Mount is reasonably rigid and suction cup holds well. 120 degree field of view is a good compromise between being so broad you can't recognize anything 25 feet in front of the vehicle and being so narrow that nothing coming from the side is not recorded prior to impact.
Caveat – I have just installed and tested this device. I have at this point no long-term experience with it.
I spent hours setting up the device. The instructions are not as bad as with some Chinese products, but are clearly a translation. After one has gone through the installation process in great detail, the instructions make a lot of sense.
In hopes of saving others a lot of time setting up the device, I will share my insights to date.
Caveat – This review is written in American English in American English (Arabic) characters. I apologize, but I am not fluent enough in any other language to express the subtleties involved in other than English.
Caveat – This device is complex. Apparently there are several variations to the basic device available and the sellers do not make it clear which variant of the device they are selling/shipping. For example, the “Features” listed for the ones I purchased stated: “Recording resolution:1280x960 / 720x480 / 640x480 pixels.” I didn’t realize that the little box above the list of features which said “Only 720P” meant I was choosing a variant that only had a single recording resolution. (The little box is similar to the boxes which appear when the product is available in a variety of colors.)
Here is what I recommend when setting up the device.
1. Plug the power cable which comes in the box with the device into the USB connection on the device under the flip-open panel on the left side, and then plug the cable into a power source on your vehicle (a cigarette lighter "plug" most likely). Allow the camera “to charge” for at least an hour (one seller recommends 2 - 3 hours) before you do anything else. Disconnect the device from the external power source. [It is easier and just as effective to unplug the end of the power cable that is not connected to the device.]
2. There are two ways to “turn on” the device. On the back there is a red (on mine) button on the left and white (on mine) button on the right. The red button is the power On /Off. Press and hold the red button for 3 seconds. The device should power up. Allow the device operate for 30 seconds. If you are going to power the device from an external source (12 or 24 volts from a vehicle via the USB connection via the supplied cable and a “cigarette lighter” plug) press the red button again to power off the device. [I have not operated the device using the internal battery, so I’m not sure how one would proceed if one planned to do so.] If you are going to power the device from an external source (a vehicle most likely) there is no need to turn the device on and off ever again using the red button. If power is on continually at your cigarette lighter plug I'd recommend unplugging the cable from the lighter plug rather than using the red power On / Off button, but I believe either approach is viable. If the power is turned off at your cigarette lighter plug when you turn your ignition key off, then the device will power up and down "automatically" when you turn your vehicle on and off.
3. Plug the power cable into the vehicle. The device should power up in the video recording mode. Fold the device’s display window down so it “hangs” below the device.
NOTE – It is important to know that the device has THREE operating MODES and FOUR MENUS. Many of the criticisms in reviews appear to result from the user not realizing this.
[The “Main Menu” which is reached by pressing MENU twice when in any mode, provides for entering such things as Date and Time, Language, “Light Frequency (50 or 60 Hz), Image format, Voice recording on / off, and most importantly “System Reset” which I presume erases all entries and “restarts” the entire system. While my manual says to reset the system by pressing a 1mm shaft gently into the “Reset Hole” I cannot find such a hole on my variant.]
4. I found it necessary at the start of the process to press the white button “to get the device’s attention.” Until I did this the device didn’t respond to any other buttons except the red button. The white button is thereafter the “Select” button which one pushes to choose a selection highlighted on a menu. On my variant the white button is labeled REC and I will hereinafter refer to it by that designation.
5. Just to familiarize yourself with the operation, press MODE (the right most button on the display screen bottom edge) three times at two second intervals. You should see each of the three operating modes. The modes are Video recording; Still image recording; and Playback. On my variant of the device these displays for the modes are labeled “Video” “Capture” and “Play” on the screen. In the first two modes the image on the screen “moves” when the camera is moved, following what the camera lens is “seeing”. In the third mode, “Play”, the image is fixed. What you see on the screen when in "Play" mode is the first frame recorded for the time segment during which recording happened. The date and time will appear on the bottom of the screen indicating when that segment, or photo, was recorded if the user selected to display date or date and time. At this point it doesn’t matter much, you will learn about this attribute when you get the device configured as you want it. The date and time are how you find the segment you wish to view, so I STRONGLY recommend you elect to display date and time during set-up. In the "Play" mode you Up / Down to the desired segment to view, choosing by looking at the first frame and the associated date or date and time. Some users in reviews have complained that the screen is “frozen” and I suspect it is because they have the device in “Play” mode but have not initiated playback of the "chosen" segment.
NOTE – If the display is not in English (the other alternatives are four languages in non-Arabic characters) proceed as follows, otherwise skip to step #6 below.
a. When in any Mode with no menu present on the screen (if there is, press MENU to remove the menu from the screen), press MENU. Press MENU again.
Press “DOWN” once. You are on the Language select line of the fourth menu. Press the REC (white on my variant) button to select Language. Up / Down to English and press the REC button to select. (On my variant English is the language at the top of the list and the word English is in English. Press MENU to exit from menus and continue as described below. If the language displayed is Chinese after doing this, repeat this step and select in turn each of the other languages listed. As there are only four languages, you ought to get English sooner or later.
6. To get to the menu for any Mode, press MENU when you in the mode for which you wish to select the attributes you desire for that mode. The types of selections the user can make for that mode are listed. Up / Down to the items you wish to set. Press the REC button to make selections. It is beyond the scope of my review to explain further how to navigate in menus. To set the date and time use Up / Down to obtain the correct digits for the various entities and REC (white button) to lock in the digits for each category of entry when it is correct (e.g. press REC after the digits for hours is correct, for example. REC is pressed for each category of the Date and Time when they are correct.
7. Put the device in each of its three modes in turn and press MENU once. This will bring up the menu for that mode. Make your selections as to how you wish the device to operate. I STRONGLY recommend that you turn Motion Activation OFF if you are using this device as a drive cam. I would only use Motion Activation if I were using the device as a security camera. I STRONGLY recommend recording in five minute segments.
NOTE: Some sellers recommend removing the lithium ion battery unless you are operating the device on battery power or are in the process of charging the battery. Those sellers say that after charging the battery can get “very hot” if it is left in place with the device powered with the external power cable. Unfortunately, in my experience, if you remove the battery you lose all the menu settings after a period of time. That makes the device pretty useless for me. I’m not going to enter all the settings each time I drive my vehicles; I want the camera to come on when I turn on the key and shut off when I turn off the key. HOWEVER, as the device is exposed to the hot sun by being in the windshield, I have covered the top of the device with aluminum foil to reduce heat absorption. Several reviewers have complained the battery compartment cover has warped in the sun. This may be a fatal flaw in the design for devices used in hot climates.
I will update this review in the coming weeks or months as I gain experience with the device.
One reviewer recommended not using more than a 16 gig card because otherwise there are too many segments to sort through. My opinion is that most of the time you are going to want to access a recent segment so having stored many is not an issue as they are accessed in date order with the most recent last. And if there is an issue about something that happened several days or weeks ago, the bigger the card the more likely you can at least find a recording of the event. Another reviewer recommended recording one minute segments. If the quantity of segments to search through is an issue, having a segment for every minute of recording would maximize the number of segments to be handled. Some reviewers complain about lines on the screen. My unit had what looked like thick blue thread or felt tip pen doodling on the screen. The lines turned out to be on the protective film. The film is not easy to get off. Peel it up carefully with a pointed tooth pick.
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Clunky user interface and operating instructions, but that's OK
Update October 30, 2016. I'm downgrading a star. The clock (video / file timestamp) stopped working, always started at same time / date: January 1, 2011 11:00AM. So I got another one. It developed similar problem, clock starts at random times. Otherwise, holding up OK. I do put a shade over it (on my dashboard) when parking in the sun (when I remember), that may help it surviving.Pretty nice little package for the price! Works fine for me, does exactly what it is supposed to.Note: Thanks Amazon user Nick C for posting PDF link for much better manual than what's included:[...]The user interface is clunky and not very intuitive, but with 6 buttons that can be expected.The good thing is if all you want is a dash cam, you don't really need to use the buttons. Just plug it in your car, when you start up it starts recording, when you turn it off it stops. If you want to see the videos, use the included USB cable and plug it in your PC, default is it looks like flash drive (it's also supposed to support PC camera mode, I didn't try that).If you want to use it as a manually controlled video camera, still camera, audio recorder, and playback for all those, you'll have to get used to the user interface.I suggest use USB card optimized for video, e.g. Transcend 16GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card (TS16GSDHC10E). In 640 mode (good enough), it seems to use around 100MB / minute, so 16GB should be good for around 1600 minute (about 26 hours). Probably 4GB is sufficent, depending how much video do you want to store. It stores the videos as fixed length (or less when you turn off before duration expired), default is 2 minutes, I prefer longer duration, selected 5 minutes. I find the saved clips are seamless, there is no gap between them at all. When the disk fills up it starts rolling over the oldest clips with newest ones by default (there is setting to disable), and I haven't gotten that far yet.You should do some setup before using it. For example, set the time and date. That's not too hard, and you only have to do it once.Note: Removing the battery or formatting the card resets some of the setup, such as time and date.Here are some usage notes, and step-by-step operating examples:"HD DVR" as of April 20152.5" TFT LCD screensupports up to 32GB SD/MMC cardBasic Operation Setup (one time, see below) When 12V power turns on, recording starts When 12V power turns off, recording stops To retrieve videos, plug into PC, appears as USB drive (also camera device)Extended Operation Can record and play back video, camera, and audio By manipulating the buttons (operations aren't very intuitive)Case Buttons:Power (lights with power) Button *Power input overrides (Power button has no effect when USB power is connected) *Can not turn off in recording modeOK (Record / Snapshot) (lights with charging) Button Starts / Stops recording in record mode Take a picture in picture mode Selects item in menu modeDisplay Buttons: Menu - enter Menu Mode, or back out of current menu Down - select item, also used for digital zoom out in some modes Up - select item, also used for digital zoom in in some modes Mode - select between operating modes, in some menus make an activationTo enter Main Setup Turn on Unit Press OK button to stop recording Press Menu button (Camera icon is highlighted) Up/Down buttons to navigate to item Rec/Snap button to select itemOnce item is selected Up/Down buttons to navigate to choice OK button to set choiceTo enter Secondary Setup Turn on Unit Press OK button to stop recording Press Menu button (Camera icon is highlighted) Press Mode button to highlight Toolkit icon (Toolkit icon is highlighted) Up/Down buttons to navigate to item OK button to select item Up/Down buttons to navigate to sub-item OK button to select itemOnce item is selected Up/Down buttons to navigate to choice Rec/Snap button to set choice Sounds menu only, use Mode button to sequence through available choicesTo enter Camera Setup Press Mode button to enter Camera mode (upper left corner Camera icon) Press Menu button Work the settings same way as other menusExiting out of any Menu item Press Menu button to back upSuggested setup:Plug into DC adapter to turn on and enter recording modePress OK button to stop recording** Reset All **Press Menu button to enter menu mode (Video Camera icon)Press Mode button to enter Toolkit mode (Tool Kit icon)Press Down button to reach "Reset All..." selectionPress OK button to reset all, Observe "OK?" dialogPress OK button again to activate Reset, observe "waiting" dialog for a few secondsPress Menu button to re-enter operating mode** Format **Press Menu button to enter Menu mode (Video Camera icon)Press Mode button to enter Toolkit mode (Tool Kit icon)Press Down button to reach "Format..." selectionPress OK button to reset all, Observe "OK?" dialogPress OK button again to activate Format, observe "waiting" dialog for a few secondsPress Menu button to re-enter operating Mode** Toolkit Setup, adjustments to defaults **Press Menu button to enter Menu mode (Video Camera icon)Press Mode button to enter Toolkit mode (Tool Kit icon)Change Volume to 3, leave other sounds at defaultChange Power Frequency to 60 (USA standard)Leave Power Save at default 1 minute (only applies to battery operation)Leave Panel Protect at default off (only applies to battery operation)(got lockup when set on)Set Date and Time to current (Up/Down changes field values, Mode button sequences fields, OK button exits dialog)Leave Language at default EnglishSet TV Out to NTSC (USA standard)Leave Startup image at default SystemNote Version AS-2013-04-27cLeave IRLED at default ON (automatically turns on in low light conditions)Press Menu button to exit all dialogs** Recording Setup, adjustments to defaults **Press Menu button to enter menu mode (Video Camera icon)Set Movie Size to 640x480Leave Date Stamp at default ONLeave Motion Detect at default OFF (this setting only applies to battery operation)Leave Loop Rec at default ONSet Loop Time to 5 minutes (how long each video clip is)Leave Continue at default off (how long to keep running when power goes off)Leave Video Sound at default ONPress Menu button to return to operating modeOther FeaturesWhen connected to PC, Up/Down cycles mode as appears to PC, MDSC/PC-CAM/Recording (?)
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