BlackSys CH-100B Review

As mentioned in our first impressions, the BlackSys CH-100B is one of the closest competitors to the best-selling BlackVue DR650GW-2CH. It offers similar features like WiFi, GPS, a discreet design, parking mode, and uses a 2.1MP Sony CMOS sensor. That being said while they are quite similar on paper we were eager to find out whether this translates in real world testing. Specifically we wanted to compare the user-friendliness of the WiFi app, parking mode motion detection sensitivity, and video quality across different lighting and temperature situations. These areas are important because we inevitably dropped the Lukas lineup due to a poor parking mode and disappointing video sharpness from the LK7950.

During the day the CH-100B is more or less on par with its competition, it runs a 6Mbps bit rate on the front camera which trades off some video quality for storage capacity. Contrast and sharpness are quite high making signs easier to read albeit with a less natural look. Vehicles are easily distinguished and license plates are legible even at modest speeds. Rear video has a less processed look to it and despite being only 720P offers good resolution and is very sharp video at low speeds.

The night video is also very comparable to other Korean 2-channel dash cams with good dynamic range and sharpness. Far away light sources have a slight blurriness to them and glare is managed better than a lot of dashcams. The video is sharpest within 3 or 4 car lengths of the dash cam which is typical for low light dash cam footage and where sharpness is most important when it comes to using the dashcam as evidence. If there's one area where the rear camera really excels is dynamic range at night, the CH-100B offers very bright video at night while still managing headlight glare easily.

Parking Mode on the BlackSys CH-100B works great as expected on most Korean dash cams and when motion is detected the camera will write the 10 seconds before motion was detected and the 20 seconds after. This is a little different from how some of our other dash cams work which typically involves recording for 1 minute after motion and 5 seconds before. Motion detection is available on both front and rear cameras independently, this is nice as in the past motion detection on some cameras would trigger rear recording as well which takes up more space on the memory card. This is particularly useful if a car is backed up against a wall when parked and there isn't much point of recording the nothingness.

Our gripe with parking mode and hardwiring on the CH-100B has to do with the hardwiring cable provided. This cable makes it so that the BlackSys's parking mode is not compatible with our most popular battery pack, the Cellink Battery B although we are bringing in more direct-hardwire friendly battery packs to the North American market as well. The cable provided is also only 2 meters (6.5 feet) long making it a hassle for cars which use a rear mounted cabin fuse box.

We were impressed by the design and organization of the WiFi app that Cammsys/BlackSys has developed. As with other WiFi apps the connection is meant to be established near the vehicle through a smartphone and not from your home internet system/desktop. We really liked how you could sort the video files by choosing between front/rear, Always (normal mode), event, and motion (parking) modes. The settings menu is also very straightforward to navigate and it's cool that you can actually sync the time with your smartphone and change the WiFi password there as well. If you are interested, we have a guide available here.

There are some other notable mentions for the design and features of the CH-100B. For instance, formatting the Micro SD card is a good practice that should be done regularly and it's great that it's easy to do on the CH-100B, simply hold the event button for 3 seconds and it will begin to format. Another neat option in the video settings we haven't seen on other products is the preset adjustments for vehicles with light tinting, dark tinting, and CPL filters.

This is definitely one of the most discreet 2 Channel dash cams on the market thanks to its low-profile and sleek shape. International customers will also appreciate the 21 language support which is built-in rather than requiring installing different firmwares.

The CH-100B is a well built dual channel system with a surprisingly easy to use interface. The combination of WiFi, parking mode, and a sleek design make this a strong contender for anyone shopping in the dual-channel dash cam marketplace. We're excited to properly introduce this product in North America as we believe many of the features the CH-100B brings to the table that have made BlackSys a success overseas should translate nicely to our market. If you have any other questions about the BlackSys CH-100B feel free to contact us.