This is the first Dam Cam I have purchased. After reviewing different brands I decided to go with Thinkware. I purchased from BlackBox as I heard of their great customer service from other reviews. I also wanted to support a smaller, more local company over large stores like BestBuy. I have received very prompt customer service to all of my inquiries specifically as this model comes with a non detailed instruction manual and the print is very small, and this is my first Dash Cam experience.
I purchased the unit on sale at a good price. The total price however was over $350 as the price quickly adds up once you add in all the extras. It's called a "Pro" but it is pretty basic. I purchased a larger SD card (later found out it is SanDisk brand so could probably be purchased cheaper from elsewhere), OBD cable (this particular brand and model has that option which is what I preferred instead of having to hardwire at this time, to utilize parking mode), a special lense (too bad it doesn't come with this), GPS (again unfortunately not already integrated in this unit), and a suction cup mount... why the latter doesn't come with Thinkware products I don't know. I am not a fan of 3M adhesive and prefer to have the flexibility to move my dash cam if need be. There is no other option for the rear dash cam than to mount with 3M adhesive. BlackBox unfortunately doesn't carry the suction mount so that was another $15+ from Amazon where luckily I didn't have to pay shipping on top of that.
Overall, it is a basic unit and easy enough to set up. I have no previous experience with owning a dash cam and I was still able to figure it out with some assistance from the helpful team at BlackBox.
The integrated WiFi on this unit I am having ongoing issues with. It is very hit and miss. I wanted a unit without an LCD screen as I thought this would be less distracting, a smaller size, and really one doesn't always need to be able to view in live recording. However, if this model boasts about the WiFi being compatible with one's cell phone they should really fine tune this for people expecting a smoother offering. I have seen in other reviews that it seems to work better with iPhones, a phone I do not have.
I have yet to view the footage from my computer, or to set up the viewer from my computer. When the WiFi decides to work from viewing on my phone live it looks like the footage is quite crisp - front for sure, and the rear as well but not as crisp as the front, perhaps the special lense I bought for the front camera is why.
I have not yet had a chance to experiment too much with the night vision. As expected, it is definitely not as clear as the day vision, and appears to be more black and white.
Parking mode takes a little bit of time to kick in. One day I was sitting in my vehicle parked in a parking lot waiting for someone and only after around 5 minutes or so later did it start parking mode.
Overall a decent dash cam. Good service. I only wish I could figure out how to get the WiFi working better if this is even possible...this is the biggest disappointment at this point and why I give the unit a lower rating. If WiFi is a selling feature, specifically if no LCD screen, it should work consistently.
