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I've had a dashcam for the past 4-5 years. I'm on my 5th one. The first 3 are dead.
My first attempt was using an old android cell phone. It didn't last too long. It overheated and now is unusable as it is in a constant boot loop. I don't suggest using an old cell phone. They get hot when you use them. They get hot when you charge them. They get extremely hot when using them to take videos while charging and placed on the dash of a car.
My next attempt was a cheap one bought online. It lasted a bit longer than the cell but not by much. The buttons stopped working. The lcd display only worked sporadically. It couldn't be trusted to record.
The next attempt was a similarly priced camera. Its battery expanded and eventually died. Its video quality was subpar giving no chance to read license plates.
Finally, I got a good one, a Lukas WD7950. It has a large main camera with a second unit designed to be placed on the rear window but could be placed anywhere in the car. Both cameras record at 1920 x 1080 (1080p). The front does 30 frames per second with a 135° view while the rear does 24 fps with a 130° view. Both cameras have the well respected Sony IMX322 sensor. The camera can hold 2 memory cards, each with a capacity of 256 GB for a total of 512 GB. It has a removable wifi dongle allowing communication with a smartphone. Instead of a heat sensitive battery, it has a capacitor which should last longer. This allows the camera to finish writing the file to the memory card when power is removed. It has a gps receiver built into its base. It used H.264 compression in an .avi file. It senses and tracks movement with a 3 axis g-sensor (or 3 1-axis sensors). The desktop playback software will show how much g-force for each axis while watching the front view/rear view/map view. It comes with cabling to hard wire it to the power source. It requires 2 power connections, one constant power and one switched with the ignition. This allows normal driving mode recording and parking recording. In parking mode, it will record a clip when it sensors movement of the camera or motion through the lens. It has lasted a couple of years with no issues. It has all the features of a top of the line dashcam. The biggest problem with it is Lukas stopped selling it about a year ago and Amazon still asks $350 for it.
I recently got a Blueskysea B1W. Its about the size of the rear camera of the WD7950, very small. It officially supports a 64 GB memory card but some report a 128 GB card working. It has wifi. It uses a Sony IMX323 sensor which Sony says has the same quality as their IMX322 sensor but in at a lower cost. It claims a viewing angle of 150° and records 1080p at 30 fps and stores the file in a .mp4 format.
It was packaged good with the camera well protected. It came with a power cord for a cigarette lighter. There is a usb outlet on the plug which is a nice touch. It came with a usb cable for wiring the camera directly to a pc. It came with some wire clips to help route the power wire out of site. It came with a tool to help pry the car's plastic molding away to slip the cable underneath.
It did not come with a cable set to hard wire to the fuse box. An option is sold separately that allows constant power and switched power. Without this optional accessory, the camera will record 24 hrs a day, nonstop, as long as the cigarette lighter adapter is plugged in. Leave your car for long enough and the car's battery will drain. My solution is to unplug the camera when I leave the car.
Unplugging the camera is far from ideal. I may forget to unplug it and the car's battery may run down. Worse, I may forget to plug it in and miss recording an important event.
The optional power accessory should not be optional, it should be included. The accessory allows connecting the camera to a constant on power source and a switched power source at the same time. When the switched power is switched off, the camera knows to go into parking mode. In parking mode, it should only record when the g-sensor detects movement of the camera. When the switched power is on, it goes into driving mode and records everything, same as when the cigarette plug is used.
Since the WD7950 and the B1w both record at 1080p, 30 fps, and with basically the same sensor, video quality would be expected to be very similar. And it is, almost. The B1W produces better video than the WD7950. The B1W achieves this due to its video bitrate of 12.5 Mbps as compared to the WD7950's video bitrate of 8 Mbps for its front camera and 5 Mbps for its rear camera.
Why does the B1W have a higher bitrate? Because it only has 1 video stream to process and write. The lower bitrate of the WD7950 is common among dual camera systems. Due to current technology limitations, if one want optimum video quality, a dual camera setup is not the way to go.
The higher bitrate comes at a cost of a larger file. A 3 minute clip from the B1W is about 258 MB while a 3 minute clips from the Wd7950 is about 190 MB.
The WD7950 records audio at 256 kb/s at 16 kHz and 16 bits. The B1W records audio at 32 kb/s at 8Hz. The difference is perceptible with the WD7950 having the edge. But the audio is acceptable on the B1W.
The B1W should have the power adapter for parking mode included. I'd give up the cigarette lighter power cord for the optional accessory. Some find the gps info valuable, I am one of them. Blueskysea should consider making a gps accessory. The WD7950 has a threaded lens that allows filters like a polarizer (reduces glare) to be added. The B1W lacks the threads.
Amazon sells the B1W as low as $55 vs $350 for the WD7950. Even with the limitations of the B1W, its value cannot be denied.
My first attempt was using an old android cell phone. It didn't last too long. It overheated and now is unusable as it is in a constant boot loop. I don't suggest using an old cell phone. They get hot when you use them. They get hot when you charge them. They get extremely hot when using them to take videos while charging and placed on the dash of a car.
My next attempt was a cheap one bought online. It lasted a bit longer than the cell but not by much. The buttons stopped working. The lcd display only worked sporadically. It couldn't be trusted to record.
The next attempt was a similarly priced camera. Its battery expanded and eventually died. Its video quality was subpar giving no chance to read license plates.
Finally, I got a good one, a Lukas WD7950. It has a large main camera with a second unit designed to be placed on the rear window but could be placed anywhere in the car. Both cameras record at 1920 x 1080 (1080p). The front does 30 frames per second with a 135° view while the rear does 24 fps with a 130° view. Both cameras have the well respected Sony IMX322 sensor. The camera can hold 2 memory cards, each with a capacity of 256 GB for a total of 512 GB. It has a removable wifi dongle allowing communication with a smartphone. Instead of a heat sensitive battery, it has a capacitor which should last longer. This allows the camera to finish writing the file to the memory card when power is removed. It has a gps receiver built into its base. It used H.264 compression in an .avi file. It senses and tracks movement with a 3 axis g-sensor (or 3 1-axis sensors). The desktop playback software will show how much g-force for each axis while watching the front view/rear view/map view. It comes with cabling to hard wire it to the power source. It requires 2 power connections, one constant power and one switched with the ignition. This allows normal driving mode recording and parking recording. In parking mode, it will record a clip when it sensors movement of the camera or motion through the lens. It has lasted a couple of years with no issues. It has all the features of a top of the line dashcam. The biggest problem with it is Lukas stopped selling it about a year ago and Amazon still asks $350 for it.
I recently got a Blueskysea B1W. Its about the size of the rear camera of the WD7950, very small. It officially supports a 64 GB memory card but some report a 128 GB card working. It has wifi. It uses a Sony IMX323 sensor which Sony says has the same quality as their IMX322 sensor but in at a lower cost. It claims a viewing angle of 150° and records 1080p at 30 fps and stores the file in a .mp4 format.
It was packaged good with the camera well protected. It came with a power cord for a cigarette lighter. There is a usb outlet on the plug which is a nice touch. It came with a usb cable for wiring the camera directly to a pc. It came with some wire clips to help route the power wire out of site. It came with a tool to help pry the car's plastic molding away to slip the cable underneath.
It did not come with a cable set to hard wire to the fuse box. An option is sold separately that allows constant power and switched power. Without this optional accessory, the camera will record 24 hrs a day, nonstop, as long as the cigarette lighter adapter is plugged in. Leave your car for long enough and the car's battery will drain. My solution is to unplug the camera when I leave the car.
Unplugging the camera is far from ideal. I may forget to unplug it and the car's battery may run down. Worse, I may forget to plug it in and miss recording an important event.
The optional power accessory should not be optional, it should be included. The accessory allows connecting the camera to a constant on power source and a switched power source at the same time. When the switched power is switched off, the camera knows to go into parking mode. In parking mode, it should only record when the g-sensor detects movement of the camera. When the switched power is on, it goes into driving mode and records everything, same as when the cigarette plug is used.
Since the WD7950 and the B1w both record at 1080p, 30 fps, and with basically the same sensor, video quality would be expected to be very similar. And it is, almost. The B1W produces better video than the WD7950. The B1W achieves this due to its video bitrate of 12.5 Mbps as compared to the WD7950's video bitrate of 8 Mbps for its front camera and 5 Mbps for its rear camera.
Why does the B1W have a higher bitrate? Because it only has 1 video stream to process and write. The lower bitrate of the WD7950 is common among dual camera systems. Due to current technology limitations, if one want optimum video quality, a dual camera setup is not the way to go.
The higher bitrate comes at a cost of a larger file. A 3 minute clip from the B1W is about 258 MB while a 3 minute clips from the Wd7950 is about 190 MB.
The WD7950 records audio at 256 kb/s at 16 kHz and 16 bits. The B1W records audio at 32 kb/s at 8Hz. The difference is perceptible with the WD7950 having the edge. But the audio is acceptable on the B1W.
The B1W should have the power adapter for parking mode included. I'd give up the cigarette lighter power cord for the optional accessory. Some find the gps info valuable, I am one of them. Blueskysea should consider making a gps accessory. The WD7950 has a threaded lens that allows filters like a polarizer (reduces glare) to be added. The B1W lacks the threads.
Amazon sells the B1W as low as $55 vs $350 for the WD7950. Even with the limitations of the B1W, its value cannot be denied.
