I have a 2024 F Sport Handling. It may not be as quiet on the highway as the other models but in Eco mode it's not noisy. It's also a very comfortable ride and I compare that to my wife's 2020 GMC Yukon Denali. It has become our road trip car unless we just need the room in the Denali.

 

UL all the way just so you know you'll not be missing any of that goodness.

 

What are the differences in sound insulation between the Luxury/UL and the Base?

 

>Anyone else regret not getting the dashcam?
I regret it being included on my car. We have never been able to make it work. Can't make the connection w our celphone to down load pix ...
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Angle parked in a parallel universe

 

In our litigious world I would like a recording just in case and the cost of adding it later is too much and the disassembly required is extensive.

I assumed there would be a flash drive that could be removed for accessing video on any device with the needed software.

 

According to the Lexus Integrated Dashcam Owner's Manual the dashcam records to a microSD card. In fact per page 18:

 

So pab12 wouldn't have to download to his phone.

 

It'll depend upon what pab12 wants to do.

Whether viewing recordings or setting dashcam operating parameters requires using a computer or phone dashcam specific viewer application. You strictly don't need the dashcam viewer application to play back the recorded video files; they're mp4 video files with a specific naming convention and folder/directory structure that the viewer software uses to associate the video with metadata (e.g., video type - trip, adventure, chapter, event, surveillance; GPS locations, G value, speed, etc.) stored in a separate folder/directory containing multiple files. However, if you want to do more than just view raw recorded mp4 video files, you'll need to use the dashcam viewer application that's accessing the full set of dashcam data. That access for a phone is through a Wi-Fi direct connection to the dashcam with inserted microSD card with the stored recorded data and for a computer is through using a microSD card reader reading/writing a dashcam recorded microSD card.

As best I can determine from the owner's manual, the phone dashcam viewer application doesn't have the capability to read from or write to a microSD card with dashcam formatted data. For viewing recordings or viewing/setting dashcam operating parameters, the phone viewer app can only do that over a direct (i.e., non-routed) Wi-Fi connection to the dashcam. (With an attached microSD card reader you should be able to view the raw mp4 video recordings but without the additional informative metadata.)

For viewing recording and viewing/setting dashcam operating parameters using the microSD card, only the computer (Windows or Macintosh) hosted dashcam viewer application with a computer attached microSD card reader/writer has the capability to do that.

Without pab12's phone being able to direct Wi-Fi connect to the dashcam, that puts a big damper on the utility of the dashcam.

 

I was curious about the Lexus dashcam and read a bit about it. The Lexus website shows it installed on the left of the rear-view mirror. But I saw that some Lexus models that had the cam installed at a dealer got the cam installed on the right side of the mirror because the factory wiring only allowed that side. The right side would be normal in Japan, of course. But there are buttons and an SD card pocket on the rear of the cam that cannot be seen or accessed by a left side driver if the cam is on the right side. I wonder if anyone knows which side of the mirror gets the cam in a 2024 ES.

The cam seems to cost about $300, and dealers charge several hundred more to install it. I don't think I want one but am curious if they are worth the money and have any potential return value beyond putting video on YouTube.

 

>Without pab12's phone being able to direct Wi-Fi connect to the dashcam, that puts a big damper on the utility of the dashcam.

That's it. This is not a problem w Lexus. The Webcam is provided by a third party vendor and Lexus takes no responsibility for it. In fact if you call Lexus they will say they have nothing to do with it, and will give you the contact info for the true vendor.
Our problem seems to be that the webcam software is not compatible with iPhone 15, or with a phone using VPN.
With the dealer's tech help we were able to terminate VPN on the phone and down load the webcam images, while working with in the shop.
When we got home we were able to get a connection to the webcam and do that again.
Days later we tried again, and failed. We have never been able to connect since then.
What happened? Who knows.
But the issue of having to reverse engineer and debug iPhone apps, as well as the webcam, is not attractive.
But yes, I can find no active VPN running on the phone. But it still won't connect.
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My karma just ran over your dogma
Current Hers: '24 Lexus ES350 Lux
Current Mine: '23 Lexus IS350 F Sport AWD

 

How difficult is it to remove the SD card and insert another? I wouldn't need it for anything but the seldom if ever incident that would need to be reviewed. I'm not making vacation videos or selfies.

 

See page 18 and 19 of the Lexus Integrated Dashcam Owner's Manual which has the instructions along with illustrations for inserting and removing the microSD card from the dashcam.

The dashcam comes with a microSC card slot cover which serves multiple purposes. The cover has a slot which holds the microSD card and is used to insert or remove the microSD card to/from the microSD card receptacle in the dashcam. When inserting the microSD card, closing the microSD card cover presumably ensures the microSD card is properly seated in the dashcam's microSD card connector receptacle and secures/locks the microSD card in place. When the microSD card cover is opened for the microSD card removal, the cover serves as an extraction attachment to the microSD card to aid in the removal of the microSD card from the dashcam.

 

CPO warranty's, at least in Southern California, are only for 2 years and includes 4 free services. So if you have a 2023 car your original one is until 2027 and then you get 2 more years, till 2029.