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You'll like it, I'm still tweaking through the settings.
Just installed it, took approx 30 minutes thanks to your guide and the Youtube video. The hardest part was getting wires tucked in. Hoping not to have the “burning” smell another poster mentioned.
Regarding settings, I was able to connect to their wifi and use the LuckyCam app. I set the resolution and wasn’t able to do much of anything else. I saw that it records in one minute increments which seems wise.
Any setting you suggest I access and change? If I weren’t to change setting, does it turn on and off automatically? Do I need to worry about a setting so that it doesn’t drain my battery while parked?
Sorry for what seems like basic questions but not a whole lot to go off of from the instructions.
Last, did you download the other app named Roadcam?
Just installed it, took approx 30 minutes thanks to your guide and the Youtube video. The hardest part was getting wires tucked in. Hoping not to have the “burning” smell another poster mentioned.
Regarding settings, I was able to connect to their wifi and use the LuckyCam app. I set the resolution and wasn’t able to do much of anything else. I saw that it records in one minute increments which seems wise.
Any setting you suggest I access and change? If I weren’t to change setting, does it turn on and off automatically? Do I need to worry about a setting so that it doesn’t drain my battery while parked?
Sorry for what seems like basic questions but not a whole lot to go off of from the instructions.
Last, did you download the other app named Roadcam?
I might be late for the thread, but after some digging I'm pretty sure the 4K Fitcam is a hoax just like many other "fake" 4K dash cams. It uses an identical image sensor as the 2.5K version, Sony IMX335, and interpolates the resolution to make it fake 4k. Therefore, the only recommended resolution setting would be 1944P which is the native pixel resolution of the sensor. Anything above that leads to a waste of storage, degradation of image quality, and unnecessary heat.
If you are interested in the complete story, here it is. I got my 19' ES 350 a month ago and decided on Fitcam right away for its sleek OEM look. I went to the Amazon page and saw a used 2.5K with Prime shipping from the official FITCAMX store and pulled trigger on that. It arrived, worked fine, but the maximum resolution is 1080P. I knew from this thread that they used to produce a 1080P model, so I guess their warehouse incorrectly listed an old stock under the new specification. I returned it and bought a new 2.5K. It arrived fast, but there is no live stream in the Luckycam app. I was pretty annoyed by the company at this point and decided to make an investigation.
Sure enough, the item description has no mention of the CMOS sensor used in either the 2.5K or the 4K model. Knowing that it's a Chinese company, I went to their Taobao store and found identical products. Again, there is no model name for the sensors, but they do provide more detailed specifications for the 4K model - 1/2.8" diagonal size, STARVIS (Sony's proprietary night-vision technology), 2.0um pixel size, 3840x2160 at 5 Mega-pixel? These information don't match up. A true 4K needs 8MP, and the only CMOS matching the given hardware specification is Sony IMX335. They also vaguely mentioned 8MP "video resolution" which is probably referred to as the resolution of the output video rather than the scan-out resolution/pixel resolution of the sensor. IMX335 is a decent sensor but capped at 1944p, matching the claimed resolution of the 2.5K model.
On Taobao, the price difference between the 2.5K and 4K products is only 50 CNY ($8 USD, $57 vs $65). For reference, the only mainstream 4K dashcam sensor, Sony IMX415 (or IMX 317), costs almost $25 more than IMX337. All honest manufactures priced their IMX335 and IMX415 products at drastically different prices. I live chat with their service guy asking for the CMOS sensor model but the guy just vaguely replied with the same marketing wording as in the listing. The cost analysis confirms that the two models are very unlikely to have different hardware, but rather they have different firmware/software where the 4K one supports interpolation and the 2.5K one doesn't. Additionally, the vague and inconsistent descriptions in both their Amazon and Taobao stores seem to point to this theory.
I still have the second 2.5K in my hand so why don't I open it up? I did! The sensor board has the printing of "ZJX376-YC01-J335" so it's most likely the IMX"335" sensor packaged by a third-party supplier. The processing chip is "Alphavision AV875MBG" which is rumored to be a rebadged Novatek NT96675. I don't have a 4K model in my hand and I hope someone else can confirm the hardware in their 4K model. The camera assembly easily comes apart with a bit of prying and 2 tiny screws. The mainboard is covered under a perforated plastic piece held by 2 screws under the QC label.
On another note, there are some similar OEM-looking dash cams on eBay and AliExpress. I think the one on AliExpress by CARBAOHUI is particularly interesting - a 1080p (IMX307 interpolated 1600p) for $86 and a TRUE 4K (IMX415) for $148. If you have access to Taobao, there are even more options. Many of them clearly tell the CMOS sensor model, and the true 4K ones (always IMX415) cost around $110; forwarding logistics to the US is gonna be another $20~30 so the AliExpress one is not a bad choice considering the convenience and support.
Coming back to Fitcam. Its mark-up on Amazon is crazily high - 80~$100 more expensive than the prices on the Chinese market. This is way beyond the normal logistic mark-up for storage and transportation compared to millions of Chinese products on Amazon. It is almost an abuse of its dominance in the OEM-looking dashcam category since it's the only brand stocked in the US. I don't think the product is bad at all. In fact, MX335 is a mid-high-end CMOS and the dashcam has good reviews throughout. I do hate the practice of Fitcam of giving false claims and devoting every effort to confuse it. In conclusion, DON'T BUY THE 4K MODEL if you haven't, and if you have bought it USE IT IN 1944P MODE. If I knew the deceptive advertisement before, I wouldn't consider Fitcam. I truly hope that we consumers can teach all such deceptive brands a lesson and stop the upbadging trend.
Honestly I don't really care about the chinese practices. they'll always be ****. But i do like that their dash cam looks integrated and classy. the ones with wires sticking out look poopie. For a 2021 premium car, i'm not doing poopie if i can avoid it. with fitcam, i can avoid it.
save poopie for the pooped out Toyota GR86 slammed on pep boys wheels.
Honestly I don't really care about the chinese practices. they'll always be ****. But i do like that their dash cam looks integrated and classy. the ones with wires sticking out look poopie. For a 2021 premium car, i'm not doing poopie if i can avoid it. with fitcam, i can avoid it.
save poopie for the pooped out Toyota GR86 slammed on pep boys wheels.
Our 2021s deserve elegance!
Agreed! I totally love the elegant look and a modern car deserves no less.
I saw the previous discussion about 4K and dual cam. I also don't think 4K is necessary as a good 2K or 2.5K is good enough. They only have a marginal difference when compared side-to-side and in practice doesn't matter (can only say that for my need).
For those of you looking for a dual cam setup, many OEM-looking dashcams on Taobao actually offer a rear cam add-on. The Fitcam has some accessible, unused holes and plugs which are supposedly for connecting a rear cam. Probably all of the cases and boards come from the same factory and just packaged differently for different brands and models.
P.s. The so-called 2.5K/1944p/2592x1944 and 2K/1440p/2560x1440 are not that different for a dashcam. They have almost identical horizontal pixels which is the essential factor for a dashcam. The extra vertical pixels in 2.5K just give more sky views of no real value. I would run it at 1440p to save storage space and processing load (less heat and better longevity). This is the main reason why most manufacturers don't offer a "2.5K" dashcam even though they use IMX335.
Interesting to know about the port for the rear cam. Where would the rear cam mount? Ive been trying to brainstorm about where to mount the rear cam and where to get power. I have like four dash cams sitting in my spare dash cam bin but all of them would look ugly glued the window. At least with this I know the power problem would be solved.
I can barely find any information about the rear cam alone. It's always bundled with the front cam. There are two styles of the rear cam throughout the board. Type 1 is taped to the rear window but I don't know how the connection works. Type 2 looks like a generic 4-pin rear/back-up camera (confirmed by a customer review photo on Taobao). It will be connected to a 4-pin male connector coming out of the front dashcam. How the male 4-pin connector is hooked up to the front dashcam is still a mystery. Since the empty connector on the mainboard has 2 pins, I GUESS we need such an adapter and some hardwirings. (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33013221009.html).
I might be late for the thread, but after some digging I'm pretty sure the 4K Fitcam is a hoax just like many other "fake" 4K dash cams. It uses an identical image sensor as the 2.5K version, Sony IMX335, and interpolates the resolution to make it fake 4k. Therefore, the only recommended resolution setting would be 1944P which is the native pixel resolution of the sensor. Anything above that leads to a waste of storage, degradation of image quality, and unnecessary heat.
If you are interested in the complete story, here it is. I got my 19' ES 350 a month ago and decided on Fitcam right away for its sleek OEM look. I went to the Amazon page and saw a used 2.5K with Prime shipping from the official FITCAMX store and pulled trigger on that. It arrived, worked fine, but the maximum resolution is 1080P. I knew from this thread that they used to produce a 1080P model, so I guess their warehouse incorrectly listed an old stock under the new specification. I returned it and bought a new 2.5K. It arrived fast, but there is no live stream in the Luckycam app. I was pretty annoyed by the company at this point and decided to make an investigation.
Sure enough, the item description has no mention of the CMOS sensor used in either the 2.5K or the 4K model. Knowing that it's a Chinese company, I went to their Taobao store and found identical products. Again, there is no model name for the sensors, but they do provide more detailed specifications for the 4K model - 1/2.8" diagonal size, STARVIS (Sony's proprietary night-vision technology), 2.0um pixel size, 3840x2160 at 5 Mega-pixel? These information don't match up. A true 4K needs 8MP, and the only CMOS matching the given hardware specification is Sony IMX335. They also vaguely mentioned 8MP "video resolution" which is probably referred to as the resolution of the output video rather than the scan-out resolution/pixel resolution of the sensor. IMX335 is a decent sensor but capped at 1944p, matching the claimed resolution of the 2.5K model.
On Taobao, the price difference between the 2.5K and 4K products is only 50 CNY ($8 USD, $57 vs $65). For reference, the only mainstream 4K dashcam sensor, Sony IMX415 (or IMX 317), costs almost $25 more than IMX337. All honest manufactures priced their IMX335 and IMX415 products at drastically different prices. I live chat with their service guy asking for the CMOS sensor model but the guy just vaguely replied with the same marketing wording as in the listing. The cost analysis confirms that the two models are very unlikely to have different hardware, but rather they have different firmware/software where the 4K one supports interpolation and the 2.5K one doesn't. Additionally, the vague and inconsistent descriptions in both their Amazon and Taobao stores seem to point to this theory.
I still have the second 2.5K in my hand so why don't I open it up? I did! The sensor board has the printing of "ZJX376-YC01-J335" so it's most likely the IMX"335" sensor packaged by a third-party supplier. The processing chip is "Alphavision AV875MBG" which is rumored to be a rebadged Novatek NT96675. I don't have a 4K model in my hand and I hope someone else can confirm the hardware in their 4K model. The camera assembly easily comes apart with a bit of prying and 2 tiny screws. The mainboard is covered under a perforated plastic piece held by 2 screws under the QC label.
On another note, there are some similar OEM-looking dash cams on eBay and AliExpress. I think the one on AliExpress by CARBAOHUI is particularly interesting - a 1080p (IMX307 interpolated 1600p) for $86 and a TRUE 4K (IMX415) for $148. If you have access to Taobao, there are even more options. Many of them clearly tell the CMOS sensor model, and the true 4K ones (always IMX415) cost around $110; forwarding logistics to the US is gonna be another $20~30 so the AliExpress one is not a bad choice considering the convenience and support.
Coming back to Fitcam. Its mark-up on Amazon is crazily high - 80~$100 more expensive than the prices on the Chinese market. This is way beyond the normal logistic mark-up for storage and transportation compared to millions of Chinese products on Amazon. It is almost an abuse of its dominance in the OEM-looking dashcam category since it's the only brand stocked in the US. I don't think the product is bad at all. In fact, MX335 is a mid-high-end CMOS and the dashcam has good reviews throughout. I do hate the practice of Fitcam of giving false claims and devoting every effort to confuse it. In conclusion, DON'T BUY THE 4K MODEL if you haven't, and if you have bought it USE IT IN 1944P MODE. If I knew the deceptive advertisement before, I wouldn't consider Fitcam. I truly hope that we consumers can teach all such deceptive brands a lesson and stop the upbadging trend.
Thank you for detail explanation. I am looking at the one on AliExpress with following specs:
160p full hd Car DVR Wifi Video Recorder Dash Cam Camera
Processor : Novatek 96670
Camera Sensor : SONY MX415
Camera Sensor Size : 1 / 29 nch
Video Coding Standard : H . 265
SD Card Memory : 8-128-256.Maximum support fit 256G TF Card
GImage processor : WDR & HDR
What do you think would be a good size memory card for 4K dash cam?
Thank you
If it writes over the existing the old video files, automatically, then all you need to consider is how many days of recordings you want to keep on the card at one time.
If it stops recording when it's full, then how often do you want to erase / re-format it.
I have two cards I switch out, (1) 64MB and (1) 128 MB, and I swap them monthly, even though my dashcam automatically over writes the old video files.
More important IMO, is get high quality cards that can stand the operating environment of a hot / cold damp/ dry operating environment of a vehicle.
Does anyone know if this a capacitor camera? I have tried a few dashcam over the years but I kept coming back to VIOFO A119 for all my fleet for quite sometimes now . VIOFO A119 is on v3 so it is even better now. For the price point it is hard to beat as it is very reliable, packed with features and discreet. However FITCAMX is the most oem appearance wise but I am concern about video quality and long term reliability. I wonder if FITCAMX checks memory card on each start up and let user knows if it is bad. Memory card can fail abruptly as it works under extreme temperatures and constant recordings wear it down faster.
Trying to bump this question. I live in South Florida so the temperature in our cars frequently gets above 120 degrees. Given that it doesn't have a parking mode I'm inclined to believe that its a capacitor camera, but more importantly, as the OP asked, does the camera alert you at all of any potential failure? Also, I have an IS so perhaps thats the difference, but the IS version, the manufacturer says takes power from the Pre Collision Camera. However from what I've seen on the forum, at least in the ES you guys get power from the mirror? I too have a powered mirror, so theoretically couldn't I get power there? Thanks in advance
Last edited by TipsyTonio; Oct 22, 2021 at 10:40 AM.
1) Blackvue DR900S twin channel with front 4K resolution and rear FHD @ 30 fps, or front only 4k @ 60 fps.
Korean.
In life, the Pittasoft Blacvues are much larger in size than in photo.
Very slow start up time of nearly 30 seconds. The sharpest front camera with the highest resolution @ 4k, but the tiniest pixels compromizes the low light performance.
Rear cam good, but compromized by slow bit rate.
Compresses data more for smaller file sizes, but needs a new phone or new PC with greater processing power to playback.
Has cloud upload.
~$480.
20% 1 Star reviews on amazon.com.
Only 58% 4-5 stars. Only 3.7/5 stars; latest unrefined technology troublesome.
3) Thinkware F800 Pro twin channel, with either dual channel FHD @ 30 fps, or single channel FHD @ 60 fps.
Korean.
Does not use input buttons, nor output LCD screen, but uses bluetoothremote to cellphone.
Rear cam good, but compromized by slow bit rate. Has the best parking mode choices.
Can upload to cloud, but poorly refined.
~$380
19% 1 Star reviews on amazon.com for the single channel model. 3.6-4.1/5 stars; wireless etc always troublesome.
4) StreetGuardian SG9663DC twin channel with either dual channel FHD @ 30 fps, or single channel FHD @ 60 fps.
Australian-Chinese.
In life, the StreetGuardians are much more compact than they look. Has traditional input buttons and output LCD. Has wireless cellphoneremote too. The best quality rear camera day and night. Has simple parking mode too.
Great support. 2 years warranty.
~$290. Best value flagship dashcam.
5% 1 star reviews.
89% 4-5 stars. 4.4/5 stars average.
5) There is a forthcoming StreetGuardian SG9663DRdual remote lens dashcamdual channel FHD @ 30 fps, or single channel @ 60 fps.
It will be more expensive than the SG9663DC above.
The DR has twin remote lens/sensors attached to the front and rear windscreens respectively, with the cable going to the black box located either in the glovebox, under the front seats, or the trunk.
The black box contains the power supply, microprocessor, and SD card. The purpose of this design is to locate the black box away from the windscreens that are a source of solar thermal damage.
Furthermore, the lens/sensor is much smaller, more covert, and minimizes vision obstruction. This model will perform exactly the same as the conventional SG9663DC, but won't be released till the 2nd half of 2019.
The Koonlung K1S photographed below is an example of a budget dual remote lens dash cam where only the lens/sensor is attached to the windscreens, and the processor unit stashed in the glovebox, under the front seats, or in the trunk etc - to protect from sunlight heat damage - but it has very mediocre video quality.
Below, one plug feeds the power, while the other two plugs feed input from the two lens-sensor units of the front and rear windscreens respectively.
There is actually a fourth plug that feeds GPS data; an external GPS sensor has less electronic interference than an internally mounted GPS sensor as used in Korean Blackvue and Thinkware etc, but an internally built-in GPS sensor is slightly neater & fractionally easier to install.
Because remote lens dashcams have their processor boxes located in remote areas like the glovebox etc, they MUST have an external GPS sensor, or NO GPS sensor at all.
6) Old StreetGuardian SG9665GC Single Channel FHD @ 30 fps.
Very good image quality. In the old days, the microprocessors did not have much speed, hence two separate single channel dashcams performed much better than one twin channel dashcam.
Can purchase a separate unit for the rear windscreen.
Great support.
Now at great price of ~$150 each.
7% 1 star reviews.
86% 4-5 stars. 4.3/5 stars average.
I own four of these purchased back in 2015/16.
I park record full time FT with a Cellink Neo battery pack, since I found that using the car's 12 V prematurely shortens the 12 V lead acid's life, and we don't get much FT park recording time before the PbSO4's voltage drops to the cut off level.
FT park recording requires a big memory card like Samsung Evo 256 GB, but it is the ultimate in recording.
Motion activated recording often misses when it should record.
5) Old Blackvue DR650GW/S Series Twin Channel, with front FHD 1920 x 1080 and rear HD 1024 x 768 @ 30 fps. In the old days, the processors simply did NOT have enough speed to process two channels [front & rear] simultaneously, hence image quality of DR650 Series, esp the rear camerasuffered - especially under low light conditions.
S performs with the same mediocrity in low light as GW, but S has more and newer features.
Now ~$200.
13-15% 1 star reviews on amazon.com.
Only 60% 4-5 stars. Average 3.7/5 stars. Bluetooth wireless control always troublesome, plus old processors too slow to process two channels simultaneously for decent image quality.
If using old dashcams with old slow processors, best to use two (2x) single channel dashcams; although this will cost more...
Value for Money Dashcams
Viofo A129 Duo Twin Channel
China.
~$170. Great value for money, but don't expect flagship quality to match your 7ES.
13% 1 star reviews. 4.0/5 stars average.
Budget Dashcams
Heaps around...
Dod
Taiwan's Dod used to be very good, but lately a lot of bugs.
For many years, Dods have had very good image quality; Dod was famous for low light performance.
Below, the Thinkware F800 Pro's rear dashcam under low light doesn't perform as well as its competitors, with experts suspecting that is due to F800 Pro's lower bit rate of only 10 Mbps, while Dod RC500S uses 15 Mbps, with the Blackvue DR750S now updated to 25 Mbps.
Presently, the best all round quality dashcam without bugs & hassles, and the very best rear dashcam day or night is the StreetGuardian SG9663DC.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Vicovation has stopped making dashcams altogether.
Thank you for the helpful and informative information. I rely heavily on my dashboard camera. For safety , security , peace of mind and insurance reasons. Unfortunately, as of last week I started having major issues with my dashboard camera. It’s an Owl cam:https://shop.owlcam.com/collections/...lassic-4-1-cam
It was such a headache I actually just posted about it. It’s a few threads above this one. If anyone reading this could check out my post and give me some feedback I would appreciate it. If not I can re-post it here. As to this particular thread I was wondering if there was a reason you didn’t recommend the Owl cam? Thank you again for the reviews! Big help !
After one week, I am thrilled. 120 second installation including hiding the wiring easily with the included tool. I liked that I don't have to route wire down along the A pillar airbag, that all power is from the OBDII, that it has an actual IOS app not a glorified website, a bunch of other things.
https://owlcam.com also on Amazon, but first responder discount is on there site.
I loved it !! Greatest thing since sliced bread! For whatever reason after a year the camera started messing up my dashboard settings. It worked fine for a full year. Why it stopped ? Haven’t gotten an answer for that. Anyhow , after having no issues for a year one day I noticed that I couldn’t change the AC/Heater settings on my dashboard with the pointer and touchpad. I also noticed a black explanation point inside a white diamond on my backup camera when I put the car in reverse. Among other things I couldn’t change my backup settings either. I brought my car into a reputable and certified Lexus dealership twice. Long story short they said they pulled the cars black box and said since the Owl dashboard camera is plugged into the OBD port it’s messing up all my settings and freezing certain settings into place and disabling my ability to change them. They also said that cameras issued from insurance companies like Progressive and All State were giving Lexus vehicles major problems.
The 4k version cam is a home run! It fits perfectly and looks OEM. Plug and play comes with link to you tube video for install. To be honest it is so easy its kinda funny. No experience necessary! It comes with 64gb card but I purchased the max size card it can handle 128gb. The clarity of video is perfect at night and daytime. You download app to control cam with built in wifi on cam. Other than that you can take memory card out and view clips on computer.
Dash cam
