Blind Spot Detection is a great feature
I've owned several dashcam systems, including on my last car - a 4-channel commercial DVR with a custom video switcher triggered by a keypad or my turn signals, to activate two 3" monitors showing my blind spots from two mirror mounted cameras. It was over the top but - when that car was totaled, I wasn't looking forward to buying all those expensive bits or the several weekends and evenings it took to route wires and make things work. This dashcam promised blind spot detection (BSD) in a 2 camera system, and at the price of a 2 camera dashcam that didn't have BSD. So I thought it was worth a shot. I also purchased the optional hardwire kit to enable 24/7 time lapse recording plus battery drain protection, which are more features setting it apart. I've had it installed a few days now, and I'm pretty impressed. The last two days were commute days, and I have to travel on a heavily congested several miles of highway with aggressive NY drivers during rush hour, so the BSD is a big focus of my review. But first, the actual camera - I haven't pulled any video off of it yet, but one concern that I have is that the camera is a 4K front and 1080P rear, but when I enabled the BSD I saw a warning appear stating that when either ADAS or BSD were activated, 4K recording wasn't possible. I'm not sure if the limitation is the processing inside, but in my particular case this is less of a concern, as I'm just needing enough resolution to ensure I have video to serve as evidence in the event of any traffic circumstance resulting in what would otherwise be a "he said/she said" argument. I haven't pulled video from the camera yet to comment on it. The BSD so far seems excellent. The rear view is on and I mounted it so it is visible just below my rear view mirror. When the BSD is on, the bottom of the screen is overlaid with a blue area in the center, and two green areas, one on each side. As vehicles appear in the rear view, they are tracked with green square outlines, and when they enter the green areas, a sound plays (there are settings to turn that off) and the green area turns orange, with a slight orange pulsation coming from the edge to call your attention to the vehicle in your blind spot. Initially I'm the type of guy to disable all annoying sounds, but so far I feel like they even got that right - it gets your attention without being annoying, and I saw a setting to change the volume as well, but the default is pretty good with me so far. I haven't disabled sounds yet and even think I may leave those on. Way less annoying than a radar detector. I have the back camera mounted in the rear window of a MINI Clubman, and I was concerned with the glass being right at the back edge of the vehicle, that the actual blind spot area would be compromised. However, it seems to do a pretty excellent job. There were possibly one or two times when I believe a car was in my blind spot that it didn't detect, but in retrospect I believe this is because the system tracks cars approaching from the rear and entering your blind spot. Vehicles that you pass and end up in your blind spot don't necessarily end up identified, but if they end up behind you then they re-approach the system alerts you. Overall that's very good, since cars you pass you are inherently aware of. and the rear camera can't see them until they are back there. I'm very pleased so far with the BSD feature. I also can't comment on the ADAS feature for a couple reasons: 1) The BSD and ADAS are mutually exclusive. You can't enable both at the same time. That makes sense because there's only one screen and so it can only display the front camera or the rear camera - can't do both. But that's a limitation to be aware of. 2) In my case that's OK, because it's the BSD I want, and I don't care about the ADAS. On the other hand, it would have been a nice-to-have to also have that emergency braking notification. If it were possible to enable, I would - but I can't, so it is what it is. Overall, this seems very nice quality. The settings are easy to navigate and set. My experience with other dashcams, I'm sure the basic functionality is fine for recording, and the 24 hour time lapse is a feature above and beyond others - and the BSD saved me from hundreds of dollars of 4 channel commercial DVR equipment, hours of wiring integrated cameras and video switchers tied to car ECU wired turn signal detect wiring - and so far it seems to work well. Read more























