Excellent review of the Q800 pro. I just bought it with the reverse camera and in a couple of days I will have it installed. Can't wait. I'll try and follow up with a future comment after the installation and I learn all of the ins and outs of the system.
Heard some people have issues with the parking incident detection everytime they close their door after exiting their car. Then when they come back they always have at least one incident (which was just themselves) and gets annoying to listen to it everytime. Do you have this issue? Did Thinkware add a buffer time after you shutoff your car before starting the algorithm that detects incidents?
Stop you're making me blush 🤣🤗. So yes I have had the same issue when I started so I I just did the sensitivity and that has stopped for the most part. I do agree that they should be adding such a buffer time so that it completely removes that possibility of capturing the door opening or closing from entering the car
yes! you literally have to rush out of the car, if you have passengers gathering things etc when they close the door it picks it up. No option that I see to extend this time before parking mode turns on.
I have to admit that the video quality of the q800pro is now on par with my dr750s which I have installed in my race car. I cannot use blackvue in my daily driver due to the excessive heat where I live. The most important features to me in my q800pro is the parking mode and the way it handles heat without ever shutting down. It’s been an amazing camera so far.
Leo H. What are you on about Blackvue cameras are very heat resistant. Excessive heat where you live what you live on the sun do you , I live in Australia and it gets very hot even when the car is locked up and heat intensifies during the day the Blackvue still handles it
Michael Wilson It’s been well documented champ. Head over to dashcamtalk and you will see countless posts about overheating 750 and 900s’. I live in south Texas and I don’t need you telling me how heat resistant they are since I’ve had the camera shut down. I still have my dr750 that’s mounted in my race car where I live stream to Facebook during the Texas mile. I’ve had the dr750 stop recording and go into thermal shutdown the entire time I had it installed in my daily driver. Good for you champ of yours is working well, but MINE isn’t. That’s why it’s not in my daily driver where recording is crucial. I won’t be trusting a camera where thermal shutdown is well documented in my car(s) when I need it the most.
I was advised by Best Buy, where I started to think about a dash cam to get the F200 Pro Front and Rear Dash Cam with GPS Accessory. So far, I purchased today THINKWARE - Interior Infrared Cabin Camera - Black (I wanted to see anything inside the car) and this item THINKWARE - Multiplexer Box - Black. But the F200 Pro Front and Rear was in my cart for a few weeks at $179.99, and today it went back to the original price of $229.99; I decided to look around. So, I just wanted to ask you this. Are the two items I purchased compatible with the Thinkware Q800 Pro Dash Cam? Best Buy will install it in mid-April - a long wait time. I'd hate to bring them the Q800, and they say the two items mentioned here won't work with it.
Great review, thanks for that. I've been reluctant to get a dashcam and specifically because of the installation. For sure, this isn't a DIY if you're not handy. Looks like it is a no go for me.
I have the blackvue 750S 2CH and i think this looks a lot better this dash cam is on sale this week at bestbuy thinking about buying it and putting the blackvue in the wife car great review ty.
I would like to know if the app can be used outside of the car and away from the camera or do I have to be in the car with the camera in for it to work. What if I want to look at live video or video capture while I’m insides my house?
My car was keyed one night, do you think this dash cam would be able to detect that? I would like to catch who ever did It hopefully It doesn’t happen again
First I'm really sorry to hear that Frank. I have zero respect for these type of people literally the scum of the Earth. yes if you had this dash cam and set up the motion detection features it would definitely catch them in action as they approach or exit the vicinity near your car. not sure if he'll be able to find the rat but hopefully you can protect yourself in the future now with a dash cam
@@carswithsonduren This is the reason WHY I am watching your video. Some A-Hole keyed our Mazda CX-5 (2019) and well. Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Auto Zone, and other retail stores will not carry this model. Ordered and hopefully will be here. We are buying this camera (Front/Rear) and the ODB-II port (I am not an wiring guy) to hopefully deter further occurances and issues. This is all due to a disgruntled co-worker of my fiancees's as they were suspended from work :( 120+ vehicles parked in my complex and we were the only ones targeted. FYI I work from home and my work office is in another state...so yea....long story short. You just made my day in purchasing the camera knowing I have a set of eyes on the car as I sleep! Thank you!
Can the camera still record while your phone is connected to the camera or does it have to disconnect before it will continue to record while you are driving?
Hello, nice video but I was hoping that you would go more into the actual camera install. I have two memory cards (large and small), the instructions do not say which to use.
Looks like a heck of a lot of digital sharpening? Looking for a dashcam though would like rear view have no idea how I'd wire it in without an auto electrician!
Awesome video! It made the decision easier to get it installed on my ride. Question a) did you apply the added Polarizing Filter b) is there a setting to get my video as clear as yours to read licence plates? My footage is so blurry with the q800 pro. Thx!
Is the windshield clean? I didn't apply any polarizer as none was included in my package. Seems very odd that you're suggesting you have blurry footage doesn't not look as sharp as my review footage?
Same issue here. I laughed when I realized I just forgot to remove the plastic film that protects the camera lens from getting scratched during installation. Video is clear as a bell now, LOL.
I've been a staunch Blackvue user, I like the size and apps compared to Thinkware. But I have to admit that Thinkware has image quality and feature rich cameras.
@@Lexusgx550 I have the DR750S and the only technical issue I've had was it killing my sd cards. I ran through 1x sandisk in 8 months, 2x Lexars between 6 to 14 months, so far Samsung has lasted me well over a year. In Toronto, our temperature height is like 36C but adding in humidity we can go as high as 45C. So you can imagine our cars internally can reach well over 50C.
I've been watching dash cam reviews of many product for the past 2-3 weeks. I decided I can't afford the premium 4k units. So I looked at the older 2.5k units. The Thinkware Q800Pro gets great reviews. The video clips look great. It has many features but the features are not what I'm after. (It's the video quality.) Plus it's within my budget. But here's the problem. I check the consumer reviews on this one and this applies to all the dash cams that had good "technical" reviews. The 1-2 star out of 5 occupies at least 10% of the comments concerning the device. It just stops recording and it's not that old. That's common with all dash cams! So it seems. ... If I buy any of them, there is at least a 1 in 10 chance I'll get a problem child.
Definitely might be true but my experience with the q800 pro has been very good and I've had it for a while now. I personally would highly recommend it and I think it's the perfect compromise for somebody not looking for 4K but is looking for a reliable high quality dash cam
@@carswithsonduren Update. I bought one. Here is my experience/review of it. (All of those software features are nice. I bought it because of the video quality seen in the reviews.) The video quality that I see on this one is different than in many reviews including yours. What I see is not as good as I was expecting. Did you purchase the Q800 off the shelf or did Thinkware send you one? If it's the later, you may have received one that was tweaked to perform it's best and not representative of a store/online bought one? (I wonder if they would tweak mine for a fee that is not crazy.) Firstly, I'm going to keep the one I have. It's good enough and I got it at a very low price. The reason I'm for keeping it was not discussed in your video but it should have. After I had bought and mounted it, I then learned about the regional/state law about devices mounted to the windshield. In short. You cannot mount anything, except the rear view mirror, to the windshield, which blocks the drivers view. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A KEY SELLING POINT TO SAY! That law cuts out so many dash-cams. The Q800 is small and when mounted behind the rear view mirror you can't see it. So it satisfies the law. Huge selling point. Back to what I'm not happy about it. What I see in the recordings that I'm not happy with... Distortion in the ability to read plates due to over sharpening combined with over Jpeg compression and there are no adjustments in the menus for it! A vehicle that is more than 20 feet / 6 meters away, it's difficult to read the plate. The road side trees in your review video have more detail than the ones in my clips. JPEG blurry. The firmware is up to date as far as I can tell. (I followed the update procedure and nothing happens. So I just assume it's up to date). I reached out to Thinkware support. The only reply is that they received it. That was 2 weeks ago. I won't say don't buy one. It does the job for me. I ended up buying this because the 4k ones were either to costly or had questionable reviews. More than 50% people liked the Q800. I'm ok with the Q800 Pro.
Can you turn on the recording anytime? If a Cop pulled me over and I turned off my engine, can it keep recording or is there a button to turn on to keep recording?
Great video. What's your thoughts on the SD card? I want to increase my memory to 128gb, but I've I read some dashcams don't work properly unless you buy their own SD cards, which are stupid expensive.
@@carswithsonduren Hi, good day! Does it drain/harm your battery when hardwired? Does it gets hot on summer? And can it stand the cold on winter? Thank you.
@@carswithsonduren good evening Canadian rider brother. If possible I would like to discuss with you a business idea/proposal. I'm not on any of the platforms your on to contact with you ... I would like to talk to you if you have time to reach out to me this is my email Joyfullrock@yahoo.com thanks
There are cloud based features of the Q800 that allow you to track where the car is, however the camera needs a wifi / hotspot connection for this to work so unless the camera is connected to a hotspot in your car it won't work. The GPS records your location to the recorded files so it can be shown what location you was in in an event (e.g. if someone tries to make out an incident occured in a different location to where it actually was).
I had it installed should I remove it when the temperature hits the singe digits here in New England? If so how do I slide it off, I don't know they installed it. TY for any help.
Hi, with the lane departure feature, how does it know if you meant to switch lanes or if it was an accidental lane departure? Is it somehow hooked up to your turn signals?
I'd be curious to ask if you've ever tried the Blackvue line up? I've heard and seen some example videos were Thinkware has a better quality for number, like license plate than Blackvue but I'm not sure about it.
@@carswithsonduren Right, but when talking about the license plate specifically. Did you find it to be true that Thinkware was easier to read the plates?
Hi bro thanks for this video for dashcam Q800 pro i have questions already i have dash cam Q800 pro but I’m not understand for recorder video so all my video recorder is 1 minute please help how can changed recorder more 1 minute for example 5 minute ? Thanks
It has a bunch of functionality to protect against this. it will stop recording after a certain time period that you set up or after voltage drops on your battery to a certain degree that you can set
It's completely adjustable from 6 hours to 72 hours and voltage from 12 volts to 13 volts. Anytime let me know how else I can help and welcome to the channel ☺️
I too got this for the parking mode, with the front and rear setup, hardwired by a professional auto electrician. No matter what I try, it just won’t record incidents all night. I got a massive memory card (SanDisk Extreme 128GB) and I’ve fiddled with the sensitivity options as well as reducing the voltage cutoff to the minimum. It only seems to pick up motion detection for a couple of hours after I lock the car. I wondered if it was the car battery but I plugged in a voltage tester the next morning and it was showing at 12.2V, well above the cutoff. I even tried putting the Thinkware 32GB Memory Card in. Still stops picking anything up after a couple of hours. Totally useless to me in parking mode. About £350 down the drain. What am I doing wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Does it not have a time lapse mode? Also, you can get an additional battery setup just for the camera. These can be expensive but will give you 20+ hours of power
Awsome video! Great job! my Question is...What type, make, size, speed SD card are you using in this video? I currently have a Samsung Micro SDXC USH I Card 128 GB 4K HD 100mb/s read speed and 90mbs wright speed EVO SELECT. what would you recomend? Thank you! Sandra Wilson USA
I have the Q800 pro and it doesn’t give me any alert for ADAS nor give me notification alert when i start up the car. It only alert me about the speed cam. I sent an email to the seller blackboxmycar and thinkware of the issue. Anyone.else having this issue?
have you downloaded the Thinkware desktop app? all of the settings you mentioned can be turned on of off in the app. they now have a MAC option and ofcorse windows as well! Best of luck
Can you read license plate #s with this dash cam ? I picked up F800 and i cannot read any license plates. it is so blurry. i do not know if my unit is faulty or i use it incorrectly or i just expect too much.
Just to add something coming from my experience with the Q800PRO: video quality is NOWHERE NEAR THE ONE SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO - in fact, it's way worse. This said, the unit is still a worthwhile device.
@@carswithsonduren : my unit saves blurry videos where car plates are barely readable and only at a very short distance. Not something you expect from a 1440p cam and, frankly, all videos are looking as they were recorded by a very cheap device.
@@robertogiannotta4477 Hey fam. I emailed Thinkware about this and sent them a video clip. I have the same problem. They said they want to replace it and they wanted a picture of my receipt. I bought it in December of 2019. I think they'll replace it.
something has to have changed with this dash cam in the 2 years since your review. I purchased one, installed it, and had awful unusable video quality from both cams. figuring I got a lemon I exchanged it for another and had the exact same unusable quality video. glare is horrendous, dithering is so bad it cannot read any license plate, and at times the image is so badly processed you would not even know there was a plate or grill on the vehicle. trees look like a crayon filled outline with no detail. Thinkware Canadian support will have you take hours playing with settings, resets, different sd cards, them have you upload video to them, which after 10 days no one there has bothered to look at. I gave up on the Q800Pro and Thinkware, returned it and bought a Viofo
This is very interesting Tony. Sounds like they were not able to solve your problem in a respectable manner. Maybe it's possible that they have changed some of the hardware to some cheaper quality products or some other products due to the covid shortage? I am actually not 100% sure but it's definitely odd
@@carswithsonduren wish I still had some of the video from the one I had, other than the watermark, there was no way of telling it was the same unit as yours.. the worst part was the lack of interest from support in looking at the videos they had me upload after 10 days.
@@carswithsonduren thanks, I've had the A139 2 ch for almost 2 weeks now. night and day difference in video quality. it even came with cpl filters, and was $195 cheaper before tax. it seems to have all the same features, and the wifi connects and downloads faster, plus it supports 256gb cards, I have a 512gb card in it now and won't know if it can use it all until later in the week. so far its used about 330gb of it with no issue.
Hey, I purchased the Q800 Pro front and rear in December of 2019. My camera too can't capture a license plate unless it's super close. I emailed Thinkware and showed them a video clip and they want to replace my camera.
The app interface is horrible! To view footage you will have to download it first on your phone and you won't know if it's the right footage until it's done. Everything else is okay but I can't stand the app!
I spent lots of time reviewing all the Thinkware information that was available online e.g. youtube. I decided to give it a chance BECAUSE the camera is advertised as: You'll have access to the videos footage via WIFI. This is NOT entirely true and/or as it is presented on Thinkware website and promotional information. 1) With the camera you will get a Guide & Warranty booklet containing 152 pages. If you have never installed a dash cam, you may find useful 3 pages. The rest of this booklet is USELESS! 149 pages of the same information is repeated in several different languages. 2) The Guide & Warranty booklet DOES NOT explain any of the futures of the camera. Does not explain why you need to partition the memory card and pros/cons on each option/setting, etc... You are on your own trying to figure out it out or spending countless hours trying to find information on youtube. 3) The camera connects to your cell phone via WIFI technology (as advertised by Thinkware). BUT!!!! it does NOT connect to a WIFI network e.g. your home or work. Thinkware does not explains this in any of their promotional materials. 4) You MUST be inside your car and right in front of the camera, if you want to connect to the camera and view any video. The camera does not connect automatically to your cell phone. You MUST press the WIFI button on the camera and follow the connection procedure to have access to the camera menu and videos. The connection is NOT stable. Even a short distance, the WIFI connection (Radio frequency) will be lost and you will have to reconnect again. While you are viewing the videos or going through the camera settings, your cell WIFI will not work. 5) If you want to connect to the camera via Hotspot; your WIFI will disconnect automatically. Also, to have access to all the fancy futures they advertise e.g. Geo fencing, you must make sure the "Hotspot" future is part of you cellphone plan - it is not free. 6) I requested the same information from: Thinkware.com, Thinkware Canada, Thinkware USA, Thinkware Australia and Thinkware UK. After several days, only Thinkware UK responded to my questions. None of their current dashboard cameras can connect to a WIFI network (home or work), including the new 2019 model: U1000. 7) There are only 2 apps available and neither is for the Q800 PRO. You will have to use the app for Thinkware F700 series. 8) 4 years ago I purchase an entry level camera. I paid $65 (Amazon). The quality of footage from my entry level camera is almost identical to what the Q800PRO produces. The images produced by the Q800PRO tend to be grainy and good luck trying to identify a plate number that is past a few feet ahead from you car during the day. 9) The "Cloud" future is not what you think it is. Thinkware forces you to open an account but as I explained above points 3, 4 and 5, it is useless. The Thinkware account is more for them to fill up your in box with promotional materials. This camera is grossly over priced.
Thanks! Everyone's so busy selling the product the we don't often get to hear all the negative sides. Thanks for sharing your research and experience. I would've fallen for their misleading wording with respect to the wifi connectivity, thanks for the headsup!
@@father88888 It seems like this guy just wants to share his frustration and spread his thoroughly written review to as many people as possible. I can empathize. If he were a competitor, he would have gushed over his brand throughout his review. It's nice to be a cynic, but it's nicer to show some appreciation when it's warranted.
Everyone responding to this comment may not like what this guy is typing or think he works for the competitor but..... I can say from first-hand use ( I bought this thing 4 days ago and regret it ) I agree with everything he is saying and have all the same issues/complaints!
Easy installation? Nope! I’ll pass. I dont wanna have to dismantle parts of my Lexus just to install a camera. There’s gotta be an easier installation option.
I was always told, protection is important :)
wrap that shit up!.... oh wait.... 🤔😅
You know it's important 😂
I for 2 kids, I have no idea what either of you 2 are referring to.
Excellent review of the Q800 pro. I just bought it with the reverse camera and in a couple of days I will have it installed. Can't wait. I'll try and follow up with a future comment after the installation and I learn all of the ins and outs of the system.
Clear and thorough, perfect 10 review, exactly what I need. Terrific stuff, thanks for this perfect review.
Heard some people have issues with the parking incident detection everytime they close their door after exiting their car. Then when they come back they always have at least one incident (which was just themselves) and gets annoying to listen to it everytime. Do you have this issue? Did Thinkware add a buffer time after you shutoff your car before starting the algorithm that detects incidents?
Btw, 7:32. Handsome AF. Well done. No homo.
Stop you're making me blush 🤣🤗. So yes I have had the same issue when I started so I I just did the sensitivity and that has stopped for the most part. I do agree that they should be adding such a buffer time so that it completely removes that possibility of capturing the door opening or closing from entering the car
Really that is very odd is that an option in your application?
yes! you literally have to rush out of the car, if you have passengers gathering things etc when they close the door it picks it up. No option that I see to extend this time before parking mode turns on.
Good and clear video! I would like to know how long the dashcam can stay active in parking mode? 12hours?
That is correct 12 hours! Really appreciate the kind words and welcome to the channel
If so worried about your car I'm surprised you don't have the rear camera also.
I have to admit that the video quality of the q800pro is now on par with my dr750s which I have installed in my race car. I cannot use blackvue in my daily driver due to the excessive heat where I live. The most important features to me in my q800pro is the parking mode and the way it handles heat without ever shutting down. It’s been an amazing camera so far.
Leo H. What are you on about Blackvue cameras are very heat resistant. Excessive heat where you live what you live on the sun do you , I live in Australia and it gets very hot even when the car is locked up and heat intensifies during the day the Blackvue still handles it
@@iamasmurf1122 ello guvna
Michael Wilson It’s been well documented champ. Head over to dashcamtalk and you will see countless posts about overheating 750 and 900s’. I live in south Texas and I don’t need you telling me how heat resistant they are since I’ve had the camera shut down. I still have my dr750 that’s mounted in my race car where I live stream to Facebook during the Texas mile. I’ve had the dr750 stop recording and go into thermal shutdown the entire time I had it installed in my daily driver. Good for you champ of yours is working well, but MINE isn’t. That’s why it’s not in my daily driver where recording is crucial. I won’t be trusting a camera where thermal shutdown is well documented in my car(s) when I need it the most.
@@leoh.7160 sure thing pal.
I was advised by Best Buy, where I started to think about a dash cam to get the F200 Pro Front and Rear Dash Cam with GPS Accessory. So far, I purchased today THINKWARE - Interior Infrared Cabin Camera - Black (I wanted to see anything inside the car) and this item THINKWARE - Multiplexer Box - Black. But the F200 Pro Front and Rear was in my cart for a few weeks at $179.99, and today it went back to the original price of $229.99; I decided to look around. So, I just wanted to ask you this. Are the two items I purchased compatible with the Thinkware Q800 Pro Dash Cam? Best Buy will install it in mid-April - a long wait time. I'd hate to bring them the Q800, and they say the two items mentioned here won't work with it.
I've got to replace my BlackVue DR900s as it keeps talking and rebooting while I am driving. This is one camera I am considering.
Great review, thanks for that. I've been reluctant to get a dashcam and specifically because of the installation. For sure, this isn't a DIY if you're not handy. Looks like it is a no go for me.
I have the blackvue 750S 2CH and i think this looks a lot better this dash cam is on sale this week at bestbuy thinking about buying it and putting the blackvue in the wife car great review ty.
What's the sale price this week? Good choice getting the dual channel one
I would like to know if the app can be used outside of the car and away from the camera or do I have to be in the car with the camera in for it to work. What if I want to look at live video or video capture while I’m insides my house?
My car was keyed one night, do you think this dash cam would be able to detect that? I would like to catch who ever did It hopefully It doesn’t happen again
First I'm really sorry to hear that Frank. I have zero respect for these type of people literally the scum of the Earth. yes if you had this dash cam and set up the motion detection features it would definitely catch them in action as they approach or exit the vicinity near your car. not sure if he'll be able to find the rat but hopefully you can protect yourself in the future now with a dash cam
@@carswithsonduren This is the reason WHY I am watching your video. Some A-Hole keyed our Mazda CX-5 (2019) and well. Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Auto Zone, and other retail stores will not carry this model. Ordered and hopefully will be here. We are buying this camera (Front/Rear) and the ODB-II port (I am not an wiring guy) to hopefully deter further occurances and issues. This is all due to a disgruntled co-worker of my fiancees's as they were suspended from work :( 120+ vehicles parked in my complex and we were the only ones targeted. FYI I work from home and my work office is in another state...so yea....long story short. You just made my day in purchasing the camera knowing I have a set of eyes on the car as I sleep! Thank you!
That’s really unfortunate to hear :( hopefully now you’ll be able to protect yourself against this in the future!
@@carswithsonduren Tomorrow 🤩 will follow up after install and use
Can the camera still record while your phone is connected to the camera or does it have to disconnect before it will continue to record while you are driving?
Does the rear camera also record in parking mode? Or is it only the front
Yes it does
Is a monthly fee required to save to cloud or other features?
Hello, nice video but I was hoping that you would go more into the actual camera install.
I have two memory cards (large and small), the instructions do not say which to use.
Looks like a heck of a lot of digital sharpening? Looking for a dashcam though would like rear view have no idea how I'd wire it in without an auto electrician!
Mine turns off after a while in “run” mode on my truck is that normal or should it stay on? I also can’t connect to it when there is no wifi.
Awesome video! It made the decision easier to get it installed on my ride. Question a) did you apply the added Polarizing Filter b) is there a setting to get my video as clear as yours to read licence plates? My footage is so blurry with the q800 pro. Thx!
Is the windshield clean? I didn't apply any polarizer as none was included in my package. Seems very odd that you're suggesting you have blurry footage doesn't not look as sharp as my review footage?
Same issue here. I laughed when I realized I just forgot to remove the plastic film that protects the camera lens from getting scratched during installation. Video is clear as a bell now, LOL.
Any cons ? Is it better than blackvue?
How would you detect side kicks to your doors?
I've been a staunch Blackvue user, I like the size and apps compared to Thinkware. But I have to admit that Thinkware has image quality and feature rich cameras.
Ch900 black vue does it freeze when hot
@@Lexusgx550
I have the DR750S and the only technical issue I've had was it killing my sd cards. I ran through 1x sandisk in 8 months, 2x
Lexars between 6 to 14 months, so far Samsung has lasted me well over a year.
In Toronto, our temperature height is like 36C but adding in humidity we can go as high as 45C. So you can imagine our cars internally can reach well over 50C.
Great review. I have the same Samsung phone. Any firmware fix?
I've been watching dash cam reviews of many product for the past 2-3 weeks. I decided I can't afford the premium 4k units. So I looked at the older 2.5k units. The Thinkware Q800Pro gets great reviews. The video clips look great. It has many features but the features are not what I'm after. (It's the video quality.) Plus it's within my budget. But here's the problem. I check the consumer reviews on this one and this applies to all the dash cams that had good "technical" reviews. The 1-2 star out of 5 occupies at least 10% of the comments concerning the device. It just stops recording and it's not that old. That's common with all dash cams! So it seems. ... If I buy any of them, there is at least a 1 in 10 chance I'll get a problem child.
Definitely might be true but my experience with the q800 pro has been very good and I've had it for a while now. I personally would highly recommend it and I think it's the perfect compromise for somebody not looking for 4K but is looking for a reliable high quality dash cam
@@carswithsonduren Update. I bought one. Here is my experience/review of it. (All of those software features are nice. I bought it because of the video quality seen in the reviews.) The video quality that I see on this one is different than in many reviews including yours. What I see is not as good as I was expecting.
Did you purchase the Q800 off the shelf or did Thinkware send you one? If it's the later, you may have received one that was tweaked to perform it's best and not representative of a store/online bought one? (I wonder if they would tweak mine for a fee that is not crazy.)
Firstly, I'm going to keep the one I have. It's good enough and I got it at a very low price. The reason I'm for keeping it was not discussed in your video but it should have. After I had bought and mounted it, I then learned about the regional/state law about devices mounted to the windshield. In short. You cannot mount anything, except the rear view mirror, to the windshield, which blocks the drivers view. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A KEY SELLING POINT TO SAY! That law cuts out so many dash-cams. The Q800 is small and when mounted behind the rear view mirror you can't see it. So it satisfies the law. Huge selling point.
Back to what I'm not happy about it. What I see in the recordings that I'm not happy with... Distortion in the ability to read plates due to over sharpening combined with over Jpeg compression and there are no adjustments in the menus for it! A vehicle that is more than 20 feet / 6 meters away, it's difficult to read the plate. The road side trees in your review video have more detail than the ones in my clips. JPEG blurry. The firmware is up to date as far as I can tell. (I followed the update procedure and nothing happens. So I just assume it's up to date). I reached out to Thinkware support. The only reply is that they received it. That was 2 weeks ago.
I won't say don't buy one. It does the job for me. I ended up buying this because the 4k ones were either to costly or had questionable reviews. More than 50% people liked the Q800. I'm ok with the Q800 Pro.
How is night vision in very low lit areas ? Have not seen a cam yet thats any good.
Can I use SD card 256GB? Thank you.
How do you test the fuses with a multimeter vs a 'circuit tester'. Or a use a non-contact voltage tester instead?
nvm
Awesome video, awesome review. Thank you so much for providing all the links for tools, parts and installation details!
i have the same car as you..which fuses did you tap into and did you use the low profile tap or regular?
Low profile tap, you can tap into any accessory.
@@carswithsonduren for both wires? i thought one had to be constant and the other accy
So there is a live view?
Can you turn on the recording anytime? If a Cop pulled me over and I turned off my engine, can it keep recording or is there a button to turn on to keep recording?
Yea it will keep recording
Gps Tracker on this? for your vehicle?
Great video. What's your thoughts on the SD card? I want to increase my memory to 128gb, but I've I read some dashcams don't work properly unless you buy their own SD cards, which are stupid expensive.
Honestly 64GB has been sufficient for me, what do you think you have to need for 128GB?
@@carswithsonduren Hi, good day! Does it drain/harm your battery when hardwired?
Does it gets hot on summer? And can it stand the cold on winter?
Thank you.
Had no problem with the winter driving as there is a voltage cut off. No problems either in the hot in the summer. 👍
@@carswithsonduren so you only have to hardwire it in the fuse box?
Correct!
The q800Pro is a great camera. The U1000 model is even better at 4k front with 150 degree view (q800pro is 140 degree) and 2k rear cam.
Does it have a LED light to show if the camera is on?
Yes
Instead of hardwiring can u still use the OBD II adapter for parking mode and powering in general??
Yes you can
How is video quality compared to blackvue dr750s front/back day/night
how to turn off voice assistant whenever opening the dashcam. thanks in advance!
Don’t think you can actually, unless they update it in the firmware.
is there rear camera option that goes with this? thanks..
Yes you can also purchase the rear camera which is a 1080p sensor at 30 frames per second!
Yes there is!
Great review thanks for sharing your insight. Ottawa here.
Welcome to the channel my Canadian brother. Glad you found the video helpful :-)
@@carswithsonduren good evening Canadian rider brother. If possible I would like to discuss with you a business idea/proposal. I'm not on any of the platforms your on to contact with you ... I would like to talk to you if you have time to reach out to me this is my email
Joyfullrock@yahoo.com thanks
What’s the GPS feature like? If someone stole the car for instance, could you track it through the dash cam?
There are cloud based features of the Q800 that allow you to track where the car is, however the camera needs a wifi / hotspot connection for this to work so unless the camera is connected to a hotspot in your car it won't work. The GPS records your location to the recorded files so it can be shown what location you was in in an event (e.g. if someone tries to make out an incident occured in a different location to where it actually was).
Great review
why are my videos so grainy ( unable to read plates right in front of the truck ) when using the sd card to watch the videos on my pc?
I had it installed should I remove it when the temperature hits the singe digits here in New England? If so how do I slide it off, I don't know they installed it. TY for any help.
yes you should be able to slide it off but I honestly wouldn't worry about single digit temperatures in New England causing any problems with it
@@carswithsonduren TY
Hi, with the lane departure feature, how does it know if you meant to switch lanes or if it was an accidental lane departure? Is it somehow hooked up to your turn signals?
Same question
No unfortunately no accidental lane departure
What about GPS that comes along with this camera.
Are you watching the video on a computer?
Wifi Connectivity to my phone is interfering with Wifi on my BMW. How can I avoid it?
Turn off auto connect
I'd be curious to ask if you've ever tried the Blackvue line up? I've heard and seen some example videos were Thinkware has a better quality for number, like license plate than Blackvue but I'm not sure about it.
I also did a review on the Blackvue DR900s
@@carswithsonduren Right, but when talking about the license plate specifically. Did you find it to be true that Thinkware was easier to read the plates?
Hi bro thanks for this video for dashcam Q800 pro i have questions already i have dash cam Q800 pro but I’m not understand for recorder video so all my video recorder is 1 minute please help how can changed recorder more 1 minute for example 5 minute ? Thanks
How does this work when it comes to the cars battery? Wont it drain the battery when you're parked up?
It has a bunch of functionality to protect against this. it will stop recording after a certain time period that you set up or after voltage drops on your battery to a certain degree that you can set
@@carswithsonduren thanks for the reply mate, do you know how long on average this time limit is? we talking like 8-12h or is it just for like 2-3h?
It's completely adjustable from 6 hours to 72 hours and voltage from 12 volts to 13 volts. Anytime let me know how else I can help and welcome to the channel ☺️
Thanks for the review
Glad I could help and welcome to the channel!
Very Detailed. Thanks for this
How where you able to get your video in a long segment?
Can you help me install this dash cam i live in toronto
Does it record inside car??? Audio??
Yes it does
I want a dash cam to record a 15 hour trip on multiple cards. Would this work for that?
Multiple memory cards I mean
Unfortunately not
I too got this for the parking mode, with the front and rear setup, hardwired by a professional auto electrician. No matter what I try, it just won’t record incidents all night. I got a massive memory card (SanDisk Extreme 128GB) and I’ve fiddled with the sensitivity options as well as reducing the voltage cutoff to the minimum. It only seems to pick up motion detection for a couple of hours after I lock the car. I wondered if it was the car battery but I plugged in a voltage tester the next morning and it was showing at 12.2V, well above the cutoff. I even tried putting the Thinkware 32GB Memory Card in. Still stops picking anything up after a couple of hours. Totally useless to me in parking mode. About £350 down the drain. What am I doing wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Does it not have a time lapse mode? Also, you can get an additional battery setup just for the camera. These can be expensive but will give you 20+ hours of power
It does have timelapse
Very detailed review. Thank you so much. 👍👍
Anytime glad I could help
Awsome video! Great job! my Question is...What type, make, size, speed SD card are you using in this video? I currently have a Samsung Micro SDXC USH I Card 128 GB 4K HD 100mb/s read speed and 90mbs wright speed EVO SELECT. what would you recomend? Thank you! Sandra Wilson USA
I have the Q800 pro and it doesn’t give me any alert for ADAS nor give me notification alert when i start up the car. It only alert me about the speed cam. I sent an email to the seller blackboxmycar and thinkware of the issue. Anyone.else having this issue?
which ADAS features are you having issues with? Lane departure? Forward collision? Front vehicle departure?
have you downloaded the Thinkware desktop app? all of the settings you mentioned can be turned on of off in the app. they now have a MAC option and ofcorse windows as well! Best of luck
I currently own a F770 dash cam. But im really looking forward to the 4k dash cam coming out. Hopefully it will be better than blackvue 4k dash cam.
I'll be testing the New black view 4k camera very soon :-) I'll give you my impressions and a comparison when thinkwares 4K offering comes out
Can you read license plate #s with this dash cam ? I picked up F800 and i cannot read any license plates. it is so blurry. i do not know if my unit is faulty or i use it incorrectly or i just expect too much.
I can't speak for the F800 which is only 1080p but this is a 2k forward facing camera so it's MUCH higher in terms of resolution
I bought the lens filter and now see much better that with it off. Thinkware part number is TWA-CPL
@@sandrawilson9551 good to know
no you can't.
what do you use on the R8?
rear cam?
This version doesn't have but you can get one
Just to add something coming from my experience with the Q800PRO: video quality is NOWHERE NEAR THE ONE SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO - in fact, it's way worse. This said, the unit is still a worthwhile device.
Not sure why your video is not as good? Maybe you have a defective unit this is straight from my Q800 Pro
@@carswithsonduren : my unit saves blurry videos where car plates are barely readable and only at a very short distance. Not something you expect from a 1440p cam and, frankly, all videos are looking as they were recorded by a very cheap device.
@@robertogiannotta4477 Hey fam. I emailed Thinkware about this and sent them a video clip. I have the same problem. They said they want to replace it and they wanted a picture of my receipt. I bought it in December of 2019. I think they'll replace it.
Dare you to install Starlights headliner mod in the lexus for a video 😛
Never heard of it I'll check it out
something has to have changed with this dash cam in the 2 years since your review. I purchased one, installed it, and had awful unusable video quality from both cams. figuring I got a lemon I exchanged it for another and had the exact same unusable quality video.
glare is horrendous, dithering is so bad it cannot read any license plate, and at times the image is so badly processed you would not even know there was a plate or grill on the vehicle. trees look like a crayon filled outline with no detail.
Thinkware Canadian support will have you take hours playing with settings, resets, different sd cards, them have you upload video to them, which after 10 days no one there has bothered to look at.
I gave up on the Q800Pro and Thinkware, returned it and bought a Viofo
This is very interesting Tony. Sounds like they were not able to solve your problem in a respectable manner. Maybe it's possible that they have changed some of the hardware to some cheaper quality products or some other products due to the covid shortage? I am actually not 100% sure but it's definitely odd
@@carswithsonduren wish I still had some of the video from the one I had, other than the watermark, there was no way of telling it was the same unit as yours.. the worst part was the lack of interest from support in looking at the videos they had me upload after 10 days.
That's really unfortunate I'm sorry to hear. How is the VIOFO doing for you
@@carswithsonduren thanks, I've had the A139 2 ch for almost 2 weeks now. night and day difference in video quality. it even came with cpl filters, and was $195 cheaper before tax. it seems to have all the same features, and the wifi connects and downloads faster, plus it supports 256gb cards, I have a 512gb card in it now and won't know if it can use it all until later in the week. so far its used about 330gb of it with no issue.
Hey, I purchased the Q800 Pro front and rear in December of 2019. My camera too can't capture a license plate unless it's super close. I emailed Thinkware and showed them a video clip and they want to replace my camera.
M2 in the video whoop!
The app interface is horrible! To view footage you will have to download it first on your phone and you won't know if it's the right footage until it's done. Everything else is okay but I can't stand the app!
Hardwire this into the fuse box? You gotta be kidding me, bro. They said installation would be easy. I'm returning this.
I spent lots of time reviewing all the Thinkware information that was available online e.g. youtube. I decided to give it a chance BECAUSE the camera is advertised as: You'll have access to the videos footage via WIFI. This is NOT entirely true and/or as it is presented on Thinkware website and promotional information.
1) With the camera you will get a Guide & Warranty booklet containing 152 pages. If you have never installed a dash cam, you may find useful 3 pages. The rest of this booklet is USELESS! 149 pages of the same information is repeated in several different languages.
2) The Guide & Warranty booklet DOES NOT explain any of the futures of the camera. Does not explain why you need to partition the memory card and pros/cons on each option/setting, etc... You are on your own trying to figure out it out or spending countless hours trying to find information on youtube.
3) The camera connects to your cell phone via WIFI technology (as advertised by Thinkware). BUT!!!! it does NOT connect to a WIFI network e.g. your home or work. Thinkware does not explains this in any of their promotional materials.
4) You MUST be inside your car and right in front of the camera, if you want to connect to the camera and view any video. The camera does not connect automatically to your cell phone. You MUST press the WIFI button on the camera and follow the connection procedure to have access to the camera menu and videos. The connection is NOT stable. Even a short distance, the WIFI connection (Radio frequency) will be lost and you will have to reconnect again.
While you are viewing the videos or going through the camera settings, your cell WIFI will not work.
5) If you want to connect to the camera via Hotspot; your WIFI will disconnect automatically. Also, to have access to all the fancy futures they advertise e.g. Geo fencing, you must make sure the "Hotspot" future is part of you cellphone plan - it is not free.
6) I requested the same information from: Thinkware.com, Thinkware Canada, Thinkware USA, Thinkware Australia and Thinkware UK. After several days, only Thinkware UK responded to my questions. None of their current dashboard cameras can connect to a WIFI network (home or work), including the new 2019 model: U1000.
7) There are only 2 apps available and neither is for the Q800 PRO. You will have to use the app for Thinkware F700 series.
8) 4 years ago I purchase an entry level camera. I paid $65 (Amazon). The quality of footage from my entry level camera is almost identical to what the Q800PRO produces. The images produced by the Q800PRO tend to be grainy and good luck trying to identify a plate number that is past a few feet ahead from you car during the day.
9) The "Cloud" future is not what you think it is. Thinkware forces you to open an account but as I explained above points 3, 4 and 5, it is useless. The Thinkware account is more for them to fill up your in box with promotional materials.
This camera is grossly over priced.
i notice u have cut n paste this everywhere....r u a blackvue or competitor's salesman ?
@@father88888 HA!
Thanks! Everyone's so busy selling the product the we don't often get to hear all the negative sides. Thanks for sharing your research and experience. I would've fallen for their misleading wording with respect to the wifi connectivity, thanks for the headsup!
@@father88888 It seems like this guy just wants to share his frustration and spread his thoroughly written review to as many people as possible. I can empathize. If he were a competitor, he would have gushed over his brand throughout his review. It's nice to be a cynic, but it's nicer to show some appreciation when it's warranted.
Everyone responding to this comment may not like what this guy is typing or think he works for the competitor but..... I can say from first-hand use ( I bought this thing 4 days ago and regret it ) I agree with everything he is saying and have all the same issues/complaints!
I'm waiting for LTE
That would be nice expensive af
Get the owl one, monthly fee with anything like that
Easy installation? Nope! I’ll pass. I dont wanna have to dismantle parts of my Lexus just to install a camera. There’s gotta be an easier installation option.
It's honestly pretty simple... It's a few plastic panels
This camera sucks ass for reading plates. I have a 2014 $60 720p camera that reads at better quality.
I somehow doubt that is true...
stop biting your thumbnails
Stress and anxiety strikes :(