I recently bought the Thinkware U1000 with the rear camera combo and I have to say the camera is awesome. It’s a bit expensive, but it seems like when you get a dash camera it’s pretty much you get what you pay for.
When I started looking into them, I initially figured a good one would be roughly $200, but I was wrong lol.
The cameras in that range either don’t have many features and/or don’t have all that great video quality.
So I kept looking and of course the better the video quality and the more features, the more expensive the camera.
When I first saw the U1000 I thought it was a bit expensive then looked at video quality and the features. The reviews for the camera actually was all over the place. The good reviews mostly talked about the video quality, but noted the huge file size. And the bad reviews pretty much griped on how Thinkware pushed its internet connectivity and live view, but complained about how it didn’t work.
When I saw the feature for internet connectivity and the cloud service, I figured it simply had the ability to connect to the internet, not that it connected on its own. I knew if it did connect on its own, there would be some kind of monthly service fee. So obviously it’d have to be connected to your cellphone via hotspot or a MiFi device, which potentially would cause additional fees. But of course that was the main complaint for the bad reviews, plus the price of the camera itself. Another simply complain was that it would continuously disconnect from the internet and/or your cellphone.
I had this issue initially but realized it actually was a setting issue caused by an iOS update. By changing this setting, the issue stopped virtually completely. The setting was that the app must be able to search the network for devices.
So considering the features and the camera quality, I decided to bite the bullet and get the U1000 combo. The combo comes with the front camera and a rear camera. It also comes with everything you need to have the cameras hardwired into the car. I’d highly recommend you have the cameras hardwired in, but you don’t have to.
If you don’t hardwire the camera in, then you won’t have the parking mode features. You don’t need the parking features, but I can see them coming in handy eventually.
Another feature with the parking mode is that the camera has a G sensor built in that will start recording if a high enough impact and captured.
So when I bought the combo, I also decided to get the RADAR sensor as well (an additional $100). This sensor lets you out the parking mode in a energy saving mode also. With the sensor, it’ll capture motion then activate the camera which will then start recording. If an impact is sensed also, the camera will capture 10 seconds before the impact and 10 seconds after the impact. It’ll also draw less power from your battery as well.
If you don’t have the sensor, then it’d only capture footage after the impact is detected. You can see how this could end up being useless obviously. Which was why I decided to get the sensor also.
Another part you can buy is the Thinkware backup battery which is $250. I decided not to get this because I don’t drive my car enough to make it worth it. And since my car is normally in the garage. So when I’m home, I turn off the parking mode. But if I’m out then I’ll turn it on. This way I save money and my car battery.
But the battery works so that the camera draws from it first then once it’s depleted, it’ll pull from your car. The battery is supposed to last roughly 48 hours and will charge it completely after roughly 2 hours of driving. Someone that drives everyday and parks in random parking lots could use it to save their car battery.
And due to video file size, I’d recommend a 128GB MicroSD card. You can find one for maybe $30 so...
But once I had it installed, the videos are ridiculous. The front camera is super clear and does pretty good at night also. The Thinkware app is easy to use also. I can easily download the video files to my phone before they delete themselves and watch them whenever I choose. I can even zoom in on tags which was clear also. The rear camera isn’t as clear as the front, but it’s still very clear as well.
I’ve only had the camera for a few weeks and still playing with it, but I think it’s well worth the money.
Earlier today, I went to the mall and turned on the parking mode while I was away from the car. When I got back in the car and started the car, the camera told me there were two incidents while I was away from the car. I looked at the videos and it was just some small kids getting out of the car the parked next to me. The kids looked like they were maybe pushing on my car some while they parents got out.
There was no damage to my car, but it’s good to know it happened.
But if anyone is in the market for a dash camera and willing to spend a little more, I’d say jump on the U1000.
Here’s a few stills from videos on the camera also.
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