THINKWARE - F50 Dash Cam - Black

I did a fair amount of research when selecting a dashcam. I've read that Thinkware rates as one of the better, more reliable brands compared to other dashcam offerings. I was debating a higher priced unit but couldn't justify the likelihood of it either being stolen or damaged somehow... so at $80.00 on sale... this was a steal to get. The camera is very easy to install. The product itself feels cheap and doesn't inspire confidence but once installed you quickly appreciate it's sleek, minimalistic profile and robust mounting clips. Video clips are clear but lets be honest... you're not going to be able to read license plates or see distinguishing features easily depending on your speed and time of day. The impact sensor will sound two beeps if it thinks an event occurred that you'll want to review and upon startup, the camera tells you verbally that it's on and is recording. If I had to buy another camera, I would buy this one again considering the value of camera and safety advantages compared to other, lower priced or no name brand units. If you are a commercial delivery driver you may want to consider one of the more robust units for better picture quality and more advanced FCW, LDW features.

I purchased this item after a long delay when it went on sale. The size of the unit was really a selling factor in my purchase. I opted to have it hard wired which will be done at the end of the week. In the mean time, I used the included cigarette lighter adapter out of curiosity and mounted the camera where I want it installed after hardwiring. For the price it's hard to beat. The daytime quality is excellent but I was extremely disappointed at the nighttime recording, hence the 4 rating. I have seen other postings on this model and other Thinkware models that it only uses proprietary micro cards. This is incorrect. I previously owned a 64gb card and followed the directions on the Thinkware website, formatting the card and copying their info to the micro card. It works flawlessly. I own an iMac and downloaded the viewer which also works just fine once you find out how to use it. The directions online are not complete and different than it actually is. There is a tiny magnifier icon which you use to find the videos. Lastly, my camera is mounted behind my mirror, but the fisheye lens picks up an antenna for my remote start within the viewing area. Distracting, but not a complete disaster for what is being recorded. A nice little feature in the desktop viewer is a + or - symbol which can be used to zoom in or out of the actual video which eliminated the issue with the antenna showing in the video clip. Overall, I like this unit for the price and size.

Pros: 1. Since this is the capacitor powered model, it is more resistant to extreme weather than its battery powered sister model. It should be tough enough to handle California weather, especially during the summer. 2. Its small size & lack of display screen makes it less of a distraction since its able to hide behind the mirror. 3. Parking Mode & GPS is available (with extra accessories), but I don't really need them. 4. Setup using the Micro SD card might actually be good thing. The camera has no buttons other than the manual REC button. You wont have to worry about Curious Fingers. 5. Continuous Mode & Loop Recording overwrite the oldest file when the Micro SD card reached its limit. Cons: 1. It comes with an 8GB Micro SD Card, but the pre-installed setup software, user manuals, & depending how you setup the recordings can take a lot of space in so little time. What I did, is I deleted the French translation PDF manual & disabled parking mode & GPS. I will upgrade to a higher space Micro SD Card in the future. 2. The box only comes with 5 adhesive clips. Use tape until you can buy more. A dash mat can help hide part of the cable. You could also hardwire, but its not for everyone. 3. Lets admit it, there will NEVER be a 100% PERFECT dash cam. The video quality is average. That doesn't mean its bad, the Sony sensor helps it a bit. Just keep the windshield & headlights as clean as possible. 4. I wish the videos wouldn't be separated into clips, but this isn't a camcorder. In a scale from 1 to 10, I would give it a 8.5. Im glad I got it before the price increase.

The camera is decent if you put the sensor on the lowest setting or else it just goes off and saves every files that is a bump in the road and maxes out your SD card . Even on the second to lowest setting it records highway over passes and similar bumps. The Software is HORRIBLE! I just downloaded the latest release today 7/17/2017. It is deathly slow, hangs and freezes and I am running a new I7 desktop. It is not useable and you have no other choice and are tied to their program to manage your files. The settings for the date and time stamps DO NOT remain in the camera and change when you plug it in to the car. What good is this in court if your day and time are off by 12 hours or a day? SOFTWARE: Every action you click on: play, stop, open a new file is behind by at least 15 seconds. It's like using an internet product on a dial up modem slow. It saves MP4 video, but you need their software to play them - again worthless for court or sharing or just wanting to bypass the horrible viewing management software. The software would not allow me to save a file no matter how many times you click on it, but it did before the latest release? Do they use or test their own software? Who releases stuff like this? I should have listened to other reviews about the software because you are handcuffed to it and it is a show stopper. As much as the camera is ok and sound is good this is going back to the store.

Absolutely best form factor ever! 100% hidden behind rear view mirror. That's only good about it. Video quality is very poor for this price. No focus, bad light adjustment and absolutely impossible to read license plates on video so it's absolutely useless in case of hit and run or whatever happened. Audio quality is bad also, does not adjust level to loud music or to quiet sound. Settings are possible through PC software so at least you can make voice commands quiet but that's all you can really do. Video length is 1min and you can't change it. Emergency button records only 10 seconds before and 1min after you press button so you actually have a chance to loose event if it takes longer than a minute or happened more then 10sec before you pressed button. Also I had it stuck on greeting message playback cycling endlessly untill you unplug it and it drains battery to finally shut up. Had it happened twice during week. I had hi hopes on this device but unfortunately it goes back to store((

This is my first dash cam and have had it for 3 weeks. It's a small device so it can be installed out of sight right behind the rear view mirror,. I like the adhesive approach for a dashcam -- saves the hassle of needing to put the suction cup up every time and it doesn't fall off. It comes with a long wired charger to the wire can be run inconspicuously from camera to outlet. Picture quality is sufficient for the intended purpose. Night video is what you would expect when it's dark -- it sees what you see but doesn't work any magic. One feature I wish this had was the option to turn off sound recording. Don't really want to record conversations in the car. The camera records a series of time stamped one minute videos. The video player software automatically plays the video continuously. Of course, hopefully I'll never need to look at the video beyond the initial curiosity after purchasing.

I am not an expert on camera's when it comes to a dash cam. However, you have it for one reason....to validate your story. I was in a wreck where a drive squeezed in in front of me and had to come to an immediate stop. I ended up running into the back of him. Long story short....although the other driver forced his way into my lane of traffic and I hit him on a brake check, I paid for the damage of both cars. I bought this camera for $79.99. It would easily have verified my story. The field of view is great and the quality (both night and day driving) is really good. It does not have any major bells and whistles but all you need is a camera that works. It does!! I did upgrade the memory card just to get a longer loop time. Sometimes I like to go back and pull a video segment from a drive (just to show my wife or kids something interesting I catch) and the longer memory card gives me that option. Otherwise right out of the box its a great camera and an excellent unbiased witness to anything that happens in its view.

This item itself isn't horrible. The included SDHD card could be bigger, but outside of that the product is compact and serves its purpose. This is where my good review comes to an end. Along with this product, I also purchased the GPS sensor to inform me of where red-light cameras would be before I got to them. While it does do this, it unfortunately is never updated. My county loves to move the cameras around when people get use to where they are and they can't make any money on them anymore. As such, it's critical that the information for the whereabouts of these cameras is updated regularly. Sadly, ThinkWare doesn't update this information. I even emailed them a few times requesting that they update this information. Not once did they ever email me back, and my camera gives me false positives for cameras, and it also fails to alert me about where some cameras even are. So with that, I'd avoid this one. The extra GPS sensor to detect the lights cost me another $30, and it doesn't serve its purpose. I will be buying elsewhere in the future to satisfy my needs.