Thinkware F800 pro 2 channels

[atn67]

I've been looking into having a 2 channels dashcam set installed on my MX and it comes down to thinkware F800 pro vs blackvue DR900S (can be pre-ordered now). I think i'm leaning toward the Thinkware F800pro as its parking mode seems to be better than blackvue at the moment. Does anyone have the F800pro installed on their car? If so, did you have it hardwired directly to the Tesla or going through a battery pack (like cellink or one that sold by thinkware?). Do you recommend any service installers in the bay area for the thinkware?

I talked to a couple of installers but they all recommended the blackvue. My guess is that they are more familiar with Blackvue installation rather than fully understand the features differences between these 2 companies.

Thank you in advance for all the inputs here!

 

[DOCAL]

I have the F750 in my S, and have it hardwired. Unless things have changed in the F800 Pro, the hardwire kit is essential for the parking mode to work. Without that it stays in driving mode all the time, so will quickly cycle through the storage space leaving you with only a few hours of stored video.

I had mine installed at OC Detail, they did a great job hiding all the wires, very nice install.

 

[atn67]

Thank you for the quick reply. i'm thinking to purchase the set from blackboxmycar with the thinkware hardwiring kit. They recommended to go with a battery pack so that it won't affect the Tesla 12V battery. They said something about hardwiring the dashcam directly onto the Tesla won't give much parking recording, is this the case with your F750?

 

[DOCAL]

IIRC The hardwire kit had 3 connections, a neutral, and 2 power connections. 1 power to constant on, and the other to accessory (USB ports etc). It uses the accessory power going on/off to know when the car is turned on/off, and that dictates when it goes into parking mode or driving mode. So the hardwire kit is essential for that to work, the guys at OCDetail had to find the accessory line behind the dash somewhere.

My camera has been flawless at switching between driving and parking mode. It correctly goes between constant recording (driving), and motion detection or impact detection (parking).

 

[GatorGuy]

Thank you for the quick reply. i'm thinking to purchase the set from blackboxmycar with the thinkware hardwiring kit. They recommended to go with a battery pack so that it won't affect the Tesla 12V battery. They said something about hardwiring the dashcam directly onto the Tesla won't give much parking recording, is this the case with your F750?

Everything I've seen says do not install the battery packs with Teslas. I'll be doing the F800 hardwired directly.

 

[SMAlset]

When we were looking last year at dashcams for our MS we looked at Blackvue and Thinkware. As I recall Thinkware on Parking Mode would truncate the recording so you did not have a continuous flow from Normal to Parking and back. In other words minutes could be missing. Is that still how it is? The BV didn't leave you with any gaps so we went with it partially for that reason. We're still happy enough with our BV 650S but thinking of upgrading this year to get better low light and 4K. We have our unit hardwired for constant power and would want to go that route again. Thanks.

 

[atn67]

Everything I've seen says do not install the battery packs with Teslas. I'll be doing the F800 hardwired directly.

Where have you seen that says do not install the battery packs with Teslas? I have also read many reviews and none advise to not use a battery pack

When we were looking last year at dashcams for our MS we looked at Blackvue and Thinkware. As I recall Thinkware on Parking Mode would truncate the recording so you did not have a continuous flow from Normal to Parking and back. In other words minutes could be missing. Is that still how it is? The BV didn't leave you with any gaps so we went with it partially for that reason. We're still happy enough with our BV 650S but thinking of upgrading this year to get better low light and 4K. We have our unit hardwired for constant power and would want to go that route again. Thanks.

I'm not aware of the truncating recording on the thinkware but if there is i think its fixed on the newer models. As for blackvue they just announced preorder for the DR900S to be shipped by end of Apr.

Now I'm stuck between better parking mode and reliability on the thinkware vs better video quality of the 4k blackvue (not sure if it has improved parking mode on this model)

 

[mattack4000]

I have the F800 that I installed myself, I am in SJ too. I don't recommend the F800 because the rear camera cable is really thick and inflexible. It was a pain to install. The hardwire kit that came with the blackbox.com website, it's too short to be used in the Model X. I ended up wiring it permanently to the trailer plug. The camera has been working fine for 3 months now.

I still have the wiring plug and the rear camera sitting on my garage table. I think it might be easier to just buy a different camera and aim it out back. I don't need picture in picture.

Do a search on my previous post with picture.

I think the F800 has better image quality than the Blackvue 850

 

[GatorGuy]

Where have you seen that says do not install the battery packs with Teslas? I have also read many reviews and none advise to not use a battery pack

It isn't needed because the Tesla 12v battery will recharge itself. But there were many reports of problems with the camera when the battery packs were installed with Teslas.

I think the F800 has better image quality than the Blackvue 850

That is what I found as well after watching many many YouTube videos in various levels of light.

 

[mattack4000]

The thing is that most camera can deliver decent day time coverage, the issue is how well does it do at night. I picked the F800 pro for that reason.

I did pull the card out of the car today and noticed even with a 128GB card. I can basically only do about 1 day worth of activities when recording 24/7. It's kind of annoying as it means I have to be on it daily if i want something

Each minute if a 80mb video, so each hour is 4.8GB. Price you pay for higher quality