Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am giving this system 5 stars but not because I think it is the best you can get but because of its overall value, performance and really impressive customer service. The best compliment I can think to give a company is to buy from them again, and I did. I just bought a second unit for our other vehicle! First I need to say that the quality of video for both cameras is very good for something this size and in this price range. You aren't going to zoom in to a tight area and magically clear up a license plate recorded at a good distance but if its not too far away the cameras will see it fine. I read quite a few reviews on other cameras citing poor quality in the rear camera. I wanted the best in both directions. We were rear ended at a complete stop last week making this 3 times in 8 years so I decided to pull the trigger on this. It was on a lightning deal but with no reviews so I figured why not its Amazon I can return it if its not good. I bench tested it right away and was impressed with the video. It may be 1080 resolution but its not like a $50,000 HD TV camera so there will be artifacts due to compression. Still, I am impressed. Pros: 1. Price - Lightning special priced it cheaper than the S3 for a bit. 2. Size - Very small footprint 3. Quality - The unit feels very sturdy but is light, the cameras are really good for such a small package. Image quality is good! 4. Two HD cameras. Not many have HD for the rear, most are 640 x 480 5. Battery - I bench tested it and it ran for an hour only making a couple of 5 minute looped videos before going dead. Given the documentation says 30 minutes I am making this a plus! 6. Power Adapter - There are two USB ports on the power adapter. One listed as 2 amps so you can still run another USB device while occupying the power port in your car. 7. Audio - Both cameras can and by default do record audio. I'm not sure yet how good the back camera is for that since its inside if it could pick up what a person who rear ends you might be saying something such as "Sorry, my bad I didn't see you there" 8. Audio can be disabled - You can turn off sound recording if that makes you uncomfortable or its illegal where you live. 9. Cable length to rear camera and power cable length. There is at least 6 feet to spare to the back camera and I routed along the perimeter of my vehicle as well as a good 4 feet to the center console routed down the pillar for power! 10. Extra mount and adhesive for front camera so yes, you could move it between cars if you used both mounts and had power and another rear cam for the other car. 11. Very easy to install. You will have to pull out some snap on plastic covers (pillar etc..) for the most discrete install otherwise tucking it in here and there will get you by. I would caution that when running from front to back of the car if you have side curtain airbags you don't want to obstruct their deployment path with the wire! 12. Piece of mind. Seriously, I would never have thought I would feel this much relief after installing this system. I live in a college town with newly licensed drivers showing up every year. 3 days in and I have 3 near misses recorded already!! I'm going to make a "Worst drivers of <my town> video one day I think! 13. Makes you a nicer driver. Believe it or not knowing someone could see the video (and hear audio) one day has already made me a nicer driver! 14. Great Customer Service - I asked at least 2 or 3 questions before receiving the unit and 3 after receiving and all were answered right away or within a day. Cons: 1. Rear Camera is not waterproof so it can't be mounted outside. If you have rear tinted glass like I do this makes night images much darker BUT my tinted glass is not their fault but just FYI. 2. Rear camera cable seems to be proprietary so you can't just go get another if something happens. I had an issue with the USB connector on mine which the company is making right. I will update if there are snags there. 3. Power - They make it sound like the system "detects" the car is on or off when reading the description. It just comes on when power is present and goes off when its not unless you hit the parking mode button while its on then it runs off the battery until it drains or you restart the car. Recommendations to the manufacturer for what I would change on this system: 1. I wish the included SD card was larger for more recordings but its working out so far. If not I have a 64GB class 10 laying around I can try. 2. I wish the system had the option so it could be wired to an always on power source and a signal wire for key on as well as reverse signal wire. This would allow you to tap the park button without having to power from the battery for extended parking. Further with a reverse sensor it could throw up the rear camera image for reverse driving assistance while backing up automatically. 3. This kind of replaces the last part of 2 but, I wish I could select the rear camera to be the primary displayed video and it would stay that way between power cycles. That would alleviate the need for reverse detection as you could set the rear screen on the display for 30 seconds and it would come on every time the vehicle is started for backup assistance. Right now I have to hit the down button twice every time I want to do that. Maybe a future firmware update could include this as it is connectable to a PC so I assume it can be updated that way? 4. Automatically lock any recordings a couple of minutes before an impact and say 10 minutes after so that any "discussion" with the other driver is recorded. Too may times have I had people admit fault on scene and then lie later :( Right now you can select 1, 3 and 5 minute loops of recordings so if the incident happens at the tail end of a recording the next one won't be marked locked. To be fair though, all motion detected videos are recorded and kept lock just preserves them from being overwritten later. Personally I would pull the SD card after an incident to keep with me! My number 2 and 3 "wish list" items are for the more ambitions installers. I understand this system was built with simplicity and ease of installation in mind. I don't mind tapping in to wires or tracing them to get something working, plenty of folks would rather not. Finally, some may wonder why did I give them 5 stars if I had an issue with a cable? I believe that everyone makes mistakes now and again and it is not necessarily the mistake that defines a person but how they handle it afterwards. This company has been responsive and helpful throughout my experience with them and has offered to send me a new cable free of charge. That makes it right in my book and makes then a good place to do business with. I will update with cam video/photos as time passes.