- Features:HD camera, HD video recording
- G-sensor:Built-in (car accident case of emergency save, will not be deleted)
- LCD screen size:1.5LTPS
- camera:120 A + grade high-resolution ultra wide-angle len
- Resolution:Max 1080P
You'll see the same dash camera sold under four or five brand names at drastically different prices. Gosh, thank you, China.
This is the 4th dash cam I've owned. All of them claimed to be "full HD" but three lied. In honest video parlance, full HD is defined as "1080P/1920x1080". The C600 is the first dash cam I've had that has honest HD video specs. This claim was verified by Adobe Premier software, a professional grade video editor. The C600 cam records at 1920x1080; or 1080P HD video at 30 frames per second. My previous cams all showed to be "1280 x 960" at 15 to 25 frames per second when actually tested or verified in Adobe Premier. And yes, you can easily see the difference in the true 1080P video.
As for features, the C600 has the most important ones while delivering them in the smallest package in the industry, all while retaining the full HD video. The size of the camera is really important to me because my cam is installed in an open sports car. It is hardly noticed by most passengers or passers by. (Parked, open roadsters are notoriously easy targets for accessory thieves.) I've fabricated my own tiny mount bracket to reduce the size even more. The cam is actually installed completely behind my rear view mirror; it is that small! I also concealed the wiring behind the trim molding around the windshield and wired it directly to the fuse box.
Now for some myth-busting:
SIZE After a week or so you won't even notice the cam on your windshield unless of course, its a big camera. Why waste any 'windshield real-estate'? The C600 camera by it self is just 2" front to back, 2.5" wide and 1.6" tall.
VIEW SCREEN & SIZE The C600 screen is small at 1.5" but it has very high resolution. Menus are very easy to read. You'll find that you only use the screen to set the menu options and to aim the camera initially. Attached camera screens are not really intended for viewing the recording unless its an emergency. Anyone who is viewing or searching for events on camera screens under 4" needs a better pastime. Use your PC instead and enjoy the video. This is exactly why the memory card just pops out!
USAGE These cams are most valuable when installed and allowed to do their thing without driver intervention. After the initial curiosity you won't be checking the video unless you need to look for a specific event. Forget about it. It knows what it is doing.
G-SENSOR The G-sensor is a great feature. It detects impacts or collisions to or with the vehicle. If it does detect one, it flags and protects that segment(s) of your video recording so that it won't be recorded over. There is even a button on the camera to allow you to manually flag & protect an event or an interesting view if you choose to. On this camera the G-sensor is adjustable so you can allow for those speed bumps at your local super market parking lot. I had to adjust mine because my low-to-the-ground sports car can chip your teeth going over speed bumps and it needlessly flaged the video recording.
MEMORY I have a 32gb micro SD card. That allows me to record longer before the loop-recording begins to re-record the card. You could easily use a 16gb card though, perhaps even smaller without drastically compromising any capability. Video quality is better with the "Type 10" version memory cards.
LOOP RECORDING This critical feature allows the cam to record over previously recorded video without user intervention. Without this capability, dash cams would probably not be very popular.
SEGMENTS I've set my cam to loop-record in 3 minute segments. You can select different intervals though. Small segments make it easy to locate and extract an event if you need to, while leaving the rest of your recording intact. Thankfully, the C600 does not require three or four seconds of blank video between the individual segments like some dash cams do. That wastes lots of card space.
BATTERY The internal battery is only intended as a buffer to retain your menu settings when the power is off. You can't reliably run dash cams on the internal battery without losing your settings.
WIRING The simplest wiring is the standard lighter plug which has 10' of wire and a mini-USB connector on it that plugs into the side of the camera. You'll need a switched outlet so the cam goes off when you turn off the key. Not all lighter outlets do that though.
The lighter plug/cord drops 12 volts down to 5 volts. So if you don't use the lighter plug/cable you'll have to be creative. I used a small iPhone USB/lighter plug (Black Compact Car Socket Universal USB Mini Car Charger Adapter for digital cameras, PDAs, mobile phones), and put some wire leads on the input end to connect them to a switched 12 volt source. Then I used a standard 10' USB to mini-USB cable to complete the voltage supply. Everything came from Amazon and works fine.
MOTION DETECTION This feature allows recording while sitting still by detecting large movements within the camera's field of view. Don't get your hopes up; you probably won't need it often and the sensitivity is not adjustable. If you are watching a parking space, a car will trip it but people walking by may not. Also you'll have to have the power on the whole time.
NIGHT VISION Like motion detect, this feature is over rated. The C600 has the best night vision I've seen but even with 12 I/R LEDs it still only lights reasonably out to about 20' max. Don't get your hopes up; Street lights and headlights light up the area a lot better than night vision does.
MOUNTING The listing shows a different (cheap plastic?) mount that apparently uses double sided tape to attach but that is NOT the mount this camera comes with. A nice suction mount is included and it holds very well. It is very small at 2.25" wide X 2.25" tall, so for most folks it will work just fine. Personally, I flattened 3" of 1/4" copper tubing, put black heat-shrink tubing on it and bent it to mount my cam between the mirror and windshield with a single small screw. It looks neat and is out of the way now.
Good Luck & Good shopping.Out of the box it came with everything advertised. Easy to use and navigate. Best feature of the dashcam is I am able to leave it and let it run. It has an auto on and off feature when its plugged into the cars power source. When the memory card is full it records over the oldest videos first, or you can format the card while its in the camera to free up space. When I do need a video off of it I simply remove it from the window mount and plug it into the computer with the provided usb cord and the camera quickly comes up with 2 options to use as mass storage or pc camera. I have the camera set to record in 3 minute segments, which is the longest segment recording option so it makes it easy to quickly find the video I want. You can also turn off the segment recording in the options. The time between each recorded segment is about a second or 2. The overall picture quality is excellent for being a 5mp camera. It does record in 1080pHD so i would recommend a high speed micro sd card of at least 16gb(No card is included so buy one before using the camera, I bought a 16gb SanDisk for $15). Each 3 minute segment with sound takes up around 500mb. After a week of use it seems really dependable and i have not had a single problem. If you are on a long trip and are unable to connect to a computer to pull off that one video you want you can simply review the clip with sound and protect it from being deleted when the card runs out of space. I have only used the dashcam feature but it also has a camera feature. The camera records well in decent lighting. As it starts to get dark the video looks a bit grainy then in the dark the camera picks up a small bit of what the headlights shine on. Oncoming cars headlights do not bother the dashcam. The dashcam is also equipped with infrared lighting that only the camera can detect but i have had no luck while using it at night in the car. It does work well in a dark house if you don't have a flashlight nearby. Overall the quality of the camera is what I expected, the camera is equipped with more feature than I expected, and the camera works great for what I need it for. For the price you cant find a better camera any cheaper. The only comment I would have to improve it would be remove the infrared lights, remove the camera feature, and use a higher megapixel camera.Caveat: I've only used this for about a half hour now, and I haven't ruled out that it's the new SD card that is causing the problem. If you're reading this, comment and ask me for an update.
The camera locks up, and stops recording after only a few minutes. the display freezes with whatever was on the screen at the time, and I have to shut it off and turn it back on before it comes back.
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