G**Y
E-Prance Car Cam Review
The media could not be loaded. E-Prance Car Cam ReviewInstallation - The install of this car cam was a no brainer. I seen video a review of an earlier model of this car cam on YouTube. The previous model used brackets that gripped your rear view mirror on the top and bottom. Apparently there were a lot issues with those brackets, and the camera falling off. This model uses two black rectangular shaped thick rubber bands that pull the EFrance Car Cam to your existing mirror, and it keeps it very stable. There is an extra set of this black rubber bands just in case you have a large mirror on your car. Included to go on the back of the E-Prance Car Cam are two clear suction cups to keep the car cam stable on your car mirror. I had a LOT of problems with these suction cups. The knobs on the back of these suction cups are designed to slide in to a groove on the back of the EFrance Car Cam. However they do not stay in the groove, since its not a tight fit, and they fall off in your car somewhere. I wrapped a few turns of plumbers nylon threading tape around the neck of the suction cup knobs, and that kept them tightly secured to the E-Prance Car Cam. It took a little less than 10 minutes to strap the car cam to my mirror, insert the Micro SD Card, and plug in the 12 volt adaptor in to the car. However I am not one to leave a wire hanging over my sun visor, and draped all over the car. So I tucked the 12 volt wire under my roof headliner, under the rubber seam down the side of my passenger side door, through the dash, and in to the 12 volt supply in the storage console between the seats. I got lucky, and after tucking it in all over the car, I had about six inches left over(although there is a several feet of wire that comes with the unit). My friends who ride in the car do not even notice the car cam with the wire neatly tucked away. I bought a three way 12 volt splitter, so I had extra plug for other devices.Micro SD Card - One word of advice is DO NOT buy the package deal with the E-Prance Car Cam that includes the Micro SD Card. I did just that, and initially I had nothing but problems. The menu in the LCD display eventually locked up, and then I got a "Memory Card Error". I swapped out the Micro SD Card with a 16 Gig Micro Sd Card that I had been using in a helmet camera. The car cam started working perfectly after that. Amazon customer service politely refunded me the extra money I paid for the 32 Gig Micro Sd Card that came with the package deal. Later I purchased a high quality 32 Gig Micro SD Card on Amazon, and have had no issues with that one. One problem is once you have something recorded on your car cam. You have to take the Micro SD Card out of the camera in the car, and then plug it in to your computer in your house. The Micro SD Card is about the size of a breakfast corn flake, and very....very...easy to drop and loose. I tilt the rear mirror down, use a small pair of plastic tweezers(not metal) to push down on the Micro SD Card, place it in a plastic Micro Sd Card holder(which is about the size of an SD card), and then carry that in the house. If you drop that plastic card holder it is easy to find in your car, or the front lawn. For some people all of the above may not be an issue since they may only take out the Micro SD Card on a rare event when they have an accident, or road event.Camera Recording Resolution - I use the 1080 X 720 resolution on the E-Prance Car cam, which give you a 16 X 9 picture size. I use a 32 Gig Micro SD Card. I drive 30 minutes both ways to work everyday, and then some. The camera creates a file every time the car is turned on, and off(assuming you get your power from ignition on), also the camera creates a folder for each day. Once the MicroSD Card is full you will see a flashing BLUE light(which means its recording), and a RED light that means that the OS in the car camera is deleting the older recordings to make space for newer recordings. Using the 1080 X 720 resolution with a 32 Gig Micro SD card allows me to record for a little over three days before the camera's OS starts erasing files. I am happy with the 1080 X 720 resolution for picture quality. You can make out a lot of detail in the video. I will admit that if severe storms were approaching, and there was a chance I would catch a weather event. I would immeadiatly change the car cam back to the highest resolution, that is 1920 X 1080, to get the best picture quality. Picture Quality - I edited several videos that were recorded with the E-Prance Car Cam(see video review). Early morning dusk, dawn, rainy days, cloudy days, dark country roads with no street lights, and well lit interstate roads at night. This camera performs flawlessly, and does a beautiful job. Even with the 1080 X 720 resolution that I use. I can still make out car tag numbers, street signs, and people walking on street. I am amazed at how well the picture is stabilized. I have driven across bumpy railroad tracks(rocking the car back and forth), pot holes, etc. and the picture is always very stable. Two People Driving - This is the only issue I can see on my side, besides the hassle of getting the Micro SD Card out, and to your computer(wish it had Bluetooth). I have a girlfriend who uses my car from time to time. I am a large guy over six foot(Sasquatch), and she is petite just over five foot. Naturally the first thing she does when gets in the car is adjust the rear view mirror. When she tilts the mirror down, to get a proper recording the camera also needs to be tilted down. If that is not done, then all I will get is mostly sky with the recording. She is not tech savvy, so she does not want to mess with adjusting the camera. Let alone have it record her driving. If two people were of similar size who drove the car, this would not be an issue.UPDATE: I have been using the camera for several months now and I am quite happy with it. One small problem I came across was the camera lost the time and date. I suspect that the internal battery will need to be replaced. I set the time/date again, and it is back to keeping the correct time/date. Without the correct time you are looking at many folders on the Micro SD card, all with the wrong date, trying to find your video. Its much easier with the correct dates.
V**H
Ok camera, pretty good mirror.
The good:It's a pretty good mirror, very clear, big, much bigger than you standard mirror, which might be good or bad depending on your car. There is no dimming function though at all, so it might not be so good at night.It attaches very securely to your existing mirror using rubber straps and suction cups, so there is no chance of it falling off if you hit a pothole or anything.If you route the cables right, it's pretty hard to see from outside that you have a camera in the car as it does just look like a mirror unless you inspect it closely. The camera itself is shiny silver, but you can paint it with a black sharpie if you want to make it even harder to detect.The audio it records is pretty good. The mic picks up all inside conversations and outside noises, so pretty much anything that you hear in the car it will record. Thus you can record conversations with police during stops, etc if needed.It records a pretty wide angle, so you can see the entire road and everything to the sides of the road.The bad:The video quality is pretty bad. At 1080p, it will noticeably skip frames and sometimes the frame rate you get is pretty bad. The quality isn't really any clearer over 720p, so I would recommend ignoring 1080p at all.At 720p, you get very smooth video, but the quality still leaves a lot to be desired. It's pretty grainy, with very bad transitions between sun and shade. You cannot make out license plate numbers of the cars in front of you except in ideal conditions and when it's right up there close to you. Also, you might get reflections of the dashboard depending on how the sun is shining.When transitioning from one file to the next, it will skip a couple of frames. Not really that big a deal, but still would be nice to see smooth transitions.Other:By default it came with motion detection enabled. What this does is stop recording whenever you stop and then start recording again when you start going. So at every red light, stop sign, etc it will stop and then start recording again into a new file. This is very annoying and you will get a lot of stuff skipped that you might have wanted to record if something happens when you're stopped. I recommend just turning this off completely.
C**T
Great product if you're okay with the hassle
The product works fantastic. As far as I'm concerned it's the perfect quality recording for the money I spent.However, I'm quite disappointed by the battery life. It barely lasts my daily commute of 20 minutes each way.I love it in theory, but I know it's going to end up in the closet before it even finishes its first week of service.The wire either hangs right through the middle of your car, or you route it around the perimeter. but between occasional cell phone charging, radar detector, etc.I don't have enough room to have more plugs sitting near the outlet.I think I'm just going to get something smaller that sits on the dash hardwired in once I decide if i'm keeping my current car or not.It's also pretty distracting at night. I haven't found out a way to turn off the camera screen on the mirror. During the day it's almost invisible due to sunlight which is nice. Once you find out it's positioned correctly, there's really no reason to need to see the screen.The mirror itself is big which is nice, but it makes images disproportionately large out of the right corner of it.As long as you understand it will almost need a constant power source this is a perfect product.
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