If there is such a thing as a venerable vendor in the dash cam market, it’s Thinkware. The company has been at it for several years, and generally been well ahead of the feature curve with things such as voice command and bad-driver aids. However, while the company’s $150 X700 is good-looking and features a touchscreen interface, the video looks highly compressed, and GPS is available only as an external option.
This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best dash cams. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them.
Design and features
The X700 (currently $150 on Amazon) is by far one of the classier-looking dash cams I’ve reviewed. It’s difficult to describe exactly why, so just look at the picture two paragraphs down and tell me if you don’t agree. Thinkware also sent me the external GPS module (currently $40 on Amazon) and the rear camera module (currently $80 on Amazon), so think of it as a $190 front camera and a front/rear combo (currently $270 on Amazon) when you’re comparing.
The downside of external GPS is yet another wire, meaning a slightly sloppier installation. The X700 has plenty of room for GPS, being just under four inches wide, two inches tall, and just over an inch thick at the lens, and there are plenty of dash cams at this price that come with GPS included.
However, there are none in the price range with GPS that feature a touch-enabled 2.7-inch color display, so that price is not actually out of line. It took running the calibration several times before it became truly usable for my calloused fingers, but touch on a dash cam makes a huge difference in usability. This is especially true at night, when it can be difficult to see the same-color-as-the-body buttons that most dash cams employ.
The only control of any type other than the display is the power switch just above the SD card slot on the camera’s left side. Nice.
Note: what the picture below doesn’t tell you is the ring around the lens on the front is a security light that will come on if the X700 senses a disturbance while it’s in its 2 frame per second parking mode.
No comments:
Post a Comment