Since its beginnings in the car navigation business 25 years ago, Korean company Thinkware has branched out into in-car recorders and is now one of the largest dash cam companies in the world.
With models ranging from £90 to £400, it covers a wide range of needs and uses, competing with brands such as Nextbase, Mio and Garmin.
The F200 tested here is among its more affordable options, with prices starting at £99 for the basic single-camera arrangement. You can add a rear-facing camera for an extra £30, which seems like reasonable value. However, it’s disappointing that the GPS isn’t standard and you have to buy a separate £25 GPS dongle to add location and speed stamps to your footage.
The camera itself is a very neat, light and slim design measuring around 10×3.5×2.2cm thanks to the lack of a rear viewing screen. That means it should easily slip behind a rear-view mirror, out of the driver’s line of sight. The mount is also low-profile but only allows you to tilt the camera up and down, so it’s important to make sure it’s pointing directly forward before permanently attaching it with the 3M adhesive pad.
Thinkware offers two power options for the F200. You can choose from the hardwire kit that permanently connects the camera to your car’s electrical system or opt for a 12V cigarette lighter adapter like most other brands use. The 12V adapter is more convenient and quicker to install, but wiring the camera allows for a choice of parking monitoring modes, including motion detection, impact detection, and timelapse.
While some Thinkware devices record up to 4K resolution, the F200’s entry-level position means it’s limited to Full HD recording at 30fps, with a fairly standard 140-degree viewing angle. .
Compared to those more expensive Thinkware units, the F200’s image quality is a little disappointing, lacking the crystal clarity of high-resolution sensors. However, overall the F200’s images are good enough for most lenses and perform especially well in high contrast situations that can see other cameras struggle. Low light conditions lead to a drop in quality – a problem displayed by most dash cams without dedicated low light modes.
With no rear viewing screen, users have to rely on the Thinkware dash cam app for mobile devices. Via the app, you can view, download, share and delete recordings and adjust camera settings.
Like many new dash cams, the F200 offers a handful of advanced driver assistance systems. In this case, lane departure warning and forward collision warning, which require the operation of the GPS module. Like other examples, the effectiveness of the systems will depend on how well the camera is placed and calibrated, with too much margin for error to be really useful. Purchasing the GPS module also unlocks location-based speed camera alerts using the Cyclops speed camera database.
With its slim design and relatively low price, the Thinkware F200 is an attractive prospect for buyers after a cheap and simple dash cam. Although it lacks some of the features of the more expensive models and the image quality is average rather than exceptional, the options to hardwire it and add rear or interior cameras are worth considering if you want an affordable and flexible dashcam arrangement.
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Source: www.bedfordtoday.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-06-14 18:00:09
