When driving around you will notice more and more people now have dashcams as a way of keeping their cars safe. I found Thinkware F200 Pro especially useful as it proved I was not at fault for an accident the other driver tried to get out of it.
Since then Thinkware is now back with the latest offering the F790 which costs from £199 for just the front camera or £269 for both front and rear camera available from the Thinkware website.
In this review, we have been given the front and back combo. Now you can install it yourself but if you are like me and want all the cables to disappear you can get it fitted professionally for about £100 depending on where you take it.
First impressions the F790 dash cam offers a low profile once fitted in your car, to be honest after a while you forget it’s even there recording footage for when it’s needed the most. This dashcam comes packed with features so let’s take a closer look.
Design
As mentioned this dash cam will fit nicely at the front of your car just beside the interior car mirror. First up you will notice, unlike a Nextbase 622GW the Thinkware F790 does not have a viewscreen for you to view footage as it happens. You will need to either download via the app or use the SD card provided. The bonus of not having the viewscreen is it does not take as much space in the car.
Keeping on the theme of the F790 size it measures in at 3.6 by 2.1 inches (WxD) and is also 1.16 inches thick. The dashcam only comes in black and offers a matte finish that is easy to keep clean.
The lens on the front camera sits on the front left on a flat part of the housing. The rest of the dashcam slopes to a point at the front where you see a Thinkware logo on the front. Moving to the sides you will see you have vents on both sides which allow airflow to stop the front camera from overheating.
The camera part actually fits into a base unit that has the power cord connected to it. The power cord is 6 feet long and finishes with a 12-volt car plug at the end. The base unit also comes with a USB plug and a few locking hooks and a slide that allows you to release the camera. I can’t say in the weeks I have been reviewing this I have personally taken the camera out but it’s a useful option to have.
Moving back to the main part of the dashcam at the base you have five buttons along with a pair of LED’s. The power button for you guessed it, turned the dashcam on. Then we have a record button that can record manually. Also, you have a format button that is used when you first use that SD card or you need to clean an old SD card. Also on the camera is a Wi-Fi button used to connect to your phone which is vital when using the app and downloading any footage. Finally, you have a microphone button used to add voiceovers to recordings however it’s not something I have used in testing I could not really see why you need a feature like this.
Setup
When setting up the F790 you will need to set up both front and rear cameras. The front can be set up quite simply. The base unit can be attached with the included 3M adhesive which can be placed on the windshield or the dashboard. If placed on the windshield the video will be upside down which will need you to invert the video.
The rear camera is smaller and also attaches with adhesive also included and is placed at the middle of the rear window. The camera is a rotating cylinder with which you can adjust the angle. However, you will need to run a wire from the rear of the car to the front which I did not want cable on display hence getting it fitted professionally.
Once setup is complete you need to pair both cameras to your phone. First up make sure you have the Thinkware Dashcam app which is available on either iOS or Android and can be set up with ease within a few minutes. You will need to connect the dashcam within the Wi-Fi menu on your phone. This process was also very easy to do. A reason for connecting it to Wi-Fi is so you can use the GPS antenna so when you view a video it will let you know your location and speed which will appear on the footage.
Video Quality
The Thinkware F790 comes with 1080P Full HD video quality which is what you come to expect from a dashcam. It is not perfect but gets most of what you want unless it’s a detail from a long distance. The front camera offers a 140 degrees wide viewing angle with the rear camera coming in at 160 degrees.
Example of 1080P Full HD footage and 140-degree view
The F790 does all this by running on an Ambarella quad-core CPU and your footage will be stored on a Micro SD card and you have the option to use up to 128GB microSD card.
Features
As you might expect this dashcam can be used at night and it offers a nice and crisp picture in colour and offers a high dynamic angle that captures maximum image detail in a high context which optimizes the colour of your footage at night is known as super night vision 3.0.
The F790 also comes with time-lapse technology which means it records 2 frames per second which means it reduces the video size and ultimately the storage capacity.
This dashcam also offers a number of road safety features such as Lane departure which can be a real lifesaver if you’re tired when driving starts to move lanes. The dashcam will alert you if you’re driving at more than 50 KM/H. We also get an urban forward collision warning as it calculates the distance between you and the car in front. You get 3 warning signs if that distance reduces too quickly.
Other road safety features include a forward-collision warning. This is handy if in traffic and the car in front starts to move but you might not be focused. The intelligence guidance system provides a warning.
Finally, you also get a safety camera alert that picks up the following:
- Red Light Camera
- Speed Camera
- Average Speed
- Mobile Police speed cameras
Verdict
The Thinkware F790 offers a high-quality dash cam that will work well for most people as it is full of interesting features to keep you safe and when needed it will be there to save you.
The dashcam offers 17.5 days of standby but will wake up in one second and will record for 20 sec if triggered Ideal if you’re parked and someone hits the car.
The dashcam is also paired with the Thinkware App that allows you to download footage, delete the footage and also configure settings such as connecting your phone to your built-in Wi-Fi.
This dashcam is easy to instal and cost-wise it’s £269 I would say it’s value for money as it only takes one crash that could cost thousands so the cost of a dashcam is well worth it. So if you’re looking for a secure yet detachable mounting system and a camera that offers excellent technology for optimised video quality this dashcam is well worth considering.
Product Rating:
- Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
- SetUp : 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
- Video Quality: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
- Features: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
- Value for Money : 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Overall Rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars – 4.8 Stars
The Thinkware Dash Cam F790 is available for £269 from www.thinkwaredashcam.eu
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