Hey, what's up, guys? Vortex here. In this video, we're going to be taking a look at
the Thinkware U1000 which may very well be the very best dash cam currently available
on the market. Now, the U1000, it's a high-end premium dash cam. It records at 4K up front,
to give you really nice video quality as well as 2K in the rear, which gives you even higher
resolution for the rear camera compared to other models.
It's capable of recording both when you're driving, as well as when you're parked, plus
it's got some really nice and sophisticated parking mode capabilities that you don't see
in a lot of other dash cams. Additionally, the U1000 is a cloud-connected dash cam, so
you could connect to it remotely and it's able to connect out to the cloud to add some
extra features. It retails for $399 for the front-only version or $499 for the two-channel
version that records both front and rear.
Now, the U1000, it's not a brand-new dash cam. It was originally launched back in 2019,
and since then, there's been a number of improvements for it, and the dash cam has gotten better
since. And so in this video, I want to go ahead and take a closer look here at the U1000
and how it stands now here in 2021. Now full disclosure, this is not a paid or sponsored
review. Never done those, and I never will. The U1000 that I'm taking a look at here is
a review sample that I've been sent for free from Thinkware. Additionally, if you find
this video helpful and you'd like to purchase a U1000, you can use the links down in the
video description to purchase. So I'm going to have a number of them for different dash
cam variants, memory cards, cables, different accessories that you may find helpful too
that I'll also mention here in this video.
They are affiliate links, so if you use those links, it does support my channel without
costing you anything. And so if you find videos like this helpful, you can use them and it
allows me to continue doing videos like this here for you. And so with that said, let's
go ahead and start diving into the dash cam. So first off, taking a closer look here at
the U1000, you'll notice it's a rectangular, wedge-shaped design. You've got a number of
buttons here on the back to do things like turn the dash cam on and off, turn on and
off WiFi, maybe disable your microphone, things like that. Plus, right in the center, there's
a big emergency record button, which is great. That way maybe in case something important
happens on the road, you can just press this big button right here, and I like the fact
that it's easy to press and it's separate from all the other buttons so you don't maybe
accidentally turn off the dash cam or something, like you do with some other models.
So I like it being separate right there. At the very top, you've got a number of different
status LEDs to let you know when the dash cam is recording, when you've got a GPS lock
or you're connected to the cloud. On the left side of the dash cam, you've got all the cable
inputs for things like your power input where you plug in the optional rear camera, or where
you could plug in the optional radar module. The radar module, it's a pretty cool accessory
that's available here just for the U1000 that adds some pretty cool functionality that you're
not going to see in any other dash cam. So I definitely want to dive into this more in
this video too. And then on the right side of the dash cam, you've got the memory card
slot.
Now, because the U1000 is designed with the cables over here on this side and the memory
card on that side, I would generally recommend mounting this centered on your windshield
behind your rear view mirror or optionally, on the passenger side of the vehicle, this
way you still have easy access to the memory card slot. Now on the driver's side of the
vehicle, that's normally where I'm running my radar detectors anyway, and so if you're
running both of them, yeah, that's going to work out just fine.
Now, the U1000 mounts with double-stick tape and it's got a nice quick release mount to
make it really easy to pop the dash cam on and off the windshield. I like these types
of mounts because they're nice and solid and stable, though they don't allow you to actually
rotate the dash cam if you want to point it sideways. Now, the lens itself is adjustable
to angle up and down to make sure that you've got the lens aligned properly. Plus the app,
which we'll talk about here in this video also makes it a lot easier to go in and ensure
that everything is mounted nice and straight. Now, diving into video quality next, this
is something that the U1000 is going to do a really good job at.
Now the front camera, it's capable of recording at 4K and 30 FPS. In fact, the video quality
that you'll get here from the U1000 is going to be some of the best that you'll find out
of any dash cam. Blackvue had some of the first 4K dash cam with their DR900S and DR900X,
which both have the same video quality. The U1000 came out later. It's got newer technology,
and so I've actually found the video quality's better with the Thinkware than it is with
the Blackvue. In fact, I've actually found the U1000's video quality, at least for the
front camera, to be comparable to something like the VFO A129 Pro, which I like as more
of a budget option. The U1000 has similar video quality for the front, but it's got
a lot more features. Better parking mode, cloud functionality, etc. Now, the rear camera,
this is also going to be a difference too.
The optional rear camera with the U1000 records at 2K, or 1440p, as opposed to other dash
cams, which typically record at just 1080p in the rear. And so for that reason, the rear
dash cam of the U1000 I find is generally going to do a better job than most any other
dash cam that's available. In fact, I've done a whole video just comparing the video quality
with a number of the different top tier dash cams. You can take a look at that video if
you like. Click the button on screen, or down in the video description for more detail.
Either way though, when it comes to capturing important details such as faces or license
plates, the U1000 is going to do a great job here.
Now, if you'd like to record at 60 FPS instead of 30 to double the frame rate, get smoother
video, twice as many frames captured, the U1000 is capable of recording at 2K with the
front camera, and 60 FPS. The rear camera though will still be at 2K/30. The front camera
is capable of doing 2K/60. I personally prefer shooting in 4K, because I like the added resolution.
But I know some people like having the 60 FPS option. Now in terms of field of view,
I find that the U1000 tends to have a wider field of view than some other dash cams. The
front camera's going to record at a 150 degree viewing angle. The rear dash cam is slightly
wider, at 156 degrees. I know some people have complained about this, and have said
that the videos coming out of it look a little bit distorted and fisheye, but this is the
balance I think, whereas going forward, to help ensure that you're able to record most
everything up front, as well as back behind, again if you get the optional rear camera.
Now, in terms of low light sensitivity, I find that the U1000 does do a pretty good
job. Now, compared to the black view that I normally run for example, I find that Thinkware
tends to expose a little bit brighter and does a little bit better job of capturing
and recording everything going on around you at night. Obviously, night time is going to
be a struggle for any dash cam. There's always going to be some situations where maybe, a
dynamic range is limited or things start to get blurry due to longer shutter speeds, but
overall, I find the U1000 does do a pretty good job.
It's important to note that if you get the polarizer with the U1000, it sticks directly
to the lens. It's not removable the way it is with some other dash cams. So if you stick
it on, that is going to affect low light sensitivity somewhat and it's not removable, in case you
ever want to do that. But I know most people just stick it on for the improved video quality
overall, especially in the daytime. And then you have a little bit of overdue sensitivity
at night. Now, Thinkware also offers a feature called Super Night Vision, which is going
to help to boost the exposure and sensitivity at night. I like the fact that Thinkware gives
you the option of using this full time continuously, or maybe only when parking, which is my preference.
I normally have this feature turned off while driving and I tend to like it more just while
parked.
And the idea behind Super Night Vision 2.0 is it's basically going to be boosting the
exposure of the dash cam to help you better see into the shadows, into the dark areas,
and capture any details that may otherwise be missed. Next, in terms of reliability,
this is also something that I've noticed is pretty good here with Thinkware. The reliability
and the improved video quality are probably the two main advantages that I've found compared
to some of the competition. Dash cams from Blackvue and Viofo, for example, and many
others too.
Again, video quality's good and the reliability here seems to be really nice. In my experience
and seeing what other people have been posting online in different forums, it seems like
people are just reporting a lot fewer issues in terms of reliability, overheating, things
like that with the Thinkware dash cams compared to some of the other options. And honestly,
that's really important. A dash cam has to have good video quality, and it's got to be
reliable, so in case anything happens on the road, you can trust that your dash cam is
actually going to be up and running and able to record it.
And so for that reason, I really like the U1000. Again, it's checking two of the most
important boxes, which are video quality and reliability. Next, moving onto parking recording,
this is also something that's pretty special here with the Thinkware dash cams. Now, with
the U1000, you've got three different parking mode options. First, you've got motion detection,
which also gives you your impact detection, buffered impact detection specifically. Second,
you've got time lapse recording and third, you've got a special energy-saving option.
Now, something that Thinkware is known for with their different dash cams is low energy
consumption, which means that if your dash cam is actually taking battery power while
you're parked, Thinkware dash cams overall just tend to record for a longer period of
time than you'll find with some other dash cams that actually require more power. Then
as a bonus, Thinkware also has their radar module, which helps add additional functionality,
especially when you're running it in the energy-saving parking mode. Now, starting off, let's go
ahead and talk about motion detection parking recording.
This is a really popular option. Now, this is going to be really nice to allow you to
record different cars driving by, or people actually approaching your car. Additionally,
it's going to be giving you your buffered impact detection, so in case of a hit and
run or maybe somebody hits your car, the U1000 is able to record both before the impact as
well as afterwards, this way, you capture the entire event. Now, this is really nice.
I know a lot of dash cams also have some sort of impact detection or something. But typically,
those dash cams are asleep most of the time and only when maybe an impact happens, then
the dash cam wakes up and begins recording. So you're going to be missing the actual event
that triggered the dash cam. You're not going to be getting that recording, so I really
like the fact that the U1000 has buffered motion detection and impact detection.
Then when you get back in the car, the dash cam is going to tell you how many events were
recorded and how many motion detection events, and how many impact detected events.
Event detection recording. Two occurred.
You're generally going to be getting a number of those just from cars driving by and whatnot.
So maybe that would be a better option if you're in a parking garage where there's fewer
cars going by. And you also want to consider the fact that a lot of times, when you get
back in the car if you close your trunk or close your car door, that's going to register
as an impact. And so if you maybe hear one impact in your car when you start up your
car, changes are that's you. But if you hear two or three impacts, you're like, "Okay,
what was going on when I was parked?" And maybe it would be a good idea to check your
dash cam.
Now, because of that, that can actually lead to a really chatty start up when you start
up your car.
During parking mode, motion detection recording. Over 10 and event detection recording. Two
occurred. Continuous recording will now start. GPS connected. Connected to the internet.
So as you can hear, there's a lot of things that the dash cam is telling you when you
start up your car and unfortunately, there's no way to control what it tells you and what
it doesn't, so every time you get in, you're going to hear things like "GPS connected."
And, "Motion detection," and all that kind of stuff. I really, really wish, and I say
this in every single video that involves a Thinkware dash cam, I wish that Thinkware
would give us the ability to more granularly control what it tells us at start up and maybe
turn off things like "GPS connected," that we don't necessarily need to know every time
we get in the car. So Thinkware, please add that functionality. For that reason, because
it's not available, I honestly just wind up disabling the audio altogether.
And so, I don't get any of those impact notifications and stuff the way I do with some other dash
cams that do give us the control. So that's something that I really wish the U1000 had.
Now that said, remember how I mentioned Thinkware is known for their high efficiency, especially
in parking mode? I've tested this motion detection buffered impact detection with a variety of
different popular dash cams. And I find that the U1000, the two-channel version, records
for over 33 hours, which is longer than the competition. Now for this test, I used the
BlackboxMyCar BI750 Battery Pack. I'll talk more about this battery and some of the other
options here a little bit later in this video, but the exact parking record times are going
to vary of course depending on what battery you use. You've got expansion batteries. If
you're running just one dash cam instead of two, you're going to be getting longer record
times.
If you turn on the cloud functionality, you're going to be getting less record time. So of
course things are going to vary, but just to give you an apples-to-apples comparison
without the dash cams. Now, the next parking mode option that the U1000 offers is time
lapse recording. This is going to be basically recording continuously at 2 FPS. You're going
to be getting video, but not audio here. And this is going to be a nice way just to record
for a longer period of time, and capture everything while your car is parked. I personally generally
don't use time lapse features, but I know that a lot of people do like it.
And then finally, let's talk about the energy-saving mode. This is something that's pretty special
here, especially with the U1000. Again, remember how I mentioned Thinkware is generally pretty
good for longer parking mode record times? The energy-saving mode is going to improve
this considerably. Again, the U1000, it's already going to do better than a lot of other
dash cams, but if you switch it into energy-saving mode, instead of recording for just over a
day, it's going to allow the dash cam to record for over a week. About eight to nine days
or so, in my testing. Now, the way that it does this is the dash cam is not going to
be recording continuously, so you're not going to be getting your buffered impact detection.
Instead, the dash cam is going to be in a very low-powered sleep state. It's not recording.
And just the G sensor is running, so there's no motion detection, but it's mainly for non-buffered
impact detection. In case somebody hits your car, the dash cam will take a second to wake
up and then it begins recording. In fact, you'll see this here in this clip, to where
somebody bumped into my mom's car, which is running a two-channel U1000. Somebody actually
bumped into her from behind, and you can see the clip where they're actually pulling back
away from her car after hitting her car. The dash cam missed the actual impact, but it
is able to see the person actually moving away from her car.
And so while the energy-saving mode does lose the ability to actually record the entire
event, including the person before they hit your car, it allows you to record for a much
longer period of time to ensure that at least, you do get something. Now, what if you're
like, "Hey, I want the best of both worlds. I'd like buffered parking recording, but I
also want to use the energy-saving mode to be able to record for a long period of time."
That's going to be something unique and special here to the U1000. And that's where this radar
module comes into play. In short, it's a K band transmitter that's going to be transmitting
out the front of your car, and it's just going to be looking for maybe different vehicles
approaching your car.
Then in case somebody's coming towards your vehicle, it's going to wake up the dash cam
and start recording. Then if it detects an impact, maybe somebody hits your car, it's
going to go ahead and save that entire clip, both before they hit your car as well as afterwards.
I can go ahead and simulate that so you can see. You'll notice there's a car approaching
right here, so the radar module's going to wake up the dash cam. I'm just going to go
ahead and whack the car like this, to simulate an impact. And you'll see the U1000's going
to go ahead and record this whole event, both before the impact as well as afterwards.
I can go ahead and simulate that so you can I can go ahead and simulate that so you can
see. You'll notice there's a car approaching right here, so the radar module's going to
wake up the dash cam. I'm just going to go ahead and whack the car like this, to simulate
an impact. And you'll see the U1000's going to go ahead and record this whole event, both
before the impact as well as afterwards.
If they don't hit your car and it doesn't record any impact, the dash cam will just
go back to sleep without saving anything to the memory card. So this is going to be a
way to get both your buffered parking mode as well as your long term energy-saving mode.
Now, this is something that might be worth actually doing a whole dedicated video on.
But as far as the key main things that you need to know, I'd say there's five things
to know about the radar module. Number one, it only records upfront.
It's designed to be mounted on your windshield right next to the U1000, and again, it's just
going to be capturing any vehicles coming towards you from the front. You don't have
any radar monitoring in the rear. Second, it's designed just to work to monitor vehicles.
It's not really going to do a great job of actually recording people approaching your
car. I've found in some situations, it might. But really, it's going to be best optimized
with vehicles. Third, because this works in energy-saving mode, that shuts down the WiFi
and whatnot, it means that when you're using the radar module in the energy-saving mode,
you're not going to be getting any of the cloud functionality while you're parked.
Fourth, because it's a K band transmitter, it is going to be causing some false alerts
to most radar detector users that drive by your car while parked. I find that it'll false
the the unit into R7, for example. But the Redline 360c doesn't seem to false to it.
But most detectors are going to false, so something to be aware of. And then finally,
number five, it is an optional extra for the U1000. It retails for $90. And I found that
it's actually a really popular option. A lot of people wind up getting it, because of the
advantages of both the long term parking recording as well as the buffered impact detection up
front. And so, I think it's a pretty cool accessory. I just wish that they chose something
other than K band to transmit on so it doesn't cause false alerts for all of us radar detector
users.
Now, when it comes to configuring all the parking mode stuff including the voltage management,
all of that is going to be billed directly into the dash cam that you can figure via
the app. Now, with other dark cams, sometimes you have to buy an external accessory or something.
But in this case, everything's going to be built directly into the U1000. Again, you're
going to need the hard wire cable to tap into your car battery, or a dedicated dash cam
battery pack. But again, if you work with the car battery option, let's start with that.
So if you go into the U1000, you'll notice in the parking mode options, after you go
to adjust maybe the sensitivity of your motion detection or impact detection, you're going
to find things like adjusting the timer for how long the dash cam records for, or maybe
indefinitely before it shuts off.
Additionally, you've got a number of additional battery protection options to protect your
car battery and ensure that the dash cam records while you're parked and then it shuts off
after a certain point and you're still able to start your car back up next time. So for
example, you've got the voltage cut-off threshold, so you can decide how far the dash cam actually
drains your car battery before it shuts off. At higher thresholds, it's better in terms
of battery health. At lower thresholds, you get longer parking mode recording times.
And you've got control here and customizability, for both 12-volt systems as well as 24-volt
systems. Then underneath that, you're also going to be seeing an option for your wintertime
battery protection, which is pretty cool. I don't usually see that available. But this
is basically going to give you some additional protection to choose what are the colder months
of the year where you generally live and drive? It may vary depending on Northern or Southern
Hemispheres and whatnot, and so you've got some additional coverage and protection here.
Now, if you'd like to have a dedicated dash cam battery pack, it's typically what I recommend,
and it's what I do myself. You can of course wire the U1000 directly into your car battery.
It's what I did in my mom's car with her U1000, and it's been working great. I personally
prefer going for the dedicated dash cam battery pack, just because it puts less wear and tear
on the car battery. I know some people actually have issues tapping into their car battery
and getting parasitic drain especially on some higher-end cars. We see it with Subarus,
some Teslas sometimes don't even have the proper wiring that's necessary, so you've
got to go for the battery pack and whatnot. So anyways, if you want to go for the battery
pack, there's a couple options and ways to go about it. Thinkware actually has their
own dedicated battery.
It's called the iVOLT BAB-50. It's a smaller battery than the competition, but it's also
going to be less expensive. Then there's of course the Cellink NEO, which is a really
popular option. I've been using one of these for several years now, and it's been great.
And then finally, there's the new BlackboxMyCar BI-750. This is a larger battery pack, about
25% larger than the Cellink Neo. But it's also able to recharge up to 25% faster than
the Neo, which is really nice, especially as you start getting into larger capacity
batteries.
Now, I'm personally considering switching over to the BI-750 at some point, because
yeah, I do find it gives you 25% longer record times than the other battery packs, which
is nice. And then in terms of how long it's able to power your U1000 off the battery pack,
again, in my testing, I get a little over 33 hours running the two-channel option and
then closer to eight or nine days if I'm running it in the energy-saving mode. And again, this
is going to vary depending on settings and how many cameras you use, and if you use the
cloud and all that kind of stuff.
Now, if you'd like a battery pack with your dash cam, I'm going to link to these different
options down in the video description as well, as well as the expansion battery packs if
you want to double or triple your parking mode record times. Now, coming back to the
U1000, I want to next take a look at a small thing that's actually pretty useful. It's
the way it saves different video files. Now on the memory card, like any dash cam, it's
just going to record continuously, and then after the card fills up, it's going to begin
overriding the oldest footage. Now, what I like about the U1000 is different types of
video files are actually going to be saved in different folders.
So you'll have a folder for example, for all of your just regular, continuous recording
while you're driving. In case you then maybe push the button on the back of the dash cam
to save the specific clip, those emergency recording video files are going to go to a
separate folder. Then all of your parking mode recording, that's going to go into a
separate folder too. And what's nice is after you've been driving for a while, you're going
to start having hundreds, if not thousands, of video files and this extra organization
makes it a lot easier to go and find the important video files quickly that you need. It's a
small thing, but it's actually really nice once you start needing to find your video
files.
Now, another feature that the U1000 offers is the ADAS functionality. This is something
I'm not really into as much. It's basically adding some additional safety capabilities.
The U1000 does have an updatable database for alerting you to things like fixed red
light cameras and speed cameras, which I think is pretty cool. I already have that with my
different radar detectors and if I'm running Waze or Google Maps or something, but it's
nice to see it available here in the U1000 as well. Though you lose that capability once
you start shedding off the audio, because of the other chatty start up stuff that I'd
mentioned before.
Now, really what the ADAS stuff is built in for is to make it safer while you drive. For
example, the U1000's going to add things like lane departure warnings, or maybe forward
collision detection and it starts beeping in case it thinks you're about to crash into
the person ahead of you. Though in practice, the lane departure warning likes to go off
whenever I'm changing lanes.
And the forward collision warning system is noticing when oncoming traffic is coming,
and then I want to turn after the traffic has passed. And it also has front vehicle
departure warnings, so maybe if you're at a red light and the car ahead of you starts
pulling away, but you're distracted and staring at your phone or something, the dash cam can
actually beep and notify you so you pay attention and start driving. That said, I find this
stuff to be really annoying, and I get a lot of false and unnecessary alerts. And so again,
I just wind up disabling all this stuff altogether.
I definitely appreciate the intention. I think it's really cool that they're adding this,
but I haven't found it to be all that useful in practice. And from what I've read online,
I know a lot of other people disable it too. But it is something here that's available
in the U1000. Next, moving onto the app that's available for your phone, the dash cam has
WiFi built in and then you just connect to the WiFi hotspot on the dash cam using your
phone, and then you're able to go in here and configure the dash cam.
Once you're connected to the dash cam, you're going to be able to do things like aim the
dash cam's lens to make sure everything is nice and straight. And I also like the fact
that the U1000 adds some guidelines in the app just to help you aim the dash cam properly.
And that's especially nice, considering the U1000 doesn't have an LCD screen in the back
of the dash cam. And so you've got to do everything here with your phone.
Additionally, the app is going to allow you to connect to the dash cam and play back any
of your previously recorded footage. And then finally, if you've got the dash cam connected
to the cloud, you're going to be able to connect to the dash cam remotely over the internet.
Now, let's talk about the cloud next, because this is a pretty big deal here for the U1000.
Thinkware is one of the few manufacturers that adds the cloud functionality.
It's going to allow you to things like locating your vehicle on a map in real time, which
works both when you're driving or when you're parked. You can set a geofence, and then get
a notification in case your vehicle leaves that area. And then some of my personal favorite
features, there's things like you can get real time impact notifications, both while
you're driving as well as while you're parked. In case something happens, you can get notified
or maybe somebody else can get notified, that hey, it looks like maybe there was an accident.
Additionally, you can then later on go and livestream directly to the dash cam and get
a real time feed of exactly what's going on with your vehicle to turn it into a remotely
accessible security camera, which is pretty cool.
Now, I'm personally much more familiar with Blackvue's cloud functionality. I've used
it for many years personally, and I've tested a bunch of different options. But generally,
what I've seen, to give you an overall picture here, Thinkware has some cloud functionality
as well. It's not as good as Blackvue's options. I find Blackvue, it's going to be easier to
set up. It's easier to get connected to and up and running. There's more features that
are available. The features that they share, again, they're going to work better with the
Blackvue options. But I want to focus primarily here on the U1000, because that's really what
this video is about. And so starting out with the set up, again, you're going to just activate
the WiFi hotspot in the dash cam, and then you're going to connect to the dash cam over
the phone and go through the set up process.
I find it's pretty problematic and challenging. I actually had to reach out to tech support
to figure out how to do it. The general idea is you connect to the dash cam with your phone
and then you turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot, which your dash cam is going to connect to,
to get all the set up stuff going. And then if you have a dedicated WiFi hotspot in your
car, which I think is the preferred method, that's what I've done, you can actually then
have the U1000 connect to the WiFi hotspot in your car, that way, you don't have to worry
about connecting with your phone. And it's just more independent and automatic, which
I really like. That said, if you don't have a WiFi hotspot in your car, you can still
use the WiFi hotspot on your phone and tether your dash cam to your phone for an internet
connection. So that's going to be a simpler option, to use the hotspot on your phone.
But if you have a dedicated WiFi hotspot in your car, that's going to be the best solution.
I know most hotspots only work when you're driving. You have to go through some extra
hoops and stuff to set something up to work while you're parked. I have an entire video
dedicated to that if you want to check it out. Again, just click the button on screen
or link down in the video description and then of course, if you're parked near your
home or work or something, your dash cam could actually connect to that WiFi hotspot and
get an internet connection that way too. That's not going to work of course if you're maybe
out traveling, you're going out to eat or something. But at least if you're parked near
your home or something, you can still get the cloud functionality.
Now either way, however you set this up, let's go ahead and take a look at how the cloud
functionality works and what it's like. Now, diving right into it, once you start using
it, in my experience, I found a lot of times, it just doesn't work properly. You wind up
getting weird connectivity issues to where it doesn't connect. So it's quirky, but eventually,
it does seem to start working. So for example, if your vehicle's parked and again, you've
got a WiFi hotspot that's active and running while you're parked, in case somebody hits
your vehicle while you're parked, you're going to be getting a notification directly to your
phone letting you know that an impact is detected. There's not going to be any sort of image
preview the way I see with the Blackvue options. It's just going to be a simple notification
to your phone. Then that clip is going to take about two minutes or so to upload to
the cloud, and while that clip is uploading, you're not going to be able to view that clip
of course because it's uploading. And you're also not going to be able to livestream to
see what's going on right now with your dash cam because it's in the process of uploading.
That said, I have also seen some instances where I try to connect to the livestream immediately
after getting the notification and the dash cam does try to connect, but it fails and
it's not able to livestream. I've also seen other instances where it does connect and
start to livestream but then again, it dies and errors out and I'm not able to see what's
going on. So either way, with a bunch of testing, I'm not able to reliably see exactly what's
going on with my car immediately when I get the notification. Again with the Blackvue,
you can still livestream while it's uploading, but you're going to be out of luck for two
minutes or so while you're waiting for everything to upload.
Then once the upload finishes, you'll get a second notification to your phone which
is going to allow you to then view the clip that actually triggered the dash cam and triggered
the event. And you're going to be able to see the recording of whatever it was that
your U1000 just detected. Additionally, if you want to go ahead and livestream into the
dash cam to see what's going on, you can do that. Again, this process is slow. It takes
about 10 seconds or so to connect to the dash cam. Additionally, once you are actively live
streaming, you can view either the front or the rear dash cam, and you can switch between
them. Though there's about a 10-second lag or so between real time and what you're going
to be seeing on your phone. Now with the Blackvue, it's going to be much closer to real time,
only about one second behind real time.
Plus, it's actually much faster to get connected in the first place. But with the U1000, after
you get connected, yes, it's going to be about 10 seconds behind real time. So it works,
but it's not quite as live as some of the other options. But yes, you do still get the
live streaming. Now personally, I wish it was faster and more responsive so in case
something happens to my car and I get worried, I can check much more quickly. But just be
aware that things are going to be slower and not quite as quick here with the U1000. But
it does still work. Now, that said, there's also some features that I find are missing
here from the U1000 that I use with the Blackvues that I wish the U1000 had too.
For example with the U1000, you're not going to be able to remotely connect to the dash
cam and go in and maybe change any settings. You're going to have to go into the car and
connect with your phone and actually change it more directly that way. Something else
I've noticed is in case you want to manually trigger the dash cam, you want to trigger
something important that happened on the road, the Blackvues will automatically upload that
clip to the cloud, though the Thinkware doesn't do that. It just stays in the dash cam itself.
Speaking of automatic uploads, in case an impact is detected while you're driving, Thinkware
can automatically upload that to the cloud, which is important, say in case of an accident
or something. Of course, it saves it on the dash cam so you can upload it to the cloud
too. Blackvue does that as well, though I find with the Thinkware, I wind up just disabling
all the impact detection stuff because of the fact that it falses a lot of things like
speed bumps and potholes. And so, I don't wind up using that.
And then in parking mode, that feature does work as well, though not in every mode. For
example, it's going to work in your motion detection and buffered impact detection, but
if you switch over to the energy-saving mode, which is really cool, one of the really nice
features here with the U1000, because it's in energy-saving mode, it's going to save
power and shut off the cloud functionality so you don't get the impact notifications
if you want to run it in energy-saving mode.
So just something to be aware of. And then finally, if you're just sitting around at
home and you're like, "Oh, I want to go ahead and grab a clip that's maybe not saved in
the cloud," with the Thinkware, you're going to have to go over to the dash cam, pull the
memory card out, and pop it into your computer or something or go into the car and actually
connect to it directly with your phone. With Blackvue over the cloud, you can remotely
connect to your dash cam and just view all the video files that are saved in the dash
cam, which is really nice if you're at home in your office, or laying in bed, which I've
done before.
Again, just Blackvue has much more capability in terms of their cloud functionality. So
yes, Thinkware, it does work. It just doesn't work as well. It doesn't have nearly as many
features, and the features that it does share, they just don't work as well. So I personally
don't really like it as much as the Blackvue when it comes to the cloud stuff. Cloud is
really where the Blackvue shines.
But as an overall package, again, Thinkware's going to give you better video quality, better
reliability, and a lot of the core stuff that most people would still want when it comes
to the cloud functionality. So overall as a complete package, I actually think the U1000
is going to be better than the Blackvue options. Plus, it adds a lot of stuff that you don't
see from some of the lower to mid tier dash cams, especially when it comes to the cloud
features, or this more advanced parking mode functionality. And that's really I think what's
making the U1000 special, it's having so many features that are available, plus it's going
to be adding good video quality and good reliability.
And it's for that reason that I personally think it's one of the very best dash cams
available on the market. And I mean, looking online, it seems to be continually recommended
as one of the best. And I completely understand why, and so if you're looking for a high-end
dash cam with good video quality, good reliability, good parking mode capabilities, if you'd like
especially, long term parking mode recording, energy-saving, plus your buffered impact detection,
especially up front, the U1000 is going to be a great choice. Is it perfect? No.
Nothing is. Everything has pros and cons, and sure, it's also going to be one of the
most expensive dash cams that are out there. But that's why. It's a high-end dash cam,
feature-packed dash cam. It's got a lot of bells and whistles, and it seems to be a pretty
good all-around option. And so, if you'd like one, again, I'll have links down in the video
description to the U1000 single channel only, or two-channel, or different recommended memory
cards or accessories and battery packs and all that kind of stuff. I'm going to have
a bunch more information for you down in the video description, so, awesome.
Thanks so much for watching. I hope you found this video helpful. If you have any questions,
again, ask down below. And other than that, stay safe out there. Happy driving, and I'll
see you in the next video. Bye.