First of all, I want to address the elephants in the room.
1. A lot of people are wondering if this dashcam could use a memory card bigger than 128GB and even if it can use any other memory card apart from a Thinkware brand memory card. I am happy to update you all that, contrary to what the manufacturer has published, the Thinkware U1000 does work with higher capacity memory cards! When I first made this review, I used a SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSDXC. It was rated, C10, U3, V30 and A2. Its 90MB/s write made it suitable for 4K video recording. I upgraded the storage just moments ago to the SanDisk 512GB Extreme. This card has similar ratings to its 128GB counterpart but the write speeds are not 130MB/s, according to SanDisk. I didn't do any benchmarks on it. What I did do was put it in my U1000, and it worked. I've added a screenshot from the Dashcam info from the Thinkware app and you will see, 'Memory Size: 57.6 / 476.7GB.' If you are interested in getting a higher capacity memory card for the U1000, the, "SanDisk 512GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - Up to 190MB/s, C10, U3, V30, 4K, 5K, A2, Micro SD Card - SDSQXAV-512G-GN6MA," works for me.
2. Many customers here have complained about receiving used U1000 dashcams. Some with scratches and wifi network SSIDs changed and all that. I am also happy to report that I did not have any of those issues. My box was a little dinged: quite possibly during transportation. However, the condition of the contents in the box, was NEW.
I bought the 2 channel product with the included hardwiring kit and CPL filter. The U1000 records video in superb quality. The main unit encodes 4K at 30fps or 2K at 60fps. I opted to record in 2K (2560x1440). I get 60 frames per second of 8bit video at about 24Mbps in HEVC. (High Efficiency Video Codec). The result is stunning! Colours are natural. There is no extra saturation of colours or any excessive sharpening of the images. Everything is clear. I also turned on audio recording and the microphone is sensitive. You pick up conversations in the car with crispness and clarity. Also, if your windows are down, and/or your doors are open, you can pick up audio from outside quite clearly. (Feel free to visit my review of the optional radar module. I have an accompanying video where I demonstrated its capability and you should hear me, despite my distance from the vehicle.)
What sets this camera apart from the other dash cams are the video quality, the unit build and feature set.
I have read where people complain that it's (too) big... FALSE! The small, elegantly designed black and silver U1000 with its like a wedge wedge design, allows it to sit behind the rear-view mirror, without obscuring your view. As you can see in the photos, I didn't mount it in the centre of the windshield. Why? Mainly because of aesthetics. I didn't want It in the middle of my windshield to be visible to me. I preferred it hidden. And even though aesthetics informed my decision, it hasn't diminished its functionality or practicality. While it is slightly offset to the left, the videos are still balanced and I still get full coverage of the windshield. During daytime, the U1000 makes out license plates, people, vehicles and other objects superbly. Apart from its physical dimensions and excellent video capture, I want to stress that this handles heat excellently. I live in tropical climate on an island in the Caribbean. We only have rainy season and dry season but it is hot, right throughout the year. Despite the unrelenting heat, I have not experienced any malfunctions with the U1000 nor any issues with the memory card, or even problems accessing, viewing or copying data to my iPhone. Its reliability stems partly due to Thinkware using a capacitor instead of a battery in their flagship model. Capacitors are known to withstand temperatures that would cause batteries to explode. You live in a hot place, I strongly advise that if you're considering to purchase a dashcam, do not buy the ones with batteries. Get one with a capacitor like this one.
Features... The features are a lot... 😁😊
The first one is video integrity. I don't know how long the video clips are that other dash cams record. The U1000 records continuous video of your preference in either 4K 30 frames per second or 2K 60 frames per second. These continuous recording videos are recorded in segments of 1 minute. This is to preserve the integrity of the video. "What do you mean Kofi?" I'm glad you asked. 😊 Have you ever began recording something with your phone and then the battery dies? What happens? Exactly! The battery dies and when you recharge your phone, the moment you were recording is not in your camera roll. The phone was not able to save it. This is a current limitation of digital media. If while you are driving or the dashcam is in, 'Continuous Recording mode,' once the dashcam registers impact, it will save 10 seconds of video before the impact, the impact and then 20 seconds after. This provides the highest level of confidence, that if you're in an accident and your car loses power, you will have a recording of the incident saved. I bought the radar module so in Parking mode, I use the Energy Savings 2.0 setting. This allows the U1000 to wake from sleep when motion is detected. Then if there is an impact, record 10 seconds before the impact, the impact and 10 seconds after the impact. I do not know how much the 4K recording's frame rate is in parking mode. My dashcam is set to 2K 60fps but incident recordings in parking mode with Energy Savings 2.0 enabled, are at the full 2K resolution but at 15 frames per second. It's not an inconvenience to me but I assumed that I was getting my full frame rate. I guess 15fps is enough to capture the incident and to not allow the dashcam to use too much current to deplete or, substantially drain a battery. 🤷🏾♂️ The U1000 stamps the video with the following information: Dashcam model number, the Dashcam software version, vehicle voltage, car state, the date with time- YYYY.MM.DD HH:MM:SS and the speed. For the car state, when the car is parked and the ignition is off, you will see, 'ACC_OFF.' While you're driving, nothing will be displayed.
The next feature is Thinkware Cloud. The companion smartphone application facilitates a remote view to enable a user to see through the dashcam- front and rear cameras, receive notifications of impacts while you're driving or while the car is parked, as well as, view videos of strong impacts to the vehicle, that have been uploaded to the cloud. The only caveats are:
1) The dashcam must be connected to a wifi network to send notifications and upload video to the cloud.
2) The radar module must not be enabled.
Yes, that's right, If you have the radar module installed, to use any of Thinkware Cloud's features, you must disable it. (Which defeats the purpose of buying the radar module) As I mentioned in my radar module review, once you use it, you will NOT be able to connect to a wifi network when Parking mode is activated. The U1000 will disconnect from whatever network it is connected to and then go to sleep until either the radar module picks up movement or the U1000 registers an impact. With the radar module installed and enabled:
A) You will BE ABLE TO connect to a WiFi network and use Live view when continuous recording is enabled.
B) You will BE ABLE TO view the location of your car if you are connected to a wifi network when continuous recording is enabled.
C) You will NOT be able to connect to a WiFi network or use the Live View while in parking mode.
D) You will NOT be able to connect to a WiFi network or locate your vehicle in Parking mode.
E) You will NOT get any notifications of any impact while your car is parked.
F) It is apparent that you will NOT BE able to upload videos of incidents (where an impact was registered) if you are connected to a WiFi network and you're driving. I simulated incidents of impact by driving in potholes 😅, got the electronic chirp from the U1000 on these occasions and confirmed that videos were saved in the incident recording file list. I did not received any notification on my phone and no videos were uploaded to the cloud. However, I tested the cloud features in Parking mode by disabling the radar module and enabled the 'Motion detection,' option. I parked in the driveway and connected the U1000 to the home's wifi network. (Yes, you are not limited to only connecting to mobile hotspots. You can connect to any wifi network it is in range of) Using my phone and the LTE network connection, I was able to launch the iOS app and use Live view, accessing a POV through the U1000's camera and switch to the rear camera, all while the car was parked and the ignition was off. I simulated impacts by opening a door and then closing it. Push notifications were swift. Opening the notification took me to a list of notifications in the app. The list was populated with incidents, date and time. Touching one of the incidents opened a map and displayed the location of the incident. I didn't try, 'Time lapse,' or other modes in parking mode. I was just happy to see that the notifications and the remote view worked. I've included some screenshots of the iOS app's UI.
If anyone at Thinkware is reading this, I am reiterating my fervent plea to provide a software update to include an option to, 'Enable Notifications and Uploads,' when the Radar option is engaged. This option, should allow the U1000 to to wake up when the radar module detects movement and connect to a wifi network. If there is an impact, it will send a notification to the user's mobile phone and upload the recorded event to the cloud. Then after the upload is complete, the U1000 goes back to sleep in it's energy saving mode and disconnects from the wifi network. I really hope Thinkware considers this. Call it, 'Kofster mode,' too. I will be thrilled!! 💯😁
While the front camera gets a lot of praise, deservedly so, the rear cam is almost equally capable. It is no slouch in terms of image quality. It also records 8 bit video in 2K (2560x1440) but at 30fps. Since it does half the frame rate of the front camera, (With my current 2K 60fps setting) its data rate is half, at about 12Mbps. As a result, while the average file size of one minute of 2K 60fps video is 198MB/200MB, the rear camera provides anywhere between 100MB to 108MB for the same length. Most of the customers who leave reviews of this dashcam, mostly showed off video samples from the main unit. So I have opted instead to included a 1 minute sample video of footage from the rear camera and some video codec metadata. I hope you enjoy the Soca music too. 😎
This dashcam comes equipped with it's own internal GPS module so there is no need to purchase a separate, external one. In addition to that, this dashcam has ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistant System). There is Lane Departure Warning, Front Vehicle Departure Warning and Front Collision Warning. I have not initialised the U1000 to enable these features. As yet. Maybe. 😏 I am unable to give testimony to the red light camera warnings because Trinidad and Tobago's information I am positive, is not included in that database. That will be for the US I assume. Additionally, I will make mention of the audio notifications: she is not chatty like some people say. When you start your car, it announces if there were any incidents while you were parked, that continuous recording will now begin and that it is connected to GPS. She will also announce if you're connected to the internet. But that is all. No other talking occurs. If you drive into a pothole or you drive fast on bumpy road or the U1000 registers impact, it'll chirp and that's about it.
Another aspect of this U1000 is the accompanying desktop application. The interface is simple and is informative. The main window provides a preview of the video you select to play from the file list while the secondary window will play the corresponding file of the other channel. So if you play the video from the front camera in the main window, the secondary windowsill display the video from the rear channel that was recorded at the same time the first video, which is playing, was recorded. The inverse happens if you select a video file from the rear camera to view- the video from the front camera will play in the smaller window. Immediately beneath the main window, there is a linear graph displaying accelerometer information. Beneath that graph are some playback controls. Neatly laid out underneath the playback controls, there is the playback time of the video file, the dashcam model, numerical representation of accelerometer information, a speedometer showing the speed of the vehicle corresponding with the time of the recording and latitudinal and longitudinal information. To the right of this, in a square, is a default Google Map view of the the area the vehicle was driving in the video clip being played. Not only that, but the area travelled by the vehicle in the minute of the clip recording is highlighted in red! Plus, while the video progresses, a pin syncs the location of the vehicle along the highlighted area.
My only criticism of the U1000 experience is, contemporary smartphones are quite capable: I would encourage Thinkware to allow some functionality from the desktop app to make its way into the mobile app. That way, on the scene of an accident or incident, if the police are involved on scene or someone is at the police station, making a report, that map information especially, will be able to be presented to them to be included in the report. Something like that will be very helpful. It will completely omit, having to go home to print that information and then having to appear at the station with it.
Conclusion: This dashcam deserves no less than 5 stars for impeccable quality video: both during the daytime and at night, its network connected features, its fully comprehensive and informative desktop software and its ability to not cause any excessive drain on battery during parking mode with Energy Saving 2.0- paired with the radar module. That picture of the battery voltage reading, was taken after the car was parked for 2 days without starting. The U1000 is beautiful with its compact screen-less design and mostly black colour with accents of silver. It is functional, capable, supports up to 512GB in micro Sd as we know from my contribution and it comes with accompanying software, hardware and features to make accessing the files, virtually hassle free. If you're here reading this review and you can afford this dashcam, don't even bother deliberating between this and any other options- JUST BUY THIS! 🤓☺️😃 It is the best 4K dash-cam and the best dash-cam money can buy. Is it worth the asking price? Yes.
I have no regrets and neither will you. 💯👊🏾