Conclusion:

Overall the BlackVue DR650S-2CH works quite well. The video quality is great, and I think it is an almost perfect trade-off of resolution to storage capacity. Sure a 4k camera at 60fps would be incredible, but the cost of super fast microSD cards and having a 16GB card get maybe 30 minutes of video doesn’t seem worth it. But, with that said, I would like to see the rear camera be 1080/30fps so you can reliably capture license plate info. While we are discussing the rear cam, I would like to see the operating LED change to red. The white color is often hard to discern during a bright day. Another improvement I would like to see would be individual sliders for brightness control. Normally I have my windows tinted except for the front, so if I increase the brightness to get a good image out of the rear the front cam will be overexposed. I would also like to see a noise filter for the G-sensor and/or maybe a two tiered scale, one that alerts to moderately high forces and one that would only trip in the event of a real accident. That leads me to the only critical thing I think has to change, which is how the device handles events. I think it should be impossible for the device to over-write a Normal (driving) event. I say this because God forbid you have an accident and are incapacitated. By the time you get released from the hospital and get to where ever they brought your vehicle, the proof of what caused the accident could be gone.



With a starting price of around $370 for a 16GB DR650S-2CH with Power Magic Pro, the BlackVue is not cheap. You could cobble together a system for less, but you’d be losing the syncing of front and rear cams, GPS data, and cloud connectivity. Not to mention you would now have two SD cards you need to maintain. The unfortunate reality is these devices are becoming more and more necessary. A while back my wife was involved in an auto accident where the other driver was at fault. The police report even indicated this and the driver got a summons. So we thought this would be cut and dry and the other insurance company would do whatever they needed to. Well, being an insurance company they did not, and fought us the whole way. Just the amount of time I spent on the phone arguing to get them to cover medical bills would have more than paid for this device.



Pros:

» Very good image quality.
» Push notifications are timely.
» Viewing files is quite easy across all platforms.
» With exception of reformatting this is a set and forget device.

Cons:

» Would like to see stronger Wi-Fi and more hotspot slots.
» Rear cam may not capture enough detail in some instances.
» Cloud viewing can get expensive if you don’t have an unlimited data plan.
» Temperature limits may be an issue for some climates.

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