Cool Ebay Gadgets For Cars

[Watchman]

Hi,

I got the device just on today. Same as Ramish, the picture quality is nowhere close to what that Arun posted. I couldnot even recognize the number plate of vechicles. Guys, whats going on here.....

Further, the angle adjusting screw of the camera holder was too tightened when it came. My attempt to loose it broke the handle, damn..... What should i do now???

Can you share some sample photos/videos?

As someone who bought a camera on ebay i'm getting a bit nervous too.

[udayap]

Can you share some sample photos/videos?

As someone who bought a camera on ebay i'm getting a bit nervous too.

Watchman,

How could i upload a photo

[Hoonigan]

This should help you figure out attaching a photo

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/60-how-to-attach-images-to-your-post/

The images maybe darker if it is pointed more into the harsh light outside. Meaning if the sky and bright areas form most of the image, your camera will adjust by darkening the complete image (Exposure compensation). If you need the camera pointed the way it is, the only way to adjust is by adjusting the exposure compensation, the way you have done.

@Watchman, I remember looking at a helmet camera called 'contour roam' which is a more comparable to the GoPro but is quite cheaper. It's not the regular chinese type and as far as I can see, much more compact. Might be worth having a look at.

[Watchman]

@Watchman, I remember looking at a helmet camera called 'contour roam' which is a more comparable to the GoPro but is quite cheaper. It's not the regular chinese type and as far as I can see, much more compact. Might be worth having a look at.

I got mine in the post today. The exterior looks pretty solid and it looks just like the original camera the design was ripped off from. But I havent tested it out yet for video. I look forward to the weekend now

[ramishkad]

Can you share some sample photos/videos?

As someone who bought a camera on ebay i'm getting a bit nervous too.

Here is an Imgur album of some of mine : http://imgur.com/a/grm3t

It'snot terrible i guess. But you might need tweaking the exposure value to your liking.

There is a slight blur to the left/right corners of each snap. Not sure if this is due to some dirt on the lens (couldn't really check as im at work now). On video plackback it looks a bit better than the snaps might suggest.

Edited March 5, 2014 by ramishkad

[udayap]

I got mine in the post today. The exterior looks pretty solid and it looks just like the original camera the design was ripped off from. But I havent tested it out yet for video. I look forward to the weekend now

Please find the sample video through this link:

The quality of the video is really poor.

Edited March 5, 2014 by udayap

[Watchman]

@ramishkad: Yours looks pretty decent just that it does look a tiny bit out of focus.

@udayap: machang I think you just need to increase the exposure a bit. And point the camera forward, I think it's a bit crooked. I was playing around with mine (indoor) and noticed that the recording was a bit too dark indoors. But when you use it outdoors, it works fine.

I'm guessing all these cameras follow a similar software/driver design. There's a text file with some numbers on it which actually happens to be the configurations for the camera. You'll see it when you plug it in. Anyway it has a bunch of parameters like focus, EV, white balance, date etc etc. Play with it and see. But I agree, even my video isnt as crisp as Arun's. I didnt try any photos though cos the selector is at the back of the camera and it's a bit hard to reach when on the move.

[udayap]

@ramishkad: Yours looks pretty decent just that it does look a tiny bit out of focus.

@udayap: machang I think you just need to increase the exposure a bit. And point the camera forward, I think it's a bit crooked. I was playing around with mine (indoor) and noticed that the recording was a bit too dark indoors. But when you use it outdoors, it works fine.

I'm guessing all these cameras follow a similar software/driver design. There's a text file with some numbers on it which actually happens to be the configurations for the camera. You'll see it when you plug it in. Anyway it has a bunch of parameters like focus, EV, white balance, date etc etc. Play with it and see. But I agree, even my video isnt as crisp as Arun's. I didnt try any photos though cos the selector is at the back of the camera and it's a bit hard to reach when on the move.

@watchman: Thanks. I'll adjust the exposure and see the results. But, it seems the picture is quite out-of-focus. There was a problem with the camera holder, so that I could not change the camera position. I wrote to the seller regarding the problem that I faced with the holder, I am expecting his response.

Edited March 5, 2014 by udayap

[Magnum]

Please find the sample video through this link:

The quality of the video is really poor.

Adjusting your camera probably would fix your problem. It looks like you have focused your camera on to the sky

[udayap]

Adjusting your camera probably would fix your problem. It looks like you have focused your camera on to the sky

Thanks Mag for your comment. I could not adjust the camera angle as the holder was not working properly. Hopeful, the picture become bit brighter after directing the camera on to the road. However, I would not expect further improvement of the the fineness of the picture.

[udayap]

@ramishkad: Yours looks pretty decent just that it does look a tiny bit out of focus.

@udayap: machang I think you just need to increase the exposure a bit. And point the camera forward, I think it's a bit crooked. I was playing around with mine (indoor) and noticed that the recording was a bit too dark indoors. But when you use it outdoors, it works fine.

I'm guessing all these cameras follow a similar software/driver design. There's a text file with some numbers on it which actually happens to be the configurations for the camera. You'll see it when you plug it in. Anyway it has a bunch of parameters like focus, EV, white balance, date etc etc. Play with it and see. But I agree, even my video isnt as crisp as Arun's. I didnt try any photos though cos the selector is at the back of the camera and it's a bit hard to reach when on the move.

Watchman: Were you able to check out the battery. Mine does not get fully charged and the battery lasts only for 3 - 4 minutes in recording mode. I am questioning to myself whether the seller has sent me an inferior product!!!!

Edited March 5, 2014 by udayap

[Watchman]

Watchman: Were you able to check out the battery. Mine does not get fully charged and the battery lasts only for 3 - 4 minutes in recording mode. I am questioning to myself whether the seller has sent me an inferior product!!!!

I didn't use the thing for a long time. Maybe abour 15 mins,,, Like Arun's, mine too records in multiple clips of 3mins. (approx 230mb each). I think that makes things a lot easier to handle the files later on. I'll test it over the weekend and let you guys know.

edit:

Since yours is a car camera i think it might be required to run off the 12v current continuously. My camera is a helmet mounted one, so it HAS to run on its own battery. But if you really feel it's a defective camera create a dispute with the seller and see how he handles it.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Watchman

[Watchman]

I couldnt be patient till the weekend to try it out, so I ended up using it on my way to work today.

This clip was recorded at 720p @60fps, so you might want to change the resolution on YouTube to see the proper quality.

As you see, I need to play around to make sure it points in the correct direction. This was a smooth tarmac surface; but the real test will be on gravel and uneven surfaces.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Watchman

[chathudagr8]

Hey guys look what i found ,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUE-5M-FLEXIBLE-TRIM-FOR-CAR-INTERIOR-EXTERIOR-MOULDING-STRIP-DECORATIVE-LINE-/321199536792

[udayap]

I couldnt be patient till the weekend to try it out, so I ended up using it on my way to work today.

This clip was recorded at 720p @60fps, so you might want to change the resolution on YouTube to see the proper quality.

As you see, I need to play around to make sure it points in the correct direction. This was a smooth tarmac surface; but the real test will be on gravel and uneven surfaces.

Watchman, The video quality looks pretty okay. By the way, where on earth this surroundings.........Malaysia?

[Komisiripala]

naa machan. this is Mattala. bugger is head of air traffic control

[Watchman]

On the topic of cool ebay gadgets, I bought this mini camcorder the other day. The sample videos look pretty good, and they cost like 1/5 the cost of a proper Go-pro.

I'll share the video results when I've tried it out.

I was able to give it a proper testing, so here's the final verdict.

Price (including shipping): USD59.00

Build Quality: 8/10. The Camera has a metal body, so you dont have to worry about dropping it and breaking it. But the mounts that come with the camera are very average plastics. Not the heavy duty plastics that might be better, considering the abuse these would go through. It hasn't broken yet, but I feel that should something break one day it would be one of the plastic clips on the mounts.

Image quality: 9/10. I give it 9 only because it's not very good in the night. But as you can see its crystal clear during the day at 720p or 1080p.

Ease of use: 7/10. Operating it is easy; press button 1 to turn on, press button 2 to start recording, long press button 2 to stop recording and long press button 1 to turn it off. Very easy to start/stop even when on the move, because it vibrates (like a mobile phone) when in start/stop, hence you dont have to see the light to make sure it's switched on. What I didn't like is that due to the fact that there's no view finder it will take a couple of trial&error cycles till you get the angles just right depending on your helmet angle and eye-level. Once you get it right, you might want to 'mark' the correct position so that the next time you attach it you know exactly how it should go on.

Battery life 9/10: It runs about 120 minutes on a single charge, which is pretty good considering how small the whole unit is. This works out to about 10gb of recording. So ideally a 16GB card should do. I'm not sure how it would handle an overloaded card. I guess it could either stop recording or overwrite the earlier recordings.

Value for money: 10/10. You can't ask for more from a USD59 Camera. The original camera that this is copied from is about USD250. It has a 170 degree angle of view as opposed to the 120 on this. But the build quality of the mountings, camera etc are identical and so is the battery life. The more popular GoPros sell beween USD 250 and 480 based on the model IIRC. So yeah, you get a lot for what you spend.

Verdict: This sweet toy can be your perfect camera if ur into biking, cycling car-racing, where you can't stop to pull out a camcorder or phone to capture the moment. I was worried that the vibrations on the trail would give a choppy video, but it didnt. If you take a look at my sample video, it's fairly stable even on the really bumpy stretches. In fact the recording understates how bumpy the ride is. The major vibrations in the highway sections is due to the entire helmet being moving around at those speeds (90-110 range).

I'm tempted to buy a 2nd camera so that I can capture multiple angles. It got a proper field test on my last trail ride. Except for cutting/cropping there has been no video/image enhancement done on the footage.

http://vimeo.com/91234855

Edited April 7, 2014 by Watchman

[ramishkad]

3M auto detailing claybar - Not really a gadget but http://www.ebay.com/itm/3M-180g-Car-Auto-Vehicle-Clean-Cleaning-Clay-Bar-Detailing-Cleaner-Remove-Marks-/201000948975?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ecc9714ef&vxp=mtr

Had great results when I used it. Removed most of the stains that were hard to remove without the need of any strong chemicals.

[Nimz77]

2x1157 SMD 5050 18 Red LED Flash Car Brake Tail Rear Signal Stop Light Lamp Bulb

In build with flashing

"When it lightens, it will strobe for 3 seconds before it keeps lightening"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x1157-SMD-5050-18-Red-LED-Flash-Car-Brake-Tail-Rear-Signal-Stop-Light-Lamp-Bulb-/301109628192

[Nimz77]

If your car has a 16-pin interface (OBD2), then yes.

No its 14pin (OBD1)..please advise ...looking for compatible scanner

can i use "Nissan 14 Pin to 16 Pin Female OBD2 OBDII Car Cable Diagnostic Adapter Connector" with OBD 2?

with Mini Bluetooth ELM327 OBD2 Interface CAN-BUS Diagnostic Car Scanner Tool?

(http://www.ebay.com/itm/14-Pin-to-16-Pin-Female-OBD2-OBDII-Diagnostic-Connector-Adapter-Cable-for-Nissan-/301130281637)

Also found below scanner

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Diagnostic-Interface-14-pin-Consult-Scanner-for-Nissan-/300718914689?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46043e7c81

(design for nissan)

Please advise..

Edited April 15, 2014 by Nimz77

[SanjeevMahen]

Best Dash cam (Car DVR), That i have found from ebay so far.. Using nearly one month, still working fine. Paid only US $ 51 including shipping. Item was received home within 2 weeks. I am using 16GB micro sd card. it can store videos of 3 hours in Full HD 1080P quality. Micro sd card should be class 10.

See related links..

Ebay link -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360770580378?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Dash cam talk -

http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/

See snapshots taken from videos.

After seeing Arun's post and reading up on the review link, I also bought this cam for USD52.00 in Jan'14. Got it in delivered securely in about a month. Ordered a 64GB Micro SD card from a separate seller, which also came in about the same time.

Both worked fine right away but then within a few days started giving issues:

- Says memory error and would not record. Display will be in the usual live view mode minus the functions/setting display. None of the buttons would work. Basically gets stuck.

- Records fine but will not play back on the unit itself. At such times the card has to be taken out and read through a pc/laptop, from which the initial files would play but the rest would not be playable/corrupt.

To make it work proper again, I would've to format the card, after copying the playable files.

- When the gallery/file mode is taken, it would say 'No Files' whereas there were files and such can be viewed/played only by accessing card thru PC/Laptop.

After reading on the user manual that the max supported is 32GB, I assumed it was to do with the card and ordered a 32GB card.

Sadly, the 32GB card also gave the same issues and I thought may be its due to both the cards being fake and tried an original 2GB sandisk card that I could get a hold of but it too returned the same issues.

I fiddled with all options on the unit. Reduced clip timing to 2mins, Manually power it off after turning the car off so as to save it from any sort of 'crash' it was experiencing. Resetting it....

But nothin worked.

After getting to work and parking the car under the sun as usual(no option for shade), I even removed and took the unit with me to office, in the assumption that the heat build up was causing the issue. But then the issue returned even when the unit was installed back in the evening. At times, even when the unit is left in the car during a hot day, it would still work in the evening without an issue. So basically there was no correlation between the issues and the causes that I could think up of.

So I'm somewhat out of options now. I've lost some valuable clips/opportunities to record, due to this issue.(no accidents thus far. fingers crossed)

Anyone else going thru a similar situ with this unit? I've seen this dash cam in a few vehicles on our roads now. So I guess atlest a few owners of such will be on AL....

Edited April 16, 2014 by SanjeevMahen

[Hoonigan]

After seeing Arun's post and reading up on the review link, I also bought this cam for USD52.00 in Jan'14. Got it in delivered securely in about a month. Ordered a 64GB Micro SD card from a separate seller, which also came in about the same time.

Both worked fine right away but then within a few days started giving issues:

- Says memory error and would not record. Screen be in the usual live view mode minus the functions/setting display. None of the buttons would work. Basically gets stuck.

- Records fine but will not play back on the unit itself. At such times the card has to be taken out and read through a pc/laptop from which the initial files would play but the rest would not be playable/corrupt.

To make it work proper again, I would've to format the card, after copying the playable files.

- When the gallery/file mode is taken, it would say 'No Files' whereas there were files and such can be viewed/played only by accessing card thru PC/Laptop.

After reading on the user manual that the max supported is 32GB I assumed it was to do with the card and ordered a 32GB card.

Sadly, the 32GB card also gave the same issues and I thought may be its due to both the cards being fake and tried an original 2GB sandisk card that I could get a hold of but it too returned the same issues.

I fiddled with all options on the unit. Reduced clip timing to 2mins, Manually power it off after turning the car off so as to save it from any sort of 'crash' it was experiencing. Resetting it....

But nothin worked.

After getting to work and parking the car under the sun as usual(no option for shade), I even removed and took the unit with me to office, in the assumption that the heat build up was casuing the issue. But then the issue returned even when the unit was installed back in the evening. At times, even when the unit is left in the car during a hot day, it would still work in the evening without an issue. So basically there was no correlation between the issues and the causes that I could think up of. ((

So I'm somewhat out of options now. I've lost some valuable clips/opportunities to record, due to this issue.(no accidents thus far. fingers crossed)

Anyone else going thru a similar situ with this unit? I've seen it this dash cam in a few vehicles on our roads now. So I guess atlest a few owners of such will be on AL....

Are any of the cards you used Class 10? If not, try to get hold of a Class 10 card. Alternatively, try reducing the quality from 1080p (or 720p for good measure). It might be possible that the buffer fills up too quick causing it to have a seizure.

[SanjeevMahen]

Are any of the cards you used Class 10? If not, try to get hold of a Class 10 card. Alternatively, try reducing the quality from 1080p (or 720p for good measure). It might be possible that the buffer fills up too quick causing it to have a seizure.

The 64gb and 32gb that I bought off aliexpress.com did say Class 10 but I doubt if they were so. The original Sandisk that i tried wasn't either.

720p is ok in day time but as the light fades and during night it returns rather unstatisfactory video quality, especially since the majority of our roads are poorly lit and the headlights are the main illumination.

Still I shall try reducing to 720p today and get back to you with the results. Thanks for the quick word.

[Hoonigan]

The 64gb and 32gb that I bought off aliexpress.com did say Class 10 but I doubt if they were so. The original Sandisk that i tried wasn't either.

720p is ok in day time but as the light fades and during night it returns rather unstatisfactory video quality, especially since the majority of our roads are poorly lit and the headlights are the main illumination.

Still I shall try reducing to 720p today and get back to you with the results. Thanks for the quick word.

I meant it as a test...so you can isolate the issue, camera or memory card.

Most cards available on ebay and the like are fakes.

So try a card you know for a fact is a class 10. If it works, your camera is fine, buy the right card and you can go record in 1080p. If it doesn't work, the camera has a issue. Take it up with the seller.

If you can't find a class 10 card, try 360p or 480p quality. The buffer won't fill as quickly as with 1080p so the card will be able to keep up. But without a class 10 card, you won't be able to tell for sure i your camera is shot or not.

[SanjeevMahen]

I meant it as a test...so you can isolate the issue, camera or memory card.

Most cards available on ebay and the like are fakes.

So try a card you know for a fact is a class 10. If it works, your camera is fine, buy the right card and you can go record in 1080p. If it doesn't work, the camera has a issue. Take it up with the seller.

If you can't find a class 10 card, try 360p or 480p quality. The buffer won't fill as quickly as with 1080p so the card will be able to keep up. But without a class 10 card, you won't be able to tell for sure i your camera is shot or not.

Understood loud and clear

Shall try as you've pointed out and will get back with the results. Thanks again.