Responding to the email of Aug 23, 2022 inviting complaints.
I have bought four Vantrue S1 cameras. Two for my own cars; two for friends. I install them myself.
Suggestion 1(a): Modern cars often have quite large equipment boxes around the upper center of the windshield accommodating radars, cameras, rain sensors, antennas, and who knows what else. That means the dashcam need to be mounted off-center. A future product should be a screenless box with two remote cameras similar to the rear-facing camera used on the S1. Then the box may be installed say behind the glovebox or in the passenger storage areas and a small camera mounted less conspicuously behind the rear-view mirror on the center-line.
Suggestion 1(b): More expenively, the tilt/pan of the camera on the S1 is not very satisfactory when 6" or more off-center in the car. A better lens system to extend the field of view to the driver side (so rotate the lens 180 degrees for RH or LH drive cars) would be useful. No one is lookign for cinematographic quality without distortion - anything which shows the circumstances of the event is welcome. (But a dashcam specific distortion removing 'filter' in the Vantrue App would then add value and stickiness for Vantrue products).
Complaint 2: The S1 contains a super-cap but a small (rechargeable?) coin cell to preserve the system configuration would be welcome. I wire my S1s on a switched supply because my cars (BMW, Volvo) throw faults when they detect battery drain through the fusebox I wire into. Unfortunately, that means that when I go on vacation when I come back I need to manually reimplement my preferences.
Suggestion 3: Everyone has cellphones. At least, almost everyone who invests in a dashcam. Rather than have a display on the dashcam which is awkward to look at, adds bulk, and product cost instead add a WiFi hotspot and WiFi client capability. When the car is home and in range of the owner's WiFi suck all the recent video from the car using a client on a PC belonging to the owner. Provide an automatic option, or on-demand so that the owner can see video without messing about with SDHC card removal. Provide for several saved WiFI networks. Use established pair-through-bluetooth technology similar to how other screenless WiFi clients work. When away from home (or setting up) put the WiFI in a private Access Point mode so that the user can join that hotspot with their cellphone and stream video to their screen, download event videos, set configurations using a web browser, and so on.
Complaint #4: The adhesive mounting bracket (for the S1) distorts in heat. I live in Arizona so the surface which attaches to the windshield gets hot. After <6 months the plastic twists or bows so that it offers a concave or convex surface to the windshield and on two (of my four) S1 that has made it impossible to slide the S1 out of the windshield mount. Please use a thermally stable plastic for that mount.
These suggestions appear negative, but I LOVE my cameras. They have already paid for themselves by providing video evidence refuting other drivers' versions of their 'truth'. Both times I was rear-ended and one driver had the audacity to claim that I went through a red light and reversed backwards into them! My insurance rates are unaffected. My dashcams are one of the best investments I have ever made.
Can i connect it to a iPad 8 and use that as a monitor?
The s1 display is too small for me to see . a way to put a monitor or hook up to a tablet
would be great!
How do I look connect my ass one to the Internet or computer?
Hi Frank, thank you so much for your suggestions and we will also record your complaints and to make improvement. As to the mounting bracket issue you have now, can you email us to support@vantrue.net to get replacement bracket? Thank you.