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On-board cameras, ubiquitously known as dashcams, have become an almost daily part of our lives. Whether it’s reviewing footage from our own experience on the roads or watching a YouTube supercut of Russian-based clips, we are all familiar with the advantages they present. As a result of the many advantages they have when it comes to either insurance claims or pure entertainment, the market has become flooded with a large selection of dashcams that range from cheap SD knock-off brands right up to 1080p, 60fps high end models. The Dome G90 is an attempt at creating a dashcam with high end specs, while pricing it near the low end market. Whether it stands up as a truly defining device or simply ends up being yet another fish in an oversaturated sea is what we’re here to find out.
[Full disclosure: Gearbest wanted us to review this dashcam so much that they sent us one, free of charge. However, while tasked with doing this review, I was holed up in a Richmond hotel for over a month with nothing but my malfunctioning cellphone as a camera and a two minute drive from Alderbridge to Ackroyd as my main source of testing. That said, the stereotypical Richmond traffic was still more than willing to help out with footage for those two minute daily drives. Also, I intended to get more shots of the packaging and box itself, but either my room service was being overly ambitious and decided it was garbage they needed to clean off the desk, or someone decided they wanted it more than me. Luckily the dashcam was in my car so all that went missing was an empty box. But still... good ol' Richmond.]
INSIDE THE BOX
This particular unit was delivered from Gearbest. Considering it was shipped via snail mail from overseas, a two week(ish) turn-around wasn’t terrible. God knows I’ve waited for over two months for car parts bought off of Ebay that were shipped from the same country as this was. It was shipped rather securely, with enough packaging material to protect the actual unit from the typical sort of bumps and drops you’d expect from an over-tired delivery person. Unfortunately the Dome G90 itself was packed with slightly less care. I’m not sure if it was because this was a review model or I was shipped a returned unit, but all the plastic packaging holding the various bits and pieces were already ripped open and were floating haphazardly within. Luckily nothing seemed broken or even scratched, but it is still worth noting.
Inside was the G90 unit, a mini-USB cable with more than sufficient length, the mount for the camera itself, an instruction manual and a warranty card.
The instruction manual provides some very basic directions on how to set-up and use the G90. While the translations were poorly done, they’re good enough that you can make it through the booklet without having to bang your head on your windshield more than once or twice. The one confusing thing I did come across was that the manual specified that the G90 box should come with a CD for software and drivers to access the GPS option on the unit. However, the G90 doesn’t have a GPS tracker built in (at least, none that I could find while researching online). Either way, I simply chalked it up to cost-saving on the manufacturers part by recycling the same manual for different models while forgetting to do a final edit before sending it off to print.
THE DEVICE
The Dome G90 boasts some decent specs, considering the price range it typically targets. 1080p at 30fps and in h.264/AAC, 170* lens, collision detection, seemless loops, mini HDMI-out and a surprisingly decent LCD screen to boot.
The first thing you notice is the size of the camera. Designed to mimic the look of a traditional SLR (complete with fake zoom and focus ring indents), it definitely stands out a little more than similar offerings from Blackvue and other similar lipstick style cases. Not saying this is a bad thing as they needed to increase the real estate space in order to fit the LCD screen on the back, and I imagine the cooling is likely better on this than many sub-compact designs. However, it certainly stands out a lot more when attached to a windshield. As someone who prefers discrete over flash, I wasn't particularly happy about the size. That said, apart from a fine chrome bit of plastic around the lens, it was sheer black. This alone helped hide the camera from prying eyes from anyone taking a quick glance inside the car.
Unlike almost every other dashcam I've seen on the market, however, the G90 came with a suction cup mount that is required in order to use it. The mini-USB plugs into the mount itself, while the camera hooks into a different section. In theory this seems like a decent idea but the suction cup's, er, suction was often questionable at times. Even after a proper window and suction cup cleaning, I would still find the whole unit falling down onto the gear shifter at inopportune times. I found myself wishing for a proper sticky tape mount for permanent installation. There are various hacks online showing how this can be done, but it's something that should have been considered from the design phase on.
The USB cable itself is of quite sufficient length (I'd do a length measurement, but it disappeared at some point while switching cars after the Jetta blew up it's engine [don't ask, that will be coming up on a different post]), but suffice it to say that it will fit whatever length you need. The only downside is that it was a 12v cigarette plug only. No option to hardwire it in directly without splicing the cable or using a Power Magic kit. Not a big deal if you only have short trips, but if you're like me and require an outlet to power a standalone GPS or cellphone charger and only have one 12v outlet and are faced with a multi-hour drive, it becomes a tossup on what takes priority.
TAKING IT FOR A SPIN
After dealing with the aforementioned issue with the suction cup, I finally managed to get the mount to actually stay in place for more than a few minutes. Thinking I was all ready to give it a spin, I came across another issue: The damn thing refused to record footage. It took three different micro-SD cards and six reformats before the camera would start recording. The first one I could forgive as it was a generic Core Micro Class 6 card, but the other two were a Class 10 Verbatim and Sandisk. The Sandisk was the only one to be accepted by this camera, despite the fact that all three worked in my Blackvue dr400. Regardless, I wasn't overly concerned as this isn't an issue that's solely relegated to the G90. All the basic menu options were there, including recording length, g-sensitivity, and footage quality. I set it to 1 minute clips, medium sensitivity and 1080p30 video.
The LCD screen on the back was nice to help with setting up the shot and scrolling through the menu list, but it was otherwise distracting while driving. Plus, and while this is a technicality, it's also illegal in BC to have a screen like that in operation while driving a vehicle (at least insofar as I understand the laws posted in the Police Forum here on Revscene). The screen resolution is a paltry 960 x 240 but it's still surprisingly clear, given the lower specs.
All seemed well at first, but upon reviewing some of the footage I recorded, I started noticing some odd quirks. Some video clips were indeed a full minute in length before transitioning to the next clip, but as they progressed, the clips started getting shorter and shorter until they were no more than 20 seconds max. Equally puzzling is that the "seamless transitions" were anything but. Oh, sure, when they clips were a full minute long, they would match up. However, when reviewing the oddly shorter clips, you'd lose a good two or three seconds between them. I even came across a few that were missing up to ten seconds.
Another quirk I came across is that if the camera thinks the vehicle isn't moving, it will shut itself down into power save mode. This is a great option if you're parking the car for an extended time, but when you're moving slowly in rush hour traffic or even stuck at a red light for more than twenty seconds, it will still turn off and often at the wrong time. The camera missed an almost vital moment when a jackass almost sideswiped me at the No3/Bridgeport intersection while I was waiting at a red light. There might have been an option in the menu that I didn't happen to see which may correct this issue, but as it stands, it's a bit of a concern on my part.
The audio quality is... okay. If your windows are rolled up and you don't have music blasting higher than 2 on your volume dial, it's more than acceptable. However, the moment you crank that window open or turn up the tunes, it becomes static distortion hell. Even conversations happening inside the vehicle can occasionally distort the sound.
I haven't mentioned the battery up to this point and the reason for that is, well... the 150mAh built-in battery in this thing is utterly useless. If you can manage to fully charge it (which, by the way, you can't do via plugging it into a laptop or wall outlet), it will last for maaaaaybe ten minutes max. Even after a four hour, non-stop drive with the camera plugged in, the battery only lasted for roughly four minutes while I used the 12v outlet to charge my phone. That said, if you choose to hardwire this camera into your car, battery life is a moot point.
As for the footage it captured, well I'll let you guys be the judge of it.
Note the time discrepancy between the end of clip 1 and the start of clip 2:
The G90 does have a decent picture to it, but it seems slightly off. I can't think of the right words to describe it, but during sunlight the picture has an almost oil pastel look to it. Not exactly oversaturated but there's definitely something. That said, it takes good footage of license plates when not in direct sunlight and during night it's clear enough to see what's going on while in the city. In low and no light environments where it's just the headlights on your vehicle, the clarity and viewing ability drops off dramatically. However, if you're simply using this around town, it will certainly handle whatever you need to throw at it.
CONCLUSION
So does the Dome G90 have what it takes to play with the big guns? Unfortunately the answer is no. I don't know if the unit I tested simply had some bugs in it or if it's indicative of a larger batch issue, but the recording issues I had made me feel like I was using an inferior knock-off. That said, when you consider the price (Gearbest.com currently has it listed for under $77), it starts to shine as that price bracket is usually reserved for SD or 720p max video quality. If you're simply looking for a cheap throwaway camera to use as a rear-facing unit or to use in a car that you don't necessarily care if it gets damaged as it's a winter beater, then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one. However, for someone looking to have uninterrupted footage without having to worry if the camera caught that one moment you needed to be captured, you're better served looking at a Finevue or other higher-end dashcam.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
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