Fitcamx dash camera

[Robert1380]

Morning guys. Not sure if this is the right area on the forum for this post but here it goes. If it’s not, I’m sure the mod will adjust appropriately.

Gotta warn anyone interested in this cam. First of all, I bought one and received it two days ago. I purchased it because of the YT reviews and a few folks on this forum.

My experience with this company was pretty bad.

So my unit, or perhaps the wiring harness was defective. Could not get it to power up. Tried disconnecting and reconnecting as well as double and triple checking to make sure I was installing according to the directions. Honestly, a monkey could install it as it’s really simple. Unfortunately no matter what I did, it wouldn’t power up.

Attempted to contact the company and quickly found out that the main hub is in China with a distribution center in Pleasanton, California. They have NO customer service support phone number. Any communication is done via email and it took a mere 7 hours to get a response from their tech support folks. They had me try several steps to correct the issue, which I had already done multiple times. After an agonizing afternoon, trying to get someone to send me a return shipping authorization, they finally sent one but at my expense. Shipping back was 30 bucks due to tracking and signature requirements. They stated that they wouldn’t pay for shipping because I didn’t send them a photo of the camera connected to the Y harness, proving it was set up. I explained that after 7 hours of messing with the camera and not getting any real support from them, I had removed the camera and boxed it up to be sent back. Not only do they not have a customer service phone support, they want you to troubleshoot and get technical help via email. Which is fine if you have 3-4 days to exchange communications. They said it’s probably a bad harness or a wire broke but were totally unwilling to pay for return shipping unless I went back and installed the unit again to take a photo. Horrible company with garbage customer service. Much better options out there folks.

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[The Weatherman]

I concur with their assessment. I have one in my Lightning that failed under warranty and they replaced it. While installing the replacement I found that the original cable was the failure point.

So now I have a spare camera just in case.

 

[Robert1380]

I concur with their assessment. I have one in my Lightning that failed under warranty and they replaced it. While installing the replacement I found that the original cable was the failure point.

So now I have a spare camera just in case.

I agree with their assessment as well, however that doesn’t change that they are difficult to deal with and you can’t speak to a live person for any kind of support. I sent 8 emails asking to simply return the camera for a refund and each email response was “did you connect the Y connector properly.” On the 9th email I had to get rather nasty. Sorry, I think they suck!

 

[3rdgenfan]

I went with a pair of Garmins for the truck. Front camera is only 1440p, but better than the "4k" that some of these amazonian cameras claim.

 

[Robert1380]

I went with a pair of Garmins for the truck. Front camera is only 1440p, but better than the "4k" that some of these amazonian cameras claim.

Does CarPlay have to be turned off in order for you to play back video and what was the install like in terms of connections?

 

[3rdgenfan]

Does CarPlay have to be turned off in order for you to play back video and what was the install like in terms of connections?

That is the unfortunate thing I noticed with them, you'll need to turn off Carplay/Android Auto connection in the Phone List in order for the phone to connect to the cameras and grab the video. They do have a microSD card as well, and then upload to the Garmin Vault automatically once they hit a home wifi account.

I almost got included in an accident yesterday heading home from work; found out the truck has an acceptable 50-0mph stopping distance after a car a few lengths ahead of me smoked some Ford Escape stopped in the right lane of a bridge

As for the connections, I have a Dongar Y-Cable connected to a USB splitter with one cable going into the front W67 camera, and another USB cable going around the passenger side headliner/trim area to the middle of the back window for a Garmin Mini.

Edit: added a screenshot of the exported video; quality isn't too bad but upload may compress it a bit.

 

[Robert1380]

That is the unfortunate thing I noticed with them, you'll need to turn off Carplay/Android Auto connection in the Phone List in order for the phone to connect to the cameras and grab the video. They do have a microSD card as well, and then upload to the Garmin Vault automatically once they hit a home wifi account.

I almost got included in an accident yesterday heading home from work; found out the truck has an acceptable 50-0mph stopping distance after a car a few lengths ahead of me smoked some Ford Escape stopped in the right lane of a bridge

As for the connections, I have a Dongar Y-Cable connected to a USB splitter with one cable going into the front W67 camera, and another USB cable going around the passenger side headliner/trim area to the middle of the back window for a Garmin Mini.

Thanks for the info sir. Appreciate it.

 

[Monkey]

I've posted about it elsewhere on the forum. I bought and installed the FitcamX with rear camera in my Lightning. It died when just barely past the warranty window. Support was not very helpful, they did give me a discount code off a new one -- which wasn't a great deal, not as good as their pricing they had for the holidays, for example. I installed the new one, even replaced the cable running to the rear camera to make sure all was good. The new one is still running fine, but it's not great. I personally would not recommend the camera nor buy one again if this one fails.

We bought a new Mach-E first week of June. Still researching dash cams for it and it seems that no one makes anything truly good. Probably going to get the Viofo one that also records the cabin -- which would give some limited view to the rear. Not going to try running a cable for a rear camera in the Mach-E with the glass roof and trying to work around the thin side perimeter where the airbags reside.

 

[Robert1380]

I've posted about it elsewhere on the forum. I bought and installed the FitcamX with rear camera in my Lightning. It died when just barely past the warranty window. Support was not very helpful, they did give me a discount code off a new one -- which wasn't a great deal, not as good as their pricing they had for the holidays, for example. I installed the new one, even replaced the cable running to the rear camera to make sure all was good. The new one is still running fine, but it's not great. I personally would not recommend the camera nor buy one again if this one fails.

We bought a new Mach-E first week of June. Still researching dash cams for it and it seems that no one makes anything truly good. Probably going to get the Viofo one that also records the cabin -- which would give some limited view to the rear. Not going to try running a cable for a rear camera in the Mach-E with the glass roof and trying to work around the thin side perimeter where the airbags reside.

Well it’s probably for the best that I returned the camera then. If you have this much trouble in the beginning then it’s a prelude of what’s to come. I was very underwhelmed by the companies communication and ultimate non resolution of the problem. As far as I’m concerned, just another garbage Chinese company that probably copy catted someone’s else’s design.

 

[RLXXI]

In my old truck and now in the new one, I've used Blackvue dual channel cams, comes with front/rear facing, 4k front, full hd rear. Only issue I've had, with the old cam that's still working since 2014, is the fact they use a super capacitor in them for holding power that little bit of time when you shut them down so it saves the last recordings without error.

It wore out so sometimes that last video is whacked.

 

[Monkey]

Well it’s probably for the best that I returned the camera then. If you have this much trouble in the beginning then it’s a prelude of what’s to come. I was very underwhelmed by the companies communication and ultimate non resolution of the problem. As far as I’m concerned, just another garbage Chinese company that probably copy catted someone’s else’s design.

Cheap crappy dash cams are pretty much all the same it seems. Here and there a company will pop up using a newer camera sensor or processor and they make some big deal out of it.. But it's just they're the first to us the components which everyone else will be using within weeks as they all come from the same factories. The thing is, it's all going to be cheap crap unless someone wants to actually design and produce something better. But the cost will increase exponentially.

If someone were smart, they would be hitting up the automakers to start building s standard set of connectors, mount types and positions as well as integration protocols. Then maybe someday we'll have a standardized way to mount and connect cameras around the vehicle and control or interface with them directly in the vehicle. The current approach of using a peer to peer wifi connection is stoopid. All these camera makers do it because that's just what the first ones did and no one changes it. they should give the cameras the ability to connect to other wifi networks and set priority. That way, they can connect to the wifi hotspot in newer cars or to the hotspot on my phone or to the wifi at my house. And I don't have to go to the car and then push a button on the camera and tell my phone to connect to that camera as the wifi host, just to access the recordings. So dumb. If they built it the other way, I could come home and park the car and it would automatically connect to wifi where an automation could unload all new recordings. Of course, we'd need power to stay on for the camera to do that, but that's a separate problem which is currently easier to solve.

 

[Phineas Magliozzi]

All of this would be unnecessary if Ford would allow DVR functionality on one or more of the SIX(!?!) cameras built in to the vehicle already. Disgraceful.

 

[astrand1]

I went with a pair of Garmins for the truck. Front camera is only 1440p, but better than the "4k" that some of these amazonian cameras claim.

I did the same. My garmins just work.

 

[efme]

Does CarPlay have to be turned off in order for you to play back video and what was the install like in terms of connections?

Its because wireless car play or android auto uses wifi to connect. If you use USB connection and not wireless, there could be a chance it doesn't connect wifi

 

[Ricks Lightning]

You would think that insurance companies would insist all new vehicles with cameras make them live and record on an endless loop.

Rick

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