A118-C 1080p HD Car Dash Camera with Capacitor G-Sensor 1.5" HD Screen 170 Degree Wide Angle Lens Records at 60 FPS with Loop Recording

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Product Specifications

CAPACITOR BASED MODEL - Uses a Capacitor as its power source - no internal battery, 140°F heat resistant
MADE OF Novatek NT96650 Chipset + Aptina AR0330 Lens - Provides low power consumtion, but high definition video compression and smooth imaging
VIDEO RECORDING - Full 1080P HD Recording at a Smooth 30 FPS and 720P at 60 FPS with Night Vision, WDR Technology and Automatic Motion Detection
COMPACT & CONTOURED DESIGN BUILT FOR DISGUISE - A118-C camera slots in slightly above & in front of your rear-view mirror and looks like any other part of your car
EXTENDED 170° VIEWING ANGLE - Gives your recordings a panoramic quality that encompasses both sides of the road, and it’s surroundings

Product Description

dUses A Capacitor As Its Power Source - No Internal Battery: By using a capacitor as its power source, the A118-C bypasses many persistent dash cam problems that are inherent to battery use. The A118-C’s capacitor makes it operable in much higher temperature ranges so you do not have to worry about your camera overheating, making it an ideal choice for drivers in hot climates. Battery life notably degrades over time, with mere months of use shortening battery life by considerable amounts. More importantly, batteries are often the first component of a dashboard camera to fail, requiring relatively costly or time consuming repairs.

Compact and Contoured Design Built for Disguise: The A118 Dashboard Camera is extremely compact, and slots in slightly above and in front of your rear-view mirror. It’s black facing blends in perfectly with the exterior of the mirror, making it look like any other part of your car. The camera’s bracket attaches to the windshield with an included double-sided adhesive, allowing you to easily slide your camera in and out of recording position.

High Definition 1080p Video Resolution, Plus Audio Recording: The A118 offers you a number of resolution options, letting you record in high definition 1080p at 30fps or 720p at 60fps. During the day, the camera’s 1080p resolution perfectly captures your surroundings, while the speaker provides audio recording.

Built-in 1.5” HD Screen: With the built-in 1.5” HD TFT (type of LCD display), you can orient your camera for that perfect viewing angle. You can also watch already recorded footage on the go, without having to tinker with or transfer files to another device.

Sweeping 170° Viewing Angle: The 170° viewing angle stands head and shoulders above most other dashboard cameras, which fall in the 120°-150° range. The extended angle gives your recordings a panoramic quality that encompasses both sides of the road, and it’s surroundings.

Product Reviews

Best Dashcam for the Price, Performance/Quality, Features, and Size

I have researched many different types of dashcams and tried different models and finally settled upon the A118-C/B40-C as the best combination of price, features, performance/quality, and form factor/size. You can get better quality at a higher price, or more features, but I have concluded that this is really the best that does what you want a dashcam to do. I ordered a bunch of these for all the cars in our family and with the optional extra mounts (findmint Replacement Windshield 3M VHB Adhesive Mount for A118 , A118-C, B40, B40-C Dash Camera DVR [Mount Only: No Camera]), it’s easy to swap the camera between cars.PRICEFor a sub-$100 dashcam, this really has all the right features and it’s a good value for what it delivers. Most sellers will sell this for about $80 shipped these days, but be sure to make sure that it is a genuine Novatek NT96650 / Aptina AR0330 model with capacitor. “Fake” ones don’t have the right chips or lens or are battery versions touted as capacitor versions. The way to tell is to open one up and check the chips and presence of capacitor. The ones sold by “findmint” and “Spy Tec” are confirmed to be genuine, and they are from USA-based sellers with warranty support in the USA. At this price, the unit does not include the Micro SD card (aka “TF” TransFlash) that is necessary to store your videos: It accepts up to 32GB. It is recommended to use a high-quality Class 4 to 10 Micro SD card such as those from SanDisk, Samsung, Transcend, Kingston, etc. Be sure to format the card inside the camera itself before initial use because it will format it properly, rather than on your computer.FORM FACTOR/SIZEI like how compact this camera is. Compared to other dashcam models that take up much more space and look like standalone GPS units, this one blends in much nicer with the interior of the car and because it simply sticks to the windshield via the 3M VHB adhesive mount, and not suction cup, it is very secure and when mounted behind the rear view mirror, you hardly see it. It is also small enough to slip between the rear view mirror and windshield. So once you set it up, it truly is “set it and forget it” type of DVR, which is exactly what you want the dashcam to do: record everything, and only needing to access it when you need to get footage off the camera after an accident or incident, etc…FEATURESThe right blend of value and features is provided with this camera. It records in HD (1080p), can record audio (option to turn off if you want privacy), auto on/record whenever it gets power (when you turn car to ACC/on– if you wire it correctly or if you use the included 12V car charger plug), option to record when motion/bump detected (for when car is parked), good night vision, excellent daytime quality, 170 degree wide-angle “fisheye” that captures both sides of the car, micro-SD card slot (up to 32GB), mini-USB connection for hardwiring (use the optional hardwiring kit: findmint Dash Camera Vehicle Hardwiring Kit for Mini USB Devices (A118 / B40 / G1w / G1w-C / G1WH / GT680W / Mini 0801 / Mobius Action Camera / Garmin GPS / Car DVR Camera Recorder Dashboard Dash Cam)).It also have a time/date stamp (you can turn on/off) which is useful to use as evidence in case of accident. An optional GPS module (AUTO-VOX GPS Module for A118 B40 Dash Cam Extra Accessories) is available if you want to log your GPS coordinates. Most people choose not to for privacy reasons (and to not self-incriminate if you were speeding…), and frankly, in an accident, the location can be found on the camera footage anyways, and speed can be extrapolated from using distance of markers/objects, so I feel it’s unnecessary, unless you are a fleet manager and want to just keep track of your fleet.This is the capacitor version of the camera, which is more expensive than then battery version, but it ought to last much much longer and also it’s better for extreme climates. I would recommend getting the capacitor version, so you take out the risk of battery leaking/exploding because sitting on your windshield ²⁴⁄₇ and subject to the sun is a very harsh environment. A capacitor is not like a battery– it merely holds a charge and regulates the voltage, whereas a battery produces a charge. Therefore, when the unit is powered off, it will stay on for a few seconds enough to power down (stop recording / write the last bits to SD card) and then turn off.PERFORMANCEThe quality of the daytime video is superb. I was surprised how clear the video was. You can make out the license plates of cars in front and parked to the side of the road easily. It also has a good dynamic range of capturing video as you move from bright to shade (such as into a tunnel and then out). Night time recording is not as good, but it’s acceptable: it also depends a lot on how clear your windshield is. I think my car’s inside windshield needs to be cleaned more, as the lights from street lights tend to look like lines instead of dots.The camera saves the videos in .MOV (QuickTime Movie) format. You can set it to record continuously, or in 1, 3, or 5-minute intervals. I set it at 3, so that it’s easier to search and look for the clip you need, and it also lessens the risk of losing a file to corruption. Yes, it records them in succession, so at the end of the 3-minute clip, it records the next second right away. When the SD card is filled up, it goes and overwrites the oldest file and keeps recording– so it’s very “set it and forget it” which I really like.Sample Videos (raw, unprocessed video):Day:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxXMmUb6sZUNight:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53qvS4UWxW0Products Mentioned / Direct Links to Purchase:A118-C Camera (Capacitor Version):findmint A118-C B40 Capacitor 1080P HD Video Car Dashboard Camera (Novatek NT96650 Chipset + Aptina AR0330 Lens)Recommended Accessories:Hardwiring Kit:findmint Dash Camera Vehicle Hardwiring Kit for Mini USB Devices (A118 / B40 / G1w / G1w-C / G1WH / GT680W / Mini 0801 / Mobius Action Camera / Garmin GPS / Car DVR Camera Recorder Dashboard Dash Cam)Spare Mount:findmint Replacement Windshield 3M VHB Adhesive Mount for A118 , A118-C, B40, B40-C Dash Camera DVR [Mount Only: No Camera]SD CardSanDisk Ultra 16GB UHS-I/Class 10 Micro SDHC Memory Card With Adapter- SDSDQUAN-016G-G4A [Old Version]

A Great Daytime Dash Camera, Decent Night Time Performer

I use this as a rear dash camera and it works perfectly for me. The camera is roughly half the size of today’s smartphones and lightweight. Since my car has a tinted rear window, this camera’s shape and size makes it virtually invisible unless you shine a light directly at the glass where it’s mounted. Otherwise, you would never know it was there if you drove behind me. As a result, I don’t bother removing the camera even when I’m parked outside.For the price of this camera, I was very impressed with its recording abilities during the daytime hours. The image is very sharp and you can easily read license plates in full HD at 30 frames per second. Since this camera has a wide angle lens that spans 170 degrees, objects will appear farther than they really are but you get a nice sweeping view wherever you decide to mount this camera. I was pleasantly surprised that despite vehicles that were practically on my bumper, this camera was able to record a full view of the front of the vehicle (bumper & license plate) as if they were farther away. In terms of night time performance, this is where the camera falls short (my reason for 1 less star). If you check the screenshots of some sample footage I took, it’s obvious that this camera prefers environments with plenty of light.Overall, I would definitely recommend this dash camera. It mounts to the glass and easily comes off if you decide to detach it. It’s small, lightweight, and affordable with great performance during the day and decent night time performance to meet most needs.

Setup was simple and installation was easy. It runs off of 5V 1amp so I …

Setup was simple and installation was easy. It runs off of 5V 1amp so I was able to use a lower profile charger instead of the bulky one that it ships with. It has a few mounting options for you to choose from. I used the one that slides into the camera base. I wish it was summer here so I could see how well the adhesive holds up.Video quality is very good. I was able to make out someone’s face very easy during nighttime while they were ~20ft away form the camera (I was in a parking lot surrounded by ambient light).It has motion detection so if you wired it up properly you could give it constant power and it will record any time there is something happening.I don’t like that it only records about 4 hours of footage at the highest settings. That may be more than enough for your average user but I do a good amount of distance driving.Overall I am happy with this purchase. The camera exceeded my expectations even though the recording time is not as long as I’d like.UPDATE 8-29-17I live in Southeast Alabama and it gets pretty hot here. The adhesive that holds the base of the camera mount needs time to cure properly. Don’t do like I did and put it on the windshield and then mount the camera. That thing fell down after a couple of weeks and I tried using super glue to mount the base to the sticky stuff but it didn’t work the same. There’s a replacement mount kit for 8$ that does the job. I cleaned the glass again and, this time when I applied it, I put some pressure on it for about a solid minute, making sure to put pressure on different points so that I got even coverage. Then I let it sit for the rest of the day (I applied it after work around 5PM) and that was about 2 months ago; haven’t had an issue since.Still a great little camera.

Don’t get a 64GB card

Carefull, don’t know if this works yet. Because, I ordered a 64GB card with it. Here is what is on the Manufactures web page.

SpyTec A118-C Dash Cam

Working fine I wanted a stealth unit and it is near invisible, Screen is kind of small then again my eyes aren’t what they used to be.

Five Stars

This is a very nice small camera. It small enough not to bother anyone. Good recording features.

It’s ok, just don’t expect a long life out …

It’s ok, just don’t expect a long life out of it. Died after about 14 months. Went with a capacitor model to supposedly aid reliability.

Good dashcam

Good camera.Pros:- Real FullHD (1080p), pretty crisp picture- Wide angle lens covers the whole whindshield area- All necessary functions- Easy to…

Works pretty well, but night recording could be better

Menu / User Interface was a little tricky to get the hang of at first, but is simple enough. Quality is decent at 720p @60fps and fills up a 16Gb micro SD card after about 4 hours…

… trusty $20 one finally broke after 3 years of good service. Well it dont matter what u pay …

Thought i would pay the big money for a new dash cam since my old trusty $20 one finally broke after 3 years of good service.

It has non-replaceable internal battery, so after the camera stop working in 1 - 1.5 years you have to buy the new camera.

DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF JUNK! It has non-replaceable internal battery! And the battery lasts a little bit more than one year. So after the camera stop working in 1 - 1.

images are not bad. watch how I dodged a ladder from a …

having it for a few months. works smoothly. images are not bad.watch how I dodged a ladder from a truck in front me me the other day.Customer Video Review