Review on 📹 BlackVue DR900X-2CH Plus: 4K UHD Cloud Dashcam with Wi-Fi, GPS & LTE Module, 32GB microSD & Parking Mode by Jack Ford

Blackvue I've been using this for a week now and that's my experience so far. I won't talk about the video quality. There are dozens of videos on YouTube about this. What most reviews don't address are features and functionality. Like many quality hardware, the Blackvue suffers from poor software. Luckily it's not so bad that I want to return it (yet). The Bluetooth/WiFi combo works quite well and is more or less bug-free as advertised. I can connect to the camera to play or download videos. Although they advertise 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi, this is only for the connection between the camera and your phone. Hotspot connectivity (for cloud functions) still only works with 2.4GHz WiFi, so keep that in mind. Where wifi is not so good. One or both may be specific to the iPhone. Changing settings in the app over Wi-Fi is random. More than 50% of the time it crashes and says "check network connection" but video and live view work fine. Hopefully this will be improved with future firmware. The workaround is to use a cloud connection to change the camera settings. It worked perfectly. Another very annoying thing about connecting to WiFi is that the iPhone tries to connect to the available WiFi automatically, which is fine, but when it connects to the camera you don't have internet access until a pop-up window A window will appear on your phone asking if you want to use cellular data to access the Internet. If you get in your car and hide your phone, you can skip this tip and have no internet while driving. The workaround is to edit the Wi-Fi connection and disable the camera's automatic Wi-Fi connection. When using the app, you will be prompted to connect. Remember to disconnect when you're done. There's also a button on the side of the camera to turn off Wi-Fi when you're not using it. Cloud features are nice and work pretty well. My home wifi reaches my driveway so I can access videos, settings and live view while parking. I get notifications about impacts (e.g. a simple closing of a door). Direct event upload is convenient, it uploads event videos to the cloud for viewing, but only during the event. If you're on the go and don't have a mobile hotspot and you have an event recording, it won't queue up for download later. You are SOL only and must remember to download it before overwriting it. I would like to change this so that when entering the driveway all out of sync event videos are loaded. Not by much, but for a $500+ device I expect that kind of attention to detail. The cord set that comes with it is good, you will need two fuse cords and extra fuses to install it so check the fuse sizes and order them with your unit. Kit to save on your trip to Autozone if you plan on wired connection. The hardest part is figuring out which fuses to knock. There is so much electronics in new cars that it is difficult to decipher the names of the fuses and determine if they are powered by the battery or by ancillary equipment. I would never pay anyone for this setup. One last note: I got lucky with my photos. My 2021 RAM 1500 has a huge sensor housing under the mirror. It turns out that my model is empty, there are no cameras there. Typically these are rain sensors, lane departure warning, etc. If you have a similar installation you may need to mount the sensor on the left or right and the sensor housing will block the camera's view. In my case, this was the case and I couldn't see the street completely from left to right. I would have to mount it directly in front of the driver or passenger and of course that has its disadvantages. It's not Blackvue's fault, but there's still something to watch out for. I would give the camera a 5/5 - it's well built, looks good, has great video quality and is easy to install. Software is probably 3/5. It works but is buggy and not entirely intuitive and needs a professional UX team to complete.