RADAR "feature" Useless?

[Elbeau]

So, I just bought a new vehicle and, after my frustrating experiences with the BlackVue DR770x Box I installed in my other SUV, and although the BlackVue is now working properly, I decided to go with the Thinkware U3000 this time. Mainly because of its Sony Starvis 2 sensors, super night vision, and the radar. Also, while I love all of BlackVue's features, its imaging is nothing spectacular.

Anyway, according to the Thinkware manual, its Connected features are not available in the radar mode. So, exactly what good is the radar? How is it better than the motion sensing mode? Obviously, cloud connectivity is most important when parked and I'm away from the car; not when I'm in it and can see for myself what is going on.

I don't know how much this radar "feature" added to the price of the dashcam. However, whatever it is, it's a rip-off.

Am I missing something? What benefit does this radar function provide over the motion detecting parking mode?

 

[Vortex Radar]

Yeah the radar feature and connected features are either/or in parking mode. I use it with the connected features while driving and then while parked, I use the radar mode. The benefit of radar is that you can do both low power long term parking recording and buffered parking recording. The trade-off is that in order to use any radar features (regular energy saving or energy saving with radar), it needs to shut off the connected features to save power.

If you want the connected features while parked, you can do that so long as you use the traditional motion detection option. That doesn't rely on radar and it uses way more power so you get less parking record time.

 

[Elbeau]

Thanks. Good to hear the radar feature does have some value.
So, to be clear, if you use radar in parking mode, you get no notifications via the app on the cellphone? If so, then the only way you know something happened is when you return to your car (or where your car was before it was stolen)?

 

[Nigel]

The trade-off is that in order to use any radar features (regular energy saving or energy saving with radar), it needs to shut off the connected features to save power.

If the radar wakes the camera up, or it detects an impact, does it then turn on the connection and send a notification?
A week of parking mode and notifications after impact seems quite good, but if the notifications don't work then it is not so good...

 

[Panzer Platform]

So, I just bought a new vehicle and, after my frustrating experiences with the BlackVue DR770x Box I installed in my other SUV, and although the BlackVue is now working properly, I decided to go with the Thinkware U3000 this time. Mainly because of its Sony Starvis 2 sensors, super night vision, and the radar. Also, while I love all of BlackVue's features, its imaging is nothing spectacular.

Anyway, according to the Thinkware manual, its Connected features are not available in the radar mode. So, exactly what good is the radar? How is it better than the motion sensing mode? Obviously, cloud connectivity is most important when parked and I'm away from the car; not when I'm in it and can see for myself what is going on.

I don't know how much this radar "feature" added to the price of the dashcam. However, whatever it is, it's a rip-off.

Am I missing something? What benefit does this radar function provide over the motion detecting parking mode?

Did you not see my “deep dive” on the U3000? Lol
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/thinkware-u3000-test-review-pp.49789/

When it comes to understanding how the U3000’s parking mode features work I really like @safedrivesolutions
Ben’s videos show how they compare to different brands, and models.
If Low Power Parking Mode is your priority I would research the Vueroid D21 4K;
https://safedrivesolutions.com/product/vueroid-d21-4k/
If Cloud connectivity is your priority, and the U3000 does not work out for you, I have high hopes for Vanture’s LTE, and coming out next month.
But the only compatible current camera is the S1 Pro, (night time HDR unacceptable in my opinion).
Hopefully they get the HDR tuned properly or launch a replacement for the N4 Pro.
70mai should also have an LTE offering in 2 months, but I’ve got my fingers crossed it doesn’t have a battery. lol

 

[Vortex Radar]

Thanks. Good to hear the radar feature does have some value.
So, to be clear, if you use radar in parking mode, you get no notifications via the app on the cellphone? If so, then the only way you know something happened is when you return to your car (or where your car was before it was stolen)?

Correct. Again because the radar functionality works in tandem with the energy saving parking recording mode, you can't simultaneously use the cloud features while parked. You can still get verbal notifications when you get back in the car though, but that's not a cloud feature.

If you have a WiFi connection in your car, you can use the cloud features while driving so you will be able to track a vehicle in realtime while it's driving and stream footage if you like. Then when it parks you'll see the last known (aka current) location where it stopped and parked.

 

[rcg530]

The benefit of radar is that you can do both low power long term parking recording and buffered parking recording.

Even though Thinkware uses the term buffered parking mode to describe the U3000 radar parking mode in their marketing materials, it does not create videos with buffered content for most incidents detected by the radar feature.

In the Thinkware help system there exists a document discussing the radar parking mode feature (U3000 Radar Parking Mode Help Document). It outlines the timing of the 20-second videos created by the U3000 radar parking mode. With the camera in its low-power consumption state while in radar parking mode, when the radar detects a moving object, it wakes up the U3000 and within 1-to-2 seconds it will start recording 20-second videos (front and rear). The U3000 radar may detect an object several feet away from your vehicle (depending on the radar sensitivity settings) and it may capture zero to a few seconds of video showing the object/person/car approaching your vehicle, but that is not technically buffered recording. I challenged Thinkware on that claim of "buffered recordings in radar parking mode" and they ended up agreeing with me that the initially detected radar motion event won't result in a buffered recording. An impact event in addition to the radar detected motion will change the timing and total amount of 20-second video(s) recorded, but a radar detected motion event for a U3000 while in its low-power mode will not result in any buffered video content from before radar detected motion event.


The U3000 stays "awake" for at least 60 seconds after the initial radar detected motion event (assuming no additional triggering events). In that 60-second time window (40 seconds after the 20-second videos have been completed), the U3000 will be able to create buffered video since it was already powered up.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Even though Thinkware uses the term buffered parking mode to describe the U3000 radar parking mode in their marketing materials, it does not create videos with buffered content for most incidents detected by the radar feature.

In the Thinkware help system there exists a document discussing the radar parking mode feature (U3000 Radar Parking Mode Help Document). It outlines the timing of the 20-second videos created by the U3000 radar parking mode. With the camera in its low-power consumption state while in radar parking mode, when the radar detects a moving object, it wakes up the U3000 and within 1-to-2 seconds it will start recording 20-second videos (front and rear). The U3000 radar may detect an object several feet away from your vehicle (depending on the radar sensitivity settings) and it may capture zero to a few seconds of video showing the object/person/car approaching your vehicle, but that is not technically buffered recording. I challenged Thinkware on that claim of "buffered recordings in radar parking mode" and they ended up agreeing with me that the initially detected radar motion event won't result in a buffered recording. An impact event in addition to the radar detected motion will change the timing and total amount of 20-second video(s) recorded, but a radar detected motion event for a U3000 while in its low-power mode will not result in any buffered video content from before radar detected motion event.
View attachment 72432

The U3000 stays "awake" for at least 60 seconds after the initial radar detected motion event (assuming no additional triggering events). In that 60-second time window (40 seconds after the 20-second videos have been completed), the U3000 will be able to create buffered video since it was already powered up.

Fair enough. How far ahead of time the impact the radar can pick up a moving object may vary and that’s true that in some instances you may not get the “buffered” part recording. So it’s not buffered in the traditional sense, even if it can sometimes record before an impact, assuming conditions allow.

 

[Mtz]

Thinkware uses the term buffered parking mode to describe the U3000 radar parking mode

I think that is more an anti-buffered parking mode because it is missing at least 1-2 seconds.

Also that picture is not OK because the green area starts exactly where the little human enters into the scene. Just by looking at that picture people will understand that the parking mode recording is starting exactly when the little human was detected. And this is not true. The green area of 20 seconds starts after 2 seconds.

Thinkware manual and advertising should be updated with this picture