A Cheap (& nasty) Car camera.
Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 6:08PM Judging by the comments I get there are lot of people who are reluctant to import products from Chinese ebay retailers. I understand a certain level of apprehension, but on the whole I've had very few problems, and often if you are willing to import you will get the best deal. Unfortunately my complacency is the reason that I ended up getting caught out this time. I was looking for the cheapest option - had a number of auctions open in different windows and ended up choosing poorly.
I've put the video together anyway to as a reminder to be cautious and avoid rogue devices that masquerade as better ones.
There will be a new video along as soon as possible (hopefully in about 10 days) where I'll be reviewing two alternatives to this camera with a very similar form-factor. These cameras are being sold in the UK at prices that are equivalent to the HK ebayers, but with the added reassurance that there will be no unexpected import duty or taxes to pay. They are also much, much better.
Reader Comments (16)
Hi, for the camera that is available in UK, is there equivalent available in the USA? I am hesitant like the others to buy from HK as I'm not sure what duty etc. I'll be charged. If you know of any, please advise.
Thanks. I really enjoy your videos.
At least you did better than my mate who, surfing eBay after coming back from the pub, bought a late 70's Ducati Darmah that, had he been a little less inebriated, would have spotted that being painted metallic blue with red wheels was not going to be the bargain he imagined!
Looking forward to seeing what you make of the 'proper' cameras though.
Thanks for making the videos!
Damn..I just bought one of these before your review came out!! Should have got the cam in part 1...really kicking myself now...
Hi,
Sorry to see you got conned mate,i can sympathize with you on that one as i got duped to when i bought a similar camera from amazon.Was really looking forward to this part two review but hey,ho,roll on the next one.
Thanks again for taking the time to do these reviews,i really enjoy them, and the professional way you come across on your videos.
Regards
Will
@ Will - I think it's very unlikely that you would get a knock-off version of the K2000 as well, by all accounts, the real K2000 is actually a good camera.
@ techmoan - no it was'nt the same, it was a similar camera in style to yours,sorry for the confusion.
Bad luck - but thanks for making lemonade out of lemons or whatever they say...
@techmoan
Don't know which Will you were responding to there! If to me, then you've given me some hope so thankyou haha!! I did order it from China/Hong Kong though, so I just assumed they'd all be the same as the one you received. Fingers crossed...!
Excellent reviews, keep up the good work. There are loads of these 'K2000s' on ebay. Most of them have the photo of the camera with a silver lens ring. The camera you recieved did not have a silver ring around the lens. If you did purchase one which had a silver ring around the lens in the photo and the product recieved is not the same, maybe you should take it up with ebay. If you can follow what I am saying.
@Abz I'm quite happy about getting a bad one...it serves as a good demonstration of what can sometimes go wrong when buying things from China on eBay.
Hi
love your videos (and the recent site rundown)
Just a heads up to those Downunder, that Aldi have a car camera coming up this saturday that might fit the needs of some.
it's only a cheapy but it seems its something people can walk instore and buy rather than the online gamble.
http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_21646.htm
http://traveler-service.de/popups/CBB1_au_popup_02/
i'm unsure if you have reviewed this model and what the other names it may have but it looks ok for the $$ and has 3 years warranty :)
D
(no associated with aldi, and posting this probably means i miss out on getting one in the crowds on Sat.)
It might well be the K2000 that I was attempting to buy...when I ended up getting a knock-off model instead.
Damn, looks like the store is no longer up. What a shame, seems like a pretty good camera.
I bought a car camera from Amazon, and it did happen to be a K2000. I discovered this site after I had owned this camera for a while. I'd like to say big regret, but... Turns out it is a really good camera! All I did was turn off the G-sensor, and it is perfect for my uses. It is small enough to hide behind my rearview mirror after I routed the wires up into the ceiling and A-pillar (very easy, actually). The video is pretty stable, good audio with a tiny bit of interference, and in 720p mode it records 30fps into an .avi file. I think you should at least give the real K2000 another go. You're missing out on a really decent camera.
Hey, I'd like to thank you for putting out this video. Last month I bid on one of the cheap ones on ebay and just a few minutes later came across your review. Luckily I made up some bogus excuse and retracted the bid and bought one that had an hdmi port and came with an hdmi cable. It did turn out to be a higher quality version and for $45 and am pleased with the K2000.
I will be keeping an eye out for a better camera though. It is HD but the picture isn't quite clear enough to read license plates most times.
I recently bought a Portable Car Camcorder (CVMV-DV65-2GEN) from Chinavasion in Hong Kong. It's very similar to your review of the carcam here. It is H.264 with 1080P & also has an HDMI slot, so I’m assuming it’s like a genuine K2000. However there is nothing on the box or in the literature that mentions K2000.
I paid $40 AUD + delivery $10 AUD.
Works just fine with a region 4, 32GB Micro SDcard too (extra). The 30 FPS is smooth & gives me a great picture on playback. Now that I'm used to it, it sits on the top left of my windscreen, out of the way of my (occasional) front passengers, & that side sun visor when needed. I get an ideal recording angle by positioning the glass mount off from square, and adjusting the vertical swivel down just a bit. I have never needed to use the LED's, & I live in a rural area without lighting. I also just hid the power cable inside the plastic pillar-mount covers, then ran it down under the passengers’ foot well to my 12V supply. I had cable to burn too, so it’s a well thought out bit of kit.
Driving down-under requires some extra insurance/legal protection to make it easy to combat claims & the now common road-rage.
Hope this gives an extra dimension to the car camera reviews for both you & your readers. Cheers Mate!