Mobius Action Camera - Cheap GoPro alternative/dashcam

[Jay_A]

Bought myself an E-prance G1W dash cam from Amazon for £37.

Just installed it, so yet to see what its like on the road, but seems ok for the money.

 

[Karlos182]

Just got one of these today for my birthday. Memory card is in the post so had to make do with an old 1GB card I had lying around for testing and setup. Seems like a great little camera on first appearances. Got the car kit from Joovoo.com so got the capacitor and suction mount etc

 

[Tim.]

So having scanned this and all the other threads I think I'll be picking one of these up.

Joovuu currently have a customisable car pack (v3):
https://www.joovuu.com/gb/car-camer...ing_cable/super_capacitor-yes/hardwire_kit-no

I'm not very clear on what my custom choices should be, so this is what I think I'll be going for:

- Wide angle lens rather than the standard angle
- Suction mount
- No lens extension (what is this and why would I need one anyway?)
- USB car charger
- 3M USB car charger cable (I assume this will be long enough?)
- Super capacitor (do I need one of these for £4?)
- Hardwire kit (what does this do and do I need it?)

Assuming I go for the flux capacitor and pass on the hardwire kit then it comes in at £66.59, then I just need to source a memory card from Amazon.

Anything else I need to know or be aware of? @Karlos182 @Paul172sport, how are you finding yours? If you were buying again would you make any different choices?

 

[Karlos182]

In regards to the options; the lens extension allows you to put the camera body in a different location to the lens, for a super-stealthy install. The hardware kit allows you to hardware the power instead of using the cigarette adaptor. The super capacitor replaces the battery when being used as a dashcam as the battery gets very hot when used in this way, so it's safer and keeps your battery in good nick for other uses. I got the standard lens as I didn't like the fish eye style of the wider one. It's been great though. I'm happy with the choices I made. Hope this helps!

 

[172_Tom]

Yeah I think you definitely want the wide angle lens, especially for the front. I have one with the rev B lens.

Lens extension would allow you to mount the lens separately to the camera - for example sticking the camera to something (like the back of the rear view mirror), then mounting the lens on the windscreen - less clutter and a more stealthy installation. I didn't bother and just have mine on a suction mount behind the rear view mirror so it doesn't obscure my view.

I didn't bother with a super capacitor - not sure why it would be needed as it has an internal battery. Edit: ah - it replaces the battery!

Not sure what the hardwire kit is - it doesn't seem to say but I suspect it's something like what I have done.

I installed mine into my Octavia with a 3m USB cable, piggyback fuse and 12V -> 5V USB adaptor (see here). I also ran a USB extension cable from the other output to the cubby hole under the stereo for charging my phone. The fuse I piggybacked was the rear wiper as it comes on with the ignition and I have the camera setup to start recording when it gets power and stop when it's switched off.

Bought mine from banggood.com by the way - currently £50 on there (or £46 if you want to wait for it to come from China).

 

[Tim.]

Perfect, thanks guys, good food for thought there.

 

[Paul172sport]

@Tim. Hey mate.
My camera has been perfect. It's small and with the suction mount it fits nicely by the mirror and the mounts stayed firm since day 1.
I've got the 3m lead runs up perfectly, if I were to reorder I would chose the hard wire kit but just for neatness.
I don't recall which lens I chose sorry.
It's definitely nice having it. Captured quite a few close calls already.
I'm almost tempted to buy a 2nd for the rear.

 

[McGherkin]

Still working perfectly, another almost invisible install in the new car.

Fingers crossed, I never need to think about it again.

 

[Addicted]

Anyone after a Mobius? I no longer use mine so no point keeping it around!

 

[Oggy997]

@McGherkin Can you take a pic of the mount from the side (appreciate it wouldnt be easy) - just wondering what angle it's at as my mount appears to take up far more room than yours!

 

[McGherkin]

The mount? It's just velcro'ed to the sun visor bracket in the Volvo. Happy to get pics if you need anything clarified.

 

[Oggy997]

From windscreen to base of the mobius is around 5cm, yours looks much 'shorter'

I'll get a pic of mine when I go out shortly.

 

[Lal B3N]

Are these Mobius ones still the ones to go for as a dashcam then for value for money?

Going to order off here, whats the best options? Wide angle or just normal lens?

Was going to go with super capacitor and hardwire kit. Not sure on lens extension?

https://www.joovuu.com/gb/car-camer...uper_capacitor-yes/hardwire_kit-mini_hardwire

 

[McGherkin]

Still very happy with mine. As far as I know there's no better camera available yet for the size.

You could go for a wide angle lens but I found the normal lens to be perfectly adequate.

Lens extension allows you to relocate the lens and sensor externally to the actual camera, which may mean you can hide the rest of it behind a panel and only have the lens in the windscreen, for really stealthy installs. I wouldn't bother with that.

 

[172_Tom]

Might be cheaper on BangGood? That's where I've bought mine from.

I did a fair bit of Google homework before deciding on normal vs wide angle lens and went for the wide angle.

 

[Jonnio]

So I wired in one of these with a fuse tap over the weekend to power both of my Mobius cameras.

Currently got a 5amp fuse in the circuit, is this right or should I go for a 3amp? The inverter states 5v 3amp output. First time I've messed with anything like this!

Next job is running the USB wires.

 

[Danith]

Looks good - subscribed (so I can look when I get home tonight )

 

[Jonnio]

I've run wires for both front and rear cameras. Front one works perfectly but the rear comes on with ignition, then turns off when I turn the engine on. Does the same thing when I plug it into the front.

Both have capacitors fitted, updated the firmware and both have the same settings.

Any ideas? :expressionless:

 

[Mikeyjp]

i thought on and off with ignition was normal would not want mine on 24/7

there is a setting in the software to change it

 

[GCC]

i thought on and off with ignition was normal [emoji14] would not want mine on 24/7

there is a setting in the software to change it

Think he meant that it comes on with the ignition as wanted, but then goes off again when the engine is started.


My guess is it doesn't like the drop in power when the engine is started, sounds like a unit fault if it doesn't change when you put it up front also??

 

[Jonnio]

Think he meant that it comes on with the ignition as wanted, but then goes off again when the engine is started.


My guess is it doesn't like the drop in power when the engine is started, sounds like a unit fault if it doesn't change when you put it up front also??

It turns out the front does it as well, although I'm sure it was working the other night lol...

I've had a read on here - https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-super-capacitor.3166/page-8

I think the gist is that the power cuts, the cameras shut down, power comes back whilst they are still shutting down, then they don't recognise it and come on again. If I turn the car straight from off to engine start they work fine, if I leave a couple of seconds gap between igntion and engine on they are fine (as they are still starting up in that time), but they don't like my usual habit of igntion on - wait for warning lights to go out then turn engine on.

 

[GCC]

It turns out the front does it as well, although I'm sure it was working the other night lol...

I've had a read on here - https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-super-capacitor.3166/page-8

I think the gist is that the power cuts, the cameras shut down, power comes back whilst they are still shutting down, then they don't recognise it and come on again. If I turn the car straight from off to engine start they work fine, if I leave a couple of seconds gap between igntion and engine on they are fine (as they are still starting up in that time), but they don't like my usual habit of igntion on - wait for warning lights to go out then turn engine on.

Is there any way of putting an inline switch to them to save the hassle of having to turn straight from off to on?? That's the way I'd go personally, just means you need to remember to turn them on...??

 

[Jonnio]

Is there any way of putting an inline switch to them to save the hassle of having to turn straight from off to on?? That's the way I'd go personally, just means you need to remember to turn them on...??

Probably could, I think I'll just get used to turning the car on a bit quicker though! Don't really want to put a switch in and then as you say there's the problem of remembering to turn it on.

 

[McGherkin]

What are you drawing power from for the inverter?

Something you could do to prevent the power drop is fit a smoothing capacitor to the circuit.

 

[Jonnio]

What are you drawing power from for the inverter?

Something you could do to prevent the power drop is fit a smoothing capacitor to the circuit.

Fuse tap into a "heated seats" (as far as i know no Mk2 Punto ever had heated seats) socket in the cabin fusebox.

 

[McGherkin]

I would try powering it from the ciggy lighter and see if you still have the same issue.

 

[Jonnio]

I would try powering it from the ciggy lighter and see if you still have the same issue.

Just wired a headunit into that which goes off when firing the engine up so will that likely be the same?

 

[SWL16]

Long shot, but anyone had any experience using the video footage with Race Chrono Pro? i.e. http://www.racechrono.com/news/?cat=11
Reason I ask is that I came across this: http://www.racechrono.com/vanilla/discussion/1217/cannot-export-videos-from-mobius-action-cam

Alternatively, has anyone tried playing the footage on a more modern Android device (than the Tab mentioned in the link)?

 

[McGherkin]

The mobius can record in 3 different formats, try changing them and experimenting to see if one works.

Failing that just use Any Video Converter (free) or similar to encode the videos in a different format before putting them into Race Chrono Pro.