Thinkware Dash Cam Reviews 

So, I purchased a Q1000 2K QHD cam. Then i had to buy a separate rear camera, as apparently thinkware doesn't include them. Not a huge issue, but annoying.
Installation was fairly simple. No big surprises there.
Where the issues come into play is the camera itself, and thnkware's customer careLESS attitude and the lies they like to tell. typical for the manufacturer.
So, to start. The camera is just garbage. Period. Sure, it'll record. A leaf blows by at 3am? It records it. Neighbour's cat wanders by? Yup, recorded.
Does it go off in traffic, ever? Nope. Hard brake due to being cut off? Doesn't go off. Hit a huge bump that should trigger it? Nope. Even reach up and push the button to start the manual? Nope.
I've checked all the settings, watched several videos on the camera (many of which state the camera is junk). The camera is just, literally, junk. I have since purchased a Garmin and am very pleased with it.
The customer careLESS. Well, I posted a review at the Canadian Tire website, where I purchased this piece of garbage. Thinkware, within a day or so, posted a reply asking me to contact them. So, I did. And it's just been a merry go round of BS ever since. They blame it on the weather (clear sunny days, etc...guess the camera doesn't like sun?). They blame the settings. All settings are optimal. They then start blaming ME because I don't reply to an email the second it comes in. This I am not kidding about. I received an email and it took me literally 2 days to reply. Because I didn't reply same day, they decided I didn't need help and closed the ticket. This happened several times.
So, their customer support is non-existent.
Avoid this company at all costs. Simply garbage.

Delivery is passed 7 days. Costumer Service is refusing me to send me any tracking via email and asked me to call a UK sales team from abroad and ignored me after that. Just horrible service, cannot provide any support so I do not want to know what will happen if I never get the item or is defective. Second agent is not even able to read my name and called me by my domain name........... Best avoid the company!

Well bought an Thinkware u3000 29/3/2024 I’ve had an BlackVue dash camera for 6 years so with thinkware dah camera setup then after few days the camera just wouldn’t power up got in touch with costumes service got the camera booked in so they replaced it for me got my camera setup was ok had few issues with setting up but got they at the end this problem know I’m facing is with login to my Thinkware connected app it just won’t let me login to my account keeps saying to register my camera witch is already registered to the account so Thinkware needs to look in to this issue we are having with this camera I paid like £529.00 for an item that won’t let me login to my account that’s very pooling issues if not I need my refund to go back to BlackVue again which was trouble free for 6 years wish I can give zero stars

Product Review -Thinkware QHD X 1000
This is a dual dash camera system that has both a front and rear camera. The digital quality of both front and rear cameras is good. Images were sharp and detailed especially during the daytime. There was little distortion.
The system that I had was hardwired and I had it installed professionally at a car audio shop. Being hardwired the system came with a parking monitoring feature.
The system begins as soon as the car is turned on and records data in one minute clips. When driving, the system provided an audible beep when potholes or bumps in the road were encountered.
At first, things were fine but after a few months the camera would reboot itself as I was driving. Eventually the system would not even start.
I returned to the shop that installed the system and they confirmed that wiring was intact. It was suggested that I contact Thinkware directly.
Thinkware responded immediately and while I could not provide a purchase receipt Thinkware offered to replace the front camera.

Just to say how pleased I am for the customer service I received from Steve, top bloke who went out of his way to find me mount for a F750 dash cam. Sent it in the post free of charge next day.

Installed a U3000 dashcam in my car. Mind-numbingly, you need 2 phones to set up the cloud features. This is beyond ridiculous for the most expensive dashcam on the market. Wish I had gone for the Blackvue equivalent. **Edit** I have had to give up on connecting to the cloud and am now waiting on Thinkware to either sort it or refund. ** Have reset the device and apps. The device appears to be working better (more normal behaviour) however it still can't be registered in the Thinkware Connected app. Disappointing to say the least

I replaced my Thinkware U1000 Dashcam with the newer U3000 advertised by Thinkware as having Radar built into the front and rear camera's for parking mode. After removing the U1000 and installing the U3000 I find the radar on the rear camera doesn't work and found many posts on the internet saying the same. One particular post pasted below say Thinkware are aware of it but so far have done nothing. Thinkware have clearly sold the U3000 under false pretence saying both camera's have radar when clearly the rear camera radar doesn't work, which is unethical and illegal

INTERNET POST
"Bad news here!
I visited my dashcam installing company today. They performed all the testing and tested many REAR U3000 cameras in my car. ALL REAR CAMERAS FAILED WITH DETECTING MOVEMENTS WHEN RADAR FUNCTION IS ACTIVATED
Congratulations! Thinkware sold us a lemon, not fully working product right from the start!!!!! Great job!
Then now they are keeping silence about the well-known issue.
The installers contacted THINKWARE support today and THINKWARE confirmed that they know about the issue, they confirmed that - ALL REAR RADAR CAMERAS DO NOT WORK AT ALL IN RADAR MODE!
Thinkware support promised to issue a software update but they do not know when it happens. They did not confirm that they would be able to fix the problem or not.
It is so frustrating that such a reputable brand as THINKWARE is so bad in communication and is hiding such a big issue."

As another reviewer says, the U3000 is not the wonder machine they claim and their customer service vanishes immediately if you have any problems. What they neglect to tell you is that if you use the radar based parking mode, you lose the live connection to be able to view the events from the front/rear cameras. They also neglect to tell you that you need a permanent wifi hotspot for the cameras to connect to in order to even get a notification when in parking mode rendering it completely useless if you aren't parked on your own driveway and close enough to connect to your wifi. If you travel anywhere else and park, how do they expect you to connect to any wifi? Well they won't tell you because you just can't get in touch with them! Yes I've raised a ticket and weeks later not even anything more that the auto-acknowledgement saying allow up to 48 hours to receive a response. Maybe they mean 48 days or weeks? No idea but if you want a good dashcam, buy any make but this one. ps Thinkware, if you want to know get in touch with me use ticket number 87412!

Thinking I was getting the state of the art dash cam and confirming by chat to help line I ordered and had installed the unit only to find it does not do what I thought it did sadly I have a unit which is not state of the art can’t see it will it be ever. So take note if your looking for a dash cam which will indicate speed limits in various locations the U3000 will not save your money

Camera is not fantastic but not bad. RAC installation was good. They partner with Vodafone for the sim bit where the offer was supposed to be 3£ and Vodafone being Vodafone charged me 4£ as it was a lot of data. They should partner with dishonest companies

Really poor product and support
If you have a factory tinted rear window which most of us do these days
You’re not safe this company nor any other in the world have a camera that can see a number plate properly through tinted glass

These are a false economy
The company nor the installers will tell you this
Trust me I’ve just had 150k Bentley hit and run
Footage is useless

Avoid these cheap nasty gimmicks

Someone should be honest with customers
FYI have 5 vehicles with this poor not fit for purpose product fitted
All going in the bin
Will review these on every platform
Until they warn customers with factory tinted glass

1 star because -10 isn’t an option. Complete waste of a lot of money! Over £200 then cost of auto electrician to install it. It’s NEVER worked, doesn’t record anything and never connects, the only thing that works is the incessant voice warning me about speed safety and traffic lights cameras! That’s not why I bought it! It never connects to my iPhone, and has drained my car battery so often I’ve had to replace it. Don’t bother trying to contact the manufacturer, it’s as though they don’t exist! I’m now having to pay an electrician to remove it and put in a different make. Avoid Thinkware like the plague

Bought a F70 and mounted it today. I later bought a 64Gb MicroSD card so I can record more footage. When I plugged the card on my computer, the 64Gb card was almost full!!! Only for around 64 minutes total!
The dash cam filled the rest of the entire card with around 60Gb of temporary files... I don't see why it would need that much files but this is ridiculous.

Bought a U1000 on Amazon from Thinkware during the black Friday sale almost $100.00 off. Front and rear with OBD connector and 128. The box arrived sealed and not damaged. However the Condense was a F750 with a rear camera for a 770. I contacted Thinkware & was informed they would review my claim lost 2 of my emails & said I would have to Pay the postage to send it back or get a replacement from Amazon. I contacted Amazon & was informed U could only return the item -& not exchange it. I returned the item to Amazon. I have never owned a Dash camera & will never own a Thinkware. It was like to bad we sold you one thing but sent you a cheaper used pos. Very poor customer service !!!

Bought a dashcam from official website. Refuse to exchange because i bought the hard wire one( it is default and i didnt realise i can choose cigarette cable one). Poor customer service, didnt bother to ask me how many days it has been and check am I entitled to exchange. Just directly asked me to buy extra cigarette cable myself and said i should have read it carefully before purchase. I am the consumer and know nothing about the installation. It’s absolutely a SCAM! Wont recommend this brand

The Thinkware F70 functions but doesn't record in a true continuous manner. I'm not sure if it starts over each day or what but I can't see yesterdays travels. It's not like it overwrote the files because I only traveled for a short distance yesterday. Mac support is garbage, it doesn't work. On my PC machine the software works but is doesn't update the options that I choose for the dashcam. I already have two Blackvue dashcams. I thought I could save a few bucks but I guess not. You get what you pay for.

HI

I have a disability and not great with gadgets and downloads etc. With this in mind the people of thinkware have gone the extra mile and will send me a downloaded SD disk to enable my dash cam radar to hopefully function correctly. What fabulous customer care this is, many thanks

Dash cam fine until I had an issue with the memory card (original 64Mb thinkware). The card cannot be written to by the dashcam and when I looked at it using windows it was full and write protected!

Chkdsk reports the disk is OK, just full but cannot remove the write protect. tried to format with dashcam and windows but cannot..... you got it, due to write protect. Thought I would ask support if this was a known issue or a faulty card now, and all I kept getting back were questions that I had answered previously and what looks to be scripted responses, examples below;

Hi,
U1000 constantly rebooting (only with the rear camera oddly) and seems that it is mem card related as inserting another I had resolved the rebooting. Went to re-format the original but Windows states the disk is write protected. Is this symptomatic of card failure or is there something windows 11 is doing funky?
Regards,

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Thank you for your reply.

1) Please try using the Original Thinkware SD Card, in the device to ensure this is not an SD card issue.
This is the original card that is branded thinkware

2) Ensure you have updated the Dash Cams Firmware to the latest version. Otherwise please attempt re-downloading the latest Firmware Version manually on the SD Card itself.
I am unable to write to the card as per my original email that says the system is seeing it as write protected, I will be unable to write the firmware to it.
3) If using a Hardwiring Cable please test with the Car Charger Cable.
The power is good as it is working with a different memory card (I purchased a larger capacity card when purchasing the dash cam) – both are thinkware cards
4) Please also check that the daily temperatures are within the Dash Cam's temperature range.
Again, functions with a different memory card so temperature not in question. Car is also Aircon so is kept within operating parameters.
5) If you are operating the Dash Cam with a Rear Camera attached, please click here.
it is working with a different memory card so the rear camera is not in question.

Regards,

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Hello,

Does using a different MicroSD card fix the issue? Or is it still rebooting?

Could you test your dashcam without the rear camera attached if you experience the same issue?

Please feel free to contact us again if you encounter any other issues.
Kind regards,
Customer Support
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Yes, using another memory card stops the re-booting. The memory card appears to be write protected. It is an original Thinkware memory card.
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Thank you for letting us know that the MicroSD card was able to configure your issue.

Let us know if we could help you any further.

Please feel free to contact us again if you encounter any other issues.
Kind regards,
Customer Support
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Hi,

So far I’m not impressed by the support – my question at the start was whether there was a known issue with the MicroSD cards going into write protect? This has not been answered, instead questions already answered previously have been asked repeatedly. So, is there a way of removing write protect from the card as the dash cam will not format it, nor will windows 11.

If this is typical support then this, I’m afraid will be the last Thinkware I purchase. The micro SD card is just under 2 years old and is a 64Mb. I would not have thought that would be enough to kill the card.
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The Dashcams are formatted so the SD cards overwrite footage instead of getting full. Unfortunately, there is no way to change that as that is how our product is manufactured.

We recommend formatting your SD card regularly to make sure you can use it for longer instead of it going corrupt. We have provided the link below to help you learn more about our SD cards.

Memory Card Lifespan
Please feel free to contact us again if you encounter any other issues.
Kind regards,
Customer Support
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I don’t think you understand what I am getting at – the Card is not being overwritten as it is write protected so it IS filling up and then reboots the device constantly as there is no space on the card. This is contrary to what you are saying should happen. THE CARD CANNOT BE FORMATTED AS IT HAS BECOME WRITE PROTECTED.

This is not me shouting, just trying to get the point across clearly.
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Sorry about that. Yes, it is possible it stops recording properly after it becomes corrupt. Other possibilities that are similar would be recording gaps that would affect this cause.

We are not sure what the issue with your old SD card is but the best solution is to get a new one.

So, I think that the support option is useless in my opinion. Last Thinkware I purchase.

Have used my F800PRO cameras for the last 3 years and have to say they are excellent, especially as they have parking mode

Had a problem recently where the timestamp went wrong.

I raised the issue with Thinkware customer services and Steve at RetailSales via chameleoncodewing.co.uk spent weeks tracking down the issue and providing a resolution which appears to be linked to the android cloud app

I can only say that they went above and beyond

Thinkware cameras aren't the cheapest but you certainly get what you pay for

Excellent customer service and well recommended

With the support of Chameleon in Essex their UK supplier, I've found this to be an excellent product & I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it & Chameleon.