Update 08/06/2020: After the startup Owl Cameras Inc. shut down abruptly, customers have been caught with costly sprint cams and no assist. But there’s hope! Xirgo Technologies, the corporate that acquired Owl Cameras Inc.’s mental property, has partnered with CallPass to take over the patron service. Read extra concerning the rehatching of Owlcam, and keep tuned for a assessment of the brand new product promised for later this 12 months.
Owl’s Car Cam is ground-breaking and uniquely succesful, and it sports activities a splendidly slick design that cherry-picks the perfect bits from the competitors—and provides some soon-to-be-copied tips of its personal. But at $349, it’s additionally probably the most costly sprint cams I’ve ever examined, and it has some caveats. It at present relies upon upon the iPhone (6 or larger, iOS 11), in addition to, to some extent, proximity to your car. It’s additionally at present lacking some key options that different, inexpensive dash cams we’ve reviewed have already got.
Update 8/14/2018: Owl has launched an Android app, eradicating one in every of our authentic complaints. Low-light video can be mentioned to be improved. When we obtain one other assessment unit, we’ll amend this assessment accordingly.
Update 11/15/2018: Owl has added an OnStar like service that can reply and converse with you (voice-only) in case of emergencies.
Real-time surveillance: A touch cam first
The Owl Car Cam’s distinctive functionality is its seamless, automated, real-time LTE add of accident/break-in photos and video (inside and exterior, with its dual-camera system) to the corporate’s net portal, then all the way down to your cellphone. Yup, if somebody breaks into your automobile, their actions are going to be plastered all around the Internet as quickly as you obtain the alert and imagery. Smile, punk. Even higher, if you happen to’ve bought good reception, you may watch reside and inform them to “Make my day” utilizing the digicam’s speaker.
Alas, whereas the Owl Car Cam is already delivery, it lacks Android assist, HDR for the low-light video, and GPS watermarking. Purchasing an Owl entails a small leap of religion that the corporate will finally implement these promised options. But belief me, what’s already applied is properly value studying about.
Out-of-box expertise and design
Out-of-box expertise (OOBE) is necessary with the high-priced blends—it helps alleviate sticker shock/purchaser’s regret—and Owl nails it. No big-box-store, theft-proof plastic right here: The product arrives in a high-grade, engaging field with a compartmented liner containing all of the goodies, together with thick-beveled, rubberized plastic cable ties. Luxurious, that.
Owl’s design tips with the Car Cam are much more spectacular. The first little bit of craftiness is benefiting from the crevice the place the window meets the dashboard as the placement for the digicam mount. A small, innocuous suction cup makes positive the entire deal stays put. It’s extremely straightforward to arrange, and the cable will be hidden within the crevice. You can fluctuate the peak of the digicam by about eight inches utilizing one in every of 4 variously sized mounts.
The solely caveats are that the mount tends to bounce only a bit, and the suction cup desires to remain hooked up to the windshield while you take away the mount. Not that you simply’ll want to do this typically. There’s an additional clear-plastic cup within the field in case your desire it to the pre-attached black one.
Because of the digicam’s fairly low place, it intrudes extra into your discipline of view than a digicam that is hidden behind your assessment mirror would, however it’s low sufficient and sufficiently small that driver distraction should not be a difficulty. I quickly forgot it was there, because it did not block my view to any diploma that may take a look at the “not obstructing” standards right here in California.
You would possibly need to examine your state’s legal guidelines earlier than putting in any sprint digicam. But hey, if Formula 1 drivers can cope with the brand new Halo head protection, that is nothing. Tell that to CHP in the event that they cease you and let me know if it really works.
The Owl sits inside your discipline of view, however by utilizing the shortest potential arm (a number of are included) it sits very low and will hardly be described as obstructing your imaginative and prescient of the street normally.
Next up is a small stroke of genius: utilizing your automobile’s OBD-II connector for an influence supply. All non-commercial automobiles because the ‘96 mannequin 12 months (besides the Tesla Model 3), ought to have one. The OBD-II connector can be most frequently handily positioned beneath your sprint, someplace between the steering column and the door. The cable from the digicam can simply be hidden within the sprint/window crevice and beneath the trim on its approach to the connector.
That mentioned, the entire setup wasn’t practically as inconspicuous with our second take a look at car, a 2001 Acura CL 3.2, whose OBD port is within the middle console. Sigh. Using the OBD-II port may also inconvenience anybody already utilizing it for metered insurance coverage reminiscent of Metromile, or a Bluetooth OBD diagnostic module. If you’ll want to use one these units alongside the Owl, however you should purchase a splitter on-line for about $10. Regardless, for the overwhelming majority of customers this setup beats the heck out of utilizing the cigarette lighter/aux connector.
Then there’s the magnetic coupling for the digicam, much like the ability coupling you’ll see on Macbooks and Surface tablets. The digicam joins magnetically to the mount, and the ability cable magnetically {couples} on each ends—to the digicam and the OBD-II energy adapter. I hate fidgeting with cable connections in tight areas, and this made attachment a breeze.
OwlThis accident is faked, however it does present the intimate relationship between the Owl and the iPhone. Without the iPhone (Android quickly), the Owl is mainly ineffective.
Finally, there’s the iPhone app and gadget pairing, which couldn’t be simpler. Scan a code utilizing the iPhone digicam to obtain the app, then use the app to scan a code displayed on the Car Cam to pair it (utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy 4.2), and also you’re accomplished. Really. The LTE connects robotically, and all the things is totally purposeful. It’s fairly cool.
You can even use the app to show the inside digicam on or off, and improve or lower display brightness, speaker quantity, and the sensitivity of the G-sensor and look at video, which I’ll get into extra element about later. Some features, reminiscent of the inside digicam on/off, and taking a fast incident video, can be invoked utilizing the touchscreen.
Specifications
The Car Cam has built-in GPS (a restricted implementation in the mean time), and naturally a gravity sensor, in addition to dual-array microphones on both aspect of the two.4-inch shade touchscreen LCD. There are two cameras: a front-facing 4MP (1440p) unit and a rear-facing 1MP (720p) inside unit. Both cameras sport a 120-degree FOV (Field of View) which is on the slim aspect, however advantageous for the unit’s middle placement.
When in “guard” mode (whereas parked and unattended), decision stays the identical although it drops to a data-saving 480p for the Live view that you may entry out of your cellphone app. Yes, as I mentioned up high, you may have a look from nearly anyplace at what’s happening in and about your automobile.
The unit will robotically shut off after 24 hours, or when it senses a drop within the battery of about 5%. The 24-hour shutoff is a little bit of a difficulty for me, as I typically go away my automobile parked right here in San Francisco on the road unattended for deal longer than that. I want it have been longer, however it’s higher than a useless battery.
The Owl Car Cam incorporates sufficient inside reminiscence to retailer 12 hours of continuous driving video. After 24 hours or when the Owl runs out of room, non-incident video is erased on a first-in, first-gone foundation. In different phrases, you’ll all the time have the newest 12 hours of driving.
As there’s no SD card slot or USB port, offloads are to your iPhone by way of the LTE for clips, and to the cellphone by way of 802.11 Wi-Fi for the continual video. The latter connection happens robotically when you choose Last 24 (video from the final 24 hours) within the app. All you want do is click on/faucet previous an Allow/Don’t enable dialog. No have to seek for a Wi-Fi hotspot, as with different sprint cams. More cleverness.
OwlThere’s no USB or SD card, however there’s a inexperienced warning mild in addition to two micro LED floods that come on at night time within the case of a break-in.
A inexperienced mild on the again of the Owl Car Cam flashes to let potential perpetrators know the automobile is being protected (assuming they’re clever sufficient to divine the intent), in addition to two white LEDs that change on if intrusion is detected. Intrusion is taken into account any opening of the automobile the place the digicam doesn’t detect your iPhone by way of its Bluetooth hyperlink.
The working temperatures are fairly sane in comparison with these claimed by some corporations: -4 to 120 levels Fahrenheit. If the digicam senses an out-of-bounds temperature, it shuts off. Turn the warmth or the AC on while you’re driving as you usually would, and you have to be advantageous. Non-operating temperatures ought to do for almost anyplace: -40 to 175 levels Fahrenheit.
Use and efficiency
Using the Owl Car Cam may be very straightforward, although you’ll want to be close to the digicam, i.e., within the automobile, for offloading the non-incident video, as there’s no straightforward approach to energy the unit exterior the car.
The Owl Car Cam robotically creates incident movies when the G-sensor feels an affect or the digicam senses movement close by (these aren’t uploaded until intrusion is detected), or the automobile powers on and your cellphone isn’t current. But you may create your personal 20-second clips by merely uttering “Okay presto.” Even higher, you may title the clip by persevering with with a phrase reminiscent of, “Jerk who should lose his license.” If there’s too lengthy of a pause, the video stays untitled. You can even take a clip by tapping the contact show.
Alas, all of the cleverness and ease of use on the earth gained’t assist a splash cam if it doesn’t take good video. The Owl Car Cam was glorious throughout the day, as easy and detailed as I’ve seen and probably extra so. Please be aware that the small blur on the van, simply past the cease mild to the fitting, within the display seize under, is from a current ding (small crack) in my windshield—it’s not a fault with the Owl Car Cam.
IDGThe Owl Car Cam’s daylight video is superb. It’s additionally aces in a well-lit surroundings like a parking storage. Note that the blur on the again of the van is a windshield defect, not the Owl Car Cam.
Night captures in city-light situations was additionally superb There’s wasn’t plenty of lens flare from headlights and the like, and far of my testing was in foggy, wet situations. Please enable for that when viewing the night time captures you see under.
However, in low-light situations particulars have been vague and really grainy. Interior low-light, night time captures didn’t reveal plenty of element both, although they weren’t as grainy. The twin LEDs which hearth up helped tremendously so these captures ought to be greater than sufficient for authorized functions.
Put in sensible phrases, the Owl Car Cam is nice throughout the day, and in decently lit night time environment. But if you happen to’re parking the place there aren’t any road lights, it’s at present not even shut that that of among the cameras we’ve seen not too long ago with Sony’s newest STARVIS sensors. Read our BlackVue DR750S-2CH and Vava Dash Cam opinions for extra on these.
Owl wouldn’t title the sensors used within the Car Cam, however from a earlier dialog, I do know they don’t seem to be STARVIS. Hence, whether or not the sensors employed within the Owl’s Car Cam are able to that type of low-light efficiency, I can’t say. We’ll see when the night time HDR arrives.
IDGWith headlights on, the Owl Car Cam does significantly better at night time. Please be aware that it was a wet, moist night time in San Francisco, and many of the distortion is from rain and a small defect within the windshield.
IDGLow mild isn’t at present the Owl Car Cam’s finest good friend. HDR to deal with that is mentioned to be within the works. Note that even with out headlights, that is comparatively well-lit in comparison with some suburban and rural areas.
You’ll discover that there’s no GPS data proven on any of those captures. It’s on the roadmap (no date was given), however watermarking shouldn’t be at present out there. GPS data has change into a regular sprint cam function and goes a good distance towards defeating any “well, it may look like me, but it isn’t me” arguments. Not having it’s a particular disadvantage.
Not low cost, and different caveats
Alas, the LTE add function isn’t low cost. While your preliminary $349 funding consists of one 12 months of uploads to Owl’s video service, subsequently they’ll value you $99 a 12 months, or $10 monthly. You can use the Owl with out the service by merely importing video to your cellphone, however the incident uploads are the principle attraction. If you consider it as including an affordable extra line to your current cell service, you’ll really feel higher.
Additionally, the Live View and clip uploads (voice command or g-sensor) are restricted to 60 incidents, or 60 minutes monthly. I’m figuring most drivers gained’t contact that. I actually needed to work (discovering potholes) to get the G-sensor to sense an affect with the sensitivity set to the default 50%, and my automobile is about up for mild observe use (in different phrases, its suspension is stiff and picks up plenty of street really feel). All that apart, ought to the necessity come up, you will get one other 60 minutes for $10 if you happen to’re collision-prone, or drunks stumble into your automobile nightly.