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Two things about the MotoCAM360;
- It's easy to setup
- It easy to operate
Now is it worth $1529.10? Well, we think so, only because we have seen other units costing less, fall short. Sure, we only spent $400 on them, but if you never use it, it's money wasted. Also, this is the COMPLETE package. Staring out the front with a single camera might be OK, but having the two cameras, working together, is much more interesting to watch.
The mini-DVR is just that. About the size of a deck of cards. We were amazed that even with it's small size, it was loaded with features. When you hit the MENU button you have a choice of watching the movies you've created, listening the FM radio, viewing pictures (stored on memory card), even listening to MP3 music. Once you get the hang of what each button does, using it wasn't difficult.
The BLACK BOX is what allows you to change the screen settings. You can choose from almost a dozen screen setups. Below we have the (large) PIP in use, but you can change it to a half screen, and actually FLIP the screen viewing angle. We never wished for more settings.
Picture quality was above average. Keep in mind, when you compress anything, some of the quality goes away. However, we made a DVD out of our footage, and even on a big screen TV (65 inch) the quality was fine. MotoCam provides you with a very nice software suite, which includes a DVD editing program, and a program that allows you to change the video into MPG4 (for the web, or email).
MOUNTING: The most challenging part is positioning the BLACK BOX near a power source. We found a place near the cigarette lighter. You can purchase an optional cigarette lighter plug designed for the unit. We just purchased a cigarette plug from Autozone, and spliced into the wiring harness that came with the unit. Worked fine.
To mount the cameras we found that the double sided tape used to temporarily attach stuff to walls (laser levels, picture mounts) worked best. When we wanted to remove the mount, all we needed to do was grab the tape, stretch it out, and it released. Very clean. Also, knowing that there wasn't doing to be a huge mess, we were able to get creative with camera placement. Worked much better than Velcro.
The DVR can be either be mounted somewhere in view (with the same tape above) or just tossed to the side. Once you hit record, there isn't a huge reason to look at it while in use.
The cabling isn't hard to run. There are 4, and MotoCam gives you plenty of legth. On a bike, zip-ties work great. In a car, just get creative. We put much of the cable inside the glovebox, and ran the rest between the seats.
Overall, we really like the MotoCAM360. Yes, it's pricey. Yes, you're going to need to use the heck out of it to feel good about the purchase. But if you want the best, then it's not to much to pay. Simply, this unit met our expectations, and then some.
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