Ninja Video Recorder: Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual Review

I have never told dear Habr's readers about DVRs in the form of a lining on the rear-view mirror. Although, in my opinion, this is an extremely successful form factor, completely unfairly deprived of the attention of consumers. It's time to get better! This material will cover the Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual , which for 8,490 rubles offers two cameras, advanced speeds, an external GPS receiver, and a couple of useful Neoline signature features.



Some lyrics


My constant surveys and observations of motorists show that it is the lining recorders that are best suited if not to the majority, then certainly to many drivers. I will explain why.

As a rule, in the harsh reality, motorists are too lazy to remove the recorders from the bracket and take with them when leaving the car. And regardless of size, ease of removal / installation, visibility of the camera. At the same time, every third user who approached me as one of the criteria for selecting an avtorega calls the device secrecy.

So, the recorder-pad - this is a real find. The only thing that indicates the presence of a video recorder in the car is a tiny eye, which, as a rule, is also lost on the black background of the lining. Alas, other registrars cannot provide anything like this - they will always be given a circle of a vacuum sucker or a rectangle of 3M-scotch.

The following stereotypes can stop from the purchase of such a device.

1. There is no swivel bracket, the camera can not be deployed sideways and record a conversation with the inspector. Frankly, it was from this position that I did not understand at all how to buy recorders without the possibility of a reversal. Especially Korean models, which polls only allow you to tilt up / down. But over time, I changed my point of view. As it turned out, in the same harsh reality, drivers prefer not to point the camera at the inspector unless absolutely necessary.



Amusing information - one of my wealthy acquaintance asserts that driving on expensive foreign cars, confident citizens, in principle, consider “freaks” below their dignity, such as sending a camera to an interlocutor in order to “reason the speaker and insure”. By the way, what do you think about this?

2. If necessary, the recorder can be easily removed and shown to the same inspector. First, such a statement is at best applicable to recorders with a screen diagonal of 2.7 inches and an aspect ratio of 16: 9. Secondly, depending on the attachment, it is also not difficult to remove the cover plate. What is more important - in such models, the diagonal of the display, as a rule, is not weak 4.3 inches. This has the most positive effect on the most important thing - the opportunity to see in detail what is happening on the video.



External power connection is not necessary at all, 99% of the lining recorders are equipped with a built-in battery. I was even somehow lucky to test a model that worked autonomously for 35 (!) Minutes. But the standard 5-10 minutes will be more than enough.

3. Price. This is not a stop-point, but I will tell about it here. In the offices of some pretty decent brands, I sometimes noticed small stacks of overlay recorders, and obviously the most inexpensive ones, simply speaking, frank deshman. Employees guiltily lowered their eyes and told - and what to do, large retail chains require just such products. We cannot offer a terrible creation of a budget-minded Chinese thought; we will “kill” our entire reputation. So you have to sell under a different brand. In general, based on the information of such companies, I strongly recommend refraining from buying overlay recorders cheaper than 7,000 rubles.

Last winter I had a few days to dwell in the walls of the service of a large brand, from which I learned another valuable thought. Which already prompted me to common sense - it is better to bypass a mile on the basis of Android due to exceptional glitchiness.

4. Choice. Again, this is not a stop-point, here I will explain based on my knowledge. There are exactly two brands whose lining devices I boldly advise consumers. One is the ancestor of such a form factor, in some aspects an innovator. In fact, the only company on the market that more or less specializes in recorder-overlays. Guess in the comments who it is :)

The second brand is Neoline itself with a review hero who showed himself the best possible way. But here I had no particular fears either. No matter how loud it may sound, Neoline does not openly “pass-through” devices and treats each model carefully. This is the opinion I had not only for working with models, but also for personal acquaintance and communication with product managers of the company.



Installation and design


I decided to combine the two points, as in the case of fastener-liner recorders in the usual sense of the recorder is not.

Mount Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual surprised me, this is one of the most remarkable features of the device. The bulk of the lining is mounted on the rearview mirror with two rubber bands. No additional clamps are simply not provided.

In the Neoline, the mounting method was completely rethought and based on the sliding mechanism. Approximately, like car holders for smartphones. No, the gum is the same here, but, in my opinion, there is no sense to them - the “staples” with ribbed rubber lining compresses the mirror so tightly and tightly. Again, due to this, the removal process (see p. “Show video to the inspector”) and installation is much easier and faster than most competitors with an exclusively rubber mount.





The next feature of the registrar takes it out of competition with 90% of the overhead recorders. Those 90% are models whose lens is located at the edge of the right side of the body. That is, the camera as it peeps from the side. Usually, the lens is given forward by five to seven centimeters, so that if desired, a passerby may notice the presence of the DVR. Particularly "smart" brands also paint the body of the lens "chrome".

Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual again went on its way, the lens "drowned" in the body and is located exactly in the center below. About the presence of the camera says only a glass lens with diameters of several centimeters. By and large, this is one of, if not the most hidden recorder of all that I have seen.



Of course, motorists often adjust, tilt the rearview mirror at their discretion. With this, the Neoline model has no problems, the camera has a good cruising range vertically and horizontally. The rigidity of the course hints at the fact that the lens will not get loose for a year or two, but for as long as you like, even if you drive it daily on country roads.



The next remarkable feature is the organization of management. In recorders, lining well, they love to make a mirror coating on the whole back side. Below you can see the symbols of the buttons, and the keys themselves are set on the bottom, literally a couple of millimeters from the mirror. Guess what this leads to? Yes, to operate the device and not to leave traces on the screen (and they are visible oh how good) it becomes difficult.

In Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual, when you press the keys, you can’t exactly reach the screen, and there is a matte black plastic around the buttons - you won’t be able to dirty it on the go. In any case, even after my active testing, no traces or fingerprints were observed on the recorder.



Returning to the management - I always liked that in the recorder-overlays all the buttons are arranged in one row, no spreading out on two or three sides. Buttons in the Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual as many as seven pieces. Compared to other recorders, I didn’t find anything special, except that I had a separate quick switch button between the front / rear camera. As befits a decent camera, in the process of shooting with one touch of a button, you can quickly turn on / off the screen, microphone and mark the current file as protected from cyclic erasure.

The movement of the buttons is clear, zero play, no rattling. The same words apply to the assembly of the model as a whole - sure five out of five points.

At the top are a microSD card slot, connectors for an external GPS module and a rear camera, as well as a miniUSB power port. Tip for Neoline designers for the future - it is advisable to lower the platform with connectors slightly down. This eliminates the situation when the cables coming out of the recorder run into the ceiling.



The rear camera - the most classic version of the parking "eye". I have already mocked enough the competence of Russian registrar observers. But in the case of the X27 Dual, as they say, "they knocked from the bottom." Some comrades talked about the rear module as intended solely for parking assistance. That is, right and presented - DVR with a parking camera, and not a two-chamber avtoreg. After that, they did not cite a single example of shooting with the back "eye".



As far as I understand, the main advantage of such cameras is the cheapness and relative simplicity of the design (and, therefore, production). First of all, compared to the more traditional rear models, which initially focused solely on the installation on the rear window of the car.

While the parking "nature" carries a very controversial moment. In an amicable way, cameras like the X27 Dual are not designed for salon installation at all. Their place is on the visor right above the state number. Which, in turn, creates the need to contact the service for installation, since motorists rarely own the “magic” of parsing the trim for a neat and competent camera pulling from the passenger compartment to the luggage compartment door. I don’t think this is a significant minus specifically X27 Dual. For the simple reason that such rear models are used in 99% of two-chamber devices at the price of up to 9,000 rubles. The exception is literally a couple of recorders.

Speaking about the design and installation, we should mention an external GPS-receiver. This is the only working GPS option for cars with heated glass or coating, which actually blocks the reception of satellite signals. In the case of heating, there is only a small radio-transparent zone somewhere at the top, and such that the usual recorder (not that pad) is hardly installed there. As a result, for the owners of such machines the majority of registrars are automatically cut off. This is especially critical if speedcam is to be used (a warning about radars and other objects using the built-in base of coordinates of their location). Because without GPS, the speed-alert system cannot work at all.



As you already understood, the X27 Dual solves the problem simply and elegantly - in the right place we put a circle on the 3M-scotch tape, and on the back side with a sticky tape we attach a GPS receiver. Interestingly, for some reason they did not embed the cable, so the module has a microUSB connector (for whom did the “outdated” miniUSB “callus” eyes? Here's a change).

To wander around the menu and watch videos we have on a large 4.3-inch screen. And this is the reason why you don’t really miss Wi-Fi. The display at the expense of its size, as I have already indicated above, is quite suitable for a thoughtful viewing of clips for a couple with someone who wants to penalize you without a reason inspector. Moreover, such a diagonal pleases when you need to switch to the rear camera when parking. Although this switch to the X27 Dual occurs automatically, for this purpose, two wiring from the power cable. One is fixed to the car body, and the second to the reversing light. Total - as soon as the parking lights come on, the picture from the rear camera automatically turns on the entire screen. As a replacement for the rear-view mirror, I didn’t have any questions to cover, except that the image is slightly darker.



Additional features. Speed ​​skating


I like the continuity in Neoline devices, the brand tries to save certain chips from model to model. For example, triggering a parking survey on the G-sensor or a warning about the absence of a memory card. Now - speeds. Not so long ago, I worked hard on the excellent Neoline Wide S55 DVR. On closer examination, it turned out that Neoline made the most advanced speedovers among all registrars up to 7,000 rubles. This system migrated to the X27 Dual. As of mid-2018, this is one of the best speedcams in recorders without a hardware radar detector. And certainly the best among the two-chamber linings.

Unlike standard warning systems with two or three types of alerts, objects here are divided into 11 types, including Arrow, Post DPS, OT Lane Control and Pedestrian Crossing. I was particularly pleased with the presence of a “model”, I do not remember it in other speed cars of “non-hybrids”. Of course, a separate algorithm implemented a warning about paired cameras. When traveling between the complexes, the average speed is calculated and displayed on the screen. The alert is cleared after 10 minutes if you move out of the controlled area.

With a warning, an image of the object is shown on the screen, the distance to it and the allowed speed, the information is duplicated by a voice message.



The database is updated several times a month, which I was particularly pleased with - the information is exactly the same as that used in Neoline hybrids and radar detectors. This is not always the case, sometimes manufacturers of good-quality camera catchers order some Chinese avtoreg with a curved speed and a very mediocre source of updates. In the Neoline assortment, by the way, there is not one such device.



To other additional functions. All Neoline recorders have a proprietary chip, which should be implemented in any avtorege regardless of price. This is a notification system about the stopped recording. The name speaks for itself, so the recorder will absolutely let you know about the absence of the shooting due to a software error or a problem with the memory card. The X27 Dual starts sounding with short breaks.

The G-sensor is the same here as in almost any other recorder: when an accelerometer is triggered, the current video file is protected from deletion. Personally, I have long since immediately turned off the G-sensor, which, even with minimal sensitivity, can react to potholes or speed bumps. It is much easier and more efficient to manually tag the file if necessary.

Video shooting


In the question of accessories, Neoline showed an unusual secrecy - neither the processor, nor the matrix, nor even the material and the number of lenses is known. What caused such a “tracing of traces” is not clear, other brands, even in devices with a frank interpolation, quietly reveal the “iron”.

So, the main camera shoots at Full HD resolution of 30 fps, the viewing angle is 150 degrees diagonally. The rear camera shoots in HD-resolution, and the viewing angle is only 100 degrees. I will express this thought. When an accident recording from the back of the camera are useful in isolated cases. In other words, ideally, you should choose a dual-channel device. Another thing - whether to pursue the very high quality of shooting, at the level of a decent front-facing module. For if you chase - get ready to shell out at least 10-12 thousand rubles.



As a result, with a budget of up to 10,000 rubles, the option of the type X27 Dual becomes more than a choice for life. We have at our disposal a quality “main” registrar + in all respects not so much as a ticked, but inexpensive rear module. At the same time, his shooting is absolutely enough, both day and night, for fixing the overall picture at 5-10 meters (useful for parsing auto-sub-setup) and what is happening right at the rear bumper. It is from this position that I view the rear modules like the one in the X27 Dual and do not measure them with the measurements of the front camera. Simply put - you do not overpay for what you probably do not need, and even get a good parking camera bonus.

The clips are saved in .MOV and .MP4 files for the front and rear cameras, respectively, the bitrate is 16 and 10 Mbit / s.

I would rate the quality of shooting of the front-facing camera on a strong 7 points out of 10. Minus point for small distortions of objects at the edges is 150 degrees after all, although this does not affect the real clarity. The overall information content of the frame is good, the color rendition without distorting, no white balance errors are observed. Gosnomer day visible from about 8 meters, I would like a little more margin of distance. Also on a sunny day, and at night there would not be too much support for WDR.









At night, I was pleased with the matrix; even in complete darkness, areas outside the headlights did not turn into impenetrable darkness.







The rear camera is predictably inferior to the front, but, as I said, in the context of such a device shooting is more than enough for an informative video recording of what is happening behind the car. This applies to both day and night recordings. I can only blame the developers for forgetfulness - the picture was not mirrored, so all the inscriptions and state numbers are shown backwards. Perhaps this will be fixed in the next model firmware.

If for some reason you need to shoot without external power, the model will not be lost - the built-in battery with a capacity of 600 mAh is enough for almost 20 minutes of offline recording.

Equipment


The set turned out without frills, so I did not focus on it at the beginning of the review.



Two rubber clips, GPS receiver, cigarette lighter charging, miniUSB cable, rear camera, half a dozen cable hooks, instructions and warranty. Of the pleasant things - cloth napkin and a brief manual with legal advice on the use of video in an accident.







Conclusion


The Neoline G-Tech X27 Dual for 8,490 rubles was a pleasant discovery for me, I can definitely record the model in the ranks of successful recorders of 2018. , , . -. , , , X27 Dual . – . , , - .

– , , HD- . , . , 10-12 .

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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/414473/


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