THINKWARE X500 Dash Cam Review

THINKWARE X500 DashcamTHINKWARE X500 is a full HD dashboard camera that comes with popular Sony Exmor Sensor for super high quality video recording and inbuilt GPS antenna for embedding speed and GPS details in the videos. It is loaded with advanced safety features like traffic enforcement warning, front collision warning, lane departure warning and front vehicle departure warning.

Though this is not a dual channel dash cam as such, you can easily turn it into one. If you look at the top of the THINKWARE X500 car cam, you will see a third port there; that’s for attaching a rear camera. All you need to do is buy a separate rear camera and plug it into that port; and you’ll have two cameras, front and rear, recording for you separately, all at the same time. So, here you have a dash cam that gives you an option to convert it into a dual channel camera whenever you want to.

X500 is designed to detect both, impact and motion of the vehicle, to safeguard it against hit and run cases when being parked. It uses a Dual Save Technology that automatically saves an additional copy of the video recording of any incident in the internal memory of the camera. The product comes with one year warranty from the manufacturer but you need to buy it from authorized retailers only in order to avail the warranty.

THINKWARE X500 LCD screenThe mounted LCD display screen of 2.7 inches allows you to playback recorded videos on the go. And why just playback! You can even check the real time recording on it. The easy to use menu also allows you to change the settings of the camera or even format the external memory right from the screen buttons. The display is bright, sharp and clear.

The wide angle glass lens of 140 degrees can cover almost all of your vehicle’s surroundings with minimal distortion. So you can be sure you don’t miss a thing in the front or at the side of your car. The Exmor CMOS image sensor has a resolution of 2.4 million pixels that greatly enhances the clarity of the images. So, the recordings, no doubt, are crisp and clear. To get the best quality playback, always import the videos into their proprietary program that comes preinstalled in the Micro SD memory card.

To protect the camera and its stored recordings from high temperature, X500 dash cam features a self-protection shutdown feature. It automatically switches off the device whenever temperature shoots up beyond a certain degree.
THINKWARE X500 car cam comes complete with adhesive tape mount, cable holder, car charger, 16 GB Micro SD card, and USB card reader. However, there is no suction cup mount or data cable included in the package. Also, you may have to go for few additional cable clamps to complete the installation.

All in all, X500 is a feature rich dash cam with a sophisticated look. The mount is stable and does not allow any vibration in the video. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the G-sensor. Do keep in mind that traffic enforcement warning and few other features are database based. Since the database is updated along with the firmware, you should periodically update your firmware to get the best performance.

Full Specs and Firmware

Dimensions: 4.1 x 2.02 x 1.15 inches
Video: Full HD 1080p – (1920 * 1080)
Sensor: SONY CMOS Image sensor
Display: 2.7″
Lens Angle: 140 degrees
Storage: microSD, up to 64GB
G-Sensor: Yes
GPS: Yes, built in
Audio: Yes
Dual Dashcam: Yes, with optional camera
Item Number: X500

Firmware: Download the latest firmware here

What’s in the box?

  • THINKWARE X500 Dashcam
  • 3M adhesive dashcam mount
  • Adhesive cable holder
  • Car charger and power cord
  • Quick start guide
  • User manual

Sample Videos

Daytime driving in sunny condition

Night driving video with only the car headlights

Snowy and low light video

Rear dashcam in daylight