The Thinkware Q1000 dash cam might be the highest end one I’ve reviewed yet. Of all the brands I’ve reviewed, Thinkware has shown the most variety in offerings, ranging from cloud-based options to localized options, and options with and without Wi-Fi and mobile app support. Diversity in options is always good for people with different tastes and budgets.
The Thinkware Q1000 is a dual channel dash cam with flexible recording options, updated tech, and a wealth of other features that, on paper, make it look like a standout in a sea of dash cams. This is where this review begins.
Unboxing your Thinkware Q1000 dash cam
There are a lot of parts included with your new dash cam, including the front and rear cameras that default record at 30 FPS at 1440p. There’s no separate GPS peripheral this time since it’s onboard the front camera. The front camera can also record at 1080p 60 FPS. However, this will require a full re-format of your card and you’ll lose any existing recordings. You also get a front mount with an extra adhesive and heat shield film for it, a 12V car charger and hard wiring kit for choice of power, wire clips, and a 32GB MicroSD card with adapter. The card is pre-formatted for immediate use as well.
There is a port for a radar add-on, which is optional and not included in this package. The radar add-on helps wake up your camera to capture footage before and after a collision when it is in Energy Saving Mode.
Hooking up your Thinkware Q1000
As can be expected, Thinkware provides two useful methods to connect your dash cam. The soft install sees you plug in through the 12V car charger. Depending on your vehicle, this could be a continuous power source (though I assume a fair drain on your battery this way if it is) or not. Case in point, my SUV considers this port to be continuous power, while my sedan does not. Then there is the hardwiring kit, which has you connect to continuous power sources through your vehicle’s fuse box. That continuous power source draws a small amount but gives you access to all of the hard wiring parking surveillance features. Depending on what’s available in your vehicle, you might also need to buy extra fuse adapters to make it work.
There is more than enough, and trust me when I say MORE than enough, slack from the rear camera out to the front. After hiding wiring from the back to the front, I think I was still left with about 15 feet of extra slack.
Hard wiring was a different issue. I was interested in hard wiring this dash cam to my sedan and then taking advantage of the parking surveillance features. Unfortunately, I had some trouble finding somebody locally to do this, and when we finally got to where we decided to do it ourselves, we ran into a couple of technical difficulties. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to show off hard wiring features during the initial review, but will try and get a video out in the future when we’re able to connect the hard wire kit. If hard wiring is absolutely not an option for you, or you cannot make it work within the confines of your vehicle (i.e. the hardwiring kits aren’t long enough or some other sort of technical difficulty), Thinkware does also sell standalone dash cam batteries for their systems. These again do require hard wiring (since they need a charging source) but are another possibility.
Should you go with soft wiring the dash cam, it’s a basic plug and play process. Just remember to make sure that everything is connected properly and clicked into place. You’ll receive some notifications from your dash cam if it isn’t hooked up properly. If it is, you’ll just be encouraged to have a safe drive!
Connecting to your Thinkware Q1000 dash cam
When you go to your App store, you’re going to see two Thinkware apps—ThinkwareCloud and DashCamLink. It’s DashCamLink that you want to download to connect to this camera. I’ve reviewed so many Thinkware dash cams at this point that I had both on my phone, so I decided to try and connect to the wrong app on purpose to see what happens. The ThinkwareCloud app DOES recognize your Q1000, but will tell you that it isn’t supported and rightly tells you to download the proper app.
Connecting to the camera is probably a 30ish second process each time. However, the first time you properly connect to the camera, it should pick up the Q1000 each time as long as you see the valid Wi-Fi signal and open the app. Once you’re connected to the camera though, the transfer speeds to your phone are really fast.
From here, you can view all of your footage to date as well as changing up your settings. If you prefer, you can also use the Thinkware PC Viewer program which is bundled onto the memory card, or just plug the MicroSD card into your PC and watch your recordings straight from there.
Operating and fine-tuning your Thinkware Q1000 dash cam
By default, both Thinkware Q1000 cameras record at a 156 degree field of vision at 30 FPS. They are also onboarded with Sony’s STARVIS image technology. As mentioned above, you can have your front camera record at 60 FPS if need be as well, though it’ll be downscaled to 1080p. While the rear camera looks like your standard Thinkware rear camera on the outside, it’s a bit more powerful on the inside. The cameras come equipped with Night Vision 3.0 as well, providing clearer footage at night than past Thinkware camera equipped with previous versions.
Fine tuning is done completely through the app, including help with mounting your camera in the right spot. You can use the app as a guide to install both cameras in the right place. There’s also a handy calibration overlay that the app provides to ensure that you have your front camera pointing out correctly. The front camera can be manually adjusted to fit within those parameters. You can then use a live guide to properly mount your rear camera as well.
There are a handful of options available in the app, including flipping the rear camera view, changing recording type, tinkering with the speed/GPS and more. They’re all fairly stock standard options you would expect from a camera. I couldn’t find any continuous loop modification options, which means that the dash cam loops recordings for you in one minute slices and will record over footage once the camera is full.
One really helpful feature, however, is that when calibrated, you get this great suite of driver assistance features. Thinkware cameras I’ve reviewed for the past few years have always had red light camera detection, however, there’s a lot more here. I also received notifications for speed traps, changes in speed limit, and full Advanced Driver Assistance features, like collision detection and 360 degree departure and collision warnings. Since there is no LCD screen on this model, you’ll have to get used to the audible notifications of ADAS here, but it’s easy enough to learn them. Using the Thinkware Connected app, you’ll also get some extra features like the ability to send emergency alerts to a deemed contact, impact notifications, and more. Again, while the features of Thinkware Connected aren’t mandatory (and require you to register the camera and an account with Thinkware), they’re just great extra features thrown in to help the case of going with one of their dash cams.
Thoughts on using the Thinkware Q1000 dash cam
When I look at dash cams, I always think about a couple of things for the average consumer aside from the features. The ease of install, the small footprint on the windshield, and all of the additional features make this a winner for me.
In addition to the expected recording features, I really like the fact that dash cams now come with helpful supplementary features like ADAS and its collision/lane departure warnings. After you initialize the ADAS through the app, you’ll have to fine tune it a bit so that it is sensitive, but not too much. The notifications sound a bit like the seatbelt fastening noise on an airplane, so you’ll want to play around until you get just the right amount and it isn’t overdone.
Is the Thinkware Q1000 worth the price?
The Thinkware Q1000 is a higher end dash cam with a higher end price tag, but the features make it worth the price. I think anybody in the market for a dash cam should really think about whether all of these features are those you’re interested in and then commit. This is a definite step up from the X800 (both in features and all around recording) that I reviewed a couple months ago. This is the type of camera I’d recommend straight off to anybody looking for one, though the absence of the LCD screen might be a hangup for some (like my mom, for example) so I’d say weigh out everything you need, and everything that’s a nice to have and make the choice. Either way, I quite like this one and feel like we’ll be using it for a long time.
The Thinkware Q1000 dash cam (and the optional radar hookup and colour polarizing filters) is now available at Best Buy and online at bestbuy.ca.
This dash cam would benefit me because it will record accidents and help protect me from liability.
I currently have a front view only dashcam, I have it for accident documentation. This thinkware model would permit rear monitoring as well and that could be beneficial in the event of a rear end collision.
This dashcam would benefit my life in case something happens! If I were to get into an accident and there’s no witnesses, it’s good to have proof of what happened!
The Thinkware Q1000 Dash Cam would benefit my life in my car by allowing me to document accidents for insurance purposes in the case I get in one or if I witness one
It could really help me if got into an accident. They can’t deny it if you’ve got it taped.
It would benefit me in case I got into an accident. Always good to have it recorded.
provide evidence of an accident or any other incidences
Notifications when over the speed limit would help remind me when I’m speeding!
A dash cam would benefit my life by providing safety features to keep me more informed on the road as well as offering peace of mind in the event of a road incident
I think some of the smart features like the ADAS and its collision/lane departure warnings may help keep me safe while driving.
This dash cam would benefit me because it would record any potential accidents that may arise.
I think the documentation feature would be the best advantage these days for safety purposes.
it would benefit me for evidence incase I get into an accident and the other driver is not honest
The proof a dash cam provides of fault during an accident, along with many safety features it offers while driving are just some of the way a dash cam would benefit my life.
This dash cam would benefit me through it’s many safety alert features, and the proof it provides of an incident should my insurance company require it.
I like that a DashCam would provide details and proof of any incidents on the road
This dash cam would benefit me by providing proof of what happened in the event of driving dispute.
Impact notifications.
Peace of mind for sure. Feeling safer and being more aware is key!
Peace of mind for recording evidence in the event of a car accident
Having a dam cam is important and feel more safe to drive in snowy winter in Ontario.
I have a cheap dash cam in my car.
I like the fact that it starts recording as soon as you start your car.
Having a dash cam is important to me for better peace of mind knowing that I will have a record of impacts or even getting hit by grocery carts, thus reducing my anxiety about being hit!
I’d love a dashcam for my car! We have a lot of new roundabouts in our area and nobody seems to know how to use them. A dashcam would give me peace-of-mind in case somebody fails to yield in front of me.
Having the ability to record from a front and a rear camera is great. My brother was rear-ended and his dash-cam showed that he was stopped and the driver behind was distracted.
This would help me improve my parallel parking, for one thing! It would also give me peace of mind.
The red light detection would be a bonus
This would provide me with peace of mind while driving.
It would benefit me by storing footage in the cloud, instead of worrying about filling up an SD card like my current one does (and not very well, at that!).
Getting notifications for changes in speed limits would defiantly improve my driving life and help me to avoid tickets and higher insurance premiums.
I like that Dash cam evidence presented to the police or even to a judge is indisputable
like that it would provide evidence to defend myself if I’m ever involved in an accident
Notifications for speed traps and changes in speed limit is beneficial to me because sometimes I tend to speed.
This dash cam would benefit me because it would record any potential accidents that may arise.
The red light detection would be a bonus
tHE Q1000 would provide peace of mind for insurance fraud
I know that the thinkware Q1000 would provide peace of mind knowing if an incident occurred, a record would be available for day/night and front/rear evidence so the truth would be known
I live in a city of seniors. Many residents do not signal, adhere to stop signs and pull out of driveways and parking lol like demons. lol I fear an accident is imminent and this sure would give me peace of mind and proof of who is at fault if and when it was required.
Thinkware Q1000 would provide peace of mind knowing if an incident occurred a record would be available for day/night and front/rear circumstance. Beneficial for insurance or accident investigation.
I did not know that some dash cams have so many added features, like notifying when there are any changes in speed limit! Love that.
The Thinkware Q1000 Dash Cam would benefit my life if I had one in my vehicle because of all the extra features this dash cam offers, especially the excellent quality.
This cam would be great for added insurance of knowing that if I was in an accident that wasn’t my fault, I would be protected from liability! It can also deter thefts from the car!
I drive a lot for work and personal life so getting evidence of car crashes will be helpful for insurance purposes.
These days with all the crazy drivers out there, it’s always beneficial to have a dash cam to capture what happened in case you need it. Definitely would reduce anxiety for a driver who can just point to the footage to prove their innocence.
Recording accidents is crucial these days.
I’m a fairly new driver. The safety features on this dashcam would offer me peace of mind, especially in the event of needing to show footage in the event of an accident.
video evidence would have saved me paying a deductible when I wasn’t at fault.
this dashcam would help deal with idiots on the road
It would be great to have this dashcam to keep a record of any accidents.
This dash cam would benefit my life if I installed one in my car by being something more than a camera and added features like collision/lanand added features like making it a well-rounded safety feature for every driver in my house!
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