- :
- Canada
Hey guys, just posting my review of the F17 Elite dashcam.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I did not pay for this dashcam, or the hardwire kit that came with it, which is normally sold separately. A big thank you to @Redtiger for offering me the opportunity to test and review this F17 Elite dashcam.
First, I'll list some of the specs that drew me to the camera. Not all specs will be listed here, so I'll add a link to the product's Amazon.ca listing. (LINK)
Unboxing the Camera
IMO this felt like a premium product right from the unboxing. The dashcam comes in a shrinkwrapped box, with major components (front and rear cams) nestled securely in foam and minor components (cables, connectors, manuals), packed and labelled in smaller boxes. It reminded me a lot of unboxing a premium smartphone, like my S21 Ultra or my wife's iPhone 16 Pro that she recently got for work. Here's a quick 2 min video showing the unboxing.
Installation
Installation was really easy, even though this was only the second dashcam I've ever installed. The included instructions are very helpful if you need them. I chose to position the dashcam just to the left of the rearview mirror - this is basically just so it's easy for me to access. Like my previous dashcam, I routed the rear camera cable from the camera into the headliner, then over to the driver's side A-pillar, and down the front of the A-pillar to it's base. From there, I crossed over the A-pillar to avoid interfering with the side curtain airbag deployment, and ran the cable into the weatherstripping, which I then ran all the way to the back. Following that, I ran the cable through a rubber boot on the liftgate and behind an interior panel to finally connect to the rear cam. I've included a video showing how I routed the rear cable.
I chose to power the dashcam using a Dongar mirror tap kit instead of the 12v socket or the hardwiring kit.
Basic Functions and User Interface
The front and in-cabin cam have plenty of adjustability. You can actually move the lens for each camera about 10-15 degrees in any direction to get the view that works best for you. The buttons on the bottom are easy to find and press, though I think it would be nice if the one red button was designated for the save/lock clip function instead of the function for taking a photo.
I found everything to be fairly easy to find and adjust thanks to the large touchscreen display. An unexpected surprise is how smooth and responsive the UI is. It's very much like scrolling through an app an your phone. Here's another video to show the UI a bit better.
In addition, updating the firmware can be done OTA via the app, which is really convenient. Redtiger's marketing team reached out a couple of days ago to advise me of a new firmware update, and I took the opportunity to screen-record the process to show how it went. Overall it was a very quick and easy process. See below:
youtube.com
Clip Transfer
With my previous dashcam, I never once used the wireless file transfer after trying to do it the first time. It just took too long to download a short 2-minute clip to my phone, and the app interface was very laggy and clunky. As a result, to get the clips onto my computer or my phone, I would first need to either remove the cam from the car and connect it via mini USB to my PC, or I would have to remove the microSD card and use an SD card adapter to plug it into my PC. With the F17 Elite, I just had to connect to the dashcam's wifi, then use the Redtiger app to pick and choose which clips to download. It was a night and day difference in experience. I can still just as easily remove the dashcam or the microSD card to connect it to my PC, but now I don't have to.
Video/Audio Quality
I find the video quality to be excellent in the daytime footage I've recorded and viewed, for all channels. Specifically for the front and rear cam, depending on the speed of my car and the speed of oncoming cars, I can generally read their license plates pretty easily. At night, it's more difficult due to the low lighting and occasionally the glare from headlights and from my own lights. I will need to see if there are any settings I can adjust for low-light performance. Colour accuracy is really good, and audio recording quality is also good in my experience.
Along with the adjustability of the viewing angle on the front and in-cabin camera lenses, you also have the option to tilt the rear camera up or down, and you can flip the rear camera's image to give you more versatility with mounting the camera. For example, I made a rookie mistake and attached the rear cam to the rear windshield without first checking the orientation of the image. As a result, by default the recording was upside down, but I just flipped the image in the settings and all is good now.
Here's a sample clip of the front, rear and in-cabin footage.
www.youtube.com
Areas of Improvement/Adjustment
The size of the unit is quite big, compared to my Viofo A129 Duo. It's roughly 2.5x larger, and as a result, it's less discrete, and takes up more space on the windshield. It's a tradeoff for the large display and the in-cabin camera built in to the front cam, but I do think the tradeoff is worth it. Just something to be aware of.
I would have liked to be able to modify more of the information overlay on each clip. On my old cam, there was an option to remove the overlay completely, or I could write my own text to include on the overlay (up to 8 characters I believe). With this dashcam, it lists the date/time, the model of the cam, the Redtiger logo, and if you have it enabled, your speed and GPS coordinates. I would love to be able to add my license plate to the overlay to further personalize my clips when I save and upload them.
The worst thing about this cam, IMO, is that I have to wake the screen, then press the button to save/lock a clip. On my previous dashcam, I just had to press a button to save the clip. In all fairness, this is a pretty minor inconvenience, with 2 button presses instead of 1. It's just something that I'll need to get used to, but if it's possible for Redtiger to adjust this in the firmware somehow, that would turn it into a near-perfect dashcam for me.
Final Thoughts
Currently this dashcam is on sale for $329 CDN on Amazon.ca, with a retail price of $399 CDN. At this price, this is a feature-rich option with an excellent value for what you get. All of the components feel very well-made to me, and the UI is impressive both in presentation and in operation. It truly feels like a flagship dashcam, especially compared to my old Viofo A129 Duo. I would give this camera a solid 9/10, just because of the areas of improvement mentioned above. I'd like to see those improvements/adjustments in future versions or newer models from Redtiger.
Regarding microSD cards - though this cam comes with a 128gb card, I would highly recommend a larger card. This dashcam supports microSD cards up to 512gb. I'm going to switch to the 256gb card I was using for my Viofo, just because 128gb will fill up quick with 3 cameras recording 3 clips at all times. A larger microSD card allows you to go back a little further in case you want to view past footage. You can adjust the resolution to reduce the clip size, but that defeats the purpose of a dashcam that can record at those higher resolutions.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I did not pay for this dashcam, or the hardwire kit that came with it, which is normally sold separately. A big thank you to @Redtiger for offering me the opportunity to test and review this F17 Elite dashcam.
First, I'll list some of the specs that drew me to the camera. Not all specs will be listed here, so I'll add a link to the product's Amazon.ca listing. (LINK)
- 4K front cam, 2.5k rear cam
- Full Colour Night Vision
- Touchscreen display
- Wifi connectivity
- Price (compared to similar, popular models)
Unboxing the Camera
IMO this felt like a premium product right from the unboxing. The dashcam comes in a shrinkwrapped box, with major components (front and rear cams) nestled securely in foam and minor components (cables, connectors, manuals), packed and labelled in smaller boxes. It reminded me a lot of unboxing a premium smartphone, like my S21 Ultra or my wife's iPhone 16 Pro that she recently got for work. Here's a quick 2 min video showing the unboxing.
Installation
Installation was really easy, even though this was only the second dashcam I've ever installed. The included instructions are very helpful if you need them. I chose to position the dashcam just to the left of the rearview mirror - this is basically just so it's easy for me to access. Like my previous dashcam, I routed the rear camera cable from the camera into the headliner, then over to the driver's side A-pillar, and down the front of the A-pillar to it's base. From there, I crossed over the A-pillar to avoid interfering with the side curtain airbag deployment, and ran the cable into the weatherstripping, which I then ran all the way to the back. Following that, I ran the cable through a rubber boot on the liftgate and behind an interior panel to finally connect to the rear cam. I've included a video showing how I routed the rear cable.
I chose to power the dashcam using a Dongar mirror tap kit instead of the 12v socket or the hardwiring kit.
Basic Functions and User Interface
The front and in-cabin cam have plenty of adjustability. You can actually move the lens for each camera about 10-15 degrees in any direction to get the view that works best for you. The buttons on the bottom are easy to find and press, though I think it would be nice if the one red button was designated for the save/lock clip function instead of the function for taking a photo.
I found everything to be fairly easy to find and adjust thanks to the large touchscreen display. An unexpected surprise is how smooth and responsive the UI is. It's very much like scrolling through an app an your phone. Here's another video to show the UI a bit better.
In addition, updating the firmware can be done OTA via the app, which is really convenient. Redtiger's marketing team reached out a couple of days ago to advise me of a new firmware update, and I took the opportunity to screen-record the process to show how it went. Overall it was a very quick and easy process. See below:
Redtiger F17 Elite firmware update process
Here's a quick video showing how I routed the rear cable for my F17 Elite dashcam in my 2022 Mazda CX-9.
youtube.com
Clip Transfer
With my previous dashcam, I never once used the wireless file transfer after trying to do it the first time. It just took too long to download a short 2-minute clip to my phone, and the app interface was very laggy and clunky. As a result, to get the clips onto my computer or my phone, I would first need to either remove the cam from the car and connect it via mini USB to my PC, or I would have to remove the microSD card and use an SD card adapter to plug it into my PC. With the F17 Elite, I just had to connect to the dashcam's wifi, then use the Redtiger app to pick and choose which clips to download. It was a night and day difference in experience. I can still just as easily remove the dashcam or the microSD card to connect it to my PC, but now I don't have to.
Video/Audio Quality
I find the video quality to be excellent in the daytime footage I've recorded and viewed, for all channels. Specifically for the front and rear cam, depending on the speed of my car and the speed of oncoming cars, I can generally read their license plates pretty easily. At night, it's more difficult due to the low lighting and occasionally the glare from headlights and from my own lights. I will need to see if there are any settings I can adjust for low-light performance. Colour accuracy is really good, and audio recording quality is also good in my experience.
Along with the adjustability of the viewing angle on the front and in-cabin camera lenses, you also have the option to tilt the rear camera up or down, and you can flip the rear camera's image to give you more versatility with mounting the camera. For example, I made a rookie mistake and attached the rear cam to the rear windshield without first checking the orientation of the image. As a result, by default the recording was upside down, but I just flipped the image in the settings and all is good now.
Here's a sample clip of the front, rear and in-cabin footage.
Redtiger F17 Elite front, rear, interior camera video samples
Here's a short clip showing the video quality of the F17 Elite. I cycle through the cameras every 30 seconds in this video.
www.youtube.com
Areas of Improvement/Adjustment
The size of the unit is quite big, compared to my Viofo A129 Duo. It's roughly 2.5x larger, and as a result, it's less discrete, and takes up more space on the windshield. It's a tradeoff for the large display and the in-cabin camera built in to the front cam, but I do think the tradeoff is worth it. Just something to be aware of.
I would have liked to be able to modify more of the information overlay on each clip. On my old cam, there was an option to remove the overlay completely, or I could write my own text to include on the overlay (up to 8 characters I believe). With this dashcam, it lists the date/time, the model of the cam, the Redtiger logo, and if you have it enabled, your speed and GPS coordinates. I would love to be able to add my license plate to the overlay to further personalize my clips when I save and upload them.
The worst thing about this cam, IMO, is that I have to wake the screen, then press the button to save/lock a clip. On my previous dashcam, I just had to press a button to save the clip. In all fairness, this is a pretty minor inconvenience, with 2 button presses instead of 1. It's just something that I'll need to get used to, but if it's possible for Redtiger to adjust this in the firmware somehow, that would turn it into a near-perfect dashcam for me.
Final Thoughts
Currently this dashcam is on sale for $329 CDN on Amazon.ca, with a retail price of $399 CDN. At this price, this is a feature-rich option with an excellent value for what you get. All of the components feel very well-made to me, and the UI is impressive both in presentation and in operation. It truly feels like a flagship dashcam, especially compared to my old Viofo A129 Duo. I would give this camera a solid 9/10, just because of the areas of improvement mentioned above. I'd like to see those improvements/adjustments in future versions or newer models from Redtiger.
Regarding microSD cards - though this cam comes with a 128gb card, I would highly recommend a larger card. This dashcam supports microSD cards up to 512gb. I'm going to switch to the 256gb card I was using for my Viofo, just because 128gb will fill up quick with 3 cameras recording 3 clips at all times. A larger microSD card allows you to go back a little further in case you want to view past footage. You can adjust the resolution to reduce the clip size, but that defeats the purpose of a dashcam that can record at those higher resolutions.
