A short Porsche Dashcam review

[tigerbalm]

I recently had the Porsche Dashcam installed by Porsche Centre Dublin into my 911. Because it is a Targa, only the front-facing camera is supported. The car did come from the factory with the pre-wiring option, but as I wasn't involved with the install, I have no sense of how much easier or neater that made things.

The official OE Porsche Dashcam was far from my first choice when it comes to cameras. I had pretty good experience with the FitcamX in both my Taycan 4S and Turbo S. I guess I didn't find those camera's amazing and they had iffy 4K resolution – but the physical install is so neat, I forgive it any of its shortcomings.

However, I had a reasonably tricky relationship with Porsche in terms of warranty and a "unsupported" camera install wired into the rain sensor. Everyone knew it wasn't a problem, but Porsche AG made it clear that it violated the terms of the "New Car" warranty with a specific clause about the installation of unapproved hardware.

Once or twice where I had 22kW AC charger failures – sometimes abroad on a road-trip – and I certainly didn't want to give Porsche any reason to deny cover. So I used to carry an "emergency" uninstall kit with me – and used it on a number of occasions. And anybody who has installed the FitcamX will know – that while it is doable – it is a pain.

The last time I had an issue – I was driving across the country on Christmas Eve to head to my childhood home – and the 12 volt battery was low and refusing to top up. I was worried I'd need to call for a tow truck and defo didn't want the camera installed with any concerns about the 12 volt circuit. Out it came adding an hour to an already long winter journey.

I just didn't want to get into all that with my 911 and decided I'd get the official camera installed instead. One motivation for the camera is to document our road trips – as much as it is for security and insurance assistance.

The camera is much more prominent compared to the FitcamX. However, it is not terrible. I am finding myself able to live with it. I think having a right-hand drive vehicle actually does help. The camera naturally "wraps" around the rear-view mirror more so than if the wheel was on the other side.

I could imagine tucking it up a little more towards the roof line – but the installation instructions from Porsche insist on placing it where mine is. I think the main reasons for that are:

1. The black part against the glass houses a GPS receiver and they want it a clear view of the sky.
2. The front facing part houses a radar to enable remote parking cover.
3. They want the lens to be in the centre of the car as much as possible.

The camera announces what it is doing with a voice prompt. When you start up the car it clearly says: "recording started" and you also get "recording stopped" and "parking mode" when you are finished your trip. This gives me confidence that it is actually working. I pulled out the SD card and it was quick to announce: "SD card removed, recording stopped" on a loop. A few times – once when I really needed it – I found that FitcamX had failed to record something. It feels like this is less likely to happen here – without my knowledge. Time will tell, if this is true.

The camera is happy to connect to the in-car wifi network. Meaning that instead of acting as a standalone wifi hub, it is just a device on the network. You can even see its internal IP address if you go to the PCM –> Connectivity -> Wifi Hotspot Devices.

In practice, this means that if you want to change something on the camera, download a video to your phone or stream the live view, you can just open the Porsche Dashcam app on your mobile and use it. You do not need to join the camera's own wifi network – in fact in this mode, that will be disabled. Therefore, wireless Carplay and the Dashcam play happily together without fighting each other and your phone just needs to stay on the in-car wifi network that it probably already connects to. More Dashcam's should support this!

I haven't used it – but the Porsche Track Precision app – that records your drives with tons of driving dynamics telemetry – is also Porsche Dashcam aware and will use it to record video of your drives alongside the route map and telemetry. Pretty neat for some spirited driving moments. The does expect the camera to be connected to the in-car wifi network for all this to work.

I am not currently recording audio – though its an option – because when the microphone is on – there is a promonent "red" LED light on the unit itself to warn people that they are being recorded. I find this distracting enough during the day – and it would be right in my eye line at night – and would drive me nuts. For now the microphone stays off and there is then no distracting lights on camera.

The quality seems okay – nothing amazing – but certainly useable and there is the option to write both your current GPS location and speed into the video output. Many dashcam's support this, but I mention it because the Fitcam X only support timestamps. You can control via the app – exactly what is written into the video.

The camera is identical regardless of what Porsche vehicle you have in – though each model (911, Macan, Taycan, etc) have their own wiring harnesses and depending on model and options a rear facing camera is also installed.

Here is a sample video from a drive to a hiking trail head I took at the weekend.



Parking mode is also fully supported with a number of options:

1. Radar
2. Impact
3. Video analysis
4. Combinations of the options

The radar uses a dedicated radar sensor on the camera to monitor the front of the car and start the image sensor if something moves in its field of view. This helps keep the image sensor off most of the time, saving battery. I am running parking mode with Radar + Impact on. The video analysis keeps the image sensor on and will use the most battery.

Radar mode is only supported if your vehicle as a Li-Ion based 12 volt battery – which my 911 does – and all Taycan's do. But if you only have a lead-acid/AGM battery than you will have less parking mode options.

The camera came with a Porsche branded 32GB microSD card, but I immediately replaced it with a "high-endurance" dashcam orientated card from SanDisc at 128GB which is working well.

https://www.amazon.ie/SanDisk-ENDURANCE-Monitoring-microSDXC-Endurance/dp/B084CJ9T2R/ref=sr_1_5

In conclusion, the camera is fine, it works. Maybe even go so far as to suggest it works well. I've accepted its physical packaging and bulk. The biggest advantage is being able to head into servicing or a warranty repair with confidence.

Some day – in the distant future – when the sun is a little bit closer to consuming the earth – Porsche will roll out a more integrated solution. Probably, when Audi get around to it themselves and give it to them – as they did with this camera.

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[BjörnfromHamburg]

Thanks for the review. There are some good aspects on functionality I didn´t know.
Dissapointing is the framerate and the resolution, as I could not get any license plate readable from oncoming traffic. Even roadsigns are hard to read. That´s a true bummer.

 

[Johan Meert]

I have the double dashcam installed on my Taycan ST. What I found is that while large SD cards are supported they come with problems:
- the list of files displayed in the app does not go above a certain number. On a big sd card that means that the most recent files are not displayed. You have to use an SD reader to get to them
- I also suspect that when there are too many files on an sdcard (because the card is large) the camera stops working and you need to reformat the card. I have tested a 256Gb card and that had consistent problems (and it is a high endurance card). A 128Gb card or lower does not have this.

 

[tigerbalm]

Thanks for the review. There are some good aspects on functionality I didn´t know.
Dissapointing is the framerate and the resolution, as I could not get any license plate readable from oncoming traffic. Even roadsigns are hard to read. That´s a true bummer.

I had a quick look at the video and I am wondering if youtube has mangled it a bit. I don't remember it being quite that lacking in resolution. I'll take a look at the source video again later and report back.

 

[tigerbalm]

I have tested a 256Gb card and that had consistent problems (and it is a high endurance card). A 128Gb card or lower does not have this.

That is good to know. I did notice that the largest SD card Porsche cell is 64 GB at an insane price.

https://shop.porsche.com/ie/en-IE/p...4935?queryID=c5d1c6bfa5b884b997b706e2cab536d4

I'm trying with the 128 Gb for now and will keep an eye on it.

 

[chun]

Great review.

I could never justify buying it, since police don’t accept dashcam footage as proof.

Add to that the fact that my turbo has cameras everywhere on it, so I was secretly hoping that Porsche would actually try to use them, you know?

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

Here in Germany, court accepts footage from dashcams.
So, really useful. Having a case right now, where the opponent does not provide information.

 

[tigerbalm]

In Ireland the police are constantly making appeals for dashcam footage of major incidents.

 

[tigerbalm]

Thanks for the review. There are some good aspects on functionality I didn´t know.
Dissapointing is the framerate and the resolution, as I could not get any license plate readable from oncoming traffic. Even roadsigns are hard to read. That´s a true bummer.

Took a look and I do think the original video is slightly higher quality than the YouTube encoded version.

Sometimes the registration plates are readable with a bit of zooming in.

But more often than not they are too blurry due to frame-rate (30 fps) and video definition.

 

[sufcrusher]

The camera is happy to connect to the in-car wifi network. Meaning that instead of acting as a standalone wifi hub, it is just a device on the network. You can even see its internal IP address if you go to the PCM –> Connectivity -> Wifi Hotspot Devices.

Got myself excited and then disappointed again: it doesn't work unless you pay Porsche their monthly ransom money.

 

[tigerbalm]

Got myself excited and then disappointed again: it doesn't work unless you pay Porsche their monthly ransom money.

Given it doesn't use any external service and just the in-car wifi hub hardware, that is really surprising. I'm planning on keeping Porsche Connect – so it won't be an issue for me – I actually get some use out of it – but still very surprising. I wonder how it even knows!

 

[GreenHornet]

You can use the camera just fine without integrating it to the pcm. It’s just a bit more to remember then that you have to disable carplay when downloading footage and so on.

 

[sufcrusher]

You can use the camera just fine without integrating it to the pcm. It’s just a bit more to remember then that you have to disable carplay when downloading footage and so on.

Maybe it's an Android thing, but staying connected to a non-internet wifi when there is a more preferred wifi network nearby is already tricky. But then having a paired Android Auto device around makes it just insane.

Disable Bluetooth to try to avoid Android Auto to connect and after some seconds it will just auto-enable it again and connect to it with both wifi and Bluetooth.

I think i now found a combination of putting it into flight mode and then re-enabling wifi that made it kind of work.

But still way too cumbersome to make good use of the dashcam. And all because Porsche decided to be lame for no technical reason.

 

[DerekS]

I had mine mounted like you did; with the lens centered (which is not where the install TSB recommends.). It's better there and mostly hidden behind the rearview mirror for the driver.


I have discovered a couple of important things about this dashcam:

1. You must either disable carplay or get the wifi package if you want to access the camera over wifi.
2. If you use a 256GB SD card, the cam will get confused and start recording nonsensical dates and ruin your ability to retrieve footage. I went down to 64GB for this reason.

 

[cardriva]

I recently had the Porsche Dashcam installed by Porsche Centre Dublin into my 911. Because it is a Targa, only the front-facing camera is supported. The car did come from the factory with the pre-wiring option, but as I wasn't involved with the install, I have no sense of how much easier or neater that made things.

The official OE Porsche Dashcam was far from my first choice when it comes to cameras. I had pretty good experience with the FitcamX in both my Taycan 4S and Turbo S. I guess I didn't find those camera's amazing and they had iffy 4K resolution – but the physical install is so neat, I forgive it any of its shortcomings.

However, I had a reasonably tricky relationship with Porsche in terms of warranty and a "unsupported" camera install wired into the rain sensor. Everyone knew it wasn't a problem, but Porsche AG made it clear that it violated the terms of the "New Car" warranty with a specific clause about the installation of unapproved hardware.

Once or twice where I had 22kW AC charger failures – sometimes abroad on a road-trip – and I certainly didn't want to give Porsche any reason to deny cover. So I used to carry an "emergency" uninstall kit with me – and used it on a number of occasions. And anybody who has installed the FitcamX will know – that while it is doable – it is a pain.

The last time I had an issue – I was driving across the country on Christmas Eve to head to my childhood home – and the 12 volt battery was low and refusing to top up. I was worried I'd need to call for a tow truck and defo didn't want the camera installed with any concerns about the 12 volt circuit. Out it came adding an hour to an already long winter journey.

I just didn't want to get into all that with my 911 and decided I'd get the official camera installed instead. One motivation for the camera is to document our road trips – as much as it is for security and insurance assistance.

The camera is much more prominent compared to the FitcamX. However, it is not terrible. I am finding myself able to live with it. I think having a right-hand drive vehicle actually does help. The camera naturally "wraps" around the rear-view mirror more so than if the wheel was on the other side.

I could imagine tucking it up a little more towards the roof line – but the installation instructions from Porsche insist on placing it where mine is. I think the main reasons for that are:

1. The black part against the glass houses a GPS receiver and they want it a clear view of the sky.
2. The front facing part houses a radar to enable remote parking cover.
3. They want the lens to be in the centre of the car as much as possible.

The camera announces what it is doing with a voice prompt. When you start up the car it clearly says: "recording started" and you also get "recording stopped" and "parking mode" when you are finished your trip. This gives me confidence that it is actually working. I pulled out the SD card and it was quick to announce: "SD card removed, recording stopped" on a loop. A few times – once when I really needed it – I found that FitcamX had failed to record something. It feels like this is less likely to happen here – without my knowledge. Time will tell, if this is true.

The camera is happy to connect to the in-car wifi network. Meaning that instead of acting as a standalone wifi hub, it is just a device on the network. You can even see its internal IP address if you go to the PCM –> Connectivity -> Wifi Hotspot Devices.

In practice, this means that if you want to change something on the camera, download a video to your phone or stream the live view, you can just open the Porsche Dashcam app on your mobile and use it. You do not need to join the camera's own wifi network – in fact in this mode, that will be disabled. Therefore, wireless Carplay and the Dashcam play happily together without fighting each other and your phone just needs to stay on the in-car wifi network that it probably already connects to. More Dashcam's should support this!

I haven't used it – but the Porsche Track Precision app – that records your drives with tons of driving dynamics telemetry – is also Porsche Dashcam aware and will use it to record video of your drives alongside the route map and telemetry. Pretty neat for some spirited driving moments. The does expect the camera to be connected to the in-car wifi network for all this to work.

I am not currently recording audio – though its an option – because when the microphone is on – there is a promonent "red" LED light on the unit itself to warn people that they are being recorded. I find this distracting enough during the day – and it would be right in my eye line at night – and would drive me nuts. For now the microphone stays off and there is then no distracting lights on camera.

The quality seems okay – nothing amazing – but certainly useable and there is the option to write both your current GPS location and speed into the video output. Many dashcam's support this, but I mention it because the Fitcam X only support timestamps. You can control via the app – exactly what is written into the video.

The camera is identical regardless of what Porsche vehicle you have in – though each model (911, Macan, Taycan, etc) have their own wiring harnesses and depending on model and options a rear facing camera is also installed.

Here is a sample video from a drive to a hiking trail head I took at the weekend.



Parking mode is also fully supported with a number of options:

1. Radar
2. Impact
3. Video analysis
4. Combinations of the options

The radar uses a dedicated radar sensor on the camera to monitor the front of the car and start the image sensor if something moves in its field of view. This helps keep the image sensor off most of the time, saving battery. I am running parking mode with Radar + Impact on. The video analysis keeps the image sensor on and will use the most battery.

Radar mode is only supported if your vehicle as a Li-Ion based 12 volt battery – which my 911 does – and all Taycan's do. But if you only have a lead-acid/AGM battery than you will have less parking mode options.

The camera came with a Porsche branded 32GB microSD card, but I immediately replaced it with a "high-endurance" dashcam orientated card from SanDisc at 128GB which is working well.

https://www.amazon.ie/SanDisk-ENDURANCE-Monitoring-microSDXC-Endurance/dp/B084CJ9T2R/ref=sr_1_5

In conclusion, the camera is fine, it works. Maybe even go so far as to suggest it works well. I've accepted its physical packaging and bulk. The biggest advantage is being able to head into servicing or a warranty repair with confidence.

Some day – in the distant future – when the sun is a little bit closer to consuming the earth – Porsche will roll out a more integrated solution. Probably, when Audi get around to it themselves and give it to them – as they did with this camera.

I can’t wait until a new software defined vehicle architecture platform will allow dashcams to automatically be in cars like how Tesla does it.

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