BlackVue DR650GW / DR650S
Dual Camera, Single Camera · See All
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- Award Winner 2023
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171 reviews · Statistics
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BlackVue DR650GW / DR650S is a ProductReview.com.au Awards Winner for 2023, 2019, 2018 and 2017. Learn more
Not happy
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHI’ve had this camera for years, so why has the app keeps changing? It now says incorrect password which is a lie, I was only in it about 4 days ago.
- Readable Number Plates: No
Lasted 6 months
Single Camera DR650S-1CHQuality was very poor. Lasted only 6 months before camera failed. Quality of footage was only a pass. Linking phone to camera was not a problem. Updates for DR650S too hard to install. No longer supported. Not sure how this camera gets a rating of 4.2 - wish I had read all the bad reviews and problems with repairs and returns and replacements.
Purchased in for $450.
- Car Model: Toyota Aurion
Great after sales help! Ill will be upgrading my next car with BlackVue
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHI purchased my car with 8 kilometres on the clock. The first mod was this dash cam. Originally professionally installed in October 2016 by someone in NSW. I thought the included SD card was a little small, so I got another larger one. The replacement SD card was easy to install. Later in Dec 2020 I found the front camera was recording an image with hot pink and green and yellows, you could see things happening just only in these colours … Very trippy. I contacted Black Vue in Perth, Mark McGowanstan (formerly Western Australia), to request thei
... Read morer assistance in getting this fixed and I found the process was very simple and straightforward. I appreciated that BlackVue team made an effort to get the camera fixed up and returned quickly. Gold Star!Purchased in for $650.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: Mazda 3 BN
Rear Camera video image very dark almost unable to see video
Dual Camera DR650GW-2CHBoth the front and rear are recording, front video output is alright but the rear video output is dark and almost unable to view. What is happening? Appreciated if someone can suggestion something, definitely not foggy.
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EDITED REVIEW - Started off great but regretting it now- Camera Failure!!
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHEditing below review I published a couple of months back as Blackvue have reached out to me and completed full repairs of my device even though it is at least a year out of warranty. There are very few companies who would do this or offer this kind of service so I am very impressed with their support. Camera had multiple issues and a number of components were replaced at no cost, and it is no working good as gold. Has definitely restored my faith in the brand, so big thank-you to Chaim and all the support team.
I installed this device with
... Read more a Power Magic Pro almost 3 years ago, and at the same time bought my wife a Garmin model for less than half the price. The picture quality was great in both models but it didn't take long for the old "restarting" issues to occur on mine. So, reformatting my SD card roughly every 6-8 weeks until they fail completely at about the 6-8 month mark. Meanwhile, my wife's Garmin still has its original factory SD card recording like a dream and we have NEVER reformatted or replaced it. Started buying the genuine over-priced Blackvue SD cards as replacements (am on my 5th card now...) and couldn't believe the mark-up on the pricing. The last two cards have been Samsung Pro Endurance with 4 x the original card's capacity (was 32Gb now 128Gb) bought from Harvey Norman's and noticeably cheaper and both have lasted more than 50% longer than the genuine Blackvue cards. This week was the kicker though. I had a very serious incident occur directly in front of me all captured on my dashcam, but when I went to obtain the footage the picture was all pink and purple from the front camera and completely unusable. It appears that the front camera has now failed. So this device which cost double the price of the Garmin, requires monthly to six-weekly maintenance of reformatting SD cards, has required 5 new SD cards in its short lifetime now has a camera failure at a time when it is needed the most. Disappointing to say the least. My guess is that it will probably be cheaper in the long run to just replace the unit entirely with another brand/model rather than repair one component of an already 3 year old device.Purchased in at Autobarn Physical Stores.
Product longevity not as expected [Revised!]
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHFor full transparency, I've left my original review below and have amended my rating.
I was honestly at a dead-end, but the team at BlackVue reached out to set things right for me. I received a replacement unit today, and everything is working perfectly once again. I was absolutely wrong about them not caring -- because of this, my faith in the brand and their after-sales service has been restored.
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Unfortunately my DR650S-2CH didn't even last 2 years. It started with the 2nd camera intermittently working just under a year, then not
... Read moreat all. Despite purchasing a replacement cable, no joy. Just as it got close to 2 years, I was met with the blue light of death (GPS on steady, and doesn't boot). Went through all troubleshooting, advised it was a defective NAND/circuit - but I would need to pay to have it repaired. Would definitely go with a more reputable brand in the future - as once it hits the out of warranty period - they don't care.Purchased in at Sparesbox for $495.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: Ford Focus ST
Blackvue - Lousy value for the cost.
Dual Camera DR650GW-2CHMy adult son thought he did his research and bought a Blackvue 650gw-2ch and thus recommended I do too. We have both lost our Blackvue, as the firmware eventually seems to fight itself, eventually don't recognize memory cards and won't respond to any input via the app or computer. After running these for about 2 years, they are both out of commission, non-functional. I will not waste my money on another Blackvue dash cam.
Purchased in for $600.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: GMC 2500HD
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review based on the experience that you and your son have had using the BlackVue DR650GW-2CH dash camera.
... Read moreIt is disappointing to hear that you have both encountered issues with the DR650GW-2CH so early into its life. We would be more than happy to assist in getting both your and your son's camera back up and running free of charge. If you would like to proceed with this offer then please reach out to us at support@blackvue.com.au so that this can be arranged. If you have any concerns of queries please let us know. Best regards, Chaim BlackVue Australia 08 6267 5167Hi there cn5256, just checking if you have had a chance to get in contact with us. We would like to get your units repaired for you at no cost to you. We hope you can get back to us and have your cameras working again soon. Thank you.
We have had a few emails back and forth. Unfortunately, it appears the internal battery has failed on at least one unit and in order to get service, I need to provide the sales receipt which I cannot
... Read more locate. At this point I am tempted to just throw them away and buy a competing brand. On the other camera, the main unit will not respond to the rear camera and probably needs to be replaced also. Again, we'll probably go to a competitor brand thus my unsatisfactory Blackvue assesssment stands.
Avoid BlackVue products
DR650GW / DR650SHave had this for 3 years. In all this time it has been broken more then it has worked
Much have purchased 3 or 4 SD cards in this time, reformat them every 4 weeks as required but even so they only last a couple of months. A major design flaw with this product. What makes it even more annoying is that you have to buy BlackVue branded SD cards at a massive markup!!!! In the market for a new dash cam. Oh and to top it off the rear camera picture quality is terrible
Purchased in for $700.
- Readable Number Plates: No
BlackVue quickly resolved my issue....
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHI posted an issue I had with my BlackVue dash cam and this company worked very quickly to resolve it, you can’t ask for anything more than that!
It’s great to see some companies making the effort to show their customers they are valued and eager to resolve issues, for this reason I highly recommend purchasing products from this company BlackVue.
Thank you very much Chaim and staff for making this customer have faith again it is really appreciated.
Thanks again!
Purchased in for $850.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: Toyota Aurion GSV50R AT-X
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Great camera, slick design
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHIn my experience, the camera worked well. I bought it in Sep, 2016. So far, I was driven with this camera for over 70000 km (almost 4 years) and who knows of how many hours of parking mode. I kept the genuine SD card and it still works as well.
The main point for me is that the camera worked for the purpose I bought (which is recording). It was always recording without any issues, especially with that hot weather in QLD.
It also the best-looking camera on the market. Cables the thinnest of any other cameras which makes them easy to hide beh
... Read moreind interior panels. Night-time recording is awesome. Parking mode (connected to a battery pack) works great. It ticks all the boxes for me. A bit pricey, but I got almost 4 years out of it and I am looking forward to another 4 years. It the long run, it ended up good value for money for me. I had some non-critical issues with the speaker (out of warranty period). However, the Aus Warranty team from Blackbox fixed it for me. No complaints here. If I am upgrading, I will buy Blackvue again. I paid for bundle with the parking mode battery pack.Purchased in at Automotive Superstore for $853.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: Suzuki Swift AZ GL+
The product doesn't last long
Dual Camera DR650GW-2CHGood customer service. I sent it to BlackBox in Perth to repair, the team had a prompt response and good communication for the issue, so everything was fixed very professionally also came back with a free tracking post.
Purchased in .
- Readable Number Plates: No
Didn't last a year...
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHPurchased in June 2018 and hardwired with optional Power Magic Pro at $500+. I'm an account manager so on the road all day everyday. Had too many near misses and also a couple of carpark hit and runs so decided to upgrade my basic Garmin dashcam (which had worked flawlessly for a couple of years) with the BlackVue DR650S-2CH.
The BlackVue seemed like a quality unit, and by all accounts ticked all the boxes but very quickly had issues. Did not last one summer! Less than 9 months later the housing on the front camera had completely buckled and
... Read morewarped so the unit would no longer sit in the mount, and would constantly restart itself (with the genuine BlackVue memory card, another annoying feature that the unit will not work if you use anything else!). Sent back for warranty repair which took about 4 weeks (with no dashcam in the meantime...). Eventually got it back and only lasted about another 4-5 months, now out of warranty. The voice alerts no longer worked, all I could hear was a very faint but indistinguishable muffled noise - took me a couple of weeks to work out it wasn't a new squeak in the car but the BlackVue. Constantly restarts itself for no apparent reason, multiple times per day. Then not long after I couldn't get wifi to work, so no connectivity without unplugging the unit and removing the microSD card. Now at about 18 months since new the unit is basically inoperable. Only records occasionally when it feels like it, other times both lights are on solid and its doing nothing at all. Oh and did I mention it constantly restarts itself multiple times per day? Annoying as you're losing footage each time. On the odd occasion the unit has recorded something of value the GPS doesn't seem to work, therefore no location/speed etc. On the iPhone app and on my computer just shows a nice map of North America - pretty useless when you live in Australia.... Very disappointing experience overall - could not possibly recommend based on my experience.Hi Paul, thanks for taking the time to leave a review and provide your user feedback.
It is concerning that the issues persisted even after the unit had been repaired.
With the issues you have been ex
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Second time it's faulty!
Dual Camera DR650GW-2CHThis is the second time this camera is playing up. First time only GPS light was lighting up so it was fixed free of charge and chip replaced. Now the camera runs for a while then the GPS light stay alight and red recording light turns off. Also camera makes a funny noise. Unplug it and restart camera and same thing happens all over again. Not happy!
Purchased in .
Hi there,
We're sorry to hear about your poor experience thus far, it's definitely not acceptable to have the camera fail repeatedly.
... Read more Considering your past issues, we are happy to get the camera repaired free of charge even if it is outside of its warranty period. We are able to carry out repairs in house and conduct thorough testing, so the entire process will not take longer than 1-2 weeks. Please get in touch with us via our support email if you would like to proceed with this and we will happily facilitate: support@blackvue.com.au Chris BlackVue Australia 08 6267 5167
Did not last long
Single Camera DR650S-1CHI have owned this dashcam for just over 2 years now and about 6 months ago the internal battery failed. Every time it shuts down the time and date are wrong. Recently I witnessed a hit and run accident, I was hopefull to assist with my dashcam. When I viewed the footage it was all pink! I have tried everything to get it to work again. I am now in the market for a new dashcam. I will not be getting a blackvue as they just don't last.
Purchased in .
Hi Dan,
Sorry to hear you're experiencing issues with your camera.
We would be happy to facilitate with the repair of you camera. The above issue may be caused by a faulty SD card however it is likely
Problems Galore
Dual Camera DR650S-2CHPurchased this camera in September 2016 from dash cams Australia. Installed along with the Power Magic pro hardwire kit into a 2014 CX5. Install and set up was easy. Initially, the camera was great, although a bit clunky and slow in terms of retrieving footage.
First issues arose in April 2017, where the front camera developed strange white marks all over it, and started the dreaded time losing issue. Blackvue agreed to replace under warranty. Unfortunately the replacement camera experienced the same issue- losing time. It also started an error
Purchased in at Daschcams Australia for $549.
- Readable Number Plates: Yes
- Car Model: cx5
Hi Sam, thanks for taking the time to leave a review, but we're very disappointed to hear of the constant issues you experienced. It's also concerning that your insurance company rejected your claim d
... Read moreue to wrong time/date. Their are some models that don't even display time/date and have been used for insurances claims, I'd recommend escalating this further with your insurance company. As for the camera itself, I would be happy to pass this onto my manager for intervention, he may be able to organise a repair for you free of charge and replace the mSD card also. In some cases an upgrade is also available. Please feel free to get in touch if you wish to accept our offer - we can be contacted on 08 6267 5167 or support@blackvue.com.auQuestions & Answers
we are trying to locate the password for our blackvue we tried blackvue does not work does anyone else knows what it may be we have used before but cant remember and now we cant get into the app
I have a new DR650gw but the front camera playback is upside down and the small letters are mirrored
My DR650GW 2 Ch appears to be recording, but I cannot see the recorded footage on my iPhone 12. When I try to connect via the BlackVue Wi-Fi the phone app keeps looping me through the setup process. Could the problem be that I have to switch off the Apple Car Play on the phone to access the recorded footage via Wi-Fi?.....Thanks
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Details
The DR650S offers a number of features that overlap with the similarly high rated BlackVue DR705S, which sits in a price tier above it. These include:
- Compatibility with a 128GB memory card. which can record about 40 hours of footage, according to BlackVue)
- Impact detection mode, known as ‘Event Recording’
- Parking Mode, which uses impact and motion detection to record footage if something, or someone, collides with your car
- Voice recording is also turned on by default. This feature records audio as well – for example, if someone keys your car, it will record the sound of it happening as evidence
- A built-in GPS and WiFi allow your dash cam to add details about geolocation and speed to your videos, and allows you to connect to your smart device for playback.
The DR650S differs from the DR750S in only a few minor ways. It lacks the advanced Sports Mode and Extreme Modes offered, which record 60 frames per second. The highest number of fps you’ll get with the DR650S is 30 fps using the Full HD (1920x1080) resolution. A higher frame rate allows for a crisper image, and reduces motion blur.
This model also features a slightly smaller viewing angle – 129 degrees, compared to 139 degrees with the DR750S.
 |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Dash Cams | Dash Cams | Dash Cams | Dash Cams |
| Price (RRP) | $549 | $399 | ||
| Viewing Angle | 129° | 129° | ||
| Camera Resolution | 1080p (Full HD) | 1080p (Full HD) | ||
| Megapixels | 2.1 MP | 2.1 MP | ||
| Channels | 2 | 1 | ||
| Features | Automatic Incident Detection (G-sensor), GPS, Microphone/Audio Recording, Motion Detection, No Screen (Camera Only), Smartphone App and Wi-Fi | Automatic Incident Detection (G-sensor), GPS, Microphone/Audio Recording, Motion Detection, No Screen (Camera Only) and Wi-Fi | ||
| Memory Type | MicroSD card | MicroSD card | ||
| Weight | 124 g | 96 g | ||
| Dimensions | Front: 36 x 118.5, Rear: 25 x 67.4 mm | |||
| Manufacturer Warranty | 2 year(s) | 2 year(s) | ||
| Replaced by | BlackVue Dual Camera DR650S-2CH | BlackVue Single Camera DR650S-1CH | ||
| Manual | Download manual | Download manual |
Extra Information
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Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review of your experience with your DR650S.
... Read more It is a shame to hear your camera failed just 6 months after getting it installed and is certainly not the benchmark we aim for with these dash cameras, would you like to reach out to our W.A support team regarding this so that we can offer our assistance? We'd love the opportunity to turn this experience around for you and I hope we'll be able to find a suitable solution for you. Please feel welcome to call our support team on 1300 967 777 any time between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (WST) or reach out to us by email at support@blackvue.com.au I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards, Oliver BlackVue Australia (08) 6267 5167