Innovv K5 Dashcam long-term Review
Credits Practical Motoring and Phil Suriano
A bit of insurance if something goes wrong and also a great way to capture memorable moments when riding, we’re fans of dashcams, be it in a car or on a motorbike.
The latest unit we are testing is from Innovv, a company which established itself in 2013 and is distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Connected Audio Visual. A year after it started putting together video cameras, Innovv produced and sold its first motorbike dash camera, the C3. Over half a decade later we have the latest K5, which we expect should be a polished product given the years of experience.
The K5 uses two cameras, one front, and one rear-facing, with a remote control that can be mounted on the handlebars, which we’ve done. The remote allows for controlling the WiFi, DVR, and GPS status with bright LED indicators, and this can be done on our setup thanks to a position close to the right hand.
The install is pretty straight forward and the most technical requirement was splicing in a power feed – something which you might do from the fuse or you can literally splice into the accessories power (if unsure, ask an auto electrician for help).
This “install and forget” gives the system auto on/ off which can begin recording as soon as the bike is on, and it will go into an automatic shutdown when you turn the ignition off. Being able to take up to a 512GB-size card with loop recording and support for MP4/TS format it should be fine, though we’ll take it on some nice long rides too.
The system fits nice and tight and as long as it is mounted thoroughly it feels like it will hold up to hail and shine – which it can due to an IP67 waterproof rating. That rating also covers the external mic, which we’re told will capture good sound from talking voices – at least better than an internal mic would – and applies noise reduction to remove wind rustle and the like.
The specifications for the cameras are good, with the front-facing unit using a higher-class 8-megapixel Sony sensor that is good for 4K Ultra HD at 30fps from a 120-degree angle lens. The rear-facing camera captures 1080HD, also from a Sony sensor. The image looks crisp from a connected mobile phone which provides imagery and controls via a built-in dual-band WiFi connection and the INNOVV app for Apple iOS and Android, working on both phones and tablets. It uses 2.4Ghz/ 5.8Ghz for a fast connection which minimizes delay. Features include downloading your trips and sharing them.
Some of the detail includes GPS marking from a 5Hz GPS received with fast refresh rates of 5Hz over 1Hz. This provides a baud 38,400 bits per second and updates 38,400 bits per second of data for a high level of detail.
So far we’ve installed the system on the bike and given it a shakedown to test its sturdiness. Everything seems nice and tight and works as intended, turning on automatically and connecting over wifi to our phone for managing trips.
Taking a still photo will capture from both cameras at the same time, so there’s no clunking about selecting which one, and the quality in both bright and darker settings has so far been good – particularly directly into the sunlight at times.
We’ll give it a proper ride and test over the next few weeks and report back on image quality, GPS accuracy, sound quality, and everything else we can find.
