INTRODUCTION
People say a picture is worth a thousand words so if one day we could record every single thing our eyes see (and why not even more than that) on a daily basis that should simplify our lives quite a bit. For now however what we can do is record certain things using action and car dash cameras with the second being much easier to use and far more beneficial especially in you live in a country where car insurance companies offer incentives just for having one. In a sea of car dash cameras however with models featuring recording resolutions from regular HD (720p) all the way up to UHD (1440p) and various features like built-in GPS, image enhancement and driver assist it may not be the easiest task to pick the right one. PAPAGO! is a name we haven't heard in a while (3 years since our last review) but they recently released their feature-rich high-end GoSafe 30G model and they wanted us to have a thorough look at it.
PAPAGO! Inc. was established in Taipei, Taiwan in 2001; with more than 10 years GPS related background both in software and hardware. PAPAGO! Inc. has become the leading brand in Taiwan, China, Russia, South East Asia, Japan, Australia, and now America. To provide a more localized product and service, PAPAGO! Inc. has set up branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and has plans to extend to new countries worldwide. In 2011, PAPAGO! Inc. became an IPO in Taiwan and has begun to invest more in the car safety arena. Being a pioneer in the car dashcam market, PAPAGO! Inc. for years has dedicated itself to promising drivers the most comfortable and safest journeys when driving on the road. PAPAGO! Inc. tries various advanced technologies to fulfill this goal. PAPAGO! strives to develop products that are user-friendly and promote safety as a key component. When creating our products our goal is to ensure that the consumer will enjoy all the benefits that our research and design team have created at an affordable price. Safety meets technology to provide drivers and sports enthusiasts a high-tech experience when capturing their life in HD.
Unfortunately although most manufacturers have released both 1296p (2304x1296) and 1440p (2560x1440) models in recent years the GoSafe 30G is actually based on their latest PPG8031 chip which can record at 60fps with a maximum resolution of 1080p (1920x1080). This is not particularly bad since we've seen quite a few strong 1080p models which can easily go up against 1296p ones (it's really all about the chipset, bitrate and lens used) but it does seem that PAPAGO! may fall victim of marketing since consumers tend to make up their minds solely based on numbers. The reason i say this is of course because the GoSafe 30G is so much more than its recording resolution since it also features 140 degrees wide angle lens (F 1.9), 2.7 inches color LCD screen, built-in GPS and G-Sensor (automatic file save and protection in case of an accident), built-in 250mAh battery to ensure the safety of your recordings and the camera itself, compatibility with their latest tire safe D10E TPMS and several driver assists including FCWS (front collision warning system, LDWS (lane departure warning system), stop sign recognition (not something we see a lot), stop and go, driver fatigue warning and headlight reminder. Only question now is just how these translate to real use and that's up to us to check.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The main product features are listed at the front of the box beneath a product picture.
A 2D barcode and the product serial number are both placed on one side while listed on the other side is the company URL.
The product features are listed at the rear of the box right above the bundle contents.
Packing is sufficient with the dash camera wrapped inside a small plastic bag and placed in a formed piece of cardboard.
Along with the GoSafe 30G you are also getting the car power adapter, dash mount with two 3M adhesive tapes (although on the box it says suction mount our sample came with this one), 16GB MicroSD card (SD adapter included), warranty card and the quick start guide.
PAPAGO! also send us their D10E TPMS kit (the D10E is only suitable for use in sedans, SUVs, and sports cars with tire pressures no greater than 60 PSI).
This kit includes a receiver, 4 sensors, 5 hexagon nuts, 4 CR1632 batteries, 4 red silicon rings, combo wrench, ring needle, warranty card and the user's manual.
THE GOSAFE 30G
The body of the GoSafe 30G is made out of plastic and measures 91mm in length, 55mm in height and 46mm in thickness.
To have a better understanding of its size we placed the GoSafe 30G next to the Opia 2 by VicoVation and the BlackVue DR550GW by Pittasoft.
The F1.9 lens of the GoSafe 30G can record at a diagonal angle of 140 degrees at up to 60 fps and with a maximum resolution of 1920x1080p (the microphone is located on the left side of the fascia).
A mini HDMI output is placed on the left side of the enclosure while the microSD slot is placed on the right side.
Four navigation buttons are placed on the bottom of the GoSafe 30G.
At the top we see the D10E TPMS port, mounting bracket area, microUSB port and an off/off button.
Most of the rear is taken by a 2.7 inch color LCD screen.
The D10E receiver is placed on the end of a long cable so yes it requires extra mounting space.
I was surprised to see that the D10E features smaller pressure monitors than the FOBO Tire Plus TPMS.
Since the batteries are not pre-installed you will have to unscrew each monitor and mount one.
USING THE GOSAFE 30G
Above you can see almost every single menu of the GoSafe 30G when updated to the latest version (1.05). As expected from these screens you can adjust recording modes, set the desired resolution, setup the various driver assist features, set the G-sensor sensitivity, enable video stamp, choose language and of course format the microSD card. Unfortunately since these pictures were not taken with the camera mounted in the car we are missing the available D10E options.
AUDIO & VIDEO QUALITY
As always we chose not to use YouTube to place our recordings since we want all of you to see exactly what you will when using this dash camera (unfortunately that's why the clips are 10-15 seconds long) so to download the above clips you just need to left click with your mouse or right click and use the save as command. By default the bitrate of the GoSafe 30G when set to record at 1080p60 sits between 19500kbps and 20500kbps a number which is among the highest ones we’ve seen used in a car dash camera (even more so in a Full HD model).
CONCLUSION
As you can clearly see from our small clips although the GoSafe 30G does very well at night with clear and crisp quality during the day things are way too "yellowish" (even a bit blurry at times) and honestly we have no idea as to the why that is. If this isn't something isolated to our sample (will update if this is isolated to our sample) it could be probably be fixed with a firmware update (i don't think that would be hard for PAPAGO! to do) but for now it is what it is. On the bright side however although it may take a while for you to install the sensors (remember that all sensors are tagged with front left, front right, rear left and rear right) the D10E TPMS (tire pressure monitor system) works as advertised so you know at all times if they need air or not. Also i was surprised to see that the stop and go and stop sign recognition features also work like a charm. Personally i have very little use for such features but not everyone pays attention to those things and the sounds made by the GoSafe 30G is more than enough to make you look/aware if by any chance you miss them. The lane departure warning system on the other hand didn't work as good as these since i went over the middle lane plenty of times and it didn't register some of them but again that's not what i consider a significant drawback (besides we've had the same mixed results with other dash cameras as well).
Price plays a very large part in whether or not consumers will pick a product and with a current price tag set at USD155.95 (Amazon.com) for the GoSafe 30G Dash Camera and USD139.99 (Amazon.com) for the D10E tire pressure monitoring system we think PAPAGO! is on the right track. Of course we do think that the D10E TPMS is slightly overpriced (considering you can’t use it on its own) so we do hope PAPAGO! will consider a price cut sooner rather than later and we would also like to see a battery solutions like VicoVation and Pittasoft eventually. Overall the GoSafe 30G Dash Camera may not feature the best video quality we’ve seen to date but thanks to its driver assist features, built in GPS and the ability to watch over the pressure of your tires by adding the D10E TPMS it does get highly recommended by us.
PROS
- Overall Image Quality
- Built In GPS/G-Sensor
- Driver Assist Features
- Compatible With The D10E Tire Pressure Monitoring System
- Supports Up To 128GB MicroSD Cards
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- D10E Price (For Some)
- Yellowish/Warm Day Tint
- Up to 1080p60 Only
- Current Availability