Thinkware Q200 review: A great dash cam with ho-hum image quality

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The right side of the unit offers only venting, while the left has the jacks for the rear camera and GPS. The power jack is on top of the unit to which attaches a proprietary 3.5mm TS (Tip/Sleeve) cable with a captive auxiliary power adapter. Generally speaking, we prefer Type-C to Type-A cables with a separate auxiliary adapter, ideally featuring two ports so you can power or charge another device simultaneously.

The rear camera rotates vertically, 360 degrees, and connects to the front camera via a 20-foot cable featuring TRRS (Tip/Ring/Ring/Sleeve) 3.5mm plugs. This cable is thinner and more pliable than most, which is nice for maneuvering.

Both the front and rear cameras use semi-permanent adhesive mounts, and the front slides off for safekeeping. The rear camera is not made to be removable, however — inadvertently tugging too hard had it popping out. I wouldn’t recommend doing this on a regular basis, as the retaining grooves will likely bust or wear out eventually. But in a pinch….

I mentioned the GPS jack. While the Q200 features GPS, it’s implemented by way of a rather large external unit (shown in the picture above) that must also be affixed to the windshield. Along with the rear camera, this makes for quite a nest of wires, not to mention adding to any blind spot the dash cam creates. To limit this blind spot, take a read through our dash cam installation guide.

Thinkware was one of the first companies to provide bad-driver aids such as collision warnings, lane departure, traffic camera alerts (safety cameras, my patootie!), etc. These are of course, present in the Q200 and you can hear various beeps and alerts if you enable the functions. While I turn off the bad-driver aids, I do like the traffic and speed camera alerts. Don’t ask.

Alas, unlike some of Thinkware’s products, the Q200 doesn’t respond to voice commands. Why, I can’t say, but with no display, they would be very handy.

            <div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="" class="wp-image-2319680" width="1200" height="887" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Thinkware app provides access to settings and a live view.</figcaption></figure></div>

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Of course, there’s the phone app, Dash Cam Link (see above). Thinkware saves you the hassle of entering a Wi-Fi password by connecting via Bluetooth, then switching to Wi-Fi when you want to use the live view mode. Live view requires more bandwidth than Bluetooth provides, hence the Wi-Fi.

The app also allows you to easily adjust the time, date, and time zone as well as other settings. For some reason, it rates only 1.7 stars out of 5 on the Google Play Store, but that must reflect past issues or some anomalies that I didn’t experience. It was easy to use and worked perfectly in my testing.

Note that you must hit the “Dash Cam Registration” button to connect to the camera. Perhaps not the most intuitive initial instruction ever, but 1.7 stars? If you experience any issues, let me know.

How are the Thinkware Q200’s captures?

The Q200’s captures overall are average, with the best being the daylight front captures — par for the course. The rear captures were adequate, but somewhat lacking in detail during the day, and even weaker at night.