Why buy multiple gadgets for your car that each only does one thing when you can buy one gadget that can do it all. The Raven connected car system looks like it might be just such a gadget. First of all, it’s a 1080p dash cam. But it’s not a typical dash cam because it has a front and a rear-facing camera. That means that you’ll be able to record the road in front of you as you drive and also what’s happening inside the vehicle. You can also mount it on the dash or on the windshield.
The Raven offers a distraction-free customizable line-of-sight display that provides trip info like your next turn, ETA, and more. This device also offers a WiFi hotspot, real-time remote viewing, vehicle location, trip reports, and more.
The Raven is priced at $299 for the camera and if you want the LTE features, the basic service plan which uses T-Mobile and starts at $8 per month and up to $32 a month for the pro plan that provides 720p live streaming. The camera comes with 3 months of free LTE service. Head over to raven.is for more info and you can order one from Amazon.
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I have one on order since Thursday and it should be here Thursday.
Nice! Let us know what you think of it.
I’d like to say that I’m ready to review this camera but I can’t. I initially attempted to install it on my dash – which is flat – but the “glue” did not hold. So then I decided to install on my windshield. It last half a day. I can say that the little time I’ve been able to play with it is refreshing but one of the reasons I got it was to see speed and speed limit on the two selectable options. That’s not how it works after a submission to their support email. It has a smaller window for the speed limit just below the full speed limit but because of the lack of adhesion to either surface – not be able to use it thoroughly.
I think the design of the mount is rather poor and the supplied tape is equally as poor. I should think that a mount should be centered on or under the device but the torque weight of the device is what’s keeping it from sticking.
I’ve picked up some 3M super tape and will see later today if that might work.
Thanks for sharing your experience so far.
I’m sending it back. After using acetone on my dash to eliminate any possibility of contamination and then using both Gorilla double sided tape and 3M’s stickiest tape – it simply will not hold to the dash. I can get it to stay on the windshield but this causes a problem in that the unit is then so far forward that the alleged 140 degree front camera is not spanning wide enough to capture the corners of my car. The unit does sense movement and does report back properly during my limited time with it but most of the reports unfortunately were due to movement of the device itself as it tilted over inside the car. I can say that I’ve literally tried over 20 dash cams and never have I had this much of an issue getting one to stick. It would probably stay mounted to the windshield with the Gorilla tape but once I realized that the 140 degree width will not capture the corners – I deemed it non-useable as a true dash cam. It has lots of nice features that only an Owl camera can come close to matching but again these first time builders don’t really understand that you need at least 160 degrees or 170 degrees to truly capture the action.
I also just got one. OBD2 cable is about 6 inches too short to place it around the sides of the dashboard so I have to place it right down the middle. Remote view works well to see what’s going on in general in front or inside car at all times. Wave to record works well also. Not sure it will be able to make it through the July heat spells. Needs motion detection like Owl and many other dash cams.
Lower priced dash cams have better range of view, 160 or 170 and higher quality videos but Revan has only 140 view and quality videos isn’t that impressive compared to other cams. Best wait for third generation to work out bugs.