Fitcam installed on 2021 4Runner

I know many people love Fitcam but I had to create a new thread to release my disappointment for spending my money vs another that I wish I could have bought for the same amount of money with better features this blackfriday.

It would take some time to make the video doing daytime and night time video tests, etc.. I can't do it in one day with all the house work and baby work. Hence making this post.


Complaint 1 - Trying to fit the wires in the new housing was not easy. I was worried that I would damage any Toyota safety sense wires.
I could careless if I break any camera wires but if I break any of these small not strong Toyota safety sense wires I'm screwed royally.


Originally its just this wire inside the TSS cover-





Complaint 2 - Wires for the rear camera are too short to route from floor area to back. I had to route the wire along the headliner next to side curtain air bags.
(Look closely, that's the side curtain air bag behind the wire.)




Complaint 3 - This camera is bulky / not low profile / discrete -







Here's a comparison with Viofo installed on my other 4Runner -


I hope the seller don't see this thread and give me trouble. If the seller sees this, please don't get upset. This is my humble opinion. I don't say any one not to buy it. It's just me who wish I bought a different dashcam.



[Updated 12/7/2025]

Complaint 4 - Fitcam does not give any audio confirmation or clear visual confirmation if the camera is working or not.
In my experience Blackvue has the best audio confirmation where the voice notification gives clear notice what's its doing from stat recording, parking mode, wifi on/off,etc.. Viofo has a decent chime when it starts and it has the best visual indicator when its recording and few other stuff. I love Viofo have gps speed as well.

 

Good one sir! Nice feedback.

 

That's disconcerting to hear. I got it for our crv and it's not near that intrusive. I have viofo on my 4r also.

 

I agree with you on two points:

1) In order to hide the cable properly I had to experiment the best way to fold the cable so it would sit in the housing properly. It wasn't easy, but I did figure out the best way to fold it. You can also tuck the remaning part of it in the head liner.

2) It isn't small and very discreet. From the drivers view, this isn't an issue for me at all, but passengers have mentioned "The black thing blocking their view". But who cares about them? They're passengers. They can look at something else.


In the past I had a smaller dashcam like your old one (Mine was a Garmin Mini), but it would sometimes get bumped and I'd have to re-center/re-focus it. The FitCam is stuck in place. I love that about it.


I didn't install the rear camera so I can't complain or defend that. I didn't install the rear cam for 1 main reason: It isn't 4k. I don't get why they can't make BOTH cameras 4k.

 

This reminded me to update my post where dashcams like Viofo and Blackvue give better notification of the dashcam working/starting.

 

I’d like to know more about your Blackvue experience… I do like its size and “hideability."

 

True the Blackvue is the most discrete dashcam I have used. I stick it behind the rear view mirror on the driver side. The 3M was on the black dots area on windshield and camera just to the left of those dots thing.

My setup -

My Blackvue is an older 1080P 60FPS DR590X. Originally came with 32GB card and I got a 128GB SanDisk High endurance card. Not a must to have a lager card for a 1080p camera.
I also got the hard wire kit for the parking mode. I had a hot wire to the battery. The camera has a battery cutoff setting to prevent draining the battery.

Software-

I have no big complaints about the software. But downloading a 1 minute video will take closer to one minute if the camera is in driving mode. If you stop the car and wait a minute or so to let the camera goto parking mode you can download the video much faster.

For an expensive camera compared to viofo I wasn't happy Blackvue was 1080P and no gps. My Viofo was cheaper yet had 2K video and gps speed.

If I do it again I could have got Viofo over the Blackvue. Even though viofo is little bigger I like the screen, buttons and gps.

I'm sure newer Blackvue have many features including better 4K video, faster transfer speed, optional GPS, cellular data module, battery pack for parking mode, etc.

Check on newer Viofos as well. The newest 300 series seems to be energy efficient, support solid state hard drives and more features and some optional items like battery packs if you don't want to hard wire.

Cameras like spytec also run on Viofo firmware. For my 2018 I got much cheaper spytec and added viofo firmware.

 

Thank you. I have a lot of studying to do.

 

I had one for about 2 hours before I uninstalled it and returned it. Was not a fan of how much heat it generated around the TSS module - just not worth it. Also, when I took it on a test drive, it didn't even record (I'm sure it could have been fixed, but the heat generation was a dealbreaker for me). You really need to dig in past the bs online reviews to find all of the actual issues with it (another red flag).

Apparently there's a built in battery that you can't replace, so when that goes, the time/date is going to be wildly incorrect.

 

Thanks for the tip about heating.
I did notice from factory it was not set to 4K and I increased the resolution to 4K. Not sure if it was done due to this heating issue. Will keep an eye.

 

I drove about 30 minutes today while outside temperature is 43°F. My car was inside garage and probably at 65°F when I started. At the end of the drive I did not notice any hightemps the plastic right on the side of the camera or near the TSS module. It wasn't even noticeably warm. I will continue to check this and report.

Again I really appreciate tips like above to keep my eye on. So anyone please don't hesitate to send tips my way. I highly appreciate that and not have second thoughts to say anything bad of things I fix. I will be very open to share.

 

Fair - was located in HI, so temps were/ are always 70s- mid 80s.

 

I just found this video. Now I regret even more-

https://youtube.com/shorts/zjVAnPe01PU?si=sh32aiaelN-Mi8vr

 

Such a thoughtful presentation of the entire process (and actual usage), which has caused me to think more carefully about options for my own build. Thank you for this.

 

Got the video ready.
Part 1 show the install. But had to create a part 2 with just raw dashcam footage in 4K.

Part1 (install) -
https://youtu.be/nePAO0q6S9s?si=gW1BEVuZqfIMJ2Vg

Part 2 (original dashcam footage in 4K) -
https://youtu.be/FM6MyhZ055k?si=xILKEvM06vblGrxg