DashCam/ Traffic recorder/ Accident camcorder or else named device advice wanted


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Hello folks,

Got myself nice pair of BM wheels (4) and come to conclusion, that I am a good driver, not the others, so I better fit Recorder of some sorts for them sort of occasions.

Looked about and found them not being that popular in UK (dunno why), could be legal nonsense? still I want one!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360828268727

seems to be if not most, near the most popular model worldwide? very cheap, on youtube there are zillions of recording made with those.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230746468294

seems to be well weird for power options and I'm unsure as for recording quality either.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161143408318

wander if one or anyone would be able to distinguish differences/advantages of this unit

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390748324894

Dearest of all, looked at- is it justifiable money to spend?

 

or

something like

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201020416697

interesting alternative?

 

Anyone here uses them sort of recorders, would recommend or slash one or the other for reason?

Thanks for opinions and ideas!

Although it's not a dashcam per se, I really like Canon's VIXIA mini camcorder.

 

If I wanted to film something, I'd want it to be of the best possible quality and the mini VIXIA offers a very potent mix of portability and quality. 

 

P.S. Apparently, it's called LEGRIA mini in Europe.

Although it's not a dashcam per se, I really like Canon's VIXIA mini camcorder.

 

If I wanted to film something, I'd want it to be of the best possible quality and the mini VIXIA offers a very potent mix of portability and quality. 

 

P.S. Apparently, it's called LEGRIA mini in Europe.

huh emotions it brought...

I am tight shopper, also sort of money spent on a security of a car... near justifiable, if not really cheap alternatives about

BUT (it is identical to number of raws I had with my missus) for leaving hers Gucci handbag on a seat!- it would be not an security device, but invitation to get window smashed for nice looking camcorder...

The camera is nice, shame couldn't fit the purpose...

 

Still waiting for opinions and suggestions?

Thanks!

 

BTW I am using my tablet for navigation(SatNav), that has no decent camera, but if I was to upgrade to a better one, surely there are apps like time lapse auto recording?... another thought... just like last measure idea, as I would prefer one fitted and forgotten until that time, when needed ...

Yes, the price of this mini Canon bites a bit unfortunately. It's a premium product.

 

As for the others, the second most important parameter after the HD resolution that you should look for is the width of the angle (the wider, the better). It's the reason why a smartphone is not suitable to be used as a dashcam.

Yes, the price of this mini Canon bites a bit unfortunately. It's a premium product.

 

As for the others, the second most important parameter after the HD resolution that you should look for is the width of the angle (the wider, the better). It's the reason why a smartphone is not suitable to be used as a dashcam.

Thanks,

Yes, I suppose you are correct, but, I had a courier dropping something off and I can not kick myself enough for not getting the details of his Android tablet... we had a quick chat, he shown to me 7-8" dual camera  with full SatNav, running at the background and recorder app (time lapsed and something else) having WIFI, FM radio and both digital and analog TV tuners... for no love or money I could find him again, as he has been broker booked  some small firm Courier and since delivery completed- cant find it. I wish I paid better attention and asked about resolution etc...

Somehow, I would prefer, stand alone recorder to fit in a car and  leave it there, just amount of choices and specs claimed or real are so confusing- unsure still what to go for... 

I got a BlackVue unit for Christmas (although haven't been able to fit it yet since my car's been in the garage having a gearbox rebuild). People said it was unnecessary however, in november I was inches away from rear ending one of those crash-for-cash scammers who overtook me, and then broke to a halt, got out, checked I hadn't hit him, and then just drove off. If I'd have hit him (thank god for Brembo brakes!) I'd have been "at fault" - and if I had a camera, I'd have probably got one more of them off the road.

The quality of the footage from it is great - the one thing I haven't worked out is where to mount it so that it's not too visible from outside of the car. The last thing I want is for someone to break in to steal the camera! That may also be an issue for you - since some of the chinese ones look quite large.

I have one of these mounted on the windscreen behind the rear view mirro with a 12v to 5 v transformer hidden under the header lining which comes on with the ignition.The issue will all this type of DVR is that because the screen is curved they dont allow a straight view of the road ahead unless mounted centrally on the screen.Dont expect much in the way of good video at night though as they all need good light to work properly.

6bd359e75e012fc50112ec994aa73eee.png

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16GB-Dual-Car-Camera-True-HD-720P-H-264-Dash-DVR-Video-Camera-Recorder-Crash-Cam-/230981629743?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item35c793f72f

You'll want one of the black box ones (i.e. One with GPS and G-Sensors in them), but they all should be much of a muchness in every other way really.

Let me point you over to Dashcamtalk. I have a GT300w which is an OEM version of the DoD LS300w dashcam.

 

post-121192-0-83418600-1390086859.jpg

 

It comes with a suction mount. I believe they have released newer versions such as the GT400, 450 etc with GPS logging. It takes stunning day and night videos and has WDR for night time recording. Check out the videos below and don't forget to click the headers which will take you to YT and switch quality to 1080p

 

  • Like 3

Thanks!

Alrighty! .... (NOT)

my brains are fried up now :P

great link JJ_ I mean this http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/

everything is pointing towards S1W, but is becoming apparent- it is rather inconspicuous...

should I go with smaller unit, at a price of reduced quality?

as money ways I shall set myself a limit ?60 ($90), 

I would recommend pushing the boat out and going for the GT300w ($100), the average rating of it on dashcamtalk is severely underrated IMO. I would give it a good at the very least or excellent. They have rated the Livue LB100 HD excellent and its price point is very competitive at $120. Whichever dashcam you go for, check Youtube for sample videos, you don't want something than can't make out a numberplate from a few metres away :laugh:

No thread is complete without a GoPro - it's one of the best universal cameras. You can mount it absolutely anywhere.

 

A friend of mine has jumped with a parachute with it once. He also does kite surfing with it in summer.

Thanks all for the help... but no thanks, as again- I backed myself in to the corner and absolutely clueless as what are the priorities... (apart from, that I really need one)

I actually have my old HTC Windows Phone plugged in for use as a dash cam.

That's interesting!

  • (@ Dot Matrix) would footage of it be about to see the actual quality of recordings? (I mentioned already,  contemplating fitting tablet with 2.0mp+ camera and full navigation app) to fit such purpose, as it would mean need to take it out every time, hence no more worries about smashed windows. What apps you use on a phone( I assume its Android HTC)?
  • ( @ Brian M.) Decent DashCam DVR is kind of off the table, knowing problems with theft...
  •  
  • ( @ arachnoid) So so units, do not inspire for recording quality (especially at night) + majority are rather big (@ JJ_)
  •  
  • ( @ +zhiVago) Small cameras (as action cameras or universal) do not necessary cater for convenience (as might need to take them out, because of a cost/theft) nor majority is good for night footage
  • ( @ Nashy ) which one? http://www.lasoo.com.au/category/vehicle-security-supplies.html?refresh=1390139208709.

 

I was sure to be clever enough....

I tried going down the route of using my iPhone as a dash cam but the picture wasn't stable in my iPhone mount and I was worried about effect of the constant writes videos would have to its 16gb memory which was a problem itself because videos were constantly being cut short due to memory being full. This is when I decided to go for a dedicated dash cam.

 

When I was shopping around for a dash cam, my priorities in ascending order were; something that could take decent & stable day/night video & wasn't a nightmare to install/uninstall. In an ideal world it would be good to leave the cam installed in my car but I wouldn't want to risk it getting stolen which would happen at some point no doubt. You mention the cam I have is big, it's not really. It tucks under the rear view mirror nicely (skip to 3 minute mark in video below)

 

 

http://www.foxoffer.com/gt300w-full-hd-1080p-car-dash-camcorder-video-recorder-dvr-p-499.html

Thanks!

Techmoan.com could possibly save my sanity... Hopefully?

 

Impressed! kind of fits the bill, as it is rather superb footage cam, shame about the size and price...

 

very strong contender, none the less  Ls430W  Vs heck cheaper S1W Vs SJ100 Vs Mobilus cam or... Vs Dual cam?

I've not heard of those alternatives but you know which one I'm gonna recommend and it's only because I've had good personal experience with it, the GT300w. The LS430w in that review was just to show you how small the thing is because you thought it was big. I would rather pay for a decent cam than get a cheap one to find out it doesn't fit the bill then shell out more money to get a decent cam.

 

LS430w vs GT300w, the only difference between these is the former has built in GPS and logs your journey co-ords whereas the latter doesn't. I personally didn't have the option to go for the LS430w back when I brought my cam because it wasn't out then but if I had the choice, I'd still go for what I have because I don't feel the need for GPS.

 

Couple of downsides in my experience

 

-the suction mount doesn't stick well to the windscreen in the winter so either warm up your car beforehand or warm up the suction part in front of your heater for 5-10 seconds before attaching it.

 

-there have been a couple of occasions where the cam gave an error and wouldn't (memory full). That's easily overcome if you regularly delete your old recordings or format the card in the cam. I have a 64gb cam so only delete my recordings every few weeks

thanks for not giving up on me!

(another day wasted, searching, reading watching videos)...

 

I stand corrected! and very importantly- must be careful to get original, not a knock off!

 

GT300W #?66

http://www.foxoffer.com/gt300w-full-hd-1080p-car-dash-camcorder-video-recorder-dvr-p-499.html#.UtwsFOURcnY

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111172728038

(for footage quality, quite big, single purpose) Vs

 

LS430W ?145~?99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DOD-LS300W-Dashboard-Advanced-Detection/dp/B00COZNEHU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=HHSX6VQHUI8K&coliid=I17K38DGTKTLE6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DOD-LS430W-Advanced-G-Sensor-Aperture/dp/B00EZK89B8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_5

 

(or LS300W)for decent footage, smaller, still single purpose, cheaper, GPS Vs

 

S1W ?32

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310752336819

for best value  good footage plain DashCam Vs

 

GS1000 ?60

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161143397452

Good reviews, DashCam

 

 AT500 ?39

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151187301690

Good product again, in accordance to reviews Vs

 

................................................................................................................................................................................

SJ1000 (?59)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380735669443

 for best all-round performance (action + dash Cam), good battery{+1), galore of accessories (included) new lens (less wide), LCD display Vs

 

Mobius ?42

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151071891306

for small, superb footage AIO Cam, but weak battery, no GPS Vs

 

Innovv C1 ?42

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161142149931

Good build, only good image, AIO, better battery or

Innovv C2 ?59

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151116597740

for better lenses , with GPS tagging, auto rotate Vs

....................................................................................................................................................................

808 #16 ?29

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160874297245

Mini/AIO key-fob camera (choice of modular Lenses(hide inside the car)), decent footage, weak battery for the AIO (ActionCam) puropses

808 #26 ?62

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161143933247

Bigger body/battery, rest as per above Vs

 

small (no name) ?27

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161143933247

Most discreet, good footage camera Vs

...............................................................................................................................................................................

"WildCards":

 

Reflexion mirror DashCams like

?45

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321092248205

For decent recording quality, most discreet Vs

 

NoName ?43

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271361464128

great appearance, good chip, good lenses, weak battery

i brought the GS1000 a few days ago, just waiting for delivery.

its not something that you really need, but its one of those things that could save you if you get into an accident or somebody bangs your car for fun

i brought the GS1000 a few days ago, just waiting for delivery.

its not something that you really need, but its one of those things that could save you if you get into an accident or somebody bangs your car for fun

 

Indeed!

 

My difficulty is not recognition of the fact, that DashCams or cams on car is absolute necessity these days, it is- I've gone a tad anal in researching in to what they are and can not make myself to buy one... (I think I'll have to get two)....

2k+ sold :woot: at the end of the day it boils down to what you need. I don't think you will go wrong with the DoDs and the G1W looks like a good alternative on a budget

You should check figures for Mobius & 808#16 (as in total) sales from genuine product sales people... hope it will make sense as why I am still undecided as what I want

You need to double check reviews on those rear view mirror type are usually made for left hand drive cars and will not adjust enough to give straight view on a right hand drive vehicle if the lens is offset to one side.

 

392cecbfb6854d631cd871963583cd22.png

 

Heres a site I came across previously that has reviews and videos on several types

http://www.techmoan.com/

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Setup BIOS The F4-425 Pro includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to the USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to a USB stick with an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Setup is roughly the same as the F4-425 Plus, along with the new TOS 7 setup dialogs, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-425 Pro can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local. If that doesn't work, you can use the local address assigned via DHCP, which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a TerraMaster NAS finder. The setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full below: TOS 7 Initialization As you can see, TOS 7 received a new coat of paint, and the initialization requires fewer interactions. Happily, TOS no longer decides to throw all disks into the same Storage Pool; 2.5-inch HDDs are allocated into Storage Pool 1. This is because two of the HDDs are allocated to hold system files. Previously (with TOS 5 and 6), if you pre-installed HDDs and SSDs, they were all placed into Storage Pool 1, even if you did not select the SSDs for inclusion during the onboarding. TOS 7 Setup On first boot, there is a tutorial and some steps to take to harden the TNAS (or not), which includes an immediate update from TOS 7.0.0616 to 7.0.0706, of which the changelog screenshot is also included in the above gallery. It must be noted that the Security Advisor still contains (in my opinion) a pretty major bug in that if you enable SPC and then do the required rebooting, the Security Advisor still says that SPC is disabled. TerraMaster provided the following statement about it: It is disappointing that TOS 7 has been in beta since December, and this OOBE issue is still there. Shutdown option has moved Instead of a Taskbar option to manage the NAS, all of these options have been moved to a "Start panel", initially I didn't see it and my contact had to show me how to power off the F4-425 Pro. To logout, reboot or power off you can find those controls at the top right of the Panel. It is also possible to power off through the TNAS mobile app beta. Storage setup Above, you can see the steps I took to create the Storage Pools and Volumes. I made a second Storage Pool using TRAID on two 4TB MP44Q SSDs (which, in this instance, is similar to RAID 5), and finally, I added the 250GB 970 Evo Plus drive as Hyper Cache on Storage Pool 1 in Balanced mode. Registering If you decide not to lock down the F4-425 Pro in Security Isolation Mode (blocking all external connections), then you could set up a TNAS device ID through the Remote Access setting in the Control Panel (which must be unique). This works in combination with an online TerraMaster account. TOS 7 TNAS Online Creating a TerraMaster account and linking the device online activates the warranty when you provide proof of purchase and the serial number, but it also gives you access through the TNAS mobile app, which allows you to complete certain operationsб including powering off and restarting the NAS remotely. A TNAS mobile update is required to gain access through TOS 7, and this is provided on the TerraMaster website, as it is not yet on Google Play. The app is evolving all the time and has made leaps and bounds since I first started reviewing TerraMaster devices almost three years ago. It is not quite there yet if you are comparing the likes of Synology, which, sadly, a lot of users online do all the time. OpenClaw setup One of the main selling points of the new F4-425 Pro is the inclusion of OpenClaw, with TerraMaster claiming that it is "powered by the world's first AI-native TOS 7 OS, supporting local-first smart workflows and independent data control." However, I immediately ran into problems trying to enable OpenClaw. After waiting 20 minutes at the "Enabling" message of the OpenClaw app following installation, I decided to do some searching online and discovered that it couldn't complete the installation process due to SPC being enabled, which is something TOS 7 immediately recommends to be enabled on first boot. SPC for NAS (TOS 7) is basically the same principle as UAC in Windows; it blocks executables from being launched by non-Super Users. After reaching out to my contact about these issues, I received the following response: Anyway, this only became clear when I closed the OpenClaw app screen and clicked on the OpenClaw icon in the taskbar; that is when I saw the message about disabling SPC. I think, due to the fact that this is a requirement, this should be a prompt during the installation process, not when closing the App Market and then trying to launch OpenClaw. There's also no 'Getting started' guide for people like me who have never used OpenClaw. I tried to add an LLM and discovered the tutorial led nowhere. That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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