Tax-Free* | 18-Month Warranty | 30 Day Returns Guaranteed.
Customer Review
T. O'Keefe
5.0
Full featured dashcam with terrific video qualityReviewed in the United States on November 28, 2020
OK I'm thrilled with this dashcam. The video clarity is astounding - even in low light. And it works flawlessly. I really wanted a Dashcam with a rear camera - if I get into an accident it most likely will be from behind and the video would make it much simpler to resolve.I created a sample video that includes short clips from Front, Cabin and rear cameras from both day and night.UnboxingThe unboxing experience is delightful, similar to unboxing an apple product and gave me the initial impression of quality and that Vantrue cares about the customer. Speaking of, the Vantrue representatives are incredibly responsive to questions and really do try to help resolve problems - just look at the reviews and questions.Menuing SystemIt takes a couple of minutes to figure out how to use the buttons to navigate the menu system but once you figure it out its easy enough. The camera has about every option you can think of including exposure control. The LCD display includes a nice set of icons indicating many of the settings (resolution, Mic and GPS on/off, Looping time etc) The options are fairly well documented in a manual but the parking options seem a bit confusing. Also, the manual doesn't always indicate what the default option is (usually the first item).Three things that I'd change in their menuing system. First, you currently select which cameras you want turned on by changing the video resolution (since you get lower resolution with more cameras). I think it would be more obvious if the option was something like 'Select cameras'. Second I think the LCD display should default to turning off after 30 seconds - the current default is to dim the display 50%. Although dimmed I still find the display to be distracting. Finally, the on/off button also turns the IR on/off - i frankly don't know why you would turn IR off and i've accidently pressed more than once.RecordingRecording is slick - it simply works. I've set it up to use just the front and rear cameras (which creates 2 video streams instead of 3). However, the cabin camera uses IR technology to create an excellent video even when it is completely dark outside.The Motion sensor for the parking option works really well. When the camera detects motion it starts to record within about a second and continues until the motion stops. I stood in front of my car and waved and it started recording immediately. Pushing the side of the car hard didn't start the recording, but opening the door must have created enough force to trigger the collision detection to start recording. There are options to adjust the sensitivity but I haven't tried those. Although the motion detection options require constant power, I figured out that one of my car outlets is always on. So, for the rare occasions when I'm concerned about parking, I can just plug the car charger in - note that the LCD turns off when in parking mode.Watching the VideoTo review the video you either need to remove the tiny micro SDXC card or take the camera out and connect it to a USB or HDMI cable. Personally I find it easier to remove the card. I don't plan to spend much time reviewing the videos - I'm mostly interested in the video if something unusual happens or to capture some scenic views while driving.By default Windows doesn't include the codec needed to play the video (they charge .99). I'd suggest getting the free open source VLC player which works wonderfully. The camera creates three separate video streams - one for each camera. The video files are in MP4 format and include an A, B or C appended at the end of each file name to indicate which camera it came from. Each video includes the time/GPS stamp at the bottom. Note that files are only created for the cameras that are turned on.Vantrue created a nice windows and Mac application that merges up the three video streams so you can view them at the same time along with a live map based on the GPS. I'm not sure why, but the video quality through their application is not nearly as good as viewing the video through a native player.Mounting the camerasI was concerned about how to run the wire for the rear camera from the front of my car all the way to the back hatch - it turned out to be very simple. The key is to tuck the wire into the headliner around the windshield and bring it to the door frame. Most modern cars have a thick rubber gasket on the door frame that simply pulls down - you only need it pull the gasket down a few inches. I ran the wire through the front door frame, through the A-pillar and through the rear door frame in about 5 minutes. I then tucked the wire under the headliner until it reached the center of the rear hatch and mounted the rear camera at the top. Be careful though not to stick the camera on any of the rear defroster wires.Pro Tip - don't mount the camera directly under the brake light - mount it a few inches away from the light or else you will get an interesting light show every time you brake as I did.The front camera mount is easily adjustable. The inside camera is part of the main unit and can be independently adjusted vertically. The rear camera can also be adjusted vertically. I've read some reviews where people had trouble with the mount falling. I haven't had any problems but I did have to spit on the suction cup. Also, make sure the suction cup is not sitting on the 'frit' (small black dots at top of windshield - yes I had to look that one up :).Pros- Camera just works (and superb customer support)- Video quality and low light quality with IR- Excellent motion detection options that really workCons- GPS is a separate accessory - for the price I think it should be included- No built in WiFi (mainly for real-time notification of an incident) Realistically though, this could only be done by connecting the device to WiFi from your house or some other nearby place like the Ring doorbell does.
