Choose a Dashboard Camera that works for you
After learning a bit about dashboard cameras in general, we visited our friends over at Street Beats to get some product information. Here’s what we found out:
Starter Cam: Thinkware F200
The Thinkware F200 is a great entry level, no frills dash cam. The cam is easy to use and it is very easy to hook up. The F200 is fixed to your car windscreen with sticky 3M tape. There’s no screen, so you can hide it behind the rear view mirror.
The HD video quality is good and the night mode is surprisingly sharp. There’s built-in Wi-Fi so you can connect to your smartphone to review the footage.
You can start out simple with just the front-view dash cam and later add a larger capacity microSD card, GPS ability and a rear camera if you want. With the rear-view camera equipped you can use the Advanced Parking Feature. It’s great if you’re worried about the vehicle being hit or generally messed with while parked while running errands or overnight.
Bottom line: Affordable, dependable and a lot of options.
Loaded: Momento’s MD-6200
Momento’s dash cam system has a two high quality cameras you can use to record front-view and rear-view giving you almost 360º coverage.
This dash cam’s G-Sensor will detect hard braking or a collision, then preserve a complete record of the event that can only be overwritten manually. The camera’s built-in Wi-Fi allows you to connect your smartphone wirelessly and monitor, edit, organize, and even share your videos using Momento’s app. You can play footage back on your smartphone, and the video also saves to the included microSD card.
The camera also has a GPS antenna ensuring location data is embedded into incident videos, and can be viewed along with the footage. This data can be invaluable in the event of an incident.
The Momento M6 also features motion sensors in the front and rear cameras that are activated when the vehicle is parked. When either camera detects motion, the M6 will begin recording video.
Bottom line: Complete coverage with the necessary features.
Uber Drivers: Vantrue N2 Pro
The Vantrue N2 Pro is a great dash cam with excellent video and audio quality. It captures both front-view and cabin views in one unit making it perfect if you are a driver in the gig economy era.
The unit has a G-sensor that auto detects a sudden shake or collision and emergency locks the footage to prevent that video from being overwritten. Records front and back cameras to separate files. It has an optional GPS module, that can be purchased separately.
The Vantrue also has a parking detection mode that turns the camera on if it detects movement around your vehicle while parked.
Bottom line: Great all in one for front facing recording and cabin recording.
For the Driving Enthusiast: Cobra Road Scout
The Cobra Road Scout combines two gadgets — radar detector and dash cam — in one compact, uniquely designed device to help keep you aware of your surroundings and on top of incoming threats like radar detectors, cameras and speed traps.
The dash cam part Cobra Road Scout is outfitted with a high quality camera and all the features you find in other top tier dash cams, including WiFi, G-shock sensor, Bluetooth, memory card, an app and more.
The Road Scout shields you against X-, K-, and Ka-band radar signals, plus multiple laser threats. The device also actively filters out false alarms. The Road Scout also come with a preloaded database of safety, red-light, and radar camera locations across North America. When connected with your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can also receive and report law enforcement, sudden speed changes and hazards to other drivers using a Cobra or Escort device in real time.
Bottom line: Expensive, two devices in one, all the bells and whistles.
