ZeroEdge Z2 Plus Reaview Mirror Dashboard Camera Review and Full Installation

ZeroEdge Z2 Plus Reaview Mirror Dashboard Camera Review

Buy it at Amazon: ZeroEdge Z2 Plus Reaview Mirror Dashboard Camera [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: A solid dual camera dashcam, high quality front/rear video, decent audio, easy to install.

You'll receive the rearview mirror camera/DVR, an instruction manual, microfiber cleaning cloth, 2-port USB cigarette lighter power adapter, an extra set of mirror attachment bands and clips, the backup camera, two mounting screws and sticky pads, 16gb microSD card, 33' video input cable, a 33" microusb cable, and a 12.5' miniUSB power cable.

The mirror is quite large, it measures 12" by 3.5" and the LCD screen in the middle has a 5" diagonal which is a lot bigger than my car's rearview mirror. The mirror is darkly tinted a deep silver color. While the dark coating does help reduce glare, it tends to look a bit dim and at night. The lens for the camera is on the windshield facing side as well as an external speaker (for playback) and it comes pre-installed with two rubber bands that strap onto your existing rear view mirror. The lens on the camera is adjustable because it's on ball joint. This will help you orient the camera after you've adjusted your rearview mirror. On the top is the miniUSB power port, A/V out port, microSD card slot, and microUSB port for the backup camera (also can be used for power and data transfer).

If you're upgrading from the pervious Z2 model, note that you will not be able to re-use its backup camera (if you were thinking you wouldn't have the run the wires again, you do). The input cable is completely different and the power connector is a 5-pin vs. a 4 pin. However, the new backup camera has a higher resolution and its angle can be adjusted so it's worth swapping out.

I installed the back camera above my license plate with the adhesive foam sticker but didn't use the two mounting screws because I didn't want to drill two holes in my trunk. The sticker I used with the previous camera held up well for over a year so I'm confident I won't need the screws. I also hooked the rear camera into the reverse light power connector so that it comes up automatically when the car is put in reverse gear and throws up the reverse guide lines. It's really important that the camera is center, angled downward, and perpendicular for the guidelines to look correct on the screen. The reverse guides are pretty accurate, though depending on the placement on your vehicle, it may look like you're right up against the curb but you'll actually be about 4-6 inches away. Hiding the cables under the trim and ceiling panels was the trickiest part, but only takes about 15 minutes and can be done with just a screwdriver (or nylon spudger) to lift the trim.

At 1920 x 1080p quality, a 5 minute clip from the front camera takes up about 575 MB and similarly the 2304 x 1296 video takes up about 600 MB (I noticed very little difference between 1080p and 1296p). The video is clear and crisp with realistic colors, good saturation, and white balance that is a bit on the bright side. The rear camera footage averages around 400 MB per 5 minute clip and only records in 720p, but again the video is nice and clear and you can see plenty of detail. It's a lot better than the resolution of the rear camera from the original Z2 model. When watching the rear camera feed on the computer, note that it is a mirror image. At night everything is darker, but I would say still relatively clear. There does seem to be a bit of HDR enhancement going on as the light sources stand out in the video. With the rear camera you don't quite see as much detail until there's a lot of ambient light and the image is much more grainy. The audio in the video is always going to be the same for the front and rear camera feeds over the same period of time. Strangely enough the 720p at 60 frames per second was actually less clear than 720p at 30 frames per second.

Note that if you turn on the unit without an SD card installed, the date and time will reset; so if you take the card out to transfer files to a computer, you may have to update the date and time after you reinstall the memory card. This happened to me because I had park monitoring mode on and every time I took the card out to take in the house, when I closed the car door on my way out the camera turned on, effectively resetting the date which was a minor inconvenience to change back each time.

There are plenty of other features that work decently well like the g-sensor, park monitoring mode, and motion detection. The quality of the video and audio are really good and the camera works about as well as I expected.

Buy it at Amazon: ZeroEdge Z2 Plus Reaview Mirror Dashboard Camera [Affiliate Link]