I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Compact, clear HD video and audio, wide angle view; easy to set up and download footage w/ plenty of basic dashcam features.EXCLUSIVE 40% off code below!
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.
Takeaway: Okay video, good interior/exterior view, lacks some functions, good viewer app. This unit comes with the dual camera DVR, a holder bracket, 3-axis suction cup mount, 11.5' cigarette lighter microUSB power cable, a 4-pin GPS antenna with 5 ft cable, and 3 extra adhesive sticky pads. Note that it does NOT come with a microSD card, which you must supply in order to record any video. The manual recommends Class 6 card or higher up to 32 GB. You won't be able to enter menu settings or view the live video feed without a card installed.
The unit measures 5"W x 2"H x 1.25" D. It is made of a plastic shell with a thin powdered aluminum finished front. While I like how it looks, the finish scratches easily, especially from the plastic mounting bracket when you put it in or take it out. On the side of the device that faces the windshield you have a 140 degree wide angle forward lens that can pitch up and down 20 degrees and a speaker. On the side facing into the car you have the 2.7" LCD, power button, menu navigation and mode buttons, the inside facing camera, the OK button, and a microphone. The ports are o nthe right hand side under a rubber door and includes: 4-pin port for the GPS, microSD card slot, and microUSB charging port.
Assembling the unit and mount was straightforward. Make sure to insert the microSD card with the contacts facing toward you. The suction cup is pretty firma dn I haven't had it fall off my windshield yet. The one thing I didn't like about this design is that with all the cables plugged in, the rubber door just kind of hangs there in the way. I would prefer exposed but flush with the surface ports over that.
With a new card inserted into the unit, the camera will need to format it first. This step is required since the camera loads some software on the card called X2Player, that you run on your computer to view the video files. When the camera starts up, it will begin recording automatically by default and I didn't see a way to switch this to manual only. You can, of course, always stop recording manually and start it again when you want. For whatever reason, my unit was not in English when I first powered it on. If this happens to you, to change the language, press the menu button then scroll down to the icon with the person and speech bubble; click 'OK', then select English and click 'OK' again.
In the menu you can set the various options like date and time, audio recording, and g-sensor sensitivity to lock videos from being recorded over in case of an accident. You cannot set the loop length for the videos which is about 90 seconds long per video clip. Each clip on dual camera recording takes up about 125 megabytes but you can choose to record only one camera at a time instead of both.
On the LCD screen when the camera is running, you'll see the live feed from the recording, the date and time, the current speed, and the direction of travel. If the GPS is not hooked up, you will not see speed or direction. Note also that GPS location, speed, and direction will not appear in the video during playback, but you'll be able to see that information when using the software to view the video. The program for viewing the videos, X2Player, is pretty cool. You'll see all the aforementioned data, can choose to view side-by-side dual feeds or only one feed at a time. You can even toggle on a map that tracks your trip based on the recorded GPS location data points, though in general, the path is not exact and tends to misplace you a lot. Each trip is logged as a single line in the bottom left quadrant of the window, but is then broken out into the smaller 90 second clips on the bottom right quadrant. The software also allows you to save the video clips off the card piecemeal or all at once.
The video quality is decent but not high definition. There's definitely some graininess to the video and even within one car length, the license plate of the car in front of you will be unreadable. Despite the low resolution and relative darkness of the videos, they're still useful in case of an accident and the inside facing camera may be useful for car share drivers like Uber and Lyft. This is overall a fairly nice dashboard DVR but it lacks some features like motion detection, parking monitor, loop length, and a still camera mode.
Takeaway: Decent, aftermarket dual-camera DVR. I'll show you how I installed this in my car. [UPGRADED VERSION AVAILABLE] The set comes with the rearview mirror DVR unit which contains the LCD for viewing, front camera, microphone for audio recording, optional GPS input and SD card slot. You'll receive all the cables you need to complete the hookup, a 16GB microSD card, cigarette lighter to dual USB adapter, extra rubber latches or enhanced grip on your existing rearview mirror, and mounting screws for the back camera. This unit is designed to fit over your existing mirror for easy mounting and installation, but note that different car models may prove to have a better fit than others. For reference, I installed this on a recent model Honda Civic.
The mirror is quite large; it measures 12.5"W by 4"H and the LCD screen in the middle has a 5" diagonal. The mirror itself is quite dark and has a deep blue tint to it. While this does help reduce glare, it tends to look a bit dim and at night makes seeing details muddier. The camera for the unit is on the side facing the windshield, as well as its external speaker. There are a variety of options like motion detection, G-shock sensor which will automatically save/lock videos when the camera senses heavy shaking like in the event of an accident or large pot hole, audio recording and date/time stamping on the video.
The rear camera has an adhesive sticky pad to assist in mounting but also comes with two mounting screws which may require drilling into a panel on your car's trunk. It must be centered and is typically installed just above the license plate. If you want to rear camera to turn on automatically when you put the car in reverse, you have to wire the pair of black and red wires coming off the back camera to the reverse light. There are a number of ways you could connect the wires tot he power line too, for example, by splicing the wires into the power line, using a scotchlok or plier tap connector.
As a mirror, it works fine and is quite reflective, though again, it's a bit dark, especially at night. The video quality of the recordings is okay. I have mine set to record in 5 minute intervals and each file takes up about 200 MB (400 MB total with front/rear feeds). That's ~3.5 hours of video on the included 16 GB card. The front and back videos will have the same audio and time stamps so that they are easy to match up. You can hear most of the conversation and radio in the car but there is a bit of road noise as well. It's not a very high definition video resolution, but you can see what's going on around you, which is important in case of an accident. Sometimes the color and white balance seem off and the front camera has slightly better quality and resolution than the back camera but not by much. One thing I noticed is that while the reverse guidelines make it appear as if I have about 6-8 inches from the curb, I'm actually only about 2 inches from the curb though I believe this has to do with the height placement of the camera.
Overall, the cameras will capture enough detail to assist you in you need to refer back to the recordings and the unit was relatively easy to install (took me about an hour).
Takeaway: Inexpensive, basic but usable with decent video quality. USABILITY: The power plug on the camera is mini-USB which is a shame because most of my other devices these days are micro-USB, which means I'll need a separate cable just to power the camera. The included cigarette lighter adapter does NOT have a pass-through USB port, so if you only have one cigarette lighter in your car, like I do, you won't be able to plug anything else in.
VIDEO, PICTURE & AUDIO: The videos are clear and even on bumpy roads it seems relatively smooth.The mic doesn't pick up a ton of sound and you'll typically only get a little bit a front seat dialogue and radio. The included 8 GB micro SD card is enough for an hour of video recording at the highest resolution. The picture is quite clear even at night. It can also take still photos up to 12 MP.
All in all I was very impressed by this dashboard camera. It fulfilled every requirement that I was shopping for and then some with only a couple minor quirks!
