Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
That’s amazing value, especially as the camera has the best resolution footage here at 1600P (that’s an image 1600 pixels deep – more than the 1080P commonly dubbed “HD”). The images are noticeably better than the other cameras here in the day, although the software doesn’t seem to cope quite as well at night compared to the Kenwood, Garmin and Ring. I changed a few settings that I feel should be the default: 5-minute loop time, night vision on, and screen saver to on – which turns the screen off within a few seconds of starting up.
To test the cameras, we attached them to the windscreen of our test car and drove on a selection of roads in a variety of conditions. The best cameras should be able to capture detail such as numberplates in bright sunlight and at night. A full HD dash cam with a resolution of 1296p, a 130-degree field of view and 30 fps. Built-in GPS records your vehicle’s location and speed. A built-in G-sensor automatically saves the current file in the event of a crash.In addition to recording footage, matched speed is a very helpful resource. Some mid-range dash cams have GPS as standard, and you can certainly get it if you want it. Just remember to consider the other important factors of dash cams too. Kenwood produces a wide range of dash cams, but for this test we’ve chosen one of its smallest. The DRV-A301W isn’t quite as compact as the some of the other cameras here but the trade-off is a bigger 2.7″ wide screen and footage quality which is better than the 1080P resolution would suggest. The Kenwood coped well with dark and changeable light conditions in particular. The footage quality is acceptable, but the steep cost of the hardwire kit – plus an SD card – means the Mio doesn’t seem like a bargain compared to the far superior DDPAI and Ring rivals. Verdict Express delivery option to offshore, highlands and remote postcodes may take longer than the usual one working day. The surcharge may not apply to small items being sent via Royal mail or MyHermes etc... Where possible we will try our best to avoid courier service for surcharge areas. When you start the car, the dash cam automatically powers up, and there’s high-contrast night vision to keep things clear in low light.
Advanced software features include GPS location recording, to precisely pinpoint the location of an incident, Lane departure warning and front collision avoidance with a distance alert system. The Ring comes in a close second, and would be our first choice if you prefer to have a screen to play with the menus. The Kenwood feels like a quality product and delivers consistently good quality footage too. Dash cams that have apps need to be considered carefully. An app can be very useful for accessing footage and other things but are only useful if they work properly. The best dash cam apps come from Garmin, Nextbase, Ring Automotive, and a small collection of other brands that have properly developed them. While these high-tech devices are never going to blend in totally with a classic, we selected cameras which are small and discreet enough not to be noticed at a glance. This also means they won’t take up valuable space on the windscreens of roadsters and smaller cars. The RSDC4000 HD GPS & WiFi Enabled Slim Smart Dash Camera's screenless, discreet design (about the same size as a credit card) features a full HD 1440p resolution camera with an extra-wide 140° field of view and 30fps (frames per second) recording, which allows you to capture true video high-quality images (day and night) from in front of your vehicle. Additional support for the Ring Rearview camera allows simultaneous recording from the front and rear to give all-around protection.
Product Questions
The size means you have to do without a screen too, but there’s a WiFi link to Garmin’s app which allows you to view footage and take a live feed so the camera can be set up. If you want to access menus while on the move, the Garmin will respond to voice commands if you need to save clips or turn off the audio recording. This works well in a closed car, but we suspect it may struggle on a roadster with the roof down on a motorway. The Mola is has to make do without a display screen too, but it can be set up using a WiFi connection to a smartphone app. The poor translations to English make some tasks difficult, but hopefully it’s not something you’ll have to use often. Just make sure you turn off the embarrassing bleeps and welcome message before you take any passengers. Ring RSDC3000 It’s also WIFI enabled and works with the Ring Connect App, so saving videos is far less of a faff. The Garmin Mini 2 is missing a feature which we consider almost essential on a dash cam – the GPS sensor which stamps speed and location info on your footage. But it has still made it to our top tier because it is absolutely tiny. Even with the mount, it is small enough to be hidden in your hand, which means it will not be visible to anyone but the nosiest passer-by or concours judge. That might be important if you are trying to maintain the original look of your classic.
The smallest dash cams, such as the Garmin Mini 2, are about the size of a garlic bulb. They hide very well behind a rear-view mirror but, if not engineered well, can be annoying to use. A dash cam with a screen size of two to three inches will be bigger but generally easier to use (Garmin Mini 2 notwithstanding). Ring says the camera only supports up to 64GB, which is a little small given 512GB cards aren’t too pricey these days. Of course, you can use bigger cards, but it seems it’s not ‘officially signed off’. This means the Pioneer will dangle down on a smaller windscreen and looks ungainly. We were also unimpressed with the quality of the footage and noted that the files are recorded in a format which needs converting to view with some computers. Add in the hefty price of the camera and hard wiring and the Pioneer can only manage a mid-range score. Scosche Nexar Smart Dash CamThe smartphone app is pretty easy to use. It guides you through setting up the camera and putting it in WIFI mode to connect. You can even ‘live view’ to tweak your location when installing it. The Ring RSDC4000 HD GPS & WiFi Enabled Slim Smart Dash Camera offers a superior-high-quality recording solution that combines state-of-the-art technology with GPS and Wifi enabled connectivity, along with all the benefits of dash cam ownership. The Mio is one of Halfords’ best-selling cameras, and it is certainly well priced and compact too. The suction mount is small and neat, while the device itself is the size and shape of two Toblerone chunks. There are some downsides though. While the camera itself is small, the mount is twice as long as the camera. In fact it’s so chunky we suspect some of the electronics have been hidden inside, especially as it can’t be separated from the camera. At first, we were really impressed with the technology used in this unusual-looking camera. Like most of the devices here there is a smartphone app which helps you set up the options and view footage, but the Scosche Nexar goes a stage further by automatically connecting your phone to the camera as soon as you start driving. It then sends the footage to a remote cloud-based storage, as well as the built-in 16GB memory card.
Great Deal 
New Comment