Top Pick: Roav Dash Cam | $80 | Amazon
There are plenty of good reasons to get a dash cam. These devices aren’t simply for road adventurers who want to film their driving exploits. Having a camera on your car is crucial for capturing accidents, keeping an eye on your car when it’s parked, and much more. It can serve as a safety feature for drivers who want to keep a close watch on the road and their car. Some even go one step further by offering features like a built-in GPS or driver alerts. Dash cams aren’t a luxury for auto-heads; they can be an all-in-one driving companion.
With that in mind, we asked our readers what the best dash cam out there was and got a great collection of answers. The versatility of these devices was on full display here. Some users utilize dash cams to watch their car overnight in NYC, while others have settled insurance claims thanks to them. Others went into depth about all the little features that really make one dash cam stand out over the rest.
The result is a robust suite of options that range in price. Take a look at what our readers swear by and see if any of these might fit your own auto needs.
These things are very low profile so you can mount up behind your rear-view mirror and barely notice them while driving. Have two Pros and one regular in my vehicles. – RAM9999
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I’ve had a V1LG for about 4 years now, and it has saved my butt twice with insurance claims! It has 1080p front and 720p rear cameras, GPS, HDR, a large screen for monitoring/playback, is available with a hardwire kit (fused end pops into a switched socket in the car’s fuse panel), and uses up to a 256GB microSD card. It attaches with a 3M pad directly to the windshield that is much more reliable, weather resistant, and sturdy than suction cup mounts, which tend to pop off and record only the floor mat during an accident.
The newer Rexing models have a third IR interior cams for Uber/Lyft drivers, up to 4K front recording, and some have Wi-Fi or even LTE connectivity for transferring videos. The company is very quick to respond to e-mail requests for information and support, too. – Aquila76
I just got this delivered from Amazon, and will be installing it tomorrow. This adds a LOT of functionality to older cars, in addition to being a dash cam. Both front and rear camera are 1080p. This also adds backup camera assist (the green/yellow/red lines) when the car is in reverse, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, and a “live view” mirror mode (the rear cam plays on a massive 12″ x 2″ monitor hidden under the mirror glass, like the newer Subarus). It clips over the existing rearview mirror, and can be hardwired ($10 extra) to either a switched or constant power fuse in the panel, the latter for 24/7 parking mode. The hardwire kit will shut down the mirror once the battery drops to 11.6 or 23.3 volts so you don’t come out to a dead battery. – Aquila76
Aside from the great impact and incident detection programming, here’s the main reasons why I chose this above other dash cams.
- Two channels, record both front and back simultaneously so you really get an almost full picture of where any ‘action’ is taking place
- Captures everything in 4K—and it really does capture lots of important details like license plates. I actually had a CPL filter for it too, but I realized that since I also have tints on my front windows, kind of distorted things.
- It’s got a Park Mode. Since I park outdoors in NYC a lot, this is a great feature to have. I have mine recording up to 12hours after I park.
- Battery cut-off, so you don’t fully drain your battery. Although I have mine hooked up to a Cellink Neo.
- Built-in GPS: critical data in case of any incidents
- Built-in Wi-Fi—don’t need to take out the SD card each time I want to look at footage
- If you’re really into this sort of thing, you can also add a module so you can monitor your ride via 4G LTE ( Honestly, this is a bit OD for me, but to each his own. I think all the other specs above are already above the board in terms of what you need a dash cam for to begin with. – KidBobot
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