Dash cams are useful for capturing those unfortunate moments, when they do happen.
YouTube is chock full of dash cam videos featuring incidents ranging from, “Wow, that was lucky!” to, “Wow, that person must be the most useless driver on the planet!” Regardless of reason, accidents do happen every day, and that’s where a dash cam comes in handy. In fact, the market has expanded to the point where it seems like there are a million options out there (because there are). Among that space, the Vantrue N2 Pro aims to stand out as the best dash cam available. How well does it work? Before we get into that, let’s go over what you get in the box.
What’s in the box?
The Vantrue N2 Pro is available for the stately sum of $199.99 on Amazon, but you do get some substance for your money. While there are plenty of cheap cameras out there, this one has a party trick in that it’s a dual cam. The Vantrue N2 Pro features a forward facing camera that records in resolutions as 2560×1440 (1440p) in the front, and 1080P on the rear camera. The rear-facing camera records what’s going on in the cabin simultaneously with the front-facing camera. Vantrue also includes 2 USB cables in the package. One is a data cable, while you can plug the other one into your car’s 12V auxiliary power outlet.
This dash cam comes packed with features in a relatively small form factor. The suction cup mount actually twists to lock into place, which holds the mount and the camera firmly in place to record smooth video. There’s also a micro USB port to power the camera from the suction mount, rather than plugging directly into the camera itself.
How well does it work? Features and quality
Apart from the actual cameras, the suction mount and power cables, the Vantrue N2 Pro has quite a few more features. There are four infrared lights around the rear camera to illuminate the cabin at night. The video resolution for the rear camera is pegged at 1080P with the front camera. In other words, you can record on the front camera at 1440P, or the front and rear cameras at 1080P each. The rear camera is a useful feature if you’re a rideshare driver, so you can keep an eye on your passengers in the back. Or, if you have the camera for personal use, it can record anyone trying to mess with your car. The camera also has “parking mode”, so it will automatically start recording when it detects motion in front of the car.
The front camera has a 170-degree viewing angle, while the rear camera has a slightly narrower 140-degree viewing angle.
The dash camera is set up with a GPS function. However, it does not come packaged with a GPS unit – that requires an extra purchase. Vantrue sent TFL one of their dash cams to review, but we did not test the GPS unit. If you do purchase that unit, it can actually keep track of your vehicle speed in addition to the normal date and time features in the footage.
By default, the Vantrue N2 Pro’s microphone inside the cabin is turned on, so it can record what’s going on. However, it’s easy to navigate through the camera’s menus to turn the microphone off, should you choose. The N2 Pro has a 1.5-inch TFT screen so you can actually review the footage and watch what the camera is recording in real time. On the whole, the camera’s menus, on the whole, were easy to navigate, so you can set the date/time, GPS, recording and other settings.
Storage up to 64GB
One small down side is that the camera does not come with any internal storage – you’ll have to bring your own SD card. However, you can use up to a 64GB MicroSD card in the camera to record footage. Recording at 1080P and 60 frames per second, that amounts to about five-and-a-half hours of storage.
The camera is a high quality unit, as you’d expect for the $200 outlay. The footage it records – particularly at 60fps – is clear as a bell, without any major graininess. However, you almost have to keep the unit plugged in to keep recording for any substantial length of time. The camera does have an onboard battery, but it seems to drain fairly quickly. Still, if you’re using the camera on a regular basis, odds are you’ll have it plugged in most of the time anyway.
The Vantrue N2 Pro is a good-quality, useful camera that offers a lot of versatility for the money. On the subject, it is one of the more expensive cameras out there, but one that will capture useful footage, should you ever need it. When you register the camera, it’s backed by an 18-month limited warranty.
Available now on Amazon
The Vantrue N2 Pro is available for sale now on Amazon. Through June 17th, 2018, you can use the code DADDYLOV for a $50 discount.
