With the popularity of cars, a series of car configurations have also gained importance, such as reversing radar, reversing video, etc. Nowadays, everyone is willing to install a dash cam for their cars. On the one hand, it can provide visual evidence in case of traffic accidents and avoid wrong disputes. On the other hand, it can also remind you to drive safely - which is important for novices. If you fail to capture important accident details because your dash cam is not qualified, there are problems such as video loss, blurred video images, and insufficient framing, which will lead to more trouble. Therefore, how to choose the right car recorder is a matter of concern!
Selection Guide
- Clarity
The main resolution of the dash cam is 1080P and 2K. The higher the resolution, the higher the picture pixels is. Usually, 1080P can already meet the demand. If you want to use the dash cam to record some good images, then you can choose 2K. At the same time, you need to buy a large-capacity memory card, because 2K will take up more memory space.
The chip is the processor, mainly responsible for the acquisition and compression of data images and imaging. Poor quality chips tend to heat up, resulting in blurred images.
The image sensor determines the resolution of the image as well as the pixels, the higher the performance and the clearer the image is.
- Memory capacity parameters
Memory card is mainly used for archiving. The way the dash cam stores video: memory card or mobile digital hard drive to expand the memory. So, the memory capacity of the car recorder = the memory card + hard disk. When the memory card is full, the oldest data will be automatically overwritten, leaving space for new videos.
For the purchase of memory cards, we should focus on quality and stability. Once a memory card burns out, it is fatal. Ordinary memory cards are prone to failure in high temperatures and cold weather, so you need to choose a memory card dedicated to the dash cam.
In addition, the general family car using 16G or 64G is enough. The operating car needs 64G or 128G.
- Night vision effect
Dash cam not only needs to work during the day but in the evening, blurred situation also needs to be recorded, so the night vision effect is crucial.
The night vision effect mainly depends on the aperture, with the F/ value to indicate. The smaller the value, the larger its aperture is. However, the F/ value can not be too small, otherwise, it is easy to cause overexposure during the day, and it’s difficult to photograph the license plate at a distance clearly. Generally speaking, F2.0 or so is very good.
Noise reduction function and WDR wide dynamic technology are also important. Noise reduction is to reduce the noise to improve the quality of imaging; WDR's wide dynamic range can make the image clearer in strong light or backlighting situations.
- Wideangle
The wide-angle lens is generally in 120 ° -140 °, super wide-angle 155 °. Totally speaking, 130 ° to 150 ° is the best choice. For those titles written “170 ° or 190 °”, please do not believe! Under normal circumstances, a single recorder lens is not able to reach such a high number of wide-angle.
- Various functions
Reverse image function: The general configuration of the reverse image function of the dash cam is a dual-lens design.
Emergency saves: In case of emergency, the dash cam can quickly lock the video and leave evidence.
Automatic loop recording function: Avoid the trouble of manually formatting the memory card, and also avoid forgetting to format it regularly.
H.265 encoding: The compression ratio is improved, taking up less memory space under the same resolution and recording length.
- Safety performance
The product should pass 3C certification. An unqualified dash cam will bring security risks.
Some common installation methods: snap-on type, attached to the rearview mirror; adhesive type, glued to the surface of the object, good stability but will leave glue marks; suction cup type, adsorbed on the glass, easy to install, but in the case of sun exposure will have the risk of falling off.
- Price
There are plenty of dash cams on Amazon, the price is also uneven. The more expensive dash cam must be better? Not necessarily, choosing the most appropriate is the most important. In the process of purchasing, on the one hand, you need to consider the budget, on the one hand, do not be greedy cheap, and there is no need to pay for too many features.
Five major misconceptions
- The larger the wide angle, the betterthe performance is. The larger the wide angle, the more distorted the picture is shot!
- Dual-lens is better than single-lens. Dual-lensdash camrequires highly on the chip processing power, but some manufacturers use a cheap chip that does not guarantee the normal work of a dual-lens recorder. In addition, if your car rear windshield sticks dark car film, it will lead to dual-lens camera rear poor shooting.
- The more functions of the car recorder, the better. Many people think that a machine with many functions will save their minds. In fact, multifunctional all-in-one machines use poor results and short life. If an integrated all-in-one machine, (in order to reduce production costs) all functions are placed on a chip, which will lead to high-frequency modules interfering with each other, the performance is greatly reduced. So, in contrast, a single function of the car recorder to be much more professional.
- The dash camcan be 24-hour parking monitoring. In fact, many car recorders are single lenses, if there is no light at night, the cameracan’t shoot clearly. And in fact, it is very difficult to do 24-hour monitoring.
- The higher the lens pixel,the betterthe product is. As mentioned before, although the high pixel means clearer, likewise, it will take up more memory. In addition, some manufacturers will title the lens pixels very high - this is actually the highest pixel value of the screen, rather than the real lens pixels.
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1 comment
Yup, I totally agree with your statement that the memory capacity of our dash camera must be big enough to store long hours of footage. My cousin just started his work as a delivery truck driver recently and he’s been asked to add some safety features on it. I’ll share this tip so he could find the perfect equipment for the vehicle very soon. https://pgttechnologies.com/dash-cams/