Our top pick has 4K recording, Alexa voice control, and a 2-inch touchscreen. [Note: ExpertPhotography is supported by readers. Product links on ExpertPhotography are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something, we make a little bit of money. Need more info? See how it all works here].
What is the Best Dash Cam?
Before we look at the detail of all our recommendations, here is a summary of them all. Now let’s look at them in detail. The Nextbase 622GW is the best dash cam on our list. It sits at the top of the Nextbase range. Of course, as it is the best dash cam, it comes at a premium price. But you get a whole load of features. One of the top features that are hard to find in other dash cams is digital image stabilization. This makes your video even smoother. So you won’t miss the license plate numbers of any troublemakers. And the rotatable polarizing filter ensures you don’t get any glare through the lens. The Nextbase 622GW also has an Extreme Weather mode. It is hard to find this technology in another dash cam. It is a built-in algorithm that provides clear images of vehicles in bad weather. This feature ensures you capture clear video even in the worst conditions. My favorite features are the added safety measures like Emergency SOS. Of these features, their partnership with what3words is the most crucial. What3words is a geolocation service. It can get emergency services to your exact location as fast as possible. The Vantrue N4 is a high-quality dash cam. It comes with three different cameras for your car:
155-degree front camera 165-degree interior camera 160-degree rear camera
The combined recordings provide excellent coverage. These three channels give you better views than you would have while driving! You can record the front footage in 4K and the rear camera has Full HD video. The rear camera allows you to spin the camera 360 degrees. So you can set it up almost anywhere. Vantrue’s three cameras are all ready to tackle nighttime as well. Both front and rear cameras have a wide aperture to allow the most light in as possible. And the interior camera has four infrared lights. They make sure you can see everything without any interior lights on. I am a big fan of this dash cam system. All its components fire on all cylinders. You can almost guarantee if something happens on the road around you, the Vantrue N4 will pick it up. The Garmin Dash Cam 67W is an excellent dash cam. It fits amazing features into a compact body. The first feature you notice is the 2-inch touchscreen. It takes up the whole back element of the dash cam. If you place the dash cam under your rearview mirror, the whole dash cam setup looks discrete and is easy to access. You also get complete voice control with this dash cam. This makes this dash cam very easy to use. Many driving assist features are also included to keep you as safe as possible. These features include forward collision warnings and lane departure warnings. There are even “go” alerts. This Garmin dash cam can identify red and green lights to help with safer decisions. And with its built-in Wi-Fi, you get a live view of your dash cam. Plus, you can access this from anywhere when you’re away from your parked car. The Nextbase 522GW is a reliable dash cam designed to improve user experience. It all starts from the mounting. A click-and-go pro mount allows you to connect or retrieve your dash cam with one hand. And the user experience extends to its new features. Emergency SOS Response is one of them. Your dash cam contacts local emergency services if it detects a crash. You also have Alexa Voice Control options that allow you to control your dash cam and more. The Nextbase 522GW does not have rear cameras. But they are compatible with this device. You must buy another Nextbase dash cam for this to work. Nextbase also claims to have a higher GPS accuracy than most dash cams on the market. GPS tracking is combined with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth abilities. And they work well paired with the product’s great smartphone app. The Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 is by far the smallest dash cam on this list. The key-sized Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 easily hides behind your rearview mirror. This means it won’t distract you while you’re driving. You can almost install it and then forget about it, apart from taking the micro SD card out. The dash cam automatically starts recording if there is an incident. You also have a button that automatically saves the last minute of footage. Your saved videos then automatically upload via Wi-Fi. They go to a secure “vault” to view and share later. The Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 also allows you to have a live view of your dash cam through the Garmin Drive smartphone app. But this requires constant power and an active Wi-Fi connection. Another feature the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 has that I love is voice control. It lets you use spoken commands to save, start or stop, take still pictures, and more! Overall, this is one of the best dash cams if you want something discrete. Thinkware has produced another excellent dash cam with the Q800 Pro. You can capture clean footage in 2K Quad HD (QHD) quality. The clarity is enhanced by the Super Night Vision 2.0 included in this dash cam model. The dash cam doesn’t come with rear dash cams. But it does have easy accessibility to the main camera’s functions. There is even a signifier light so you can tell when it’s recording, when GPS is on, or when the Wi-Fi is on. I like the rotatable camera that comes with the Thinkware Q800. This allows the clearest view possible and even flips the camera toward the interior. But my favorite part of this dash cam is the cloud functionality with Thinkware’s Cloud Mobile smartphone app. You can keep a constant eye on your car. And it notifies you of anything that happens. The Nexar Pro Dual dash cam is one of the best for professional drivers due to its great interior camera. The interior camera only records in 720p. But it has ten infrared lights, so you can see what anyone is doing in the back seats. The Nexar smartphone app is also one of the best dash cam apps on the market. You can get instant evidence straight to your phone through this smartphone app. So all your dash cam footage is just a tap away. This app can also produce an insurance report for you. It creates a detailed post-collision report. This saves you time, money, and stress. The best feature of Nexar dash cams? They give you free and unlimited cloud storage. This aspect alone is worth investing in a Nexar dash cam. Free unlimited cloud storage means you will never run out of space and can always access your videos. Both dash cams use a USB cable to operate. The device comes with a duo USB charger for your car. An easy installation kit ties together all these components. So operating and maintaining your dash cam is no issue! Now, let’s look at Viofo’s 4K Ultra HD (UHD) dash cam. This is one of the best dash cams because of its durability and reliability. This dash cam set also has a rear camera. It can film in HD video and is small and discrete. The dash cam has a built-in supercapacitor. It ensures a more stable power and high-temperature resistance. It is the ideal dash cam for people who live in hot or cold countries. Especially if you plan on leaving your dash cam in your car. There is also an advanced parking mode. Your dash cam automatically saves 15 seconds before a detected event happens. Then it continues saving 30 seconds after. This gives you an accurate time frame of what triggered your recording. I like the easy-to-access buttons on the front device. The main button helps you identify important clips when you review the dash cam footage. Plus, the dash cam comes with a Bluetooth remote control. This makes it even easier to save and lock important videos without taking your eyes off the road. Mio’s MiVue 798 is a dash cam that gives you a super clear view, no matter the environment. Thanks to its 2.5K QHD 1600p footage, you get a sharp image good enough to zoom in for further detail. The MiVue 798 uses a Sony Starvis CMOS sensor. It is a well-developed sensor with amazing night vision abilities. You also get built-in GPS with this dash cam. The GPS can provide smart alert functions. These notify you if you are driving too fast. It is even able to notify you of speed cameras. You also get a MiVue Manager PC tool that plays back your route using a GPS overlay of the video. The best dash cams make file and data collection as easy as possible. Built-in Wi-Fi is the easiest way to access your footage. You can connect to MiVue 798 wirelessly through your smartphone. But my favorite part about this dash cam is its extra safety features. You get alerts for various signifiers that may lead to a crash. There is a smart lane departure feature, stop-and-go alerts, and fatigue alerts. Garmin is a well-known brand. It specializes in electrical technology and accessories for cars. Their pocket-sized Dash Cam Tandem lets you film in 2K with the front-facing camera. And the interior-facing camera records in 720p. Garmin has also introduced a Dash Cam Auto Sync feature. It allows you to control and playback synced video from up to four dash cams. This allows you to easily sort through multiple angles or scenes. Both the front and rear view cameras have 180 degrees field of view. Technically, this gives you 360 degrees of uninterrupted view from the front of your car. This guarantees you still see through the side windows on your video playback. The dash cams also feature Garmin’s NightGlo technology. This gives you a well-lit view of the car’s interior at night. The Garmin Dash Cam Tandem is expensive compared to others with similar features. You must decide if the extra money is worth it. I would say it is. Ideally, you won’t have to replace your dash cam for many years. Kenwood’s 4K dash cam provides smooth, clean, and crisp footage. You can use their polarizing filter or built-in HDR technology. These great features alone might have you using the camera for other purposes! You can view and download all your videos from the dedicated app. The dash cam also comes with an HDMI port. You can plug your dash cam directly into a TV if needed! I am a fan of the G-shock sensor that comes with the camera. It is a sensor that can detect any external impacts. The dash cam captures and saves its most recent frame upon this impact. I like this feature a lot. If you get into a bad accident and the camera gets destroyed, at least you have evidence. I am also a fan of the easy installation. The dash cam has a simple, sticky patch you can place anywhere on your windshield. Kingslim has produced a high-quality and cheap dash cam with the D4. Many dash cams nowadays have brilliant image quality. And the Kingslim D4 is the first on this list with excellent 4K abilities. 4K image quality ensures you capture the license plate of anyone driving like a maniac. You can even switch to 2.5K image quality if you want to save space on your device. A word of warning, though. This device doesn’t accept all micro SD cards, only specific brands. This means you have to buy a particular memory card. The dash cam comes with a built-in GPS. The GPS tracker automatically records your GPS data when driving. And you can playback your recorded videos with all the extra data with their GPS Player (GXplayer). The Kingslim D4 also comes with a rearview camera. The rear camera is small and discrete. It can film at 1080p. Kingslim has also added night vision to its front camera. A good Sony sensor is coupled with four infrared lights. They guarantee you capture any accident on camera, even at night. The Orskey S800 is a dash cam built for clarity. The camera element gives you a super clear, Full HD view of the road. It records at 30 frames per second. So you can see each subject clearly and smoothly through the video playback. The camera set also comes with a rearview camera. You can place this small VGA, waterproof camera in convenient areas without exposure. This helps reduce general wear and tear damage. You can select whether the camera saves clips 1, 2, 3, or 5 minutes long. The camera also records in a loop. So once your memory card space is full, it overwrites your oldest data. I like the Orskey S800 for its built-in parking monitor. It even includes a motion detector function. This starts recording when somebody or something gets too close. Another feature Orskey has is a great ability to see in the dark. There are six lens elements. All are unique infrared LED fill lights. Along with added HDR abilities, this feature lets you see even in the most challenging environments. The Nexar Beam is a dash cam based on convenience. It features real-time video footage that streams directly to your smartphone. But it only works if you pair your camera with the Nexar smartphone app. Surprisingly, this is a free app. You get all its handy automatic features when you buy the Nexar Beam. One app feature is automatic recording when you step into the car. And it has a free cloud backup of videos! One of the best features of the Nexus Beam dash cam is its size. Nexus claims the dash cam only takes up 0.2% of your windshield. It even fits behind your rearview mirror. And because the dash cam is so small, it is a quick and easy setup. Nexus also provides a parking mode. It lets you know if your car senses movement even if you’re not there. As the app has a map, you can also see where you parked. The Viofo A139 is a set of three different dash cams. They give you comprehensive views of the outside and inside of your car. You have front and rearview cameras, but also an inside camera. The front camera’s resolution is 2K, while the others are 1080p. But they all shoot at 30 fps. The dash cams feature Wi-Fi abilities at two different speeds. These allow you to view, download, and share your videos through the Viofo smartphone app. Viofo’s parking mode gives you an overview of your time apart from the car. Along with an Auto Event Detection function, you get a Time-lapse overview. Both these functions record at a low bitrate, so it doesn’t take up much space or battery. Viofo also tracks you while driving through its GPS tracking. You can access data about your speed, location, and time driving. Here, you choose different timestamps. Or you pick settings like kilometers or miles per hour. The Vantrue N2 Pro features a high-quality front camera. And it has a rotatable, rear-facing camera. The rear-facing camera lets you watch what happens inside the car and through the windows. This is helpful because accidents can happen from any side of the car. The front camera has an automatic HDR video system. It constantly adjusts for a clear and well-balanced view. The rear cameras also have four infrared LED lights. They greatly enhance the dash cam’s night vision. The Vantrue N2 Pro also comes with voice recording. If you don’t want this option, you can easily mute or unmute the audio abilities. You also have the option of a GPS tracker. To use this, you need to buy a separate component for your Vantrue N2 Pro. This camera also comes with a parking mode that can be active for 24 hours a day. The parking mode is triggered by motion and will then activate all its cameras. The Thinkware F200 is a dual-channel camera system that shoots in Full 1080p HD. It has built-in Wi-Fi. So you can connect to, download, and view recordings from your smartphone. This makes using the device extremely convenient. But there are no options to expand the storage size after you have purchased the product. You also have the option to add GPS tracking. This is a GPS antenna that you buy separately. With this feature, you can track your travel direction and get notified if there are speed cameras. The Thinkware F200 also has excellent night vision abilities. This gives you a clear view of the road in any environment. But my favorite quality of the F200 is its weight and size. The main front camera only weighs 56 grams and won’t distract you from the road. The rear camera is so small that you don’t notice it when looking in your rearview mirror. These are the most common questions we get for dash cams.
What Is a Dash Cam?
A dash cam is a camera that sits on your car dashboard. And it records everything you see through your windshield. It saves data on the camera’s memory card. Then you can access video footage after your drive.
How Do I Install a Dash Cam?
Installing a dash cam is easy nowadays. Each brand has devised different ways to get your camera up and running. Most dash cams have a method of sticking it to your front windshield or rear window. After that, you should read your product’s instructions to get the dash cam up and running.
How Do I Hardwire a Dash Cam?
Hardwiring a dash cam is just like adding any electronics to your car. You can leave or hide the cables under the car’s dashboard. If you use a rear camera, you want to ensure the cable isn’t visible. You don’t want any cables to get snagged by accident.
How Do I Hide Dash Cam Wires?
Hiding dash cam wires can be simple, but you would need some time, space, and patience. There are many YouTube videos you can watch to do this. If you do not have the time or tools, you can pay any electrician or mechanic to do this for you.
What Is the Best Dash Cam?
With our listed range of products, I would say the Nextbase 622GW is the best dash cam on the market today. Its image stabilization is a great feature.
Conclusion
After looking through this wide range of dash cams, you can see there is an option for any price point. You may compromise on some features, but you will still get a great view of the road in front of you or the surrounding area. Consider how you will use your dash cam. If you use it as a professional driver, you should invest in one with more features. One of the cheaper options is fine if you want to be safer on your daily commute. Or maybe you want a security camera for a car while parked. Ideally, if you could test dash cams, that would be great. But, if not, read all our descriptions to find the best dash cam for you.
