Dash cams give you peace of mind. You never know when you'll need footage from your windshield – but you'll be glad to have it if you do.
Today we're going to be taking close look at the range of Dash cams available right now in NZ, checking which ones offer the best value at various recording quality settings or include great features - filtering down the options while creating a quick list for five of the best Dash Cam options you can get today!
Shopping for a great dashcam is thankfully a much easier process nowadays because the technology within a Dash Cam has matured to a point at which the best models have very similar features. There's no shortage of models to choose from either, and this competitive market has made getting a Dash Cam for your car (or even two for front/back coverage) a less expensive purchase than you might have experienced previously.
1. Xiaomi Mi Home Starvis Smart Car Dash Cam 1S
This Xiaomi Mi Home dash cam is available at an incredible price, and it's got the features we want while providing great quality 1080P recording.
A couple of these features are pretty great and deserve further explanation.
Parking Monitoring: The dash cam automatically enters the parking monitoring mode after the vehicle is turned off. The accelerometer of the driving recorder continuously monitors the state of the vehicle and automatically records when it sensors abnormal vibrations. This could capture someone doing a crash and dash, or just some kids messing around near your car... whatever the case you'll have footage.
- 140 degrees wide-angle
- 1920x1080P resolution
- Loop-cycle recording
- Auto power on
- Parking monitoring
Loop-cycle recording: It's important to note you'll need to buy a memory card to store footage on your dash cam, but with loop-cycle recording the camera will overwrite the oldest footage for a consistent loop - meaning you won't miss out on capture because your memory card was full!
2. DDPai Mini3 Dashcam
This next dashcam from DDPai is the perfect option for those who want to keep an eye on the road ahead but want a sleek and stylish dashcam option that doesn’t bulk up their dashboard.
New innovations ensure crystal clear recordings in both bright and dark light with the high sensitivity WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) imaging technology and light intake is increased by 20% allowing you to capture high quality images even in extreme light conditions.
And if you do have an accident the high sensitivity gravity sensor built in to the mini3 automatically locks the captured video ensuring the accident scene is stored.
It’s designed to enhance the beauty of the interior of your car. Winner of the German Red Dot and iF international awards, it’s integrated molding, compact mini size and 360 swivel capturing lens lends perfectly to your car’s cabin design.
- 1600P@30fps HD lower power consumption video coding
- 5MP CMOS sensor
- 6 layer glass lens with infrared fliter
- 140 degree wide angle lens with F1.8 aperture
- Built-in 2.4GHz WiFi
- Build in eMMC High speed flash
3. Uniden IGO CAM 325 Black Box Car Dash Cam
The Uniden Dash Cam presents an alternative to the Mi option above, cheap and cheerful this makes the camera ideal for recreational drivers such as 4WD enthusiasts, parents wishing to monitor the safety of younger drivers or commercial fleet managers who seek to keep track of employees while on the road.
- Compact design
- 1280x720P resolution
- Loop-cycle recording
- Auto power on
- Motion Detection (same as the parking monitoring feature above)
4. Transcend DrivePro 10 Dash Cam
The Transcend DrivePro 10 Dash Cam is very popular, and for good reason. Transcend's DrivePro 10 is perfect for people who want their dash cam to take up as little space as possible, allowing it to be mounted behind the rearview mirror to keep your view unobstructed. Featuring all of the important features of other dash cams in a small package, as well as coming with a microSD memory card.
- 140 degrees wide-angle
- 1920x1080P resolution
- Loop-cycle recording
- Auto Power On
- Comes with microSD memory card
5. Black Vue DR900S-1CH Dash Cam
This dash cam is fairly new to NZ and will let you easily change your BlackVue configuration settings and browse through your videos in an intuitive way. With the BlackVue App, you can connect to your BlackVue via Wi-Fi to access files and check realtime Live View for easy setup and positioning of your dash cam. Both the BlackVue App and Viewer are free to download and use.
4K gives you 4x the resolution of 1080p, making footage significantly clearer when you need to pull something like a number plate out of the recording. With built-in GPS, a users speed data can be overlaid in the video too making it ideal for business use.
- 162 degrees wide-angle
- 3840x2160P resolution
- Supports remote live view and cloud backup
- Integrated microphone and speakers
- Loop-cycle recording
- Auto power on
- Motion Detection (same as the parking monitoring feature above)
The integration of microphone and speakers also allows for two-way communication with drivers. The cloud features will require the dash cam to be connected to the internet, for example, your home or work wifi while in the garage. With this you can remotely login and check what's going on - it can even send you push notifications!
Having a dash cam will help to avoid the You say/They say moments by actually showing what happened during the incident. Making the insurance process much easier, in fact, a lot of car insurance companies recommend a dash cam for this reason.
Another bonus of having one is every now and then something frankly unbelievable happens on the road - and instead of having friends give you a doubting look as you tell your amazing tale, you can show your friends the proof - remember that unbelievable nose to tail video in which the driver sped off, leaving their passenger behind, or that stunning meteorite footage - the most dramatic footage came from dash cams, not TV crews!
So there we have it, great to have and more affordable than ever! Shop the full range of car Dash Cams and get one for yourself today!
