NEWS – Today’s new cars are coming equipped with more and more safety features and applications that work hand-in-hand with our cellphones. However, this doesn’t do much for those of us driving older model cars that did not come with now standard safety enhancements. Garmin has set out to help those of us who would like those features without buying a new car with the Garmin Speak Plus Dash Cam. This small camera (smaller than a deck of playing cards) packs a considerable number of features for its size.
Garmin has incorporated their navigation system to include lane departure, forward collision warning, and an HD dash camera; all while adding the capabilities of the Amazon Alexa app to help get you where you need to go safely via Bluetooth connection to your phone and/or vehicle via AUX cable connection. Also, there is a “Go” alert that will let you know when traffic has started moving at an intersection in case you’ve been distracted in some way. Navigation and other commands are executable simply by speaking to the Garmin Speak Plus just as you would to any Amazon device. You can create shopping lists, play music, or even check for the closest gas station without taking your hands off the steering wheel.
The camera records at up to 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second onto an included MicroSD card. These videos are downloadable onto your phone via the Garmin Speak app instantly should an incident occur on the road. There are just two apps required to be downloaded to enable all of the features of this device: Amazon Alexa and Garmin Speak.
Currently, the Garmin Speak Plus Dash Cam can be found on Garmin’s website for $179.99. These are available at many popular online retailers like Best Buy, so it may be worthwhile to shop around to find the best deal.
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REVIEW – In an effort to find a reasonably priced dash cam that does not have a bunch of extra stuff that I do not need AND performs well, I volunteered to review the Audew HD Vehicle DVR. Audew is a Chinese manufacturer that makes quite a few products across many product lines and sells them all on Amazon. I reviewed their car vacuum cleaner last year on this website back in March of last year and found it adequate for the price you pay. Let’s see how their version of the car dash cam works out.
What is it?
The Audew HD Vehicle DVR is a car dash cam that advertises to provide several features:
Clear night vision
1080P HD at 30 FPS resolution in JPG format for pictures and MOV format for video
320MAH battery for parking monitor capabilities
3.7 inch LCD
Wide-Angle view coverage with a 150 degree angle of view.
Emergency and Loop recording
Built in G-Sensor for the emergency recording
Parking Monitor
Motion Detection
Auto Power Off and burst photo mode
Dimension: 89 x 52 x 31 mm
What’s in the box?
The above picture shows what came in the nicely packaged box. Everything was wrapped in its own individual plastic wrapping and packaged to keep it from damage. Starting at the top left we have the camera itself, followed by the suction cup mount and car power adapter. The next row has the instruction book, power cord and a card requesting any comments you may have about their product. Note that there is no micro SD card included with the camera. You will have to purchase that separately. Audew recommends a class 6 or above card and to not exceed 32 GB.
Setup and Use
The next few screenshots starting with the two above all show the menu system of the camera. Starting with the left picture you will see the following options:
Video – Options are 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 30 fps, WVGA 848 x 480 and VGA 640 x 480 – I kept mine set at the 1080p option.
Image Quality – Fine, Normal and Economy. I kept mine at Fine
Loop Recording – This indicates how long each video it makes will be. The options are 1,3 and 5 minutes, and I kept mine at 5 minutes.
Audio Recording – this is an on/off switch to indicate if audio is to be recorded. I set it to off. No need to record my cussing as an accident is about to happen!
Stamp – This setting has two check boxes: date and car plate. If they are checked the date/time and your car license plate will be added to each video. I only had the date option checked.
Anti-Flicker – this has options for 60 Hz or 50 Hz – I set it to 60
WDR – this is an on/off setting and I had this option turned on. It is supposed to give you a wide dynamic range though honestly, I could not tell a difference with it on or off.
Exposure – this has options to set your exposure from a + 2 to a -2. I started off at 0 and as you can see I was set at a -1 and eventually put it at a -2 in order to try and capture nighttime license plates.
The options on the next two settings screens are as follows:
Headlight Alert – Honestly I am not quite sure what this is used for. I believe it is used with the Park Mode in order to make it sense vehicles coming your way.
Motion Detection – Used with park mode. Detects movement in front of the camera. If park mode is on and this button is on, if someone walks in front of your vehicle it will record it.
Park Mode – on/off switch to enable/disable the parking mode. It should be noted that the camera is using its small backup battery in park mode and is not pulling any power from your car vehicle. If a lot of motion is happening around your card and it is parked for a long time, it is likely the camera will eventually lose power. I personally used park mode one day and got tired of the multiple recordings being made of me getting in and out of the vehicle. I keep my car parked in a secure garage at work and in a garage at home. If I were to live in an apartment where my vehicle was exposed to more people I would probably keep this on. It is a nice option to have and the loop recording feature would just overwrite older video.
G Sensor – Options are Off, Low, Medium and High. The default is Medium which is where I have kept it. This is the sensor that will detect the need to make an emergency recording. When I had park mode turned on, it was recording my getting in and out of the truck into the emergency folder.
Language – Options were English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French and Dutch
Date & Time – this is where you set your current date and time
Car Plate Stamp – Here is where you would enter your vehicle’s license plate number
Auto Power off – Options are None, 1, 3 and 5 minutes.
The last 2 screen’s options are:
LCD Auto Off – It will come on automatically when the car starts. This says how long it will stay on. Options are 5 min, 3 min, 30 sec and always on.
Beep Sound – Low, Medium, High and mute – this is the sound the buttons make when going through the settings
Storage Information – displays statistics on your memory card, Total Storage, Amount Free and Amount used
Format – will format your storage card
Default Setting – if you go into this setting and then click ok, all settings will revert to factory default
Version – displays the version number of the camera software.
The picture above shows how I mounted it in my Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. On a side note, you may see to the right of the dash cam a mount for a GoPro camera. Apparently, some if not all newer Tacomas come with this mount as a standard accessory. I know that I did not pay extra for it. You can see I mounted it right behind the rear view mirror. When I am sitting in the driver’s seat I do not even notice the camera. I can hear the little chime it makes when I turn on the truck. I also hear the chime it makes when I turn the vehicle off. It turns off right at that 30 second option I set in the settings. I have the wire running under the headliner and down the passenger side post. It then runs under the glove compartment and into the accessory socket. All in all, it is very unobtrusive and I do not notice it. What is even better is that it just continues to work and I do not have to think about it.
The next two links below show records at day and at night with the exposure set at zero which means I used the default settings for the recording. Daytime looks great, but at night license plates are not even visible because they are so overexposed with just the license plate light.
The next two videos show nighttime recordings with the one on the left having a negative 1 exposure setting and the second one having a -2 exposure setting.
This last recording is a daytime recording at the -2 exposure. It is really just a bit too dark for daytime for my liking.
What I like
I love the price of this camera and I also love that its setup is really simple. The menu system is very easy to understand. Mounting with the suction cup is very easy and the locking mechanism on the cup gives me a good feeling about how well it will stay up there. We shall see how this handles the mid-summer Texas heat later on in the year. The cord was more than long enough for me to mount it where I wanted to. I think even larger pickup trucks with more cab space should not have an issue with the power cord length. The parking feature along with the motion detection and G Force sensor are really nice features.
What needs to be improved
My biggest complaint is the lack of clarity on license plates in the dark. You can certainly see well enough around you and definitely tell who would be at fault in an accident with this camera, but the car really has to be in the right place to be able to get a good read on the license plate. It was better at a negative 2 exposure, but then I felt it made the daylight recording a bit too dark. It would also be nice if they included a micro SD card with the camera.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for a reasonably priced camera to capture what is going on in front of your vehicle, provide parking lot capabilities and don’t need WiFi capabilities or GPS capabilities, I feel this camera is a pretty good bang for the buck. If other folks have used dash cams that have these same features for this price please let me know. If they could just fix the exposure issue at night time it would be an awesome camera.
Price: $49.99 Where to Buy: Amazon Source: The sample for this review was provided by Audew
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NEWS – PureGear has announced a the PureCam Connected Car Security System 4G LTE Dual Lens Dash Cam at CES in Las Vegas Nevada. This new dash cam includes a variety of premium features that make it a powerful car accessory that you can use to record your travels and get you out of a jam in the event of an accident.
The PureCam dual camera dashcam features what has to be the largest LCD display I’ve seen so far for a dash cam. It’s 4-inch with picture in picture functionality. The camera also uses 4G LTE so you can live stream what you seen in from of your car or inside of the car from anywhere you are as long as you have cellular connectivity and provides WiFi hotspot capability for up to 3 devices.
Other features of the PureGear PureCam include a built-in GPS so you can find the car if you forget where you parked it. This dash cam plugs into your car’s onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) port and will send a push notification to your phone in case of a break in. It’s priced at $249.99 and requires a dataplan that you can either buy through PureGear or you can provide your own SIM. For more info head over to shoppurecam.com
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REVIEW – Dash cams can be a great help in an accident. If the events are not being reported accurately, showing an actual film of an accident or incident does a lot to prevent someone from “remembering” things differently. Recently, I was sent the Z-Edge T4 touchscreen dash camera, and it includes a second, rear-facing camera – a wired model rather than a wireless one. Since I’m on a quest to find a good backup camera, I was really excited to try this and I’m ready to give you my report.
Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.
What is it?
The Z-Edge T4 dash cam is a touchscreen camera that measures 4.74” x 2.75” x 1.25” (121 x 72 x 31mm). It comes in a complete kit that includes front- and rear-facing sensors, mounting brackets for both, as well as the wiring to connect them, and the media to record events on.
Hardware specs
(from the company’s website)
One-Hand Operation Touchscreen
Your On-The-Way Witness
Dual 1080P Recording, Never Miss A License Plate
Super Clear Night Vision With WDR Technology
155° Wide Angle Lens, Full 4 Lanes View
What’s in the box?
main camera unit
12-volt 2-outlet power plug
rear camera 1.5” x 1.5” x .5” with a hinged mounting plate and permanent adhesive tape
3’ USB-A to miniUSB power cable
26’ microUSB to microUSB cable for connecting the two cameras
suction-cup windshield mount for the main unit
32-GB TF micro data card
instruction sheet that you can actually see. In English.
six stick-on wire-management clips.
Design and features
The T4 from Z-Edge is all you need to record and secure your car. With a front-facing camera, rear-facing camera, and power connectors, the system can monitor about 310º around your car. (Each camera covers 155º.) There is a Parking Mode that will take video using the battery if any motion is detected.
Setup
Setup of the system is simple. Mount the front-facing main unit to your windshield to get the best view of the road ahead. Plug in the power adapter and run the power cable to the main unit. Mount the rear camera (you may want to have someone else help with this for best positioning.) Run the 26’ cable from the rear camera up to the main unit on your windshield. The camera is automatically detected when you plug it in, and you are given the option to view just the front camera, just the rear camera, or the front with the rear in the upper quarter of the frame, picture-in-picture style. Two taps and you’re back to a different view. Easy-peasy.
Performance
I found no issues with performance. Like most cameras on the market, the Z-Edge T4 can be set to record in snippets of different lengths. If there is a shock to the system (an accident, or just a bump), the active video is locked. As the disk fills, older clips that are not locked as emergency events are erased and written over.
Transferring to your computer or tablet is pretty normal – pull the TF card and place it in an adapter for your device, plug it in, and download the files you want. Rear and Forward views are recorded full screen in two different files, rather than however you’re viewing them on the screen while recording. I like this better than having just the screen view, which may not include important info if you’re just viewing one or the other. When the rear camera is plugged in, it’s recording, even if it’s not showing on the display.
The following shots are pictures of the unit with both cameras active while parked after a concert. I wanted to show the scene through the windshield and the T4’s interpretation of it. There are a lot of cars in the parking lot behind me, and a large magnolia tree in front of me. The first is before turning on my headlights.
The next shot shows after turning on my headlights. Note the difference between what’s on screen and what my iPhone picked up in the background of the actual view through the windshield.
Next, let’s move on to some video.
The first clip below shows the last part of my daily drive into work. I arrive at the parking garage about 7:50 on a December morning. Driving into the sun, you can still see car tags, pedestrians, and cyclists clearly. As I turn into the garage, the camera takes a second or two to adjust, but then is able to have good resolution within the dark garage.
The next two clips are how the front- and rear-facing cameras are recorded. They are broken at identical points but are kept as two similarly-named files on the data card. (Apologies for the Accidental Tech Podcast episode on Italian desserts in the background.)
What I Like
Complete kit – no need to buy anything else.
Well-written instructions for operation.
Touchscreen operation is glove-friendly (large buttons).
Easy to change views.
Parking mode adds protection while your car is parked.
What needs to be improved
Rear Window mounting means seeing your rear blind spot (for backing purposes) is not as good as a license plate level camera.
Final thoughts
I was really impressed with this unit. The camera quality is good in low light or sun, it’s very easy to switch to full-screen rear camera, accessing the menu is a single tap. It’s also only two quick taps to turn the screen off. The sensitivity adjustments for exposure are easy to manage, and it really picks up good images in early morning light, dusk or full night. Add in the fact that you probably won’t have to buy any extra wiring, clips, etc., and you’ve got a nice kit to add in-car road monitoring to your vehicle.
Price: $169.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by Z-Edge.
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REVIEW – It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a dashcam and this one from HQBKING caught my interest because the windshield mount is magnetic and you can rotate the camera 360 degrees. But what’s the video like? Let’s find out.
What is it?
The HQBKING is a 1080P dashcam that features a mount that allows you to remove and/or rotate the camera while it’s attached to the mount which also provides power to the camera.
Hardware Specification
Picture Resolution: 4032*3024/3648*2736/3264*2448/2592*1944
Video Resolution: 1920*1080(30fps)/1280*720(30fps)/WVGA848*480/VGA640*480
Memory Card: Support 8GB – 64GB high speed TF card Class 10 or above
Chip-set: NTK96658
Sensor: SONY IMX323
Screen: 1.54 inch
Video Format: MP4
Picture Format: JPG
USB Type: USB2.0
Frequency: 50HZ/60HZ
Current: 450mA
Mic/Speaker: Support
Storage Temperature(Deg.C): -30 to +120
Battery: 140mAh 3.7V lithium battery
Power Supply Port: USB2.0 DC5V 1A
Power Size: 2 inch (width) x 1.8 inch (height) x 1.5 inch (depth)
What’s in the box?
Hqbking dash cam
Magnetic mount
12V power adapter
2 mini USB cables
User Manual
Design and features
This dashcam is one of the smallest dashcams that I’ve reviewed in a long time if not ever. The camera itself is about the size of a golf ball. The front is basically just the lens and the top has an electrical contact that mates with the magnetic mount/pins on the windshield mount.
The windshield mount comes with two 3M adhesive strips that you’ll use to affix the mount to your car’s windshield.
The camera can rotate on the mount without losing power. This will let you film the interior of the car or out the sides of the car.
While you can rotate the camera around in the horizontal plane, you can’t adjust the vertical angle of the camera which can be a problem if you’re trying to record people inside the camera as you can’t adjust the lens to make sure it’s pointed correctly.
On the left side of the camera is the power button, a status LED and a microphone.
On the opposite side of the dashcam is a protective cover over the microSD card slot and a second built-in mini USB connector that can be used to connect the camera to power or transfer video to your computer.
On the bottom of the camera are four buttons that are used navigate through the camera’s menus.
Installation
Installing the HQBKING dashcam in my MINI Cooper was as easy as sticking the mount to the windshield and then routing the mini USB cable from the right side of the camera mount up along the top edge of the headliner and then down the right side of the windshield, down the side of the dash and around to the 12V power adapter.
Once installed, the camera powers on automatically when the car’s engine is started. It then turns off when you stop the engine. You can also set the camera to turn off in 3, 5, or 10 minutes later. But the default it is to turn it off as soon as you shut down the engine.
The camera has a G Sensor which detects if there has been a collision and will lock the video so that it won’t be overwritten by later videos. This feature makes sure that you can find and use the video if you need to for insurance purposes in the event of an accident.
There’s also a smart parking monitor that you can toggle on/off which will make a recording if the camera senses some sort of impact when you’re not driving. Note that you’ll need to have the camera hard-wired for power to use this feature as the camera’s built-in battery isn’t designed to keep it powered on for very long. It’s only designed to protect the settings, time, and date in between uses.
The length of each video clip can be adjusted to 1, 3, or 5-minute clips. Once the microSD card is filled, it will start overwriting the old clips (except for any locked clips).
Mobile app
If you install the HQBKING app on your iOS or Android smartphone, you can use it to connect to the camera’s built-in WiFi signal to see a live footage, view, or transfer video clips and photos to the phone.
See it in action
Here are two quick videos that show you the video quality of this dashcam when used for night and day driving. The first video is night driving with a bit of day driving at the end.
If you skip to the daytime part, you can see where I turn the camera on its magnetic mount. I do this again at the end of the review while driving.
As you can see, the video quality is ok for a 1080P camera. Of course I’d like 4K quality video, but all things considered, you can read road signs and some license plates depending on the proximity to other cars.
What I like
Small
Magnetic mount
Ability to rotate the camera 360 degrees on the mount
What needs to be improved
Needs a way to adjust the vertical angle of the camera
Needs GPS capability built-in
Final thoughts
I’ve enjoyed testing the HQBKING dashcam. I like its small size and how easy it is to grab it and take it in the house to connect to my MacBook if I want to transfer video clips. I find this easier and faster than using the HQBKING app with my phone. As a dashcam, it works fine. Video quality didn’t blow my mind, but it gets the job done and the price pretty low.
Price: $89.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample for this review was provided by HQBKING.
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