Expert’s Rating
Pros
- 4-channel, practically encompass protection
- Good captures
- Embedded and watermarked GPS
- Voice management and telephone connectivity
Cons
- Pricey
- Uses a number of storage
Our Verdict
Thanks to its entrance, rear, and twin cabin cameras, Vantrue’s Nexus 5 (N5) affords arguably one of the best protection of any sprint cam system on the market. It’s additionally feature-laden and state-of-the-art. The solely factor it isn’t is cheap.
Price When Reviewed
$399.99
Best Prices Today: Vantrue N5 sprint cam
The Vantrue N5 is a primary for us, and so far as we all know, the trade. It’s not a three-, however a four-channel system sporting entrance, rear, and two cabin cameras — one on the entrance digicam going through aft, and one on the rear window digicam going through forwards.
The twin cabin cameras not solely cowl the cabin extra completely, however will catch motion out the facet home windows that the entrance and rear cameras is not going to. Blind spots may forestall true 360-degree protection, however it’s darn shut.
The solely catch for some customers is perhaps the value, $400 (£370). That stated, Garmin’s single-channel however elegant-and-then-some Dash Cam Live prices much more, and Cobra’s three-channel SC 400D — one in all our all-time favorites — is simply as costly.
Further studying: See our roundup of the best dash cams to find out about competing merchandise.
Vantrue N5 specs and design
The cylindrical entrance/cabin digicam is 4.88 inches huge, and a couple of.7 inches tall (from the magnetic mount to backside of digicam). That’s on the big facet, but in addition accommodates a crisp, simply readable 3.18-inch colour show. The SD card is saved beneath a captive magnetic cap on the left finish of the unit whereas the suitable facet sports activities solely a brand.
The offered auxiliary energy cable attaches to the Type-C connector within the base of the mount. That means you trigger the digicam to lose energy whenever you take away it, so you’ll be able to’t get a better look. On the opposite hand, it means you don’t should disconnect the ability cable each time you take away it. Yin, yang.
The N5’s entrance digicam maxes out at a non-standard 4:3, 2592×1944 however defaults to 16:9, 2560×1440. The rear and each cabin cameras are all 1080p.
The subject of view for the entrance digicam is 158 levels, whereas the others are 160 levels. Those are on the huge facet and assist cowl as a lot space as attainable. All use Sony STARVIS sensors: an IMX675 within the entrance and the IMX307 in the remainder.
There are 4 buttons on the underside of the entrance digicam for navigating the menus, toggling Wi-Fi (for telephone/app connection), begin/cease video recording, begin/cease audio seize, and different features. The N5 additionally helps voice instructions: “Lock the video,” “take photo,” and so on.
The rear/rear cabin digicam physique options the identical cylindrical design because the entrance — a pleasant break from the mismatched types which are so frequent. It’s fairly a bit smaller although, at solely 3.34-inches huge and 1.5-inches tall. Both the rear and rear cabin digicam rotate about 45 levels so you’ll be able to alter the seize angle. One finish is residence to the Type-C connector for the connection cable, the opposite is naked.
Both the entrance and rear cabin cameras sport infrared lighting as you’ll see beneath within the seize high quality part beneath.
Both the entrance and rear digicam our bodies use semi-permanent sticky mounts; however the entrance mount is adjustable on each the vertical and horizontal planes so that you don’t should be uber exact when mounting it.
The entrance digicam physique {couples} magnetically with its mount and is detachable; the rear digicam is mounted. The two are related by a 20-foot, considerably thick Type-C cable.
I’d want that the rear digicam was detachable as effectively, as I park within the metropolis with a convertible that I depart unlocked (even that doesn’t at all times forestall slash and seize). But to be honest, regardless of varied idiots rummaging the inside, I’ve by no means misplaced a rear digicam. Don’t rely in your luck being the identical.
Tip: I’ve switched to straightforward razor blades to take away sticky mounts. Not solely are they simpler to get beneath the plate than a knife, they make fast work of scraping off the residue. Work the razor across the entirety earlier than prying off by hand or different software (the razors break simply).
You may wish to peruse our treatise on how to install a dash cam when you’re new to the duty. There are some pitfalls, resembling blocking the entrance cabin digicam with the rear view mirror as I partially did throughout my N5 testing. Doh.
GPS is on board and is each watermarked and embedded into the video so that you could use the downloadable participant to trace the place you’ve been. Nice.
If ever there was a touch cam you’d need to pair with a 512GB SD card (the restrict), it’s the N5. Capturing 4 comparatively high-resolution streams can eat up storage in a rush.
The entrance digicam defaulted to 1440p at about 110MB per minute, however you possibly can scale back that to 1080p like the opposite cameras for round 80MB per minute. Still, add all 4 collectively and also you’re consuming up between 19GB and 24GB per hour. 720p can also be obtainable for all of the cameras, however you’ll lose fairly a little bit of element. Why purchase a high-res money cam to run it at 720?
The digicam in fact deletes older movies when it wants room, however when you’re documenting your travels, it’s good to maintain stuff round till you’re certain you don’t need it. Buy a high-capacity card.
The N5 in fact affords a parking mode, although it requires a relentless energy supply so that you’ll want a hard-wire equipment or OBDII cable. There aren’t any “bad-driver” options, resembling lane departure warnings, however to be utterly sincere, I don’t like them or use them as they are often distracting on the improper time. If you’re feeling you want them, enhance your driving.
How is the N5’s seize high quality and efficiency?
I discovered the N5’s captures greater than serviceable, if not spectacular. I hoped for a bit larger element (much less compression) from the entrance view given the default 1440p decision. The first seize is on the max 1944p and principally simply reveals extra sky and dashboard. If there’s truly a bonus intimately, it’s very arduous to see. I perceive why 1440p is the default.
Regardless, entrance captures provide wealthy HDR colour (all of the cameras are HDR), which reveals off a rainbow that I didn’t notice was there in the course of the precise drive. Detail is sweet sufficient you could learn the license plate of the Fedex truck, though it wasn’t greater than 10 ft away at this level.
Jon L. Jacobi
This early morning rear seize reveals good element and the colour truly matches that of the second.
The entrance cabin digicam captures additionally present wealthy colour and good element, together with the baggage beneath my eyes. Hey, it was early!
Color and element from the rear cabin digicam are fairly good in the course of the day as effectively. Note that not having rear seats within the MX-5 implies that the digicam doesn’t catch motion to the facet as it might in a four-seat car. Sorry, Vantrue.
Color within the entrance night time shot is sweet, however the particulars within the license plate you see had been a bit blown out by my headlights. 20 ft nearer they usually present up. The Nexus 5 truly handles headlight flare very effectively; these halos and streetlight flare are as a consequence of a considerably soiled windshield. Yes, I do know.
The rear digicam night time seize reveals good element, partially because of a streetlight overhead serving to out. But different pictures with out such assist present comparable qualities.
Jon L. Jacobi
As I discussed already, take the entrance cabin digicam captures as a warning. I mounted the digicam partially behind the rear view mirror, which is what is obstructing off the highest of the picture. When you mount a entrance digicam with a captive inside cabin digicam, mount it decrease to keep away from this concern.
Infrared lighting helps illuminate the inside for the entrance cabin digicam and hold it from over-reacting to the headlights outdoors. Obviously, the infrared renders the picture as grayscale.
The rear cabin digicam does a great job of capturing the inside. But once more, the shut proximity of the rear window in a two-seat automobile means it’s not capturing quite a lot of knowledge to the edges.
The N5 employs an excellent capacitor to maintain it operating for a few seconds after energy is eliminated, permitting it to save lots of the present captures. The benefits of tremendous capacitors are virtually limitless cycles and a wider temperature working vary. The detrimental is that you just solely get a few seconds of juice whereas batteries can energy a digicam for as much as half an hour.
The G-sensor was set slightly too delicate for my MX-5 and its monitor suspension, so I needed to dial that down, however it was effective on the decrease setting. I didn’t wreck my automobile, so I can’t say how effectively it does with extreme impacts. You ought to cease your sprint cam anyway shortly after any such incident to protect the video.
Should you purchase the Vantrue N5?
There’s no sprint cam combo in the marketplace that may do a greater job capturing occasions in and round your automobile. I’m certain ride-givers will recognize the rear cabin digicam, which can catch again seat motion that the entrance inside digicam may not.
All in all, an excellent sprint cam system from Vantrue. A brief-lister.