# Amazon Day!



## Uboo (Mar 21, 2018)

Anyone see any good deals on a dash cam?


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## Tom Oldman (Feb 2, 2019)

Vantrue 


Uboo said:


> Anyone see any good deals on a dash cam?


Vantrue N2 Pro $119 it was $199 and this is a great deal for the best dash cam


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

Tom Oldman said:


> Vantrue
> 
> Vantrue N2 Pro $119 it was $199 and this is a great deal for the best dash cam


It's HARDLY the best dash cam.....by any sense of the word.


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## riskybzns (Jul 16, 2019)

Bork_Bork_Bork said:


> It's HARDLY the best dash cam.....by any sense of the word.


so what one would you say is the best dash cam out there on the market?


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

riskybzns said:


> so what one would you say is the best dash cam out there on the market?


Without question the BlackVue Series....650S and up. True top of the line is the BlackVue 900S IR.


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## estore009 (Oct 14, 2017)

Tom Oldman said:


> Vantrue
> 
> Vantrue N2 Pro $119 it was $199 and this is a great deal for the best dash cam


That is a nice price!


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

Tom Oldman said:


> Vantrue
> 
> Vantrue N2 Pro $119 it was $199 and this is a great deal for the best dash cam


Yep, just ordered one through Amazon Smile.


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## Jacktheripx (Apr 24, 2019)

TemptingFate said:


> You don't understand the universal language of cash?





WAHN said:


> Yep, just ordered one through Amazon Smile. :smiles:


I got mine a couple months ago for the $199....could've saved a few bucks if i'd waited lol. But it's saved me a bunch of times since I had it so I guess well worth the extra bucks.


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

Jacktheripx said:


> I got mine a couple months ago for the $199....could've saved a few bucks if i'd waited lol. But it's saved me a bunch of times since I had it so I guess well worth the extra bucks.


Was going to buy one soon, so the timing was right.

I wasn't a Prime member because I don't order a ton online and I don't really take advantage of much of the streaming stuff, so now I have to see if I'll just cancel before the trial period ends or see if what Prime offers is actually worth it for me.

Naturally, the order still came close to $200 because I ordered a rearview mirror mount, 256gb card, and video surveillance stickers.


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## Uboo (Mar 21, 2018)

Definitely a good deal! I’m looking for something that comes with a camera for my rear windshield as well.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

Don't forget a drive to store that dash cam footage...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G3QMPB5/?tag=ubne0c-20


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

PlayLoud said:


> Don't forget a drive to store that dash cam footage...
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G3QMPB5/?tag=ubne0c-20
> View attachment 336415


Soon.

Trying to stay on budget.


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## SurginGeneral (Aug 9, 2017)

riskybzns said:


> so what one would you say is the best dash cam out there on the market?


BlackVue


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

Ordered a Vantrue N2 Pro just now; I already have 3 dash cams, 2 awaiting returns. Guess we'll have to see whether the extra $30 is worth it, over the Pruveeo P3 that I've decided to keep over the others so far.

The Vantrue doesn't have GPS out of the box, but TBH I haven't seen a worthwhile GPS feature that doesn't require an external player anyways so it's almost worthless to have GPS capabilities anyways.

So far spent a total of about $500 on dash cam gear; $300+ of it will be getting returned as soon as I get to try them all.

I was contemplating on an external hard drive with sdcard slot and preferably wifi, but the WD My Passport Pro Wireless is $150+ for 2tb+ and I don't have any hardware that has a USB 3.0 interface so the cheaper non-sdcard/wifi models would be difficult to work with.

Instead I think I will just pick up an extra SD card or two, and hope that I'll never have to go back more than 3-4 days worth of footage.

So far my Pruveeo P3 can supposedly hold 13h (1080p dual) to 19h (720p dual) of footage on a 128gb, so if the Vantrue can do similar, a 256gb card should get me 2.5 full days worth of driving, and possibly 3-4+ days worth of ride-only footage. It's a close call on whether a WiFi/sdcard external HDD for easy backups is worth it over multiple endurance SD cards. Especially since I'm on the road for multiple days at a time sometimes.

*All while keeping in mind that this dashcam footage isn't for high-quality future entertainment.*

I certainly hope to never have to pull up any videos, and if I do, I feel like a "good enough" video identifying the key players is just as good as a high quality footage from "the best" device.

I felt like the Vantrue was a bit overboard, and wasn't really impressed with the examples and reviews on YouTube, but for 40% off I didn't want to miss the opportunity if it turns out to be that much better than the $90 Pruveeo P3.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> Ordered a Vantrue N2 Pro just now; I already have 3 dash cams, 2 awaiting returns. Guess we'll have to see whether the extra $30 is worth it, over the Pruveeo P3 that I've decided to keep over the others so far.
> 
> The Vantrue doesn't have GPS out of the box, but TBH I haven't seen a worthwhile GPS feature that doesn't require an external player anyways so it's almost worthless to have GPS capabilities anyways.
> 
> ...


GPS is nice if you needed a defense against a speeding ticket or something. 
The Vantrue will get you about 10 hours at dual 1080p (maybe a hair less), but definitely takes a 256GB card.
I've found it does the job extremely well.


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

I will probably be returning the vantrue if 256gb is required for 10hrs.

Does it have WiFi? Didn't look like it from the description.

The wifi feature on the akaso trace 1 pro is practically worthless, but the pruveeo wifi is a little better (allows for streaming)

Unsure how the pruveeo manages 13h 1080p... lower FPS or compression, I'd guess fps but no idea

Again keeping in mind that the intended use isnt for personal entertainment, and a "good enough" footage that shows what events are taking place along with audio is plenty.

This isnt for long term record keeping of "memories" which some drivers seem to be forgetting

If the dual 720p which can do 19h on a 12gb card looks good enough, it is likely the winner. Three sdcards in rotation should cover 4+ days of driving including dead miles, or over a week with pax inside.

I could potentially use the pruveeo for pax only and keep my cheap single lens cam for continuous loop recording on a 32gb card for accident coverage


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## estore009 (Oct 14, 2017)

raisedoncereal said:


> I will probably be returning the vantrue if 256gb is required for 10hrs


No, a 256Gb card can last about 18 hours before full!


raisedoncereal said:


> Does it have WiFi? Didn't look like it from the description.


N2 pro no WiFi, you should playback on your computer! 


raisedoncereal said:


> If the dual 720p which can do 19h on a 12gb card looks good enough, it is likely the winner. Three sdcards in rotation should cover 4+ days of driving including dead miles, or over a week with pax inside.


720P is outdated, dual 1080p dashcam price is cheap now!


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

The pruvee p3 can do 1080p but also allows 720p as ive mentioned numerous times

I feel 720p should be plenty to capture what's happening

Let's remind ourselves this isnt for personal memories and entertainment, or to impress friends about interesting pax

In other words, what can your 1080p requiring 256gb cards for 18h do/cover where a potentially lesser quality image 1080p (13h on 128gb) or even 720p (19h @ dual 720p on 128gb) cant?

It's important because sd cards have a very finite life for this type of use and for my intended purposes i dont intend on keeping footage for longer than a week. Meaning with enough sd cards, i dont need to waste time archiving to a hard drive, i just rotate sd cards. With 128gb @ 720p dual i can rotate a weeks worth of pax rides for under $80 in high enurance sd cards and no extra time needed backing up to hard drive etc.


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## estore009 (Oct 14, 2017)

raisedoncereal said:


> I feel 720p should be plenty to capture what's happening


720p might work well too, especially for rear cameras; 1080p can be excellent video quality.
Video image and sound quality will vary depending on weather conditions, lighting conditions, vehicle speed, cleanliness of the windshield and camera lenses etc. Also, the camera can only read license plates within a limited distance.


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

My main intended use is to protect myself from false accusations from crooked pax. 720p inside cam should be more than plenty

For accident coverage a cheaper front only cam doing 1080p in loop should cover

Pull card only in case of event


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## estore009 (Oct 14, 2017)

raisedoncereal said:


> 720p inside cam should be more than plenty


A better solution for you is to find a low bitrate 1080P cabin camera!


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

Already have one called Pruveeo P3. I think i mentioned it about 15 times now


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## Jacktheripx (Apr 24, 2019)

estore009 said:


> No, a 256Gb card can last about 18 hours before full!
> 
> N2 pro no WiFi, you should playback on your computer!
> 
> 720P is outdated, dual 1080p dashcam price is cheap now!


This. Agree on all points. I have Vantrue Pro and have used 256gb for dual dashcam 1080p for over 2 days. The night vision leaves something to be desired though. However, I haven't seen anything for this price with better night Vision so I guess this will do for the time being...


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> My main intended use is to protect myself from false accusations from crooked pax. 720p inside cam should be more than plenty
> 
> For accident coverage a cheaper front only cam doing 1080p in loop should cover
> 
> Pull card only in case of event


I think you really need to re-evaluate what you think is "good enough" when it comes to a dash cam. FPS trumps all when it comes to outside facing cameras. 30FPS is practically useless when it come to capturing license plates etc. You get what you pay for, especially in electronics. Every camera you've mentioned ranges from a joke, to barely adequate.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> I will probably be returning the vantrue if 256gb is required for 10hrs.


I think it's 9-10 hours on the 128GB card at dual 1080p. Obviously double that for the 256GB card. There is an option for dual 720p, so you could potentially be in the 35-40 hour range on a 256GB card (assuming bitrate scales down proportionately to resolution).



raisedoncereal said:


> Does it have WiFi? Didn't look like it from the description.


No WiFi. You can take the camera and connect it to your computer via USB. It will be USB 2.0, so it's a tad slow.
You can also take out the memory card swap the memory card if you need more space RFN. The memory card can go into a USB 3.0 card reader, and will transfer much faster than straight from the camera.



raisedoncereal said:


> Again keeping in mind that the intended use isnt for personal entertainment, and a "good enough" footage that shows what events are taking place along with audio is plenty.


I've never tried 720p, so I don't know what the quality looks like at that resolution. I'm happy with 18-20 hours at dual 1080p on a 256GB card. I have two cards, so I can swap them out if needed.



raisedoncereal said:


> If the dual 720p which can do 19h on a 12gb card looks good enough, it is likely the winner. Three sdcards in rotation should cover 4+ days of driving including dead miles, or over a week with pax inside.


19h at dual 720p on a 128GB card sounds about right (again, assuming bitrate scales down proportionately to resolution).

256GB Micro SD cards are really cheap. $36.99 on Amazon as of the time of this post. This is the exact card I use, so I know it works well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HRDM55/?tag=ubne0c-20


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

High endurance cards cost a little more.

Thanks for clarifying the length issue. My vantrue hasn't arrived yet, but if what you say is true i may keep it.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> High endurance cards cost a little more.
> 
> Thanks for clarifying the length issue. My vantrue hasn't arrived yet, but if what you say is true i may keep it.


I haven't been driving Uber/Lyft lately, but I've left my dash cam in the car, and let it fill up.
I completely filled my card for the first time ever.

Windows is showing 45h 51m 01s of combined internal/external video. So, my 256GB card is giving me *22h 25m* of footage before it's full, which is actually more than I thought it would. That's dual 1080p.


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## doyousensehumor (Apr 13, 2015)

Ugh. These "consumer grade" dash cams don't cut it. They are designed to be "crash cams" and used by casual driver who just commutes to work.

When best case scenario you might get 2 days of recording, and usally attached by cheap suction cup or cheap bracket to mirror.

We need professional grade camera systems.

I have thought about adapting a real security system. Using hard mounted cams and a real hard drive.


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

Why do you need such expensive equipment?

I feel like I just need to cover a my word vs their word situation on what basic events did or didn't take place, and not trying to catch America's Most Wanted or whatever



PlayLoud said:


> I think it's 9-10 hours on the 128GB card at dual 1080p. Obviously double that for the 256GB card. There is an option for dual 720p, so you could potentially be in the 35-40 hour range on a 256GB card (assuming bitrate scales down proportionately to resolution).


I just got my N2 Pro and I don't see any references to a 720P option in either the manual, camera's menus, or website. Also has only one dual mode of [email protected]

Which camera do you have? Are you sure it's the N2 Pro?

One feature I don't see is a display of roughly how much video recording capacity is left on the sdcard, which is a feature I've seen on just about every cam.

I would also like to use the rear view mirror mount, but it doesn't look like it's compatible with the GPS receiver? Anyone have experience with that? They tried to nickel and dime and made the GPS option unnecessarily complicated

TBH I think I like the Pruveeo P3 better so far, but time will tell. Another nice feature of the Pruveeo P3 is that it is capable of auto-syncing time via GPS which is pretty handy. The P3 has a bunch of other on-screen features and shortcuts which makes it more useful IMO.


If it's not mounted directly in the center of the windshield, it is difficult to get a full picture of the front of a car as well as inside the cabin, since turning it one direction to the left or right well also turn the other lens the opposite direction. the lens of the camera also does not seem like it is as wide angle as other cameras that I have played with recently.

It is extremely difficult to set up the N2 Pro's tilt angles due to the microscopic LCD screen coupled with the fact that the PiP I mode on the LCD screen cannot be changed/toggled without changing the recording mode in the menu.

I will say, the N2 Pro seems to be built pretty well physically, however, but that seems to be just about all it has going for it compared to the P3.

If mounting on the windshield using the provided suction cup out of the way, partially hidden behind the rear view mirror enough so that the cabin inside camera can capture the cabin without too much interference, it will typically be offset a little bit so that the camera needs to be tilted one direction to the left or the right, meaning that you will lose some part of the inside cabin, or some part of the front of the vehicle. Additionally, you will not be able to see much of the LEDs on the camera, making it difficult to properly see at all times if the camera is recording or not, etc. It will also be difficult to monitor the LCD of the camera while the vehicle is being driven, suppressing things like the emergency lock and snapshot button is much more difficult.

All in all, I don't see myself keeping the N2 Pro, not even at the deep discount of $120 that I paid. If anyone wants it for what I paid, I'd be willing to sell it for cash. It is virtually brand new from Amazon minus me tinkering with it for a few hours. It is back to its old price of $200 on Amazon


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

So far, so good for me with the N2 Pro.

I'm no longer very techie and had actually never even seen a dascham in anyone's car before. 

I was suprised at how small the damn thing is.

Got everything up and running and installed with the rearview mount quickly.

Interior and exterior video and audio seems good enough/clear enough to me.


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## PlayLoud (Jan 11, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> I just got my N2 Pro and I don't see any references to a 720P option in either the manual, camera's menus, or website. Also has only one dual mode of [email protected]
> 
> Which camera do you have? Are you sure it's the N2 Pro?


Apologies. Yes, I do have the N2 Pro, and you are correct, it doesn't have dual 720p. The camera was in my car when I said it did, and I was just going off the spec sheet on Vantrue's page...

_H.264 compressed format;
Dual mode: 1920X1080P+1920X1080P; *1280x720P+1280x720P*
Single Front Cam mode: 2560X1440P30_
https://www.vantrue.net/Goods/detail/gid/29.html#parameter-con
But now that I look at it, it does not appear to have that option.



raisedoncereal said:


> One feature I don't see is a display of roughly how much video recording capacity is left on the sdcard, which is a feature I've seen on just about every cam.


You are again correct. That's a big complaint. I'd love to know how full the card is.


raisedoncereal said:


> It is extremely difficult to set up the N2 Pro's tilt angles due to the microscopic LCD screen coupled with the fact that the PiP I mode on the LCD screen cannot be changed/toggled without changing the recording mode in the menu.


The screen is small, but I found setting that to be fairly easy. And once set, it stays in place, so it won't have to be set again unless you change cars or mounting locations.


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