Vantrue N5 4 Channel WiFi 360° All Sides Dash Cam, STARVIS 2, IR Night Vision, 2.7K+1080P*3 Front Rear Inside Dashcam, Voice Control, GPS, 24 Hours Buffered Parking Mode Dash Camera, Support 512GB Max

Bofer I give you my honest opinion about the new "Vantrue Nexus 5" 4 channel dash cam, I want to share a story with you. A month ago a guy with a rental car cut me off in a construction zone and hit my brand new car causing damage for more than 3 thousand dollars. Unfortunately back then I did not have a dash cam back and trust me I wish I had one. The guy who hit me didn't have any insurance and now he's trying to blame me because of the whole situation. I understood the hard way that the dash cams are not only for Uber/Lyft drivers, but they are for everyone. Every single driver should have one of these in their vehicles. I decided to go with Vantrue. At the time when I bought it the price was a little steep, but after a week of using it I'm very happy with my purchase and the dash cam was definitely worth the price.I will share all of my thoughts below. Let me start with the packaging first. The N5 comes in a nice two tone white/orange box. Inside you can find:* 2 units: Front unit is with 2 cameras, one recording ahead of the vehicle the other one the front of the cabin with a resolution respectively 1944p (2.5k) - Front and 1080p - Front cabin - with night vision. The second or rear unit also contains 2 cameras. Ones facing back of the vehicle and the other one the rear cabin - with night vision and resolution 1080p for both of them. All 4 cameras record at 30 frames per second. Connected all together they provide 360 degrees view around your car/truck etc. There are 3 cables. The first one is a 12v cigarette lighter plug charger for the front unit with an additional option to connect a USB A cable to it 11.5 feet long /3.5m/. Second cable is to connect the front dash cam with the rear one - 20 feet /6.1m/ long enough to be installed even on a full size SUV. The third cable is 3 feet /1m/ you can use it to connect your dash cam to your computer and transfer your recording for example. During my research I realized most of the dash cams are using USB Micro ports, but N5 comes with a USB C, which I'm glad to see.In the box you can also find a GPS mount for the front unit which is very easy to attach and detach, but is strong enough to keep your dash cam in place even if you take your vehicle off road. The mount for the rear cam is not detachable. Both of the dash cams use a 3M sticker to get attached to your windshield. The rest of items you can find in the box are: cleaning cloth, 2x additional 3M stickers, plastic pry tool and 2x stickers "Protected by Vantrue Dash Cams" , 2x electrostatic stickers and a User guide of course.The Vantrue N5 looks sturdy with a very good build quality.It has 4 buttons to control various options and a side mounted button to turn on/off the dash cam and short press will take a picture and lock the video in a different folder. Once manually lock a video a "Lock" icon will appear on the screen and it stays there until the desired length of the video (1,3,5 min) ends. I like the fact that the actual SD card slot is hidden under the power button. You can rotate the front cabin camera 45 degrees in both directions up and down and there is the same rotation degree for the lenses on the rear unit as well.The USB-C charging port for the front dash cam is located on the side of the windshield mount, for the rear cam is on the top of the front camera, close to the display. When I mentioned the display there's a crispy and bright 3.19in IPS screen with a very good resolution where you can choose view from all 4 cams at the same time or full screen with every single one separately.On the left side of the screen is located an LED indicator blinking green when the dash cam is recording. One of the highlights of the menu I wanted to mention is that you can actually turn the LED indicator and the screen off at the same time and keep the recording - like a stealth mode. The menu itself is very easy to operate and you have a bunch of options to choose from. You can set the resolution of both front and rear cams, loop recording duration 1,3 and 5 min, G-sensor sensitivity, WiFi Mode - 2.4 or 5gHz. and much more. There's something called "Privacy Mode". If you activate this one the dash cam will keep only the last 3 videos on your SD card. For example if you set "Loop Recording" to 3 min. when the third 3 minute recording ends the new recording will overwrite the oldest one. Basically you will keep only the last 9 minutes of your driving and nothing before that. Voice Control works perfectly fine for me. You can choose between 13 different phrases. I tried every single one of them and they take action immediately after you pronounce them. For example you can say "Lock Video", "Take Photo", "Show Front/Rear Camera", "Turn Off Screen" and more. There are three levels of sensitivity - Low, Medium and High. Voice Control is definitely coming handy when you try to stay focused on the road.The parking mode also has plenty of options. For example the parking mode recording can be triggered from a motion or collision detection where the sensitivity for both of them can be set manually. Collision detection will be activated after the dash cam detects shaking. It will start recording for a minute and then turn off the dash cam again.Motion Detection will automatically trigger recording of 30 seconds, after rear or front dash cams detect moving objects around your vehicle. After the 30 seconds video ends the dash cam software will add 10 additional seconds pre-recorded clip to the existing Motion Detection video.Before start using the full potential of Parking Mode you will need a Vantrue ACC hardware kit, which is sold separately.I tried using 256 and 512GB SD cards and I did not have problems with either of them. Vantrue is suggesting to get one of their SD cards for better and smooth video recording. On 256GB capacity you can store around ~ 10 hours of recording from all 4 cameras set on highest resolution settings.Before I share what I think about the video quality I want to say about the Vantrue app.While I was doing research about a dash cam to buy I read a lot of complaints regarding the mobile app on most of the brands out there. I downloaded the app and I don't know how's with the other manufacturers, but here I needed literally 5 seconds to connect my phone to the dash cam. I am not sure if it's because of the 5gHz capability or software or both combined. Once you are connected you can control all of the dash cam options, watch recorded videos and photos and download them with a push a button to your phone. You can also watch in real time all 4 cameras on your device, turn on/off the microphone, start and stop recording as well. I was even able to update my dash cam software from my phone.And last but not least the video quality. I'm very happy with it. The Nexus 5 is using the new Sony Starvis 2 sensor and you can clearly see everything around you - vehicles, license plates, street/traffic signs, people and more during day and night. Both of the interior facing cameras have night vision and they give you a very good video quality and what is going on at any time inside your vehicle. The wide dynamic range gives the front-facing cam capability to capture details clearly in both the poorly and strongly illuminated areas of the video, especially when you drive at night. As an addition to that it's also possible to adjust the exposure levels for more or less brightness of the video. Another one useful option is that you can turn on "Motion Detection". This is a more memory saving future. In this case the dash cam will start recording only if motion appears in view of the camera lens.I'm suggesting to spend a little extra and get the CPL filter for the front facing cam to reduce the glare from the sun and Parking Mode cable set as well. That will give you a 24 h protection for your vehicle. My final thoughts are: We live in a crazy world and having a reliable dash cam is a Must Have safety accessory.I'm very pleased with my N5 and after a week of using it I have no regrets, otherwise said - well spent money. A lot of menu options to choose from, 4 channels - giving me a 360 degree view around my car, rear and front, not only outside, but the interior as well day and night. Very good video, audio and image quality. Useful app where you can control all of the features. In case of an accident it's very easy to review and download needed videos and photos on your phone/tables etc. For me there's nothing else to ask from a dash camera.Now I'm definitely saving to get another one for my wife's car.

My first dash camera was given to me by my spouse for Christmas 3 years ago: a VanTrue N4. Having never had a dash cam previously, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. She made her choice of the N4 based on a review on Wirecutter, where the N4 was their top pick. She couldn’t have made a better choice.Now, over 3 years into ownership, and looking at newer models and upgrade features, there were several aspects of the N5 that resonated with me. I have had no complaints with the N4, for it has performed flawlessly. But a few minor quirks that I had grown used to have been dispelled and surpassed by the upgrade to the N5.The reason for upgrading was not from dissatisfaction with the N4, as it will stay installed in the current vehicle, and handed down to our offspring. We obtained an upgrade vehicle, and wished to stay with VanTrue, having a great measure of confidence in the security and reliability of their products.I had the prior N4 installed at a local chain electronics store, since my experience in fiddling with the OBD box would be a first for me. And the cost of the installation was quite reasonable, for someone who had never considered “snaking a cable under the headliner” of a new car. By all reports it is not difficult to do, but I pictured myself spending several hours on this project, and the cost per hour tipped to a pro installation. Also, January in New Hampshire, it is 10º outside, and 20 degrees in my garage. So my solution was actually quite easy to decide. Getting the install scheduled and performed was a smooth process, without any delays. Upon examining the components, they all had a polished, high quality feel to them. Everything is well fabricated, and the parts all fit together well, and respond to the button pushes, socket acceptance of cords, tilt and rotation is smooth and secure, etc.What is missing from “budget” dash cams: The parking mode (of which there are a few choices you can make to match your length of time away, etc.) makes leaving the car for any length of time less frightening. Whether it is a public parking garage for an afternoon shopping, or the long term parking lot at the airport for a two week vacation, the intermittent recording of video clips during that time, and the immediate continuous footage being saved if there is motion nearby (a pedestrian within 10 feet or so) or a jarring of the car even out of view, makes apprehending a vandal or a hit-and-run driver in the parking lot much more likely to happen. However, to preserve battery life, you need to purchase the optional hard-wiring harness that attaches to the OBD harness to connect to the On Board Diagnostic socket, rather than the “cigarette lighter” power source cable that comes with the unit.Handling the microSD card has always been a bit unsettling. I have never dropped the card, but it would be challenging to find it in a darkened car interior floorboard. I would remove it periodically for the re-formatting of the card, then realized that the unit has a simple sequence to do so without having to handle the card.There really has never been a time when I needed to remove the card in normal usage. But the N4 did not have the capacity to review the footage or save them for future reference, other than on the tiny screen. My iPhone and MacBook screens would be superior viewing areas, but that required removing the microSD card and plugging it into a card reader, And the prior VanTrue app would not install on my iPhone.After previously giving up on the app, I have come to discover that there is a way to get the app to install on your iPhone or laptop, if you go through a couple of steps to “install anyway” when you get the warning from Apple that the software is not from “an approved source”. Now, with the app, I can download the footage onto my iPhone and transfer it easily to my laptop, should I need the images for an insurance claim or police investigation.The addition of voice control over manual efforts (using the tiny buttons and smaller than tiny writing on the screen) is a game changer. I never had the need to “start recording” on my N4, but now it can be done just by saying it, rather than taking your eyes off the road and feeling for the correct button to push. Since it is a rarity than you need to start capturing footage, you likely will have forgotten the sequence and location of the buttons to press. In our 3 years of using the N4, we have not ever had the circumstance where we needed to start a video capture.I purchased the N5 camera lens optional CPL Circular Polarizer Filter for improved clarity. This is especially helpful in situations of glare, reflections off your window glass, and generally improving contrast. This capacity is an upgrade from the N4, which lacked the threads to do so.The N5 incorporates an upgraded Sony lens and processing electronics. This provides clear and detailed footage, both during the day and at night. This wide dynamic range provides the important info (such as license plates and other details of the offending vehicle) that are crucial for resolution of the collision or break-in.