Almost EVERYONE is Wasting Money on Dash Cams.

My #1 rule with dashcams: go off the assumption that it didn't capture the license plate so leave the audio recording on and say the license plate.

I spent hours researching dash cams a year or so ago and it’s almost maddening how awful, sparse and misrepresented information on dash cams is. I was totally surprised how under developed they are. This is a video that is really necessary.

Please do this type of review again! You raised the awareness that most of these suck - I'm hoping some company heard that and realizes there is tons of money to be made by hitting one out of the park!

Little late to the party but I'm a police officer who handles hundreds of crash investigations a year. Dash cameras are great for helping to determine fault in a crash, but they are not great for getting specific identification information of the offending vehicle/driver. I have had dozens of hit and run crashes and the video quality generally does not get us the information we need to get the offender. That said, I still HIGHLY recommend people get a camera. It can be very helpful during a crash investigation and, from what I've heard, for insurance (you may even get a discount for having one). Since I know camera quality can be poor for identification I also recommend to people they narrate vehicle makes/models, license plates (be sure to also say the state!), vehicle markings, driver description, streets, etc. Should the camera end up recording an event you will have audio information which can be helpful. I have a Garmin Tandem in my personal car as I'm already in the Garmin ecosystem (I have a Garmin Fenix and fish finder), so it's not a big deal for me.

The real question is why are car manufacturers putting so many cameras on cars but don't give people the option to use them as a dashcam

I think the problem here is that people run Dashcams for liability purposes, not to read things like license plates. People just need to see what happened. Almost every car accident devolves into a he said she said issue, and having video proof to back up that you're not at fault is worth a million words.

THANK YOU, this is video is really helpful. It's a big headache trying to find a dashcam because of all the confusing options, and this just made it so much easier.

Anyone in 2024 looking for a updated version of this video ?

THIS is the kind of content that we need. Calling out trash markets and helping people find honest answers, doing the side-by-side comparisons they can't do. Thanks for this! Glad to know the Rove R2-4K I got as a gift is not far from really the peak in the market and is "good enough" if not overpriced a bit.

If there was ever a reason for LTT labs it's this kind of in depth content that I think justifies it. It's a damn awesome public service.

Thanks for the in-depth review. This was extremely helpful. I'm glad someone actually bought and went through each one. Very nice video.

Need new dashCam review in 2024

This is the kind of vids the world needs. Amazon reviews and specs are almost useless, something that applies to a growing number of categories of products

We need more vids like this, the lack of reliable info about consumer electronics outside the "tech space" is maddening. Well done LMG and shout-out to the writer that helped do all the research.

Best video I’ve found. The humor is light, quick, not distracting. The cut away shots are amazingly informative. Love that is Amazon based. Perfect video

that was great, thanks. I'd like to see a more current version. And I have to say the last few seconds of that video of the camera falling cracked me up. thanks for including in the video

In a society where even reviews and ratings are fake, we need more videos like this

I think the real problem here is that Amazon is almost useless for buying tech now. It's a race to the bottom with unknown direct from china brands and amazon does nothing to police the descriptions or reviews.

This is so helpful! The underlying research is robust and thorough. Thank you so much for sharing this info. 👍👍👍

I have a Viofo A119 running without a hitch for the last 4yrs+ now in 40°C+ weather. Reliability with decent image quality is what should make your decision. What good are high resolution sharp video specs if the dashcam wasn't running/recording at the time of the incident or saved corrupt video files on the card. Even with CPL filters and high resolution image sensors, there's no guarantee that the dashcam can capture license plate details. Dashcams should be relied upon only to capture the scene as it happened to support the truth. The A119 is a good balance in my experience.