The Dish on Dashcams
YouTube dashcam posts are everywhere now! Activities caught on dashcams include meteors, animals crossing, winding mountain roads and accidents. Beyond unbearably cute bear families, having dashcam footage can protect you from potential liability for accidents, particularly when the other driver is at fault, uninsured or drives off in a hurry.
At Mount Airy Toyota, we want you to travel safely, and we know that anything can happen while you’re driving and it’s good to be prepared. Dashcams are a great way to capture evidence should you be in an accident.
Dashcams (dash cameras) have become more popular than ever in recent years. In 2023, it was estimated that 10-15% of U.S. drivers had dash cams (Yahoo! finance).
In early 2024, Yahoo Finance also reported that dashcams sales had a revenue of $4 billion in 2022 and it was estimated that this will increase to $12 billion by 2033. The article further went on to state, “The growth of the market is attributed to the amplifying rate of road accidents around the world. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.19 million individuals die in road crashes and about 20 to 50 million people experience injuries that lead to disability. An increase in the number of cars and other vehicle purchases across the globe is projected to hike the demand for the dashboard camera market.”
The desire to have a dashcam in vehicles varies by driver, but the main reason is to protect yourself from liability in a traffic accident, particularly from incidents such as a staged accident, false insurance claims or hit-and-runs. Dashcams can also be useful to monitor your vehicle when you are not in it or to record disputes or incidents. While insurance companies typically don’t offer discounts if you have one, it can help you with claim resolution by proving you were not at fault. Many commercial vehicles rely on dash cam videos to document road incidents. Law enforcement and emergency services use dashcam footage for a variety of purposes.
There are many options to choose from on the market and here are some considerations:
- Do you need a dashcam with a screen?
- What about an interior camera?
- Would you like the dashcam to monitor vehicle speed and have GPS locating?
- How well does it work at night?
- Is it legal in your area and what does your car insurer think about them?
It is legal in North Carolina to have a dashcam (be sure it’s not obstructing your view) and you should ask your insurance company if they offer any discounts for having one.
Best Dashcams
In 2024, Car and Driver Magazine compiled a list of their dashcam picks that focused on options, price and overall quality.
For overall use, they chose the Vantrue N4.
“The Vantrue N4 is an exceptional value, offering a dashcam, cabin-facing camera, and rearview camera. It attaches to the windshield with a suction mount, and its cameras can be adjusted for optimal coverage. The front dashcam records at 2560 by 2160 pixels but drops to 2560 by 1440 when all three cameras are used. The cabin and rear cameras have 1920 by 1080 resolution. The cameras have wide fields of view with minimal distortion, and the cabin camera includes infrared lighting for low-light conditions.” Car and Driver adds, “The N4’s integrated screen features a picture-in-picture mode that displays all three cameras’ feeds simultaneously, along with settings and recording modes. It offers low-frame-rate and low-bit-rate recording modes, but we found these can drain the car battery. The device also includes collision and motion detection, automatically saving relevant footage. A 128 GB micro SD card holds about 6.7 hours of footage.”
Car and Driver noted this pick for best overall dashcam was because of the reasonable price point, quality of image in various lighting conditions and features. List price $289.99 Amazon
In the premium range, Car and Driver went with the Cobra SC 400D.
“As far as pure visual performance, the Cobra SC 400D was the best dashcam we tested thanks to its 4K resolution. We agreed that its video footage genuinely looked the best too. We found the touchscreen to be easy to operate and responsive, and the Cobra uses its proprietary DriveSmarter app to provide police alerts and other driver reports. If we had one minor grumble, it would be that the mount only swivels forward and backward, not side to side. However, the wide angle of the lens practically eliminates the need to do so. The Cobra secures to the windshield via a large sticky pad for the mount and a very strong magnet for the camera itself.” Shares Car and Driver. List price $399.95 Amazon
For a dashcam that won’t break your budget, Car and Driver picked the Car and Driver 1080P HD Dashcam.
Shares Car and Driver, “We appreciate that we’ll probably get some flak for including this model in this test when there are so many dash cams out there. But we were determined to evaluate our (licensed) namesake unit on its own merits—and darned if it didn’t step up as the best budget option we tested.”
“The Car and Driver 1080P Dashcam has front and rear cameras and a touchscreen interface for easy driver control. The unit has standard features like parking mode, collision detection, and a G sensor to keep one eye open after you’ve left the vehicle. “
“One thing we really liked about this model is its dual tripod option that allows different mounting iterations from the top or bottom of the camera. This feature made it easy to adjust the dash cam according to the angle of the windshield. This budget-friendly dual camera covers all the essential features and has adjustable orientations. It’s an excellent choice for dashcam beginners.” List price $49.99 Walmart
Another entry-level dashcam is the Nexar Beam. “With a reasonable price tag, it boasts the standard features you’d expect to find, like parking guardian and G-sensor collision detection, and advanced features like GPS connectivity for data overlay. Another unique option is that the app can generate an insurance incident report aligning with footage and handy GPS coordinates.” List $129.99 Amazon
For a compact model, Car and Driver’s petite pick is the Garmin Mini 2. “The Garmin Mini 2 is an excellent choice for someone looking to keep their dashcam discreet and out of the way. It’s compact enough to tuck behind your rearview mirror if so desired. The app functionality is quite nice as well, and the 1080p matched up well against the competition despite its diminutive size.” Car and Driver continues, “While it’s a nice set-and-forget dashcam, we found that it’s a bit tricky to determine whether everything is set up correctly without checking it via the app. The lack of a screen makes it difficult to see if the camera is lined up properly. Additionally, there are a few different lights that blink on the cam, and it’s confusing at first to know what they all mean. But once you get that all set, the Garmin Mini 2 is a solid choice for a tiny dash cam.” List price $129.99 Amazon.
If you want to dash in a flash, The MAXcam 360c primarily serves as a radar detector with a secondary dash-cam function and is Car and Driver’s pick for a combination device. It isn’t ideal for those seeking only a dashcam. But for anyone wanting a radar detector with a competent camera, it’s a solid choice.
“The dashcam boasts a 2560 by 1440 resolution with a Sony Starvis image sensor that captures 30 frames per second and offers a 143-degree field of view. The video quality is contrasty (sharp), with noticeable noise reduction and compression that significantly impacts image quality. We found the MAXcam 360c performed well in low-light conditions, although finer details became blurry. It clearly captured license plates up to ten feet away under ideal conditions, but beyond that, its clarity is a miss, even in the most ideal conditions.” Car and Driver adds, “This product isn’t suitable for everyone due to its high cost and the complexity of using a radar scanner. But if you’re looking for a radar detector as well as a dashcam and want to kill both birds with one stone, this Escort fits the bill.” List $849.95 Amazon.
What about my Toyota?
Some recent Toyota models came with Toyota Integrated Dashcam. This was available on the following vehicles:
- 2022-2023 Toyota Camry
- 2022-2023 Toyota Highlander
- 2023 Toyota Prius
- 2023 Toyota RAV4
- 2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime
- 2023 Toyota Sequoia Hybrid
- 2021-2023 Toyota Sienna Hybrid
- 2022- 2023 Toyota Tacoma
- 2022-2023 Toyota Tundra
- 2021-2023 Toyota Venza
Toyota Genuine Dashcam was available with the 2019-2023 Toyota 4Runner.
Both of these systems include interesting event reporting, parking surveillance and more. If you need assistance using your Toyota dash camera product, reach out to the team at Mount Airy Toyota.
