11 Best Dash Cams (Review) In 2021

There’s a lot to love about the Rexing V1 Dash Cam. One of the things that sold it to us was the low-profile design. It’s wedge-shaped, which allows it to sit at the top of your windscreen without being noticed. Unlike other, chunkier, dashboard cameras for cars, it doesn’t impair your field of view. It takes Full HD 1080p video at 30fps (frames per second), which means you will get a clear picture of what is happening on the road.

Like all the best dash cameras, it automatically saves clips when you are in an accident. But, most of the time, it will just overwrite old footage so it can record continuously. You can record multiple hours of footage before it starts overwriting if you have a big enough Micro SD card. It also has a Sony Starvis image sensor, which allows it to record HD video clearly, in any light condition. This is one of the best dash cameras on the market and it’s not too expensive either, so it makes a valuable electronic gift for car owners.

The Vantrue N2 Pro isn’t just your standard drive recorder. It’s a dual dash cam recorder. It has 2 cameras – one on the road and one on the cabin. That means you can have a complete recording of any incident, whether it’s your fault or not. You can see if there was any influence inside the car that caused the accident. Or, you can use it to make silly videos for YouTube. The front camera can record 2560x1440p at 30fps or 1920x1080p at 60fps (which allows you to capture license plate numbers.

It has 4 infrared lights and f/2.0 aperture for HD recording in low light conditions. If you drive around at night, this is the best dash cam with night vision. And, like all good dashcams, it overwrites old footage to ensure that the camera is always recording.

The KDLINKS X1 is one of the most popular dash cameras of all time. It might not look like much – it kind of looks like a digital camera from the 2000s. But don’t be fooled, this is one of the best dash cameras for cars. It records Full HD video 1920x1080p at 30fps and has a super-wide 165º angle lens. So, you might not be able to catch the license plate, but you will capture everything else. It also has an innovative night-vision system that uses f/1.6 six-glass lenses. That allows more light into the camera and makes the recording much clearer at night. On top of that, it has a built-in GPS module that records GPS data into your video clips. So, when you’re looking back at your footage, you can see the location, speed, and route on Google Maps. Our guide to the best trail cameras features more high-quality products like this, so check them out.

If you’re looking for a budget dash cam, you’ve got to consider Old Shark GS505 Dash Cam. It doesn’t boast all of the same features as its more expensive counterparts, but it’s still reliable and shoots in 1080p. You can also reduce the quality to 720p if you want more recording time. It comes with a 32GB card, which will give you over 4 hours of footage before it starts to automatically write over the oldest footage. It also has a G-sensor that can detect a collision and saves the accident footage. One of our favorite features on the Old Shark GS505 is the in-built screen. It allows you to immediately playback footage whilst you’re still in the car. This is great if you want to check if something was your fault or someone else’s. It’s not the best dashcam on this list, but it’s cheap and does the job.

When looking for the best dash cameras, front and rear footage is an important factor. You can simultaneously capture what is happening both inside and outside of your vehicle, giving you a complete picture of any incident or accident. The VAVA Dual Dash Cam has 2 cameras but it also has something else that makes it very popular with YouTubers. The front camera – which shoots QHD 2560x1440p at 30fps – can swivel round to give you an even better in-car camera. This makes this one of the most versatile dash cameras around.

The other thing we love about the VAVA Dual Dash Cam is the VAVA Dash App. You can access, live stream, playback, download, and share your footage instantaneously. This connectivity sets this dash camera apart from the cheaper products on the market. If you’re buying a dash camera for car-based footage (carpool karaoke, car reviews, etc.) this has to be the favorite. It also makes an amazing Christmas gift for car lovers.

The Crosstour Dash Cam is another relatively cheap dashcam, perfect for people that want a basic recording of their everyday commute. It shoots in 1080p video, so the footage is clear enough to be used in a court of law. Plus, it has a built-in G-sensor, which automatically detects a collision and saves the footage. On top of that, it has 2 infrared night vision lights that capture even the small details at night. We also like the fact that it has a high contrast HD LCD screen, so you can view your footage back immediately.

Garmin is one of the biggest names in car accessories. Now that fewer and fewer people are using their GPS systems (thanks to Google Maps etc.) they have moved into wireless dash cameras for cars. The most noticeable thing about this camera is how small it is. Measuring less than 2 inches high, you will barely notice it on your windshield. Despite its diminutive size, Garmin Dash Cam 55 is a powerful little tool. It has a 3.7-megapixel camera that shoots 1440p video that works just as well in low-light conditions. This footage can be wirelessly sent to your smartphone via the VIRB app.

It also features a couple of driver warning features that are great, especially for older drivers. It has a lane departure warning, that tells you if you stray from your lane; and a forward collision warning, that tells you if you get too close to the car in front. Plus, you can control it with your voice. So, you can tell it to save a video, take pictures, and start/stop recording.

The Rove R2-4K Dash Cam has one of the best pictures of all the dash cams we tested. It shoots 4K UHD video at 24fps and you can choose from multiple different resolutions (4K, 2.7K, 2K, FHD, Slow-Mo, & HD). That allows you to find the perfect picture quality for your situation. The 150º wide-angle lens gives you a complete view of the road ahead and it has all of the standard dashcam features to help you in the case of an accident (loop recording, G-sensor, emergency video lock, etc.). You can instantly view and manage your footage using the ROVE app.

The Rove R2-4K Dash Cam also has a couple of features we haven’t seen before. First off, it can record slow-motion and time-lapse footage. That means you can get a detailed view of any incident that happens in front of you. Plus, you can rotate the camera 360º and use it as an in-car camera if you want to record something inside the car.

The Anker Roav DashCam A1 is one of the best value dash cams on the market. It’s priced at around $55, which makes it considerably cheaper than a lot of its rivals. The low price is reflected in the lack of features, but it still shoots high-quality video and can be used to prove your innocence in a road traffic collision. Like most cheap dash cams, it shoots 1080p video and has a wide-angle lens to capture the road in front. Impressively, it also has Advanced NightHawk technology to help you see the footage at night. And, you can even view and manage your videos in the Roav Dashcam App. All sounds pretty good so far, right?

To be honest, it is pretty good. The reason that it’s cheaper than most dashcams is the fact that you can’t read number plates on 1080p video (or, at least, not easily). If someone bumps into you and drives off, you won’t be able to provide the police with much information other than the make, model, and color of the car.

The Pruveeo MX2 Dash Cam is towards the cheaper end of the dual-camera dash cams. If you want to record what’s happening both inside and outside of your car, this is one of the most cost-effective ways of doing it. The problem is, the picture resolution is slightly outdated now – the main camera shoots in 720p and the ‘assistant’ camera shoots in 480p. This is still clear enough to see what’s happening, but you won’t be able to capture specific information like license plate numbers.

On the plus side, it’s pretty incognito when attached to your windscreen. So, other road users and passengers shouldn’t behave differently. The camera starts recording when you turn your engine on and stops when it’s turned off. It automatically overwrites old footage and has an emergency lock feature. Plus, you can rotate the camera 360º to record specific footage.

Before we wrote this Buying Guide, people kept asking us: “What is the best dash cam to buy?” And, if you can afford it, we think it’s the Owlcam The 4G LTE Smart Dash Camera. This dash camera is a step above everything else on this list (and it has a price to match). Probably the biggest difference between the Owlcam and other dashcams is the fact that it doesn’t need a memory card. Instead, it saves the last 2 weeks of footage to the cloud and allows you to view it at any time from the Owlcam App. From the app, you can also view what’s happening in your car live and it will alert you if anyone touches it. On top of this, you can use voice activation to get the Owlcam to record specific clips and save them to your app. It is – without question – the most intuitive dash cam on the market. If you want to protect your car, yourself, and your loved ones, this is the dashcam for you.