The dash cam market is rather overwhelming these days, making finding the best dash cam a real challenge. It’s vast and split roughly between basic and feature-packed dash cams. These two camps don’t occupy a certain price bracket. Some basic dash cams such as Garmin’s Mini 2 have a higher price and offer excellent useability and quality in return; meanwhile, some dash cams try and offer all the toys for as low a price as possible.
Spread throughout the dash cam market are known brands and unknown brands alike. Vantrue is one of the latter and its feature-packed dash cams aim to compete with the best out there and ask for a high-end price too.
That’s a little unusual for a brand such as this. Others like it often push prices down as far as possible to undercut the competition but not here. Consequently, we were curious to see what Vantrue’s offerings are like, so we’ve got two Vantrue models on test here.
Candidates
Vantrue X4S Duo
A 4K dash cam with a rear camera and optional GPS.
Resolution/frame rate: 4K+1080P/30fps; 1440P+1080P/30fps; 1080+1080P/60fps
Field of view: 131° front, 131° rear
Dimensions: 9.7 x 5cm
Screen size: 3 inches
Max memory card size: 256GB
Bluetooth: No
Wi-Fi: Yes
GPS: Optional
Price: £213.99 | VIEW OFFER
Vantrue N4
Features front, cabin, and rear cameras for complete coverage.
Resolution/frame rate: 1440P+1080P+1080P/30FPS; 1080P+1080P+
1080P/30FPS; 1080P+1080P+720P/30FPS
Field of view: 155° front, 165° cabin, 160° rear
Dimensions: 10.9 x 4.7cm
Screen size: 2.45 inches
Max memory card size: 256GB
Bluetooth: No
Wi-Fi: No
GPS: Optional
Price: £229.99 | VIEW OFFER
Setup
Given that both models come with rear cameras, the setup involves a little more cable threading but provided you’ve got a car where the rear camera cable can be hidden properly in the headlining, it’s not a problem.
Neither are small dash cams, so it does pay to precisely place them where they are the least visible to the driver. On the plus side, their screens are large enough to make camera positioning easy. Some small dash cams and dash cams with no screens can be annoying to correctly position because you have to look at a tiny screen or via an app.
Once plugged in and running, menus and settings are all fairly conventional. The X4S is slightly easier to navigate because its buttons are next to the screen rather than on top like they are on the N4. Though, on the X4S, we did experience the menu M button requiring a couple of presses before responding.
The X4S is compatible with Vantrue’s app, but the N4 is not. App connectivity is something that comes with many dash cams these days but it’s by no means essential for all of them. For some it is, but you can get along perfectly fine with the X4S without the app. It’s only for viewing footage and not as polished as Garmin’s Drive app or Nextbase’s MyNextbase app, for example.
Performance
Things started well. With both cameras up and running, all was working but we had problems with viewing the files from both dash cams when we plugged the memory cards into a computer. Therefore, we can’t report on what the footage quality was like, which is a major issue. We’ve never experienced this with all the dash cams we’ve tested and it cut things a bit short.
Verdict
It’s disappointing to encounter such a basic problem as file accessibility. But even if we ignore the large elephant in the middle of the floor, these two dash cams don’t stack up too well against the fierce competition they face in their price bracket.
For example, Nextbase’s 522GW and 622GW dash cams bear more features and noticeably superior build quality to these Vantrue models. It’s a similar story with Thinkware’s dual dash cams. Brands like these have solidified respected positions in the dash cam market built on deserved reputations for quality and innovation. If you’re in the market for a high-end dash cam, we recommend you stick to offerings from manufacturers like these.
