Not everything happens in front of you, though, which is why we recommend buying a dash cam that comes with a rear camera. The two are joined with a wire and video from both is recorded to a microSD card. You can install a dash cam yourself, plugging it into your car’s 12V socket. But if you want a dash cam to continue recording in a car park, you’ll probably need to have it ‘hard wired’, although some dash cams can wake up and record for a few hours using a built-in battery that recharges while you drive. Hard wiring involves connecting the power wires to your car’s fuse box. It’s not a difficult job for an enthusiastic DIYer, but some retailers and manufacturers offer a fitting service for a fee. The hard-wire kits are usually an optional extra, costing around £15/$20. The only other thing you need to factor in to the overall price is a microSD card for storing video, as most dash cams don’t come with one. They do generally have Wi-Fi, so when you install the app on your phone you can view and download video clips, which you can then share with your insurance company and the police. In many cases the excess that you have to pay for an insurance claim is more than most dash cams cost, so they can pay for themselves very quickly if the video proves you weren’t at fault. The big question is which dash cam to buy. And that’s why you’re here. Below you’ll find our top recommendations for dash cams at all budgets.
What to look for in a dash cam
Ultimately, high-quality video is what you need from a dash cam. But specifications alone can’t tell you if one is better than another, and quality varies a lot. That’s why you should read our reviews and see examples of the quality you can expect at day and night.
Good quality video Compact, unobtrisuve design
Parking mode requires hard-wiring Thick cable to rear camera
Both are worth having so you can prove where the video is recorded and to remove reflections 0in the video. The wedge design of the front camera means you still get a screen but still tucks away behind your rear-view mirror. The rear camera, although small, has a thick cable which can be hard to fit behind trim neatly. The A229 Duo has a much thinner cable, and records in 2K front and rear – a higher resolution than the A129’s 1080p, but it costs significantly more.
Great parking mode Front, interior & rear cameras
Parking mode requires hard-wire kit So-so app
The interior camera uses infrared LEDs for decent night vision, but quality is still better during daylight. The app could do with some interface improvements, but generally works reliably and makes it easy to adjust the dash cam’s settings. One of the highlights is the versatile parking mode which can record time-lapse video, as well as full-motion video if it detection motion. But you’ll need the hardwire kit to use this mode, and may have to have that professionally installed.
Alexa built-in Good safety features
Average video quality Rear cameras are expensive
If you don’t need all the new features, then you can save money by opting for the 322GW.
Good-quality video No unnecessary frills
Requires hard-wiring kit for parking mode GPS mount costs extra
There are no extra features such as lane-departure, speed camera: even GPS is optional, so you can pay less if you don’t want it. This keeps the price down while still offering great quality. There are three parking modes to choose between, but you will need to buy and fit the hardwire kit to use them.
Rear camera can be a reverse camera Good video quality
Very involved installation process No companion app
If you’re a competent with car electrics, you can hook up the rear camera to your car’s reverse light and mount it externally so it doubles as a reversing camera: you’ll see the parking guidelines appear on the screen when reversing. Video quality is good from both cameras and our only real complaints are the clunky menu system which is awkward to use, the lack of Wi-Fi and a companion app to download videos without a PC, and the fact recordings are in the incompatible .ts format rather than the much more common MP4.
Clear, detailed video during the day Choice of parking modes
A lot more expensive than the A129 Duo
During the day, quality is great, but as with all dash cams – including the others here – you won’t get the same level of clarity at night. We like that there’s a choice of three different parking modes for recording events or a time-lapse, so you can pick the mode that suits you best. To use any of them you’ll need the optional hard-wire kit that connects to your car’s fuse box. Put simply, if you want the extra detail over the A129 Duo, the A229 is a good choice. The drawback is the price, but it’s a great dash cam overall.
Great 4K video Built-in Alexa
Expensive Price doesn't include optional rear camera
Core video quality is very good, partly thanks to the stabilisation which helps to sharpen details. At night, it’s still impressive, but don’t expect to be able to read registration plates. Alexa could be handy if you stream music while driving, and the Emergency SOS and what3words integration is a nice extra (though it is a subscription service, not included as standard). If you don’t want a rear camera, you might be able to justify spending this much on a front-facing camera, but there isn’t a huge trade-off in quality if you step down to the 522GW.
Simple to install and use Good-quality video
Sold only in the US Alexa functions aren't particularly useful
Though it isn’t the cheapest single-lens dash cam you can buy, it ticks the important boxes. It’s about as easy to install as dash cams get, delivers good quality video day and night at the default settings and comes with a remote control button for taking photos (or videos) on demand. There’s no screen, so you have to use the app to change settings, see the live view and review saved videos. They can be downloaded to your phone, but it’s a very slow process. It can record while you’re parked, but you’ll have to provide your own power supply for this, such as a USB power bank, as iOttie doesn’t offer a hardwire kit. This is far from convenient, and you have to enable parking mode as well: it won’t automatically switch when you connect a different power source.
Very affordable Magnetic quick-release
Low-quality video No GPS
It’s the only dash cam here which records at a lowly 1280×720 pixels, and there is certainly less detail. However, the 120-degree lens means it is much easier to read number plates of oncoming cars as they’re physically larger in the resulting video. Quality is acceptable during the day, with most registrations visible when you pause the video. Like most dash cams, even those costing five times as much, it can’t often capture registrations at night as detail levels really drop off. However, you should still be able to prove what happened if an incident happens in front of you. There are no frills, such as Wi-Fi or GPS, but the 122 is nice and compact and has easy-to-use buttons and menus. We’d recommend paying more for a 1080p dash cam, but if you have a very limited budget, this is a good choice. Don’t be swayed by a wider-angle lens: the higher the number, the smaller everything is in the centre of the image. We prefer a lens with a 140° field of view, or less. Similarly, a higher resolution doesn’t automatically mean better quality. Manufacturers often talk of ‘night modes’ but this can be just as misleading as resolution. Again, refer to our reviews to find out whether a dash cam is any good at recording at night. Extras features such as GPS are worth it as this will record your precise location and speed, so you can prove where you were, which direction you were driving and that you weren’t speeding. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, may not be as useful as it’s typically quicker to removing the microSD card and copy the video files you need straight to your PC or laptop. But for dash cams without screens, you’ll get Wi-Fi as a matter of course so you can adjust settings via the companion app. We’ve found safety features such as lane-departure warning or forward-movement alerts aren’t always useful as they don’t always work reliably. However, any dash cam that can warn you of safety camera locations is useful. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
