The world of dash cams is expanding fast and choosing a good one, in fact, has become the most cumbersome part. The availability of these vast amounts of cams, incorporated with tons of features is giving the drivers a headache while selection. Well, if you are in the hunt for reliable, IR enabled dual dash cam, we have a perfect solution for you. This time we’ve got the Vantrue N2 Pro, an elegant and reliable dual dashcam. Our random testing shows clear cut details of how the mammoth performer N2 Pro holds an upper hand among all its competitors in all areas.
N2 Pro, Packed with the new Sony Exmor IMX323 sensors coupled with HD rear and front-facing cameras. The two-camera design on the same enclosure makes it ideal for Uber and Taxi drivers to record inside the vehicle while driving. This dual dash cam is a real killer when you need the most. Apart from these, it also comes with tons of other features including parking mode, loop recording, G-sensors and impact sensors, etc. Here, we are giving out the salient features of this cool dual dash cam, and the reasons why we need to equip this in the car.
Editors Note: We are running a free give away of this VanTrue Dash Came for our readers. Please see the details on Deals Page. For a short time, you can buy this camera from Amazon for 25% discount with the coupon code.
What’s in the Box?
The product comes with certain accessories that are helpful to you. The total package includes:
- N2 Pro Dash Cam with Suction Cup Mount
- A 3ft Mini USB Cable
- Car Charger with 10ft Mini USB Cable
- The User Manual
- Quick Guide
Though, a flaw we felt was the absence of an SD card and a GPS module. You have to spend the extra penny for the additional GPS module and SD card.
Most other dash cams provide either or both of these essentials along with them. Still, the overall product and video quality are guaranteeing user mesmerized to ignore those issue.
Dash Cam Specification
Take a look at the official specifications mentioned in the product manual along with the dash cam:
The N2 pro comes with 1.5 inch TFT LCD screen, combined with image enhancing optimizers. Also, with a crisp and clear recording angle of 170° front cam and enhanced 6 layer glass with F/1.8 wide aperture gives clear-cut details to great extent. Moreover, the dash cam accepts storage devices up to 64GB. Here, equipping a 32GB SD card will fulfill most of your needs. Also, the loop recording enables that additional space gets created by overwriting.
Related: Car Dash Camera Buying Guide-Don’t Waste Money on these Optional Features
Design and Build Quality
The Vantrue N2 is the one among those dual dash cams which suit hardcore drivers and cabs. The design and features will meet all your needs extensively on the roads. What’s really unique about this dash cam that the rear camera is situated next to the front camera. Both of them are placed in the same unit. The front cam captures footages in HD 1080p with a wider viewing angle of 170 degrees. The secondary cam is a cabin recorder that encompasses a viewing angle of 140 degrees.
The suction mount that comes with the product helps you to attach the cam to the car’s windshield. But, finding the appropriate position may be an issue as the device is built with two cameras. You may need to find out a place for the best view angle for both cameras. It would have been better if there is provision to fix that into the rearview mirror area or near the rear viewpoint. The N2 also comes with a strong charge port combined with a 250 mAh internal battery, that takes care of initial power requirements. And, it would be better if you hard-wire the dashcam to the battery for enjoying more of its features.
Dash Cam Installation
The attachment process is rather easy and less time-consuming using the suction mount. It can easily be attached as well as detached. Using the mini cables that comes with the dashcam, connect power from the cigarette lighter port. Equipping some external cable clips will let you handle the unwanted cable popping issues. You can easily clip it near the sides or within the dash compartment. However, the suction mount has, in fact, earned a few negative ratings. Our tests showed that the ball joints attached to the main unit seem to wobble a bit while accelerating. The rear camera housing can rotate a little bit. Based on our experience, once you fix the front camera, you can tilt and adjust the inside view with the rear camera.
Dashcam Video Quality
Coming to the camera part, the N2 Pro is equipped with an HD lens, designed for the tough streets. The powerful Novatek NT96660 CPU, and the advanced Sony Exmor IMX323 sensor (inside car camera) and OV4689 (front car camera) image sensor give you all-round protection when you’re on the roads. The dual 1080P dash cam simultaneously captures the road front (170°) and inside the cabin (140°) in crystal clear details at dual 1920x1080P 30fps. Also, the front cam features 4 IR LED lights that enhances night vision to a great extent. The F1.8, 6-glass front-facing cam and unique HDR video system automatically balances the light and dark areas of the video, making it easy to catch number plates and signboards easily.
Dashcam Wide Angle Coverage
The N2 pro offers the road camera and the cabin camera at 1920x1080p resolution. The road-facing camera capture footages with a wide-angle view of an enlarged 170 degrees. It can easily capture more than 5 lane traffic with clear-cut clarity.
The cabin camera, in fact, has the widest viewing angle of 140 degrees among all its competitors. This cabin cam is highly efficient in recording footages with clarity and captures rear seat visuals too. Also, the N2 pro comes with an inbuilt microphone that helps to record onboard audios as well. Moreover, if you don’t need the microphone function, you can easily turn it off with just a tap.
Day Time Video Quality
The daytime recording is the real quality one. With 170° front facing OV4689 sensor camera and 140° rear facing Sony sensor camera (80° rotatable) in one body, N2 pro shoots both front and inside the cabin simultaneously in full HD 1920x1080P 30fps. Additionally, you can change the recording quality as per the needs. If you don’t need the inside recordings, you can select only with the front-facing camera to record. The advanced F1.8 front OV4689 lens ensures to capture crystal-clear videos of the road front at 2560x1440P/30fps, 2304x1296P/30fps, 1920x1080P/60fps or at 1920x1080P/30fps.
Moreover, the video records with the date and time stamp in addition to the speed. Also, the inbuilt microphone, as well as speakers, see that you never miss anything while driving. In fact, this feature makes this one of the best dual dashcams suited for the taxis. A small flaw which you might encounter is the presence of a slight blue tint. This blue tint isn’t that much noticeable, and we expect that it will get eliminated in the subsequent N2 versions.
Night Time Video Quality
The rear-facing camera also comes with 4 IR LED lights that enhance the night vision to a very great extent. The presence of these IR LEDs works as invisible illumination for your car during low light environment. Also, during low-light conditions, the infrared LEDs will automatically turn on to support rear image recording.
Note: When the IR lights have been turned on, the IR light icon at the upper right corner of the screen will change as a lightning icon. When it is switched on automatically, there will be a letter “A” besides the lightning icon. When it is off, there will be a circle around the lightning icon with a black line across it.
N2 Pro Dashcam Features
Unlike other dash cams, the N2 Pro holds a better place when it comes to ‘need of the hour’ technologies. It comes with inbuilt G sensors, parking mode, auto LCD ON/OFF, loop recording etc. Still, the Vantrue brand could have considered building a mobile app that could have made the dash cam accessibility part a bit more satisfactory.
Parking Mode with Motion Sensor
In addition to the cool HD drive recording, the N2 is also capable of recording visuals when your car is in a parked condition. The built-in parking mode enables rapid recording of footages when the slightest of the motion occurs. The motion sensors present inside the module helps to detect motion that occurs near the vehicle and triggers action to activate recording. Also, you can adjust the sensitivity of the motion sensor accordingly from the menu.
A thing worth mentioning here that it is necessary to hard-wire the module into the cars main battery. Continuous recording and parking mode function require a constant power supply. The inbuilt battery within the cam won’t last enough to support longtime recording.
Time Lapse and Timestamp
The time lapse is an innovative feature present in the new N2 pro. This feature automatically takes photos at specific intervals and attach them together into a video output so that you can see them much faster than real time. It records changes, movements or events that took place over a long period of time. This will avoid the continues vides recording in parking mode, which can save power and space on the memory card. However, you still get the pictures of any activity near to your car while in parking. Additionally, the time stamp feature also helps you as a proof of evidence when you need it most.
Built-in G Sensors
This sleek dash cam comes with built-in G sensor that detects impacts and other forces. The sensor attached to the dash-cam module detects impacts or accidents and triggers auto-recording at the required moment. So, the dash-cam records the critical footages and in-turn lock them into a specific folder. These videos get locked and further overwriting and loop recording won’t take place there. In addition to this, the G-Sensor can record the speed while you drive and stamp on the footage if required.
Loop Recording
The presence of loop recording ensures that the old and unnecessary footages undergo overwriting at specific intervals in order to increase the storage device life. The loop recording is one of those features that most of the dash cams possess. And, the loop recording stats depend upon the SD card you use. Equipping a Class III or class IV SD card can, in fact, increase the overall writing efficiency. The device supports a max capacity of 64GB storage devices.
Working Temperature
The N2 Pro dual dash cam is one of the best dashcams available now and useful under extremely hot conditions. We are using the camera in Florida’s sunny hot days for a while without any problem. The PC and ABS housing in the N2 can resist more heat and cold conditions than the vast majority of cams out there. It can effectively withstand and function within a temperature range of -4 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
Auto LCD OFF
This dual dash cam comes with auto LCD off feature which enables automatic LCD off within a set time (say 2 mins) after the recording starts. This feature helps to eliminate distractions such as screen glare especially while you drive in the night time. It makes the drive a bit more safe and secure. Also, you can turn off this feature by simply accessing the settings.
Convert as Parking Mode Dashcam
Those who want to run the Dashcam as 24-hour surveillance camera on your Car by using the car battery, you have to depend on the hardwire kit. You can get this 13 feet mini USB hardwire kit from Amazon for 13 bucks. This hardwire kit support input battery voltage between 12V to 24V with low voltage protection and built-in fuse box.
VanTrue Dual Dashcam with Motion Detector
The Vantrue N2 pro records even the slightest details in low lighting too, thanks to its four IR sensors. The video quality is much better than most of the dash cams in this range. But, the unavailability of WiFi connectivity and dash cam app support, does take away a bit of its charm. Also, while comparing with other dash cams available, it’s on the upper side of the features and stability.
But on the brighter side, the whole cam module is compact and innovative and records with unmatched qualities. Altogether, we can call it a decent or above-average performer that has an upper hand among all its competitors. The features such as 2.5K recording, G sensors, and Motion Sensor gives superior surveillance for a hardcore driver or cab.