Dash cam Australia comparison review

Our test kicks off with what could be one of the most affordable dash cam options you can imagine. 

This one was bought from Chinese shopping site Wish.com for just $13.30 for the device - plus $10 shipping to Australia. It arrived unbranded and ambiguous. We’re just going with Car Cam Corder as that’s what’s printed on the sticker. 

Its specs looked okay. The stated camera specifications include 1920x1080P recording, with a 3.1-inch screen and “6GA+Class high resolution ultra-wide angle multilayer lens”. 

But opening it, you could tell it was a cheap device; it was light - it felt more like a toy than an actual dash cam. But it did come with a suction cup, cables and English instructions… not that they helped much. This was the least intuitive to use of our camera systems. 

The Cam Corder image was pixelated and the recording jumped between scenes.

As you can see from the recording performance of the cheap Car Cam Corder, the video quality was terrible. It was pixelated, and on playback the recording jumped between scenes - meaning you could miss the crucial moment of impact in the event of an accident. Above all that it was hard to figure out how to trigger an event to record when we were setting the camera up. It instead wanted to constantly record and overwrite the previous files.

The apparently “ultra wide” lens was entirely too close-up to capture an entire scenario. easily missing out on what was happening on the periphery. 

We also shot some footage at night to give you an idea of its performance in the dark, and again, it was disappointing. This screenshot should give you an indication of the quality, or lack thereof.

They say you get what you pay for.

They say you get what you pay for, and in this instance, you don’t get much of a dash cam. It doesn’t have GPS mapping to pinpoint an event, for instance. But would you want a $13 dash cam to know everywhere you’ve been? I wouldn’t.

Our advice? Spend more to get a dash cam worth your money. The resolution of the camera is poor, the lens is too narrow, and the controls are terrible.

Third on the list was the Uniden iGO CAM 85R, which is sold as a twin camera setup at $349.95 retail. 

To keep things simple, we focused just on the forward-view camera for this test, but this is an affordable dual camera system, especially considering its specs. 

It has forward-facing 4K recording (3840x2160P), a 2.4-inch screen, GPS tagging, a large speedo display and, like the cheaper Navman unit, it has parking mode when hard-wired. The forward-facing camera in this unit has a very broad 160-degree angle lens. 

It doesn’t have any of the driver warnings, though, and it is a sticker-mount system rather than a suction cup, which might be an issue if you change cars with any regularity.

The forward-facing camera in this unit has a very broad 160-degree angle lens. 

The Uniden system offered decent vision from its camera during daylight hours, but it wasn’t quite as good quality or clarity as the cheaper Navman.

It dealt well with light changes for the most part, though it was harder to pick up the finer details in the images from its wide angle lens. 

At night the Uniden performed better.

At night was where the Uniden performed better, though still not quite as well as the Navman. The camera seemed to round off some of the sharper edges and missed a bit of the detail as a result. Its balance between light and dark was more subtle, though.

The usability of this cam wasn’t as good as the Navman - there’s no easily discernible trigger function, and it just felt like it took more time to learn the menus. 

Plus it was the only one of the satellite-capable models that glitched out while in the Sydney area, with it at times showing that I was driving 999km/h. I’m sure that would have been fun, but it wasn’t the truth.

A significant jump up the price scale and we arrived at the BlackVue DR900S-2CH. 

The company claims it is the world’s leading dash cam manufacturer, and all that in spite of the fact that its flagship offering doesn’t even have a screen!

But it does have the widest lens of these dash cams at 162 degrees (capturing 4K - 3840x2160P), plus it has a rear-facing camera with a 139-degree lens.

It is a stick-on rather than suction-on setup as well, but it feels more like a permanent item to be fitted than the others here.

This system also has an over the cloud function that allows you to check on your car and its surroundings at any time using your smartphone, provided you’ve got the app. And you’ll also need to hard-wire the dash cam to the battery for this capability. 

The BlackVue was crisp and clear during daytime driving.

There is no denying the quality of the footage from the BlackVue was impressive: it was crisp and clear during daytime driving, though it did seem to struggle at times with shadows from buildings and contrast changes.

It has the widest angle lens of these cameras, and it certainly offered a great view of the car’s surroundings. 

At night there was still a bit of an issue with the contrast pickup of the lens.

At night there was still a bit of an issue with the contrast pickup of the lens, and it was a bit harder to discern number plates using this cam compared to others, and part of that came down to how good the LED lights were on the BMW.

Without having a screen to look at - and it also doesn’t have a button to trigger an event, rather you just ‘swipe’ your finger over a sensor - it can be difficult to tell if the system is working properly at a glance.

Ultimately, if you’re not as interested in using the smartphone tech capabilities this system offers, I would suggest that some of the alternatives will give you 90 per cent of the dash cam for less than 50 per cent of the price. 

Last but certainly not least was an entire car - the BMW X6.

That’s a little misleading, because you can get the BMW Drive Recorder in models running the BMW operating system 7.0 that have a surround-view camera system and Parking Assistant Plus fitted. That includes select examples of the 3 Series, 7 Series, 8 Series, X5, X6 and X7. 

You can choose to subscribe to the service on a monthly basis ($19 per month), or download it for a year ($79), three years ($189), or forever ($429 unlimited access).

It’s pretty affordable technology. But then again, you’ve gotta buy a new BMW in the first place…

At that cost, it’s pretty affordable technology. But then again, you’ve gotta buy a new BMW in the first place…

And in terms of tech, it uses the car’s parking cameras which are designed for a specific purpose, and therefore don’t have the whole ‘dash-cam’ experience in mind.

So the lens quality is lower and the recording is done in HD 1280x960P. Most cameras that record in 1280 (width) will do so by 720 (height), but these cameras offer a slightly higher (and therefore squarer) viewing ratio. 

But on the plus side, you’re getting footage from the front, rear and both sides with this system, which is handy to capture evidence of bystanders or witnesses. 

You’re getting footage from the front, rear and both sides with this system.

As you can see from the above screenshot of the footage, the system recording defaults to a quadrant layout, which means you get a great view of your surroundings. 

The lenses are somewhat fish-eyed, especially for the side-view, but the quality isn’t too bad. In daytime driving it maintains an even image quality, which, while not perfect, is definitely going to be usable in the event of a low speed incident.

At night the image quality was good in well lit urban environments.

At night the image quality was good in well lit urban environments, offering a good glimpse at what was happening around the car. On darker roads it was fine, too, but relied heavily on the car’s headlights.