Tim is TechRadar's Cameras editor, with over 15 years in the photo video industry and most of those in the world of tech journalism, Tim has developed a deeply technical knowledge and practical experience with all things camera related. Both are great, although opting for the lower resolution and higher frame rate might make it easier to see detail in paused frames of the footage, and also keeps the file sizes lower. Some drivers might not like the idea of a camera constantly monitoring their vehicle, but some models of dash cam (like the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2) are compact and subtle enough to almost disappear behind the central rear view mirror. Despite its size, it records in Full HD at 30fps with HDR, producing footage that’s sharp enough to pick out key details like registration plates, regardless of the ambient light and weather conditions.

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If you like the low-profile design of the F800 Pro, but require even better video quality, then you should read our review of the Q800 Pro, which records at 2K resolution. You don’t get the driver assistance systems of other dash cams, so it’s up to you or your vehicle to spot speed cameras and potential collisions. If you use the cigarette lighter/USB port to power your dash cam, then leaving it plugged in overnight might drain your car battery, depending on if your vehicle supplies constant power to the ports. If the dash cam registers an incident and the driver is unresponsive, the app puts your phone into a beacon mode and alerts the emergency services.It's got a dedicated night mode as well, which ensures registration plates and small details are captured in most lighting conditions. This also gives us an opportunity to see how easy (or difficult) it is to view, transfer and save recorded footage. The front camera is one of the best around, offering 4K - and boasting great dynamic range and night vision to great results in bad lighting conditions.

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In these cases we learn that the camera’s g-sensor is too sensitive, and needs to be adjusted, providing the menu system includes such an option. Loop recording usually works by splitting these clips into preset intervals based on file size or time, such as 2-minute or 5-minute segments. Your vehicle has no infotainment system: With features like mapping and forward collision warnings, the DriveCam 76 is ideal for older vehicles without such systems as standard. Cheaper models will shoot 1080p Full HD video onto a microSD card, but won’t have the higher resolutions, video quality or advanced features of the more expensive models. The app is easy to use and has built-in sharing features for uploading clips to Google Drive, OneDrive and other cloud storage services.For instance, you can use one in Germany, but the footage can’t be posted to YouTube or other social sharing services – you can only provide it as evidence to a German court. There are around 120,000 road traffic accidents in the UK in the average year – and that’s only the incidents reported. The Nexar app is central to the twin camera experience: it’s where you can fine-tune settings, generate incident reports and back recorded clips up to the cloud (Nexar bundles cloud storage in for free). Accidents happen in a flash, and you don’t want to compound that stress by being prosecuted for an incident that wasn’t your fault. This is not the cheapest two-camera dashcam set up around, but we liked about it when we tested it was its reliability - making it a worthwhile investment for those who drive a lot.