Reviewing and Testing the Vantrue P2 Thermal Dashcam

[EricSan]

I recently received a very kind invitation from Wendy at Vantrue to review their brand new Pilot 2 Thermal Dashcam. A very sincere "Thank you!" to Wendy, @Jeff_Vantrue, and the Vantrue team for providing me with one of their early production thermal cameras for review! I've been eagerly looking forward to this one as it incorporates a world first: a super cool four-channel dashcam with a THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEM. While I was making my usual series of photographs, I discovered a few fun surprise features along the way! I hope I don't miss describing any of them 😁.

My other Vantrue dashcam reviews can be found here: E360, E1 Pro, N4S, S1 Pro Max, N4 Pro S, N5S, P2 Thermal
Vantrue Power (non-dashcam) Product Reviews: T800 Compressed Air Duster, TS2 Thermal Camera for iOS/Android

Features:

• 4 Channel Dash Cam
• Front Camera: Sony Starvis2 IMX675 with 158° Field of View
• Cabin Camera: Sony IMX662 1920x1080P 30 fps Second Generation 2MP Sensor with 165° Field of View
• Rear Camera: Sony Starvis2 IMX675 2560x1440P 30fps 5MP Sensor with 160° Field of View
• Thermal Camera: 12um WLP (Wafer Level Packaging) High Performance Vanadium Oxide Uncooled Infrared Detector with 60° Field of View and F1.2 aperture
• HDR and PlatePix technology
• 360° All Around Protection
• 330 Foot Detection Range for Thermal Camera
• BlueTooth Remote Capability
• 24/7 Parking Mode with G-Sensor Impact Detection
• 2.4 GHz, 5GHz Wi-Fi6 & OTA Updates
• Built-in GPS Tracking
• Up to 1TB microSD Support
• Super capacitor power supply

Voice Commands:
- Take Photo
- Video Start
- Turn On Audio
- Turn Off Audio
- Turn On Screen
- Turn Off Screen
- Turn On WiFi
- Turn Off WiFi
- Lock The Video
- Show Front Camera
- Show Rear Camera
- Inside Video On
- Back to Homepage
I have verified these voice commands function as intended.

Maximum Resolutions Are as Follows:
- Front camera: Sony Starvis2 IMX675 2560x1440P 30fps
- Cabin Camera: Sony IMX662 (with Automatic IR LEDs), 1920x1080P 30fps
- Rear Camera: Sony Starvis2 IMX675 2592x1440PP 30fps
- Thermal Camera: I am unsure of the actual resolution of the thermal sensor, but it produces a 1024x768 video stream. I suspect some upscaling is happening.
See post #48 below for detailed file size measurements.

Power Consumption Measurements:
See post #48 below for detailed power consumption measurements.

User Manual and Firmware Updates:

Vantrue P2 | Product Manuals, Firmware Upgrades, and FAQs

Explore comprehensive product manuals, firmware upgrades, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) for Vantrue P2 dash cam. Access detailed instructions, troubleshooting tips, and the latest firmware updates to enhance your experience. Find answers to common queries and optimize your use of Vantrue...

www.vantrue.com

As has been well-established by now, Vantrue packaging materials are excellent. This is by far the largest and heaviest of the Vantrue boxes that I've received.

Here is the inner packaging with the top of the box removed. You can see two inner sub-divider boxes with the main screen unit nestled in middle of the box.

And here is everything that is inside the box - wow, that's a lot of goodies inside! Let's examine them one by one...

Wow - that new shadow hide leather desk blotter that I picked up a few weeks ago for my new desk sure looks orange with a flash! It's really more of a brown color, but my camera sees things differently than I do. Makes me think Halloween is coming.

 

[EricSan]

The first inner box is stamped on the outside with its contents.

I want to show you the inner divider for this box, as it is quite robust and protects its contents very well. Note the extra layer of foam at the bottom:

This box contains the three camera modules, as well as some mounting hardware. There are 9 adhesive cable keepers, three T-shaped hook-and-look fasteners, 8 small black sheet metals screws that can be used to attach the main unit mounting plate somewhere in your car, four small stainless steel machine screws that are used to hold the thermal camera to one of the two mounting brackets, and four barrel screws with blue thread-locker already applied that maintain the aiming position of the rubber coated thermal camera mount.. Vantrue even included a small Phillips head screw driver and a hex-wrench for the barrel screws! The tiny screws were placed in their very own little pouch to keep them from getting lost - this is thoughtful packaging!

 

[EricSan]

And here is the second inner divider box:

As you can tell, this one contains all of the cables: one for power and three video cables that connect the satellite cameras to the main dash-mounted display unit. New this time around is a very clear label affixed to each end of each cable so you know exactly where it goes and you don't mix them up.

 

[EricSan]

Between these boxes is white bag that contains the main display unit. Looking quickly, it is clear that all of the processing power for this awesome dashcam resides in the display unit.

There are also three inserts just under the lid:

The Quick Start guide (lower left in the above image) is a very nice set up guide for how and where the camera and cables get connected, conveniently written in the universal language of images along with QR codes for installation videos and the PDF User's Manual. Both are very nice!

 

[EricSan]

OK, let's start with the main camera unit. The construction of this thermal dashcam is a significant departure from Vantrue's usual form factor. The main camera is the first Vantrue camera that I've received that doesn't have a built-in screen. As a result, this is one of the smallest front cameras they've made (except, possibly the excellent E1 series). The main camera contains the forward facing 2592x1440 camera and the 1920x1080 cabin camera. The adhesive swivel mount also hides the GPS module (which also works indoors, receiving the GPS signal through the roof and the second floor of the house). The GPS resolution features six decimal place resolution, just like previous Vantrue cameras.

The inner circumference of the main front lens is also threaded to accept the circular polarizer that fits many other Vantrue cameras.

As you can see, the front camera will accept the usual Vantrue front circular polarizer - just don't forget to remove the lens protecting film first 😉. And here is the reverse side where you can see the 1080P cabin facing camera. The USB-C connection point for the rear camera is also visible on the left side of the camera. Also visible below is a tiny power on LED (I'm assuming it's green) immediately to the left of the resolution stamp to let you know the camera is receiving power.

Here is the right side of the camera, not much to see here, no buttons or cable connection points:

And here is the left side of the front camera. As you can see, this is where the camera connects to the main screen unit with a USB-C cable. The USB-C cable, and its receptacle on the main camera is keyed, so it can only be inserted one way - you cannot "rotate” the cable connector and inadvertently insert it upside down. The ends of the USB-C cables are also keyed to mate with the jack on the camera. This is the first time that I’ve seen a USB-C cable that is keyed in this manner - then again, this single cable carries DC power plus three separate cameras feeds back to the main unit so there is a lot going on here. I’m not sure if GPS data is embedded into the video in the camera unit or in the main unit, so that’s another potential data signal in this busy USB cable.

The cabin facing camera has a wide range of rotation. Here is it rotated fully "up"

...and with the cabin camera rotated fully "down." The rotation is well-damped, meaning that it takes purposeful effort to rotate the barrel for the cabin camera which eliminates the possibility that it accidentally rotates on its own after you install it.

On the bottom of the camera, you can also see a little window labelled "IR" which is an ambient light sensor that controls the "Auto" setting for the set of 4 Infrared LEDs that provide illumination for the cabin camera. You can see the LEDs directly adjacent to the cabin camera lens.

 

[EricSan]

Here is a side image of the main camera with the mounting surface as far forward as it will go. As you can see, this camera will clearly mount on a fully vertical front window like on a bus or a truck. This is a very nice feature!

And here is the same perspective with the mount rotated fully in the opposite direction. This greatly increases the range of mounting positions and locations for the forward facing camera!

Which takes us to the first, cool, new feature for the main camera. It sports a brand new windshield mount design that is pretty awesome! You might have noticed in my images above that the mount looked a little "crooked." I noticed this as soon as it came out of the box and though that I had somehow damaged it already. But then I discovered what was going it: it's a SWIVEL MOUNT! Super Awesome! If you are like me, it's next to impossible to mount any dashcam square and level on your first try. Then you're stuck trying to remove the 3M VHB or repositioning the static mounting sticker. What a pain... But not anymore!

Check this out - here is the camera with the mount swiveled as far left and right as possible:

And at the opposite extreme. This will provide a greater range of options for how and where you mount the main camera. Very cool! Thank you for this very thoughtful feature!!

For a size comparison, here is the main camera from the P2 (on the left) next to the larger N4 Pro S camera (on the right).

 

[EricSan]

Here is the rear camera, which also sports a number of new and welcome features! First, it's pretty tiny, which I especially appreciate as I have about 4 or 5 cameras lined up across my rear window at most times for comparison purposes. I also understand that we have DashCamTalk user @jsmith to thank for this design improvement over the older "accordion" style mount from earlier camera models. This barrel shaped camera will eliminate vibrations in the resulting video stream.

Don't forget to remove the lens protector...

Here is the rear view of this rear-facing camera. As you can see, some air vents have been added to help keep the sensor cooler. The camera barrel appears to rotate through a full 360 degrees so you can aim it wherever you need. Like the front camera, the rear camera can be mounted on a fully vertical rear window like you might find on a pickup truck. And, best of all, the rotation of the camera features physical detented stops every few degrees that will help prevent the rear facing camera from moving once you install it. This was a suggestion that I made to @Jeff_Vantrue with my review of the N5S camera. Thank you for listening to my input! Also visible directly to the left of the "V" in Vantrue is another small LED power indicator light so you can tell the camera is receiving power.

Here is the side view of the rear camera - it's a regular USB-C connector (no orientation keying as we see on the main camera unit):

 

[EricSan]

And, finally, here is the star of the show and the last component that is tucked into the first sub-divider box: (drum roll, please...) the forward facing Thermal Camera Unit!

Here is the front of the thermal camera, encased in its protective rubber shell and attached to the hood mount clamp.. You can also see the tethered cable with the screw-terminal at the end. I don't know that the actual resolution of the thermal sensor is, but in the thermal imaging world, "medium resolution" is generally in the vicinity of 340x240 pixels and "high resolution" generally means something closer to 640x480 pixels. Thermal cameras generally have a spectral range of 8µm to 14µm, and are referred to as "longwave" cameras.

Here is the rear view of the camera. It has a rather thick and substantial rubber cover that protects it from debris while mounted externally on your car. The two thumb screws that you see on the bottom of the camera open up a small clamping mechanism that attaches the thermal camera to the rear edge of your hood.

This is the thermal camera with the rubber protector removed. The thermal camera itself is quite small.

In the image below, you can see that I've opened the hood clamp by turning the screws.

Here is a better view of the open hood clamp. The top and bottom layers of the clamp are made from firm by still soft rubber to protect the paint on your hood. From the side view, you can also see the stainless steel barrel screws that allow you to pivot the thermal camera up or down once it is mounted on your hood. I very much appreciate the additional screws in the event you inadvertently lose one or two of them!

This is a close-up image of the cable connector for the thermal camera. As you can see, it is a 6-pin keyed connector, so it plugs in in a single orientation. I also appreciate he red rubber/silicon sealing ring to keep water out of the cable connection. This is another nice touch that illustrates thoughtful design.

 

[kamkar]

I have been philosophising a lot over this system / concept, and i am getting nowhere.
I have no doubt the standard F & R sensors / cameras will be just fine for EURO circumstances, the thermal is my main " problem " but it is probably due to me also have a interest in thermal rifle scopes.
But in Rifle scopes while useable the low resolution sensors are not optimal even if what i am looking for ( 640x512 ) is by no means high resolution even for thermal sensors, it is the pinnacle what a mortal man can hope to pay for.
Also my shooting hobby pretty much always on the absolutely smallest targets at any distance ( out to 130 M for our range )
through thermal scope would only be wanted for real if we could get a good pesting career going.

As for identifying possible danger and fairly near by this setup might be just fine, even if i still have a little problem wrapping my head around the AI being able to identify and label things from so little.

If i go here, i have noticed my new car probably stand a better chance for housing the thermal sensor out front, even if it still would require some cutting into the front grill.

The S1 Pro Max remain the primary and now only camera in my new car, that one i have no doubts about.

PS: New car have full insurance coverage unlike the old red one, so i am now more relaxed in regard to maybe hitting a animal.

PPS: By the looks of it so far 2026 look to beat 2025 where the most ever deer was hit on the Danish roads, a little over 8000 deer was reported hit in 2025

 

[jsmith]

@EricSan

Thanks for the shoutout. I'm glad Vantrue did away with that accordion design after receiving feedback.

Couple things to note that've been raised to Wendy:

A. I suggested HDR timer be added to the Vantrue Software for the P2 Pilot. Only Available on the Display itself.
B. A shorter cord should be available / included alongside the longer cord from the front to Screen based upon Vantrue's install video. The Longer cord is necessary if hiding the cable alongside the floor trim and running up the center console.

C. A Magnetic / Suction Cup mount are necessary. Only offering an adhesive to mount the screen isn't ideal and will put off some potential customers that may have a leather dash or choose not to implement a permanent install.

Wendy suggested this as an option in the mean time: I have not tested.

AMAZON LINK

D. Parking Mode only permits collision detection. Wendy said they were worried about voltage usage. I stated that adding Low Bitrate with a Timer would be ideal, because Collision Detection isn't the most preferred method as it's dependent upon the vehicle waking up fast enough to capture an impact.

 

[kamkar]

Low bitrate ( not time lapse too ) on a timer is what i prefer, even if i had nothing but bad experiences with it ( my parked car getting hit 1-2 hours after the timer expired, t his when i just used a 1 hour timer i now prefer 3 hours )

 

[EricSan]

PPS: By the looks of it so far 2026 look to beat 2025 where the most ever deer was hit on the Danish roads, a little over 8000 deer was reported hit in 2025

Deer are my primary concern for where I live, though I suspect others in different environments will have other priorities. I'm curious to see how it works for highlighting people and animals on the roadside.

A. I suggested HDR timer be added to the Vantrue Software for the P2 Pilot. Only Available on the Display itself.
B. A shorter cord should be available / included alongside the longer cord from the front to Screen based upon Vantrue's install video. The Longer cord is necessary if hiding the cable alongside the floor trim and running up the center console.

C. A Magnetic / Suction Cup mount are necessary. Only offering an adhesive to mount the screen isn't ideal and will put off some potential customers that may have a leather dash or choose not to implement a permanent install.

I suppose everyone will have their own preferences, but I've found that I prefer having HDR enable at all times.

The magnetic or suction cup mount is a clear necessity - my car has a leather dash and another car that I'm looking at has a textile fabric dash, so the adhesive won't work well in either situation. I'll have to see what other options are available - I'd like to see this mounted to the windshield with a short arm and swivels.

 

[jsmith]

Deer are my primary concern for where I live, though I suspect others in different environments will have other priorities. I'm curious to see how it works for highlighting people and animals on the roadside.

It will not pick up rabbits. Poor Thumper ran in front of my car and I wasn't alerted by the P2. Wendy said smaller animals may not register. Luckily, Thumper made it across the road and not under my tires.

 

[EricSan]

Here is the final piece of hardware, the display screen and the heart of all of the action for the P2 thermal system. The front of the display looks pretty much like a Vantrue smartphone 😉 . After powering it up for the first time, I've discovered it is also a Touch Screen! Very nice! That explains the lack of buttons for navigating the menu structure. There is also a little green LED power indicator at the top center of the screen. It glows steady to show that it is receiving power and blinks while recording.

And the rear view of the mounting plate that screws onto the back.

The bottom of the mounting plate is a large 3M adhesive pad that will surely mount the display screen securely to the dashboard:

Here is the rear of the display module with the mounting plate removed. The threads on the back are exactly the same as a standard 1/4" threaded insert into a DSLR or a video camera for a tripod mount 👍. Perhaps this will make finding a suction cup mount a little easier... I'm reluctant to use an adhesive mount on my leather dashboard.

You can see the labels on the back where each of the cables go, so hookup should be pretty straight forward. Cables mount into the sides of the unit, and the SD card is inserted into a slot on the top.

Here is the top view where you can find the power button and SD card slot. Pushing and releasing the button quickly toggles the display screen on and off. Push and hold the orange button to turn the camera on and off.

The adhesive mount is hinged and swings through a pretty wide range of angles, so mounting should be pretty flexible to account for a variety of dash configurations and still letting you see the screen with ease.

 

[EricSan]

The second inner divider box contains all of the cables that are necessary to connect the camera modules together. A new feature for Vantrue with this camera is the inclusion of very clear cable labels so you know exactly where each cable gets plugged in.

First up is the utility port power adapter that has a USB-A port on the plug and a USB-C connector at the end of the cable. As has been discussed many time here on the forum, it is important to use the power supply cord or hardwire kit that actually comes from the manufacturer. This is especially important for the P2 because it's power draw is much larger than other cameras. This one needs a 5v 3A power supply. The only Vantrue hardwire kit that supplies enough power is the VP05 (II) hardwire kit. The others don't have the ability to deliver the needed current.

The cable that connects the thermal imaging camera to the display unit is a flat cable, rather than the usual round USB-C cable.

The thermal camera cord measures just over 2mm thick and a bit over 5mm wide. This is a nice change from the externally mountable cameras from the N4S, N4 Pro S, and S1 Pro Max that have round cords. This one will pass more easily over rubber door seals due to it being flat instead of round! This was a specific recommendation that I made to @Jeff_Vantrue so it's nice to see this being implemented! I really appreciate seeing suggestions from the forums showing up in new product releases!

And a closeup of the male 6-pin barrel connector:

The longer of the regular USB-C cables is for connecting the rear camera

And the shorter USB-C cable connects the main camera to the display unit:

As I pointed out earlier, the USB-C ports that connect the main camera to the display unit appear to be keyed so the USB cable can only be attached one way. Looking at the ends of the USB cable, you can see corresponding indents molded into the cable ends, so it's impossible to mix up the cables.

and on the other side of the same cable end:

The cables are easy to distinguish as each has a nice tag on the end. I appreciate that these cable ends are black instead of white, so if you leave them in place, they don't stand out quite so much.

 

[EricSan]

This leaves but one small mounting bracket to explore - I had to read the manual to figure out what this little guy is for (when all else fails, RTFM 😉)

Turns out this is an alternate mounting device for the thermal camera! Pretty cool - it is intended to be mounted using a license plate mounting screw.

Removing the rubber cover from the thermal camera unit reveals two screws the hold the thermal sensor to the bracket. Removing these two screws allows you to separate the thermal camera from the bracket. The housing for he thermal camera is all meta and I presume the rubber boot for the wire is weather sealed to keep water out.

Then, you can attach it to the mounting plate as shown below. This might allow for a somewhat less obtrusive/obvious method of mounting the thermal camera on the outside of your car.

Now it's time to power it up and see what kinds of features are present and explore the power consumption figures before it goes into my car. I'm not exactly sure how I want to mount the thermal camera just yet and I need to find an alternate mount to secure the display screen...

Given the relatively light weight of the thermal camera, I'm thinking I might be able to install it with just a small square of 3M VHB and put it in an even more inconspicuous location on the front of my car. Have to explore some options...

 

[EricSan]

Wendy suggested this as an option in the mean time: I have not tested.

AMAZON LINK

The good news is that there appears to be some useful and relatively inexpensive options available. I just searched Amazon for "windshield mount with 1/4" screw" and looked for ones that didn't appear to be cheap, plastic crap. I picked one relatively inexpensive one and one that looks more robust and features metal construction. An important consideration is the weight bearing capacity, especially dynamic weight limits (which appear to be about 1/10 of the static weight ratings). The display unit weighs 350g or about 12.5oz, so it needs some holding power for dynamic weight load. I just ordered two of them from Amazon, so we'll see what shows up.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01KPMETJK

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0D8TFCMYS

 

[kamkar]

people and animals on the roadside.

I do actually see people walking along a Danish Highway now and then ( that’s 1 lane in each direction and 80 KMH / 50 MPH )
you can also cycles there most places, but these days with people driving with their nose on the phone screen i would not recommend it.

Once a year there also is the annual pick up the crap other threw out of their cars while driving,,,,,, that is a bummer day for me i want it changed to go ballistic on people that throw garbage from their car with no legal problems..

I would also be interested in its town performance, for instance here in Cyclist Denmark, it is not unusual to have say curb side parking ( with room made for it ) and then the curb and then the bicycle land and then curb and then sidewalk.
SO would it pick up and not least would it warn about pedestrians that walk way in there on the sidewalk at least 12 / 16 feet if not more from the leftmost side of the road / lanes.
If it throw a tantrum over that it would be annoying, but people walking along the road, though it here is recommended you walk on the Right then so you are facing the traffic nearest to you.

 

[EricSan]

Pedestrians are easy to see during the day. We have people here who dress in black while walking their dogs at night with no reflective material at all. My neighbor also rides his bike at night with no lights 🙄

 

[jsmith]

Pedestrians are easy to see during the day. We have people here who dress in black while walking their dogs at night with no reflective material at all. My neighbor also rides his bike at night with no lights 🙄

The issue I've come across is the image is sharp on the display but the Thermal Videos seem difficult to distinguish when played back. I asked how come there's no green square around objects like you see on screen in videos, and Wendy said this isn't supported by the hardware.