Another E360 review

[erkme73]

I received my e360 with rear camera, handheld mount, and hardwire/parking kit in mid-December. Full disclosure, I was offered the entire package for my unbiased review. I'm not particularly good at reviewing products, and my patience to learn every in-and-out of the software has grown shorter with age. That said, I am happy to use it as an every-day-driver supplement and, given my practical uses and experiences, while letting everyone know my thoughts. I have not connected the rear camera, the hardwire kit, or tested out the handheld feature of the camera. If I get around to doing so, I will update my review.

Admittedly, one month is not enough time to provide a long-term review on reliability or durability, but for the nearly 4 weeks that I've had it, I am impressed in several ways.

Pros:

• Fast Boot: It's recording in less than 5 seconds after applying power. Faster than any of my other dash cameras.
• Phenomenal audio quality: Better than all my others to date.
• Seamless one-touch firmware updates via wifi/app: So much easier than the SD card method.
• Voice commands work: Really well too. I thought it'd be gimmicky, but turns out it works so well, I've not had any false positives.
• Form factor: I like how small it is, and how the window mount attaches. It's neither obtrusive nor particularly flashy/noisy. It was hard to find a vacant spot on my windshield due to my other camera. Picking a spot that isn't blocked by something (i.e. mirror, radar detector, visor, other cameras) was tricky because of the 360 view. Something will always be blocking a portion of the view.
• WIFI I'm late to the game on 5ghz wifi cameras, so the speed of the connection was really a nice improvement over what I had used in the past. The device also powers up the WIFI automatically on each startup, but then shuts it off after a few minutes of no connectivity. While this may be preferred, it can also be a disadvantage if a previously connected device automatically connects to it. This may be an option that can be turned off - I have not looked.
• Video stitching: It really does a fantastic job stitching the two cameras together. The border is almost imperceptible.
• App: The Android app has a nice fit and finish. The PC app is nearly 500mb and causes my PC to lock up. Vantrue offered some troubleshooting, but I haven't had the time to dig into it.
• Reliability: In the limited time I've used it, the unit has powered up and indicated recording every time. I have only once pulled the SD card to view original files on a PC. I did have some random boot looping after a firmware update, but after power-cycling the unit, the problem resolved completely.
• Customer service: So far, it's been top-notch. Including the initial request to review the e360, I've had 20 email exchanges with Vantrue with a list of questions. They've responded within hours, in clear, fluent English (not sure if they have a US office or are using AI to polish the replies but they are perfect).
• Device interface: My old eyes cannot read most of the text on the small display without strong cheaters, but what data is there is minimalistic, but well placed. I particularly like the large GPS speed that is easily viewable from all occupant positions. The touch screen is a nice feature, and the menu layout is intuitive.

That said, following are the concerns I discussed with Vantrue. My comments are based on how they addressed each of them. I don't think any of these are deal breakers as an auxiliary panoramic camera. But for me, this could not be a true replacement primary dash camera because of the inability to read license plates.

Concerns:

• Clarity and detail of images: Even at the 5.2K resolution, there isn't enough clarity to read a tag of a vehicle directly in front of my car (<10') at a light, in the day, under ideal conditions. If your intent is to use this camera as a daily driver in hopes of grabbing a hit-and-run tag, look elsewhere. If it's to catch everything in and around the car to know what happened (but you're relying on a dedicated higher resolution camera for tags), then this fits a nice niche. This appears to be a hardware limit according to Vantrue
• Playback and downloading is cumbersome: The Android app in its current form does not allow a video to be directly downloaded to phone storage. It is first queued in some application-specific temporary director (which is inaccessible to other Android apps). In order to make the file visible to the rest of the device, you must first "sync" the file. Vantrue states that this is due to Android security restrictions (I'm currently on 14). However, my Viofo app will directly download to storage, where it's visible to all my other apps.
• Android app resolution is fixed: This is nit-picking but, my aftermarket headunit is running Android 13 on a 1280x800 resolution screen (in horizontal mode). Because the app is written for vertical use, the "next" button lies below the bottom edge of the screen - making it inaccessible, and impossible to use on the headunit.
• Firmware updates clear all settings: Maybe that's par for the course. But it's quite something to have to set up everything after an update. Vantrue even recommends formatting the SD card after an update. I didn't, but I also had boot-loops until I power cycled.
• GPS/telemetry data not available while viewing clips on the camera: You must first download the clip to the phone to be able to view trip telemetry. This is due to security restrictions, apparently.
• Playback of clips via wifi is noticeably pixelated: Vantrue says this is done due to the limited bandwidth of 5GHz wifi, and they opted for lower quality for more fluid playback. Understandable, but would be nice to have an option to choose video quality over fluidity.
• HDR is underperforming for inside views: Apparently the processing used to apply HDR when using the 360 view struggles to compensate for a darker interior (even during bright daylight). Vantrue says it is better when using the two cameras separately - but that defeats the purpose of the 360, IMHO.

I am grateful that Vantrue trusted me to provide a review - and I'll be happy to answer any questions that I didn't address above. Overall, I think this is great little device. However, given how spoiled I've become with the higher resolution front cameras, not being able to read a tag in even perfect, stationary conditions is a deal breaker for me. In every other aspect, it's more than adequate and a recommend.