The E3 simultaneously records the front cabin and rear at 1944P+1080P+1080P/30FPS. Each camera’s video is saved to a separate file, conveniently named with the date, time, and camera (A, B, or C). The front and rear cameras have a 160° field of view, and the inside camera has a 165° field of view. The main camera has a Sony Starvis IMX335 500M sensor w/ Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) technology which automatically balances exposure.
The cabin camera utilizes four infrared LED lights for low-light conditions. When these are needed, the camera will record in black and white. The cabin camera’s field of view is wide enough to capture both occupants even when mounted on the passenger side of the windshield.
The rear camera utilizes HDR (High Dynamic Range) multi-exposure technology, which works very well. The rear camera also has an LED indicator that shows it’s on.
The voice control feature works phenomenally well. You can say things like Take Photo, Turn on WIFI, Lock the Video, Show Front Camera, Show Rear Camera, Inside video on, turn off screen. I show this in action at the end of the sample footage video. It’s wonderful.
The next great feature is the remote control. It has two buttons, one is to turn on/off voice recording, and the other is to take a photo and lock the current video. I mounted the controller next to the radio. The next time someone does something stupid, and you want to save the video, press the button.
The Element 3 supports up to a 512 GB microSD card, which can include up to 40 hours of seamless loop recording of all three cameras. 512 GB is very impressive, as most of my other dashcams were limited to 32 GB. You can select 1, 3, or 5-minute loops for the video.
The Auto Emergency Lock feature is a must-have for a dashcam. The G-Sensor is triggered when the dash cam automatically detects a sudden shake/collision. When this occurs, it will lock the footage and move the video to the Event folder to prevent it from being overwritten. I really like the fact that locked videos have a separate folder. I did have to change the sensitivity setting, as the default triggered when crossing bridges, railroad tracks, and large potholes. I like this setting, as with past dashcams, this feature was hard to test.
The VANTRUE Element 3 Time Lapse feature will automatically take photos at specified intervals and edit them together to a video clip, significantly saving space for your memory card. This is also great for parking monitoring.
A separate feature, the 24/7 Parking Guard with Low-light Night Vision has four parking monitoring modes to guard your car while parking. (The dash cam should be hardwired to use the parking mode, and hardwire kits sold separately). The modes are: Buffered Motion Detection, Collision Detection, Low Bitrate Recording, and Low Frame Rate Recording.
The Vantrue Element dashcams are equipped with dual GPS system module. This feature will record your driving route and speed. Using your phone or computer and the Vantrue Cam App or Vantrue player, you can track your route when play back videos on your phone or computer.
To download a video in the app to your phone, you first select download, then once downloaded, you have to tap sync, which will then download to your photos. It makes sense once you think about it, but a single button to do this would be nice.
Hands-in Review from The Gadgeteer
The cabin camera utilizes four infrared LED lights for low-light conditions. When these are needed, the camera will record in black and white. The cabin camera’s field of view is wide enough to capture both occupants even when mounted on the passenger side of the windshield.
The rear camera utilizes HDR (High Dynamic Range) multi-exposure technology, which works very well. The rear camera also has an LED indicator that shows it’s on.
The voice control feature works phenomenally well. You can say things like Take Photo, Turn on WIFI, Lock the Video, Show Front Camera, Show Rear Camera, Inside video on, turn off screen. I show this in action at the end of the sample footage video. It’s wonderful.
The next great feature is the remote control. It has two buttons, one is to turn on/off voice recording, and the other is to take a photo and lock the current video. I mounted the controller next to the radio. The next time someone does something stupid, and you want to save the video, press the button.
The Element 3 supports up to a 512 GB microSD card, which can include up to 40 hours of seamless loop recording of all three cameras. 512 GB is very impressive, as most of my other dashcams were limited to 32 GB. You can select 1, 3, or 5-minute loops for the video.
The Auto Emergency Lock feature is a must-have for a dashcam. The G-Sensor is triggered when the dash cam automatically detects a sudden shake/collision. When this occurs, it will lock the footage and move the video to the Event folder to prevent it from being overwritten. I really like the fact that locked videos have a separate folder. I did have to change the sensitivity setting, as the default triggered when crossing bridges, railroad tracks, and large potholes. I like this setting, as with past dashcams, this feature was hard to test.
The VANTRUE Element 3 Time Lapse feature will automatically take photos at specified intervals and edit them together to a video clip, significantly saving space for your memory card. This is also great for parking monitoring.
A separate feature, the 24/7 Parking Guard with Low-light Night Vision has four parking monitoring modes to guard your car while parking. (The dash cam should be hardwired to use the parking mode, and hardwire kits sold separately). The modes are: Buffered Motion Detection, Collision Detection, Low Bitrate Recording, and Low Frame Rate Recording.
The Vantrue Element dashcams are equipped with dual GPS system module. This feature will record your driving route and speed. Using your phone or computer and the Vantrue Cam App or Vantrue player, you can track your route when play back videos on your phone or computer.
To download a video in the app to your phone, you first select download, then once downloaded, you have to tap sync, which will then download to your photos. It makes sense once you think about it, but a single button to do this would be nice.
Hands-in Review from The Gadgeteer