Decking
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2018
- Messages
- 315
- Reaction score
- 132
- Country
- United Kingdom
Firstly a big thank you to Jeff and Vantrue, some months ago they reached out asking if I would like to partake in the N4pro trials. The unit has now arrived along with some very wet weather, and I would like to give my first impressions.
I received yesterday 8/12/23 the boxed dashcam ,Sd card, CPL (polarised filter), hard wire kit. Yes foc in return for some honest opinions, good or bad. This is my first ever review of such a product and I hope that someone finds it useful.
Straight out of the box,
What I did notice was the size of the unit, a hand full indeed, coming in at 208g compared to my Nextbase 522GW at a slight 125g. To cope with the weight there is electrostatic film, followed by adhesive promoter to ensure a good bond between windscreen and gps mount. A 3.2”screen and control buttons make it easy to setup. The gps mount, like the Nextbase 522 is magnetic, but easier to disengage but a snug solid fit incorporating the main power socket which is type C-usb.
The sd card fits snuggly into the end and is capable of taking a 512GB card.
The 40mm CPL screws directly to the front of the lense with movement to adjust and remove glare.
Power is supplied via the car charger which has a type C-usb built in. There are two hard wire kits available one with timers but both have low power protection, these are purchased separately to suit your own requirements.
The rear camera is small, light and plastic. Attached to the front of the vehicle with what looks like a very heavy weight cable, thick. A pity really, finer and lighter would have been much easier to hide. So it’s probably built to a standard.
Overall, the camera unit looks extremely well built, the rear one is quite flimsy but I think functional, as once installed there would be no need to touch it again.
Set up.
Once the camera is powered up and synchronised with your phone, set up can be done through your phone. But this is where I struggled, there where a couple of Vantrue apps within Apple store and it didn’t identify which was needed. My old iPhone struggled with the wifi setup. I can only hope this becomes easier with time and practice. But once I got there, it was so easy to use, even updating the firmware to the two cameras was extremely easy and quick. I know there has been a flurry of updates as a very dedicated team of testers have brought new things to the table and Vantrue are taking it onboard making the alterations as necessary to provide a better product. (You can see the work being put in by visiting the Vantrue N4pro forum, along with numerous product pictures and video clips).
Testing.
Once the weather settles I’ll fit the dashcam and do some comparisons. Okay, I can hear you saying that there is no comparison between a 5 year old Nextbase 522GW, 2 channel, 2k setup and a new Vantrue N4 pro, 3 channel, 4k setup. But that’s all I’ve got, some 4k are not all they seem, some 2k are very good. So we’ll see what happens on the road .
I received yesterday 8/12/23 the boxed dashcam ,Sd card, CPL (polarised filter), hard wire kit. Yes foc in return for some honest opinions, good or bad. This is my first ever review of such a product and I hope that someone finds it useful.
Straight out of the box,
What I did notice was the size of the unit, a hand full indeed, coming in at 208g compared to my Nextbase 522GW at a slight 125g. To cope with the weight there is electrostatic film, followed by adhesive promoter to ensure a good bond between windscreen and gps mount. A 3.2”screen and control buttons make it easy to setup. The gps mount, like the Nextbase 522 is magnetic, but easier to disengage but a snug solid fit incorporating the main power socket which is type C-usb.
The sd card fits snuggly into the end and is capable of taking a 512GB card.
The 40mm CPL screws directly to the front of the lense with movement to adjust and remove glare.
Power is supplied via the car charger which has a type C-usb built in. There are two hard wire kits available one with timers but both have low power protection, these are purchased separately to suit your own requirements.
The rear camera is small, light and plastic. Attached to the front of the vehicle with what looks like a very heavy weight cable, thick. A pity really, finer and lighter would have been much easier to hide. So it’s probably built to a standard.
Overall, the camera unit looks extremely well built, the rear one is quite flimsy but I think functional, as once installed there would be no need to touch it again.
Set up.
Once the camera is powered up and synchronised with your phone, set up can be done through your phone. But this is where I struggled, there where a couple of Vantrue apps within Apple store and it didn’t identify which was needed. My old iPhone struggled with the wifi setup. I can only hope this becomes easier with time and practice. But once I got there, it was so easy to use, even updating the firmware to the two cameras was extremely easy and quick. I know there has been a flurry of updates as a very dedicated team of testers have brought new things to the table and Vantrue are taking it onboard making the alterations as necessary to provide a better product. (You can see the work being put in by visiting the Vantrue N4pro forum, along with numerous product pictures and video clips).
Testing.
Once the weather settles I’ll fit the dashcam and do some comparisons. Okay, I can hear you saying that there is no comparison between a 5 year old Nextbase 522GW, 2 channel, 2k setup and a new Vantrue N4 pro, 3 channel, 4k setup. But that’s all I’ve got, some 4k are not all they seem, some 2k are very good. So we’ll see what happens on the road .
