Mtnears
New Member
I too received a sample Vantrue Sonnet 1 Pro to review. If companies are mailing to someone like me for reviews they really must be sending them out wide and far I do appreciate the offer and am certainly up for posting my thoughts based on that generosity.
This is my second dashcam, so I'm not a long term user here. I waited a long time to get a dashcam as I was really wanting to see some improvements and once Viofo came out with the A139 Pro with the Starvis 2 sensor I went for it and have been happy with how that has been working for me in my 2022 Ram 3500. I have a 2CH setup with a rear facing camera.
I just installed the Vantrue into the same vehicle. I figured for my first look at it I wanted to have more of a side by side comparison. For this reason I did not install the rear facing camera as it will not be the long term location for this camera (I believe). Eventually I'll move it over to the Corvette which I've been wanting to get a camera for so this works out great. You can see how I have them setup in the picture below. My plan is to drive it like this for a while and I'll do some comparison of video between the two once I get some footage.
A couple of initial comments;
This is my second dashcam, so I'm not a long term user here. I waited a long time to get a dashcam as I was really wanting to see some improvements and once Viofo came out with the A139 Pro with the Starvis 2 sensor I went for it and have been happy with how that has been working for me in my 2022 Ram 3500. I have a 2CH setup with a rear facing camera.
I just installed the Vantrue into the same vehicle. I figured for my first look at it I wanted to have more of a side by side comparison. For this reason I did not install the rear facing camera as it will not be the long term location for this camera (I believe). Eventually I'll move it over to the Corvette which I've been wanting to get a camera for so this works out great. You can see how I have them setup in the picture below. My plan is to drive it like this for a while and I'll do some comparison of video between the two once I get some footage.
A couple of initial comments;
- Packaging was nicely done, seems to be quality in that as well as in the device itself. Didn't feel any cheaper or nicer than the Viofo, both seem to be very similar in class from initial viewing,
- I wasn't sure what to expect for the size of the unit based on the pictures. I was afraid it was going to be bigger but as you can see it compares well I think to the Viofo. I'm not necessarily a fan of displays on the units, but then again I haven't had one with a display but I purposely went for one that did not have a display as I don't feel I have a need for it in the vehicle. I have it set to turn off the display after 3 minutes. That said, size wise, with a display I don't hate it either.
- The app so far seems intuitive and responsive. I do like that when you're going into the settings it automatically stops the recording whereas on the Viofo it tells you that you need to do that before going to settings. The approach Vantrue takes of just stopping it for you seems like the right path.
- I also like that you can update the firware right from the app without having to transfer the file to the card. Very convenient. Although like Viofo, they two wipe out all your settings after a firmware update. That has since changed with Viofo, hopefully Vantrue will do the same (Maybe it was part of this update I just did, I haven't looked at the release notes).
- As mentioned I didn't install the rear camera. But I did look at the cable and was disappointed to see it is the thicker cable. Really liked the thin cable that shipped with the Viofo.