DrekiTech
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2015
- Messages
- 276
- Reaction score
- 247
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
- Country
- Canada
- Dash Cam
- A129
Please note: Surfola sent a sample from their Amazon stock for this review.
Quick Summary:
This is a dual channel dashcam with 1440p30 front + 1080p30 rear. It's in the budget (<$100) class, and at time of review was featured for $99 CAD - $20 Coupon = $80 CAD ($65 USD). One of my main concerns when making the video was that this is a battery based camera (similar to 70mai), so it may not last as long as a capacitor based camera. Regardless of this, the camera is surprisingly performant for the price point, and refined enough that I think Surfola is not actually a new company at making dashcams. I was later able to prove this theory and they are related to Apeman. I'm also happy that they are not trying to pass off this camera as real 4K like some other budget brands using this sensor. If you're after a basic dashcam with no app/wifi/fuss; and want the cheapest product that can perform for video quality, this seems like a good option. Although, long term, it's always hard to say if the battery will survive, or if the company will survive.
Specs:
Sensor: IMX335 Front
Processor: Novatek (best guess)
Wi-Fi: NO
Touch Screen: NO
Capacitor: NO
GPS: Not included
What I liked:
- Build quality is better than expected for the price
- USB type C
- Decent overall daylight video
- Good audio quality
- Acceptable night video
- Magnetic mount is great
What I Did Not Like:
- Video sharpness is too high
- Video compression is too high
- Battery instead of capacitor (and difficult to open the cam in case of replacement)
- Thick USB-C wire for rear camera makes it a bit harder to tuck cables during installation
A few other notes:
- The camera is quite bulky, I have not had a dashcam this big in a while
- I cannot test temperature reliability as it is winter here
![Front-2.jpg Front-2.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59719-153b7e05b807faccc425e0ee97d56719.jpg?hash=FTt-BbgH-s)
![Front-5.jpg Front-5.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59720-076ab2cd8f24805f55ef0784bbb3812f.jpg?hash=B2qyzY8kgF)
![comp-1.jpg comp-1.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59721-f63fa31bec3a59b3fa1ce135d019f89c.jpg?hash=9j-jG-w6Wb)
![Front-3.jpg Front-3.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59722-3a8e93bfcec9c93dae8a3ec4e0c85531.jpg?hash=Oo6Tv87JyT)
![comp-0.jpg comp-0.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59723-2122d52c33f22e00b173a01e1ff0635c.jpg?hash=ISLVLDPyLg)
![comp2.jpg comp2.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59724-0b3498100422b728b02e83454d3d69b3.jpg?hash=CzSYEAQity)
![rear-1.jpg rear-1.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59725-b1da40ef01eaff20c86dfa85e781b9b7.jpg?hash=sdpA7wHq_y)
![rear-2.jpg rear-2.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59726-e190c068a6354c941b13d602dd0f5fd1.jpg?hash=4ZDAaKY1TJ)
![Front-1.jpg Front-1.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59718-284d9c974293b37387abc0c8a61c5210.jpg?hash=KE2cl0KTs3)
![Front-4.jpg Front-4.jpg](https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/data/attachments/59/59727-19b2975b7995d8a5f9ae13d8811bcdc9.jpg?hash=GbKXW3mV2K)