Vantrue E1 Pro S Testing - Vortex Radar

Vortex Radar

Vortex Radar

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So my E1 Pro S just arrived the other day and I'm pretty excited to test this one out. Before I get to all the testing, I did a quick unboxing to cover everything that comes with the dashcam, as well as some optional accessories. Eventually I'll add this segment into a full video, but here's a quick look at that in the meantime.

 
Looking forward to your full review! What an exciting moment!! 🎉
 
I've been spending some time measuring parking mode power draw on the bench before getting to road testing. I've got it connected with a VP03 (II) hardwire cable.

Looking at the numbers, it make sense that as we start reducing how often the dashcam grabs a still frame, power draw drops accordingly.

1792715997419.webp


The AOV ones are interesting to watch on the multimeter. The power draw is generally pretty low, but spikes every 1-2 sec as it takes another image, then it drops back down. The numbers I show above are the average power draw over time.

The collision detection mode has the lowest power draw since it doesn't take any images at all. Its power draw is comparable to the E1 Pro idling in collision detection with power saving enabled, but this one should boot up way faster. I'm looking forward to getting to the startup time comparisons.
 
Vortex Radar said:
I've been spending some time measuring parking mode power draw on the bench before getting to road testing. I've got it connected with a VP03 (II) hardwire cable.

Looking at the numbers, it make sense that as we start reducing how often the dashcam grabs a still frame, power draw drops accordingly.

View attachment 95134

The AOV ones are interesting to watch on the multimeter. The power draw is generally pretty low, but spikes every 1-2 sec as it takes another image, then it drops back down. The numbers I show above are the average power draw over time.

The collision detection mode has the lowest power draw since it doesn't take any images at all. Its power draw is comparable to the E1 Pro idling in collision detection with power saving enabled, but this one should boot up way faster. I'm looking forward to getting to the startup time comparisons.
Click to expand...
Very interesting that the low bitrate for 1080p and 720p are almost negligible in power draw, one may as well select 1080p.

AOV for 1fps collision detection isn't near their claims of 0.4W, but 1.15W isn't something to sneeze at either,.still decent figures.
 
Augustus said:
AOV for 1fps collision detection isn't near their claims of 0.4W
Click to expand...
I remember reading that in pre-release info. Have they made that claim in public?
 
TonyM said:
I remember reading that in pre-release info. Have they made that claim in public?
Click to expand...
It's what they quoted in pre-release, so it is still a reference point to base power usage on at this current time. Power consumption may improve in future firmware updates, it may not, wherever it is quoted.
 
So I'm collecting sample footage from my E1 Pro S before flying out to SEMA and here's a sample of the AOV set to 1 spf with collision detection. Timing it alongside my T340 set to auto event detection, it takes just 0.6 sec to switch from timelapse to normal recording after an impact is detected. That's even better than the ~1 sec that we see from the best low power parking recording options. Obviously this draws more power than true low power modes, but this looks like a nice compromise if you'd still like some recording prior to an event.


Overall I'm liking this new model. Video quality overall is pretty great too. Seems like a pretty solid contender for best front only dashcam...
 
The E1Pro S is my main camera ATM, though i also only have 2 systems in the car.
Seem like Vueroid forgotten me again, which i cant blame them as my camouflage is top noch, TBH i doubt i would show up on thermal. 😆
 
I really like the AOV parking mode on the E1 Pro S. I left it running in my car at 2spf last week while I was away on vacation and it recorded for 6.5 days until the voltage cutoff on the hardwire kit. None of my dashcams have recorded continuously for anywhere near that long when powered by my car battery - perhaps 2 days at best.
 
I’m also impressed with the AOV parking mode, I’ve been using it on 1spf. Picture quality is very good and it’s fast to react to any impact on the car body or window.
 
The Vantrue dedicated battery looks attractive.

Pros:
- Price.
- Increased capacity.
- Support for the USB-C PD (input/output) with a 100W power rating
- Bluetooth and a mobile app.

Cons:
- There is no option to adjust the charging current; when charging from a vehicle’s onboard electrical system (12V), and the power is limited to 60W.
(When charging in a car using a 100W USB-C PD cable, its limited length becomes a limiting factor.)

In my view, given that Vantrue is entering a market already saturated with similar products, the company could have offered a solution based on Lithium-Titanate (LTO) or Sodium-Ion (Na+) battery technology.
Such technologies would allow the device to operate effectively throughout the entire year — including at temperatures below zero.
 
GPak said:
The Vantrue dedicated battery looks attractive.

Pros:
- Price.
- Increased capacity.
- Support for the USB-C PD (input/output) with a 100W power rating
- Bluetooth and a mobile app.

Cons:
- There is no option to adjust the charging current; when charging from a vehicle’s onboard electrical system (12V), and the power is limited to 60W.
(When charging in a car using a 100W USB-C PD cable, its limited length becomes a limiting factor.)

In my view, given that Vantrue is entering a market already saturated with similar products, the company could have offered a solution based on Lithium-Titanate (LTO) or Sodium-Ion (Na+) battery technology.
Such technologies would allow the device to operate effectively throughout the entire year — including at temperatures below zero.
Click to expand...
They would but I don't even think EVs have that battery tech yet, only giant batteries for businesses from CATL etc. only saw one power home station from Bluetti? That has sodium ion

Going to be a few years. I just hope Vantrue and other manufacturers can make the LiPo cells denser so they can fit more capacity in the same footprint, that's already happening with Anker for example.
 
GPak said:
The Vantrue dedicated battery looks attractive.

Pros:
- Price.
- Increased capacity.
- Support for the USB-C PD (input/output) with a 100W power rating
- Bluetooth and a mobile app.

Cons:
- There is no option to adjust the charging current; when charging from a vehicle’s onboard electrical system (12V), and the power is limited to 60W.
(When charging in a car using a 100W USB-C PD cable, its limited length becomes a limiting factor.)

In my view, given that Vantrue is entering a market already saturated with similar products, the company could have offered a solution based on Lithium-Titanate (LTO) or Sodium-Ion (Na+) battery technology.
Such technologies would allow the device to operate effectively throughout the entire year — including at temperatures below zero.
Click to expand...
Hey sir, We’ve already tested sodium-ion batteries, but they weren’t ultimately adopted due to stability issues. Regarding the cable length limitation, we will officially provide cables of different lengths to meet various usage scenarios. The overall size of the battery, combined with our accessories, allows it to be securely fixed inside the car’s center console.

But I’m curious what this means why do we need to adjust the charging current?
 
Jeff_Vantrue said:
Hey sir, We’ve already tested sodium-ion batteries, but they weren’t ultimately adopted due to stability issues. Regarding the cable length limitation, we will officially provide cables of different lengths to meet various usage scenarios. The overall size of the battery, combined with our accessories, allows it to be securely fixed inside the car’s center console.

But I’m curious what this means why do we need to adjust the charging current?
Click to expand...
Most (if not all) dashcam batteries currently on the market offer two charging modes: low-current (approximately 5A — for connection via a cigarette lighter socket) and high-current (approximately 9A — for connection via the fuse box).
A 9A current at 12.8 V provides a charging power of up to 115W.
This is roughly double what Vanture offers — 60W (or approximately 4.7 A at 12.8 V).
In essence, 60W corresponds to the low-power mode found in most dedicated batteries on the market.
Thus, over a given period of driving time, a Vantrue battery will recover only half the amount of energy that most batteries currently on the market would gain when charged at a high current.

Why does this matter?
For most people, the commute to say work takes a relatively short amount of time, around 10–30 minutes—after which the vehicle sits parked at the workplace for an extended period.
Many of the complaints on this forum stem from the fact that the battery does not have enough time to charge during the drive to cover the power needs while parked, which makes it necessary to charge the battery at home.
 
Augustus said:
They would but I don't even think EVs have that battery tech yet, only giant batteries for businesses from CATL etc. only saw one power home station from Bluetti? That has sodium ion

Going to be a few years. I just hope Vantrue and other manufacturers can make the LiPo cells denser so they can fit more capacity in the same footprint, that's already happening with Anker for example.
Click to expand...
I think, current LTO technology will never become a mainstream solution for electric vehicles due to its low energy density.
Nevertheless, it is still finding use in specific niches—for example, in public transport, forklifts, and so on.
Sodium-ion battery technology is developing rapidly and is already beginning to be used in some electric vehicles.
As for lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries, while they already offer the best energy density, they are also the least safe and are risky for use in vehicles unintended.

In my view, both LTO cells and Sodium-ion cells are well-suited for use in a dashcam battery.
Spoiler:
In about a week, I’ll start a new thread showing very simple, DIY battery packs based on Sodium-ion cells and LTO cells.
 
GPak said:
Most (if not all) dashcam batteries currently on the market offer two charging modes: low-current (approximately 5A — for connection via a cigarette lighter socket) and high-current (approximately 9A — for connection via the fuse box).
A 9A current at 12.8 V provides a charging power of up to 115W.
This is roughly double what Vanture offers — 60W (or approximately 4.7 A at 12.8 V).
In essence, 60W corresponds to the low-power mode found in most dedicated batteries on the market.
Thus, over a given period of driving time, a Vantrue battery will recover only half the amount of energy that most batteries currently on the market would gain when charged at a high current.

Why does this matter?
For most people, the commute to say work takes a relatively short amount of time, around 10–30 minutes—after which the vehicle sits parked at the workplace for an extended period.
Many of the complaints on this forum stem from the fact that the battery does not have enough time to charge during the drive to cover the power needs while parked, which makes it necessary to charge the battery at home.
Click to expand...
Right now, charging through the car outlet is limited to 60W because going above that can cause the battery to overheat while driving. In our testing, higher charging speeds did show a risk of high temperatures.

Since the car is constantly moving and vibrating while you’re driving, the extra heat from fast charging makes it difficult to safely support anything above 60W through the car charger.

If some guys don’t drive for very long each day, we’d recommend topping it up through the 100W PD fast-charging port when needed.
 
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