I've tested dozens of dash cams, and this one has been my favourite
Dash cams are one of the most popular motoring accessories, and there's absolutely dozens to choose from.
Prices start at less than £20 for a basic device, and they can easily cost in excess of £500 if you want all the bells and whistles. They also come in all shapes and sizes, but in my own little fleet of cars I always find myself drawn to the smaller dash cams.
I also like a bit of simplicity. I've tested numerous dash cams that offer smart features and it's fair to say they can be hit and miss. That's if they're not a challenge to set up properly.
READ MORE: I'm a motoring writer and this is what I'm excited about in the Halfords Black Friday deals
So I usually just pick out the smallest, simplest dash cam for a sensible price, and it's a formula that's always worked well.
Apple TV release MLS Season Pass worldwide and announce free opening weekend
With that in mind, I present to you the Viofo WM1. It's my current favourite dash cam, and the one I've put in a sports car I bought recently.
It's very compact, it has a 2K Quad HD processor with a Sony Starvis sensor and it can be had for £100 on a Black Friday deal on Amazon. That's quite a bargain for a premium dash cam, and it's a saving of nearly £25 over the list price.
Viofo is forging a solid reputation for making some excellent road-trip monitoring tech, and there's a wide range of dashcams available in its line-up - but they refer to this one as a "stealth" dashcam.
And that's because it's brutally minimalist. It's one of the smallest dashcams I've tested, it has just four key buttons, no display, and it's diminutive enough to hide behind a rear-view mirror, out of sight.
The lack of display won't suit everyone, but I never really look at them anyway. I just find them distracting, so it's not a problem for me.
There's no battery installed either, and it mounts to the windscreen with a sticky pad rather than a suction cup, but this will be a bonus to some. You just need to be very careful when placing it.
I do like the fact the USB-C power cable attaches to the mount rather than the dashcam itself though, it's a clever touch.
Don't be fooled into thinking the WM1's small size makes for fewer features entirely, though. Besides that trick sensor, which really does give great image quality, it has GPS built-in and a G-sensor, and there's three parking modes.
These modes use AI to keep watch on the vehicle's surroundings all the time, as long as it's hard-wired with a kit available from Viofo's website.
Setting this up will give you automatic event detection, time-lapse recording, and low bitrate recording.
Woman's blood boils as date stands her up over her response to innuendo text
Other accessories you can acquire to enhance the package are a polarising filter, which is great for cutting glare, and a Bluetooth button to give you remote control for the recording mode.
The lack of display does mean there's no instant playback from the device, of course, and that's fine because the Viofo app is very good, and the WM1 connects up quickly over its built-in WiFi.
Messages and notifications are delivered to the driver by a built-in voice system, which is one of the less annoying ones, and it means you don't have to check the app to ensure the recording has started, or if the SD card is functioning fine.
Simplicity is the name of the game when it comes to the Viofo WM1. It's great to have a dashcam that can be setup once and then forgotten about.
Too many sensors and it can become annoying and difficult to find an ideal configuration. The WM1 is great at just being a dashcam. And, while it might lack a display and some other trick sensors, its video quality is what justifies its price.
If you want a quality dashcam without the bells and whistles, this might just be the one for you.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
