Buying a car is a major decision, and you'll want to do everything you can to protect your investment. Oh! Oh god! Oh! What the... That guy just hit me! Good thing I caught his license plate on one of my uh many trusty dash cams. This one's kind of crap. This one too. Well, surely my expensive one will... Oh, come on! This is unusable! What the heck is going on here? I spent over a thousand US dollars on a dozen of the top rated dash cams on Amazon, and almost every single one sucks to the point of being basically unusable. How did this happen? I did my homework. I got the most recommended. I got the highest rated units. I thought I picked up something reliable. Why aren't these things decent? Like our sponsor. Build Redux. Build Redux makes it easy to configure your new build with support guides to help along the way. They also offer competitive pricing as compared to building a PC yourself. So head to buildredux.com/linus and start your new build today. This video started over three years ago when my wife came across some hilarious examples of blatant insurance fraud that was prevented by dash cam footage. She asked me to get some dash cams for our cars. No problem, said I. And I headed over to Amazon where to my surprise, nearly everything was obscenely priced, full of misleading specs, covered in obviously paid reviews, or sometimes all three. Long story short, I settled on a cheap and cheerful unit with decent reviews and bought two of them, not one of which even managed to power on. So, I gave up. Then, one of our new writers overheard me recounting this story and went, I can look into that. I need a dash cam too. And two weeks later, we've learned a lot. To start with, the dash cam market is still not as straightforward as one might hope. Marketing materials for cheaper dash cams can be confusing and contradictory, and their performance is basically impossible to compare without trying them side by side in the real world. Dash cams take all the issues of reviewing a regular camera and they add on a ton of extra usability features that need to be evaluated. Parking mode, discreetness, loop recording, gravity sensors, even the length of the cable matters. Too long and you've got an unsightly coil of wire to hide, too short and it could be a challenge to reach your power source. It's a lot to take in. The good news is that if all you want is proof of fault or lack thereof in the event of an accident, it's still pretty hard to go wrong. Our value pick is the Thinkware F70. It's pretty bare bones in terms of features, lacking creature comforts like GPS data or even a screen for that matter, but it is dead simple to set up since it doesn't need to be paired to an app. The included 3M mounting tape is quite permanent, and while it won't be winning any awards for image quality, we were able to clearly identify the vehicles and people in our footage, and we could even make out license plates, at least on stationary cars. That's pretty okay, especially for just $70 US dollars. But there were situations where it left us wanting a bit more. Now, our target price was under $100 and we ended up with a wide range of features and image quality. So let's make our way through the rest of them from cheapest to most expensive. This is the A20 from Biuone, a brand with no website, but they do have the lucky number eight spot in the Amazon best seller's list. You might not expect much for $60, and if that's the case, boy are you ever a savvy shopper. Image quality during the late hours of the day is lacking, and at night is so bad that you'd think you were filming on a potato. Making matters worse, the screen doesn't automatically dim, so you'll be constantly, vibrantly reminded of how little useful information your camera is capturing. The B-T13 comes in at $10 more, ranks number six on Amazon, and just like the Biuone, it comes courtesy of a mystery meat brand with no website. This time called Chortau. It's not that hard to have a website, guys. I've got one. It's full of great deals like these $9 mystery cable ties. lttstore.com. Daylight quality is grainier than the A20 for sure, but text is actually slightly easier to read, indicating that Chortau might be using a better sensor. But what they aren't doing is much in the way of post-processing to enhance the image quality, and this is especially apparent at night where the A20 actually looks somewhat decent in comparison. Also, like the Biuone, the screen stays on by default, annoying, but one interesting feature it has at least is that the rear camera input is mini HDMI. So, if you wanted to use a decent camera for your rear view, the Chortau could act as your screen and save your backups. Otherwise, we stand by our recommendation of the Thinkware F70 at this price, and at $80 for that matter. These two chunky boys didn't make it into our side-by-side tests due to their considerable bulk. Both have cabin-facing cameras though, so realistically, they're designed more for an Uber driver audience anyway. The T1 comes from iiwey, the first manufacturer with an actual website. And in broad daylight, driving away from the sun, like ideal conditions, it can't seem to make out the words on many road signs, let alone other important details. Not a good showing for the second highest rated unit with a cabin camera. Chunker number two is the D30H from Pruveeo. They claim it's a 4K camera, which if true could be a really great value. But out of the box, the metadata for the files clearly reads 1080p. With that aside, in the daylight, it can read signs, which is an improvement over the Biuone and the iiwey, but license plates are still elusive unless at a complete stop and positioned just right. One cool feature though is that it uses capacitors instead of lithium batteries, unlike the rest of the cameras we've talked about already. This is a nice to have because lithium batteries, especially when subjected to heat, and when they are constantly fully charged, wear out more quickly, which can lead to battery swelling and in extreme cases, fire. Let's step up our budget. Surely for $100, this sponsored listing for the Rexing V1 4K will be a good choice, right? I mean, it has 4K right in the name, right? And Forbes named it the best dash cam for a tighter budget of 2022. Let's see how that's going. Actually, not too bad, Forbes. Looking at the videos from around dusk, it is slightly clearer than our $70 F70, but only slightly. Field of view, colors, ability to make out text, all of that is pretty much the same, which means that unless you really need the screen, it doesn't feel worth spending 43% more. Maybe Garmin can change my mind. They used to be very well known for their GPS offerings. Their compact Dash Cam Mini 2 was a little out of our price range at $110, but hey, what's 10 extra bucks for the much better brand name one, right? Well, not right, but at least not wrong. It performs about as well as the V1 4K, maybe a bit better or worse depending on the circumstances, and it has some nice features available, but those features require an app, and that app requires an account, and that account requires you to give Garmin your information, which is super. Now, surely the number one pick on Amazon is going to ride in and save the day, right? At $120, it is now firmly beyond our original price target, but what's another 10 bucks if it's a lot better, right? Here we go. Really? At dusk, the Rove R2 4K manages to capture less detail than our budget F70. And at night, it's more of the same. Signs are readable sometimes, if you're lucky. But there is one last hope. It's the darling of budget dash cam stans across the internet, and it happens to nail our $100 budget exactly. It boasts true 1440p recording with easy and secure mounting, and comes from a manufacturer that accepts community feedback and maintains their products through firmware updates. It's even popular enough to get into the top 20 on Amazon. And it's the Viofo A119 V3. All of which sounds great, but what about the image quality? I mean, in fairness, it is the best we've seen so far, especially when it comes to the finer details, and it's $20 cheaper than some of the competition. But I can't help but be a little disappointed. It just feels like no matter which brand we buy and no matter how much we spend, we're ending up with pretty much the same crappy image, even from our best camera. So, let's do something I wouldn't actually recommend and completely blow our budget. These are the BlackVue DR750X Plus and the Thinkware U1000. The DR750X is BlackVue's second most expensive one-channel dash cam at $270 US. It has dual-band Wi-Fi, a back-illuminated image sensor with enhanced night vision, and support for LTE cloud storage backup. And the Thinkware U1000, well, that's Thinkware's flagship device, the best of the best. 150-degree viewing angle, 1440p 60fps recording, geofencing with push notifications, red light camera detection, and picture quality that... Oh, come on! The BlackVue is as bad as the crappy Chinese cameras, and the U1000 is barely better than the A119 V3, if at all. It does have some creature comforts. I mean, I guess it's nice that it tells me when there's a red light camera coming up ahead. Red light camera in 200m. So that I can stop at it instead of just blowing through like I normally would. I mean, this thing's going to pay for itself in saved traffic tickets. And the geofencing feature, okay, that legitimately could come in handy once my kids are old enough to drive. And maybe BlackVue's cloud storage would come in handy in case the camera got destroyed in a crash. But at more than double, up to quadruple the prices of these other options, I am frankly blown away that there's anything but a colossal improvement in the quality of capturing video out the front of my windshield. You know, the entire purpose of these devices. What is going on here? I mean, if I were to put a $400 GoPro in my car instead of one of these cameras, it would look amazing. How are these all so bad? Well, here's a hint. You might see nine dash cams attached to this car. You know what I see? Two dash cams in nine different plastic shells. Listen to these startup chimes. Look at these default folder structures. Heck, even just look at the rear cameras that come with some of these. Noticing any similarities? The thing is, there are hundreds, if not thousands of dash cam brands, but there are only a handful of companies that actually manufacture the two most important components, the SOC and the CMOS image sensor. In SOCs, the major player is Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer Novatek, not to be confused with the Russian natural gas corporation of the same name. Their bread and butter is LCD controllers for companies like ASUS or Sony, but on the side, they also make camera SOCs like the NT96660 and the NT96655. With the numbering scheme not easily obtainable by the general public, it's hard to tell exactly what the specs of these chips are or when they were designed, but from what we could glean online, the 96660 was built sometime around or before 2017, and the last two digits appear to be the series and iteration. So, of our 10 dash cams in that near $100 range, eight of them were using Novatek SOCs, and Viofo was one of the few examples we could find of any camera using an SOC where the second to last digit was higher than six, meaning most of them are using five-year-old technology at best. Identifying a Novatek system is fairly easy. They often have the same startup sounds, or use the default backup cameras, or even have folder structures that include the name Novatek. Other manufacturers of SOCs include HiSilicon from Huawei, Thinkware's manufacturer of choice, Ambarella, and the very infrequently used Allwinner. In our limited searches, we could not seem to find the SOC manufacturers for BlackVue or Garmin products, though it's fairly likely that they're using one of these three. As for CMOS image sensors, nearly every company uses Sony Starvis, a subcategory of their Exmor sensors. Exmors are used in nearly everything from phone cameras in Apple and Samsung phones alike, to high-end consumer cameras, to the lowest-end webcams. And the Starvis line is the type that is specifically designed for security cameras and other similar applications that require decent low-light performance. The most common sensor to find in dash cams right now is the IMX335. It's a perfectly fine sensor, actually, capable of 1440p video with a reasonable enough level of clarity even in low light. The Rove and the Viofo both use this sensor. So, then you would think they would have the same image quality, right? Clearly, there's a difference, though. What it could be is something to do with Rove using its limited processing power to upscale the image to 4K. Or it could have to do with the Rove using an NT96660 processor, while the Viofo uses an evidently newer NT96670. For the several hundred dollars more that you would pay for the Thinkware U1000, you're getting a Starvis IMX334, which appears to be the next level up from the 335, totally intuitive. But the difference, as far as we've been able to see, isn't that great. If I could put it in PC gamer terms, it's kind of like upgrading your graphics card from a 3070 to a 3070 Ti, but for double or triple the price. There are a few other sensor manufacturers, like OmniVision or GalaxyCore, but these are only used occasionally, and image quality, at least going by the other reviews, doesn't seem to be a huge improvement there either. One great thing about Sony being the big kahuna in image sensors is that they're pretty open with their data sheets. So, if you know what image sensor a camera uses, you can at least find some basic information on it. But that's only going to take you so far without having information on the SOC or, probably more importantly, the software algorithms that will be running to process the raw image. The biggest takeaway here then is that no matter which dash cam you choose, there is kind of this hard limit on image quality that can be achieved at the moment. And some of the low-end models are already pretty close to that limit. So, you're either going to be settling for good enough, or, as we suggested before, you could throw a GoPro up on your windshield with all the associated inconveniences that come with that. Did I remember to roll it? And the problem is I doubt that this is going to change anytime soon because the top dash cam companies seem to be more interested in adding features, like the ability to string five cameras together or let you review your footage with full gyroscopic readouts, rather than actually making a camera that can read a bloody license plate 10 feet in front of you. So, if you're in the market for a dash cam, ignore the Amazon reviews. F70 for the budget shoppers out there, and Viofo A119 V3 for pretty much everyone else. Their video quality isn't nearly as far off the top of the line as you would think, and neither of them is going to put you at major risk of having your window smashed to steal your dash cam. If you want to add a rear cam as well, the A129 Plus or similar offerings from Viofo will allow you to do that as well, also without breaking the bank. Now, let's break our bank where our sponsor puts money. FreshBooks. 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If you enjoyed this video, our first dash cam video is a treat. You can watch Luke threaten me with a... wait, is that a crowbar? No, it's an ice scraper. I think I'll be all right. What the heck is going on here? Stop! Forward as one might hope. What the... 'Cause it's... and everything is... The included 3M mount... Keep doing it. Definition of insanity, right? Here we go. Red light camera in 200m.
A man with a beard is driving a red convertible down a tree-lined road, looking back at the camera.
"Buying a car is a major decision, and you'll want to do everything you can to protect your investment."
Setting: A paved road surrounded by forest. — Bright, natural daylight.
People (1):
• Sitting and driving., wearing black t-shirt and not visible, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Neutral expression, looking at the camera.
Text: "Buying a CAR is a MAJOR DECISION", "You want to do EVERYTHING YOU CAN", "PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT"
The driver reacts in shock as the car is seemingly hit, with bright light flashes and camera shake effects.
"Oh! Oh god! Oh! What the..."
Setting: A paved road surrounded by forest. — Bright flashes of white and purple light.
People (1):
• Recoiling from an impact., wearing black t-shirt, Brown, messy. hair — Shocked and yelling, mouth open, eyes wide.
The man gets out of a red sedan in a parking lot, looking angry and pointing at the car.
"That guy just hit me!"
Setting: An office or warehouse parking lot. — Bright, sunny daylight.
People (1):
• Standing next to the car, leaning forward., wearing black t-shirt with a graphic print and jeans, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Angry, shouting.
Text: "That guy just hit me!"
The man stands by his car, talking to the camera with a relieved but still annoyed expression. A graphic of a license plate appears.
"Good thing I caught his license plate on one of my uh many trusty dash cams."
Setting: An office or warehouse parking lot. — Bright, sunny daylight.
People (1):
• Standing next to the car., wearing black t-shirt with a graphic print and jeans, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Annoyed, looking at the camera.
Text: "Good thing caught his", "On 1 of my..."
The man sits at a computer desk, reviewing dashcam footage. He shakes his head in disappointment.
"This one's kind of crap. This one too."
Setting: An office or home office. — Soft, indoor lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting at a desk., wearing black t-shirt with graphic, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Frowning, disappointed.
Text: "This one's kinda CRAP", "This one too.."
The man continues to review footage, becoming increasingly frustrated and shouting at the screen.
"Well, surely my expensive one will... Oh, come on!"
Setting: An office or home office. — Soft, indoor lighting.
People (1):
• Leaning forward in his chair., wearing black t-shirt with graphic, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Shouting, angry expression, mouth wide open.
Text: "Surely my EXPENSIVE one...", "OH COME ON!"
A close-up on the dashcam footage shows a blurry, overexposed view of a white truck. An angry emoji appears.
"This is unusable!"
Setting: A sunny suburban road. — Harsh, bright daylight causing overexposure.
Text: "THIS IS UNUSABLE"
The man, now in a different setting, sits in a chair and speaks directly to the camera with a confused and frustrated expression, gesturing with his hands.
"What the heck is going on here?"
Setting: A studio or office. — Bright, warm studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting, leaning forward., wearing teal t-shirt with a blue graphic and not visible, Short, wavy brown hair with a beard. hair — Confused and frustrated, mouth slightly open.
A hand dumps a pile of various black dashcams onto a desk with a colorful mousepad.
"on a dozen of the top rated dash cams on Amazon, and almost every single one sucks to the point of being basically unusable."
Setting: A studio or office. — Dramatic, with blue backlighting.
People (1):
• Standing over the desk., wearing red and black plaid shirt, not visible hair — not visible
The man gestures emphatically with both hands, his face contorted in frustration as he speaks.
"almost every single one sucks to the point of being basically unusable."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting, leaning forward intensely., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Angry, yelling, eyebrows furrowed.
The man points and counts on his fingers while explaining his research process. A picture-in-picture video of his past self appears.
"I did my homework. I got the most recommended. I got the highest rated units."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Frustrated, explaining.
Text: "What Dashcam Should You Buy"
A different man with long hair sits at the same desk and introduces the sponsor.
"Build Redux. Build Redux makes it easy to configure your new build with support guides to help along the way."
Setting: A studio or office. — Bright, warm studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting at the desk, facing the camera., wearing Teal zip-up hoodie over a black t-shirt with a graphic., Long, wavy dark brown hair. hair — Smiling, friendly expression.
A screen recording shows the Build Redux website, highlighting gaming PCs and features.
Setting: Website interface
Text: "BEST GAMING PCS", "LOW PRICING", "MAX FRAME RATES", "2 YEAR WARRANTY"
The first man is back, explaining the video's origin. A dashcam video plays, showing a cyclist intentionally falling in front of a car.
"This video started over three years ago when my wife came across some hilarious examples of blatant insurance fraud that was prevented by dash cam footage."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Slightly smiling, telling a story.
Text: "Top 5 Insurance Fraud Fails"
The man continues his story. A graphic appears showing him and his wife with speech bubbles.
"She asked me to get some dash cams for our cars. No problem, said I."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Neutral expression.
Text: "Go buy me a Dashcam", "Yes dear."
A screen recording of an Amazon product page for a dashcam is shown. The price, specs, and a review are highlighted in sequence.
"nearly everything was obscenely priced, full of misleading specs, covered in obviously paid reviews, or sometimes all three."
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "$589.99", "4K Video Car Dash Camera featuring", "Had to write a review to get the SIM card"
The man explains his decision. An animated graphic of a dashcam with a winking smiley face appears on screen.
"Long story short, I settled on a cheap and cheerful unit with decent reviews and bought two of them,"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Neutral expression, explaining.
The animated dashcam graphics multiply to two, and the smiley faces turn into skulls, indicating they are broken.
"not one of which even managed to power on."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Shaking his head, disappointed.
A mysterious figure in a black hoodie with a shadowed face appears against a red background.
"I can look into that. I need a dash cam too."
Setting: Studio setting. — Dramatic top-down lighting, casting the face in shadow.
People (1):
• Standing still., wearing black hoodie, not visible hair — Completely obscured by shadow.
Text: "I can look into that", "I need a dashcam too!"
The man is back at his desk in the yellow studio, beginning to explain the findings of their research.
"To start with, the dash cam market is still not as straightforward as one might hope."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious expression.
A screen recording of an Amazon product page for a 'Kingslim' dashcam is shown. The description text is highlighted.
"Marketing materials for cheaper dash cams can be confusing and contradictory"
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "Record UHD Videos Front and Rear of You Car...simultaneously record videos in front 4K(2160p@25fps) and rear 1080P resolution..."
The man continues speaking, emphasizing his point with hand gestures.
"and their performance is basically impossible to compare without trying them side by side in the real world."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious, emphatic expression.
The man lists features while gesturing. An Amazon review about a cable being too short is shown.
"parking mode, discreetness, loop recording, gravity sensors, even the length of the cable matters."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Explaining, looking at the camera.
Text: "The rear camera cable is too short"
A person's hands are shown struggling to untangle a long black and red cable inside a car, then trying to plug a short cable into the car's power outlet.
"too long and you've got an unsightly coil of wire to hide, too short and it could be a challenge to reach your power source."
Setting: Inside a car. — Natural daylight.
People (1):
• Sitting in a car., wearing red and black plaid shirt and blue jeans, not visible hair — not visible
The man sits at his desk, reassuring the audience about the basic functionality of dashcams.
"The good news is that if all you want is proof of fault or lack thereof in the event of an accident, it's still pretty hard to go wrong."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Slight smile, reassuring tone.
A close-up shot shows a small, black, cylindrical Thinkware F70 dashcam on a colorful desk mat.
"Our value pick is the Thinkware F70. It's pretty bare bones in terms of features, lacking creature comforts like GPS data or even a screen for that matter,"
Setting: A studio desk. — Studio lighting.
A person's hand is shown installing the Thinkware F70 dashcam onto a car's windshield near the rearview mirror.
"but it is dead simple to set up since it doesn't need to be paired to an app."
Setting: Inside a car. — Natural daylight.
People (1):
• Installing device., not visible hair — not visible
The man holds up the small Thinkware F70 dashcam in his hand, showing it to the camera.
"That's pretty okay, especially for just $70 US dollars."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Pleased expression.
Text: "$70 USD"
A close-up of a white Lexus sedan's rear, showing the license plate is readable from the dashcam footage.
"But there were situations where it left us wanting a bit more."
Setting: A city street at night. — Night, with illumination from streetlights and car tail lights.
Text: "Thinkware F70"
The man gestures towards the collection of dashcams on his desk.
"So let's make our way through the rest of them from cheapest to most expensive."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Neutral, looking at camera.
A split-screen shows daytime and nighttime footage from the Biuone A20 dashcam. The nighttime footage is very dark and low quality.
"Image quality during the late hours of the day is lacking, and at night is so bad that you'd think you were filming on a potato."
Setting: City streets. — Overcast daylight on the left, very dark night on the right.
Text: "BIUONE A20"
The man makes a sarcastic, self-promotional comment, pointing to himself.
"This time called Chortau. It's not that hard to have a website, guys. I've got one."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Smirking.
Dashcam footage from the Chortau B-T13 is shown, driving on a highway on an overcast day.
"Daylight quality is grainier than the A20 for sure, but text is actually slightly easier to read, indicating that Chortau might be using a better sensor."
Setting: A highway. — Dull, overcast daylight.
Text: "CHORTAU B-T13"
A purple arrow points to the mini HDMI port on the side of the Chortau dashcam.
"Also, like the Biuone, the screen stays on by default, annoying, but one interesting feature it has at least is that the rear camera input is mini HDMI."
Setting: A studio desk. — Studio lighting.
A split-screen compares the dark, poor-quality nighttime footage of the Thinkware F70 and the washed-out, overexposed footage of the Chortau B-T13.
"Otherwise, we stand by our recommendation of the Thinkware F70 at this price, and at $80 for that matter."
Setting: A residential street at night. — Nighttime. The left side is dark with clear lights, the right side is washed out and bright.
Text: "Thinkware F70", "CHORTAU B-T13", "$80 USD"
Two large, bulky black dashcams are shown side-by-side on a wooden desk against a yellow background.
"These two chunky boys didn't make it into our side-by-side tests due to their considerable bulk."
Setting: A studio desk. — Bright studio lighting.
A three-way split screen shows the front view, the cabin view (back seats), and a cartoon of a driver in the cabin view.
"Both have cabin-facing cameras though, so realistically, they're designed more for an Uber driver audience anyway."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Explaining.
A screen recording of the iiwey website is shown, displaying a gift box and an offer to extend the warranty.
"The T1 comes from iiwey, the first manufacturer with an actual website."
Setting: Website interface
Text: "iiwey", "Register to extend the six-month warranty now!"
Dashcam footage from the iiwey T1 is shown. A green road sign is magnified, but the text on it is completely illegible and pixelated.
"it can't seem to make out the words on many road signs, let alone other important details."
Setting: A rural or suburban road. — Bright, sunny daylight.
Text: "iiwey T1"
The bulky Pruveeo D30H dashcam is shown on a wooden desk.
"Chunker number two is the D30H from Pruveeo. They claim it's a 4K camera, which if true could be a really great value."
Setting: A studio desk. — Bright studio lighting.
The man smiles wryly as a screenshot of a file's properties window is shown, with the 'Frame height' of 1080 highlighted in red.
"But out of the box, the metadata for the files clearly reads 1080p."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Smiling, eyes crinkled.
Text: "Frame height 1080"
Dashcam footage from the Pruveeo D30H shows a clear view of a road sign, which is magnified to show the text is legible.
"With that aside, in the daylight, it can read signs, which is an improvement over the Biuone and the iiwey,"
Setting: A rural or suburban road. — Bright, sunny daylight.
Text: "Pruveeo D30H"
Footage from the Pruveeo D30H shows the back of a flatbed truck. The license plate is blurry and unreadable.
"but license plates are still elusive unless at a complete stop and positioned just right."
Setting: An intersection. — Bright daylight.
Text: "Pruveeo D30H"
The man explains a technical feature, looking directly at the camera.
"One cool feature though is that it uses capacitors instead of lithium batteries, unlike the rest of the cameras we've talked about already."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Engaged, explaining.
A screen recording of an Amazon search results page shows the Rexing V1 4K dashcam as a sponsored result, with its price circled.
"Let's step up our budget. Surely for $100, this sponsored listing for the Rexing V1 4K will be a good choice, right?"
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "REXING V1 - 4K Ultra HD Car Dash Cam", "$99.99"
A screenshot of a Forbes article is shown, with the Rexing V1 4K circled as 'Best for a tighter budget'.
"I mean, it has 4K right in the name, right? And Forbes named it the best dash cam for a tighter budget of 2022."
Setting: Website interface
Text: "Best for a tighter budget", "Rexing V1 4K"
A split screen compares the dusk footage of the Rexing V1-4K and the Thinkware F70. The Rexing footage on the left is slightly brighter and clearer.
"Actually, not too bad, Forbes."
Setting: A busy city street. — Dusk, with streetlights and car lights on.
Text: "Rexing V1-4K", "Thinkware F70"
The man shrugs and shakes his head, concluding that the extra cost for the Rexing isn't justified over the Thinkware.
"Field of view, colors, ability to make out text, all of that is pretty much the same, which means that unless you really need the screen, it doesn't feel worth spending 43% more."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Shrugging, looking unimpressed.
A screen recording of an Amazon page for the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 is shown, with the product currently unavailable.
"Their compact Dash Cam Mini 2 was a little out of our price range at $110, but hey, what's 10 extra bucks for the much better brand name one, right?"
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2", "$110"
The man makes a so-so gesture with his hand while speaking.
"Well, not right, but at least not wrong."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Neutral, slightly pursed lips.
A split screen shows the Garmin Drive app on a phone, requiring a sign-in.
"and it has some nice features available, but those features require an app, and that app requires an account,"
Setting: App interface. — Digital screen glow.
Text: "GARMIN", "Sign in to your Garmin account to continue"
A screen recording of the Amazon Best Sellers page for dashcams is shown, with the #1 ranked Rove R2-4K highlighted.
"Now, surely the number one pick on Amazon is going to ride in and save the day, right?"
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "Best Sellers in Car On-Dash Mounted Cameras"
The man looks at the camera with a face of pure disbelief and disappointment after seeing the Rove footage.
"Here we go. Really?"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Eyes wide, eyebrows raised, mouth slightly open in disbelief.
A split screen compares dusk footage from the Rove R2-4K and the Thinkware F70. The Thinkware footage on the right is noticeably darker but sharper.
"At dusk, the Rove R2 4K manages to capture less detail than our budget F70."
Setting: A busy city street. — Dusk, with streetlights and car lights on.
Text: "Rove R2-4K", "Thinkware F70"
A screen recording shows a webpage titled 'Best Dash Cams of 2022'.
"But there is one last hope. It's the darling of budget dash cam stans across the internet, and it happens to nail our $100 budget exactly."
Setting: Website interface
Text: "Best Dash Cams of 2022"
A person's hand attaches the Viofo A119 V3 dashcam to the windshield. The camera is a wedge shape.
"It boasts true 1440p recording with easy and secure mounting, and comes from a manufacturer that accepts community feedback and maintains their products through firmware updates."
Setting: Inside a car. — Daylight.
People (1):
• Installing device., not visible hair — not visible
A close-up of the Viofo A119 V3 dashcam on a wooden desk.
"And it's the Viofo A119 V3. All of which sounds great, but what about the image quality?"
Setting: A studio desk. — Bright studio lighting.
Dashcam footage from the Viofo A119 V3 is shown at dusk. The image is relatively clear and detailed.
"I mean, in fairness, it is the best we've seen so far, especially when it comes to the finer details, and it's $20 cheaper than some of the competition."
Setting: A busy city street. — Dusk, with streetlights and car lights.
Text: "Viofo A119 V3"
A three-way split screen compares nighttime footage from the Chortau, Biuone, and Rexing dashcams, all showing poor quality.
"But I can't help but be a little disappointed. It just feels like no matter which brand we buy and no matter how much we spend, we're ending up with pretty much the same crappy image,"
Setting: A residential street at night. — Nighttime, with varying levels of brightness and clarity.
Text: "CHORTAU B-T13", "BIUONE A20", "REXING V1-4K"
A three-way split screen compares nighttime footage from the Garmin, Rove, and Viofo dashcams.
"even from our best camera. So, let's do something I wouldn't actually recommend and completely blow our budget."
Setting: A residential street at night. — Nighttime.
Text: "GARMIN MINI 2", "ROVE R2-4K", "VIOFO A119 V3"
The man holds up two high-end dashcams, one in each hand.
"These are the BlackVue DR750X Plus and the Thinkware U1000."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Neutral, presenting.
Text: "BlackVue Dr750X +", "Thinkware U1000"
A screenshot of a product page shows features of the BlackVue dashcam, like GPS, Wi-Fi, and an improved sensor.
"It has dual-band Wi-Fi, a back-illuminated image sensor with enhanced night vision, and support for LTE cloud storage backup."
Setting: Website interface
Text: "GPS, Wi-Fi and Optional LTE", "Improved Sony STARVIS Sensor"
A split screen compares dusk footage from the BlackVue DR750X and the Thinkware U1000. The image quality is not significantly better than cheaper models.
"150-degree viewing angle, 1440p 60fps recording, geofencing with push notifications, red light camera detection, and picture quality that... Oh, come on!"
Setting: A road with trees. — Dusk.
Text: "BlackVue DR750X", "Thinkware U1000"
A three-way split screen compares the BlackVue, Rove, and Chortau, showing similar poor quality. Then a two-way split compares the Viofo and Thinkware U1000, showing very similar quality.
"The BlackVue is as bad as the crappy Chinese cameras, and the U1000 is barely better than the A119 V3, if at all."
Setting: A road with trees. — Dusk.
Text: "BlackVue DR750X", "Rove R2-4K", "Chortau"
Dashcam footage from the Thinkware U1000 is shown, with an audible alert for a red light camera.
"Red light camera in 200m."
Setting: A road with trees. — Dusk.
Text: "Thinkware U1000"
The man holds up two fingers to make his point that many different-looking dashcams are essentially the same inside.
"Well, here's a hint. You might see nine dash cams attached to this car. You know what I see? Two dash cams in nine different plastic shells."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious, making a point.
A composite image shows three different Windows File Explorer windows, all with identical folder structures (DCIM, Movie, etc.) for different dashcams.
"Look at these default folder structures."
Setting: Computer screen interface
The man holds up a tangled mess of three identical-looking small, black, cube-shaped rear cameras.
"Heck, even just look at the rear cameras that come with some of these. Noticing any similarities?"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Questioning expression.
A screen recording scrolls through a long list of dashcam brand names on a web forum.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands of dash cam brands, but there are only a handful of companies that actually manufacture the two most important components, the SOC and the CMOS image sensor."
Setting: Website interface (Dashcamtalk forum)
Text: "Brands"
The man explains the market dominance of Novatek. The Novatek logo appears, followed by a Bloomberg news headline about the unrelated Russian company.
"In SOCs, the major player is Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer Novatek, not to be confused with the Russian natural gas corporation of the same name."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious, explaining.
Text: "NOVATEK", "Russia's Novatek Struggles to Trade Europe Gas on Ukraine Recoil"
A screenshot of a LinkedIn profile is shown, with experience related to the Novatek NT96660 chip highlighted.
"So, of our 10 dash cams in that near $100 range, eight of them were using Novatek SOCs, and Viofo was one of the few examples we could find of any camera using an SOC where the second to last digit was higher than six,"
Setting: LinkedIn website interface
Text: "Accomplishment: NT96660 design-win for Dash-Cam/E-mirror"
A screenshot of the Sony Semiconductor Solutions website is shown, featuring their STARVIS technology for security cameras.
"As for CMOS image sensors, nearly every company uses Sony Starvis, a subcategory of their Exmor sensors."
Setting: Website interface
Text: "Security Camera Image Sensor Technology STARVIS / STARVIS 2"
A series of images flashes on screen: a list of phones using Sony sensors, a Nikon and a Sony DSLR camera, and a Razer Kiyo webcam.
"Exmors are used in nearly everything from phone cameras in Apple and Samsung phones alike, to high-end consumer cameras, to the lowest-end webcams."
Setting: Product showcase. — Studio product lighting.
An animation from Sony demonstrates the low-light capabilities of the STARVIS sensor by comparing it to a conventional sensor showing cheetahs at night.
"And the Starvis line is the type that is specifically designed for security cameras and other similar applications that require decent low-light performance."
Setting: Promotional video — Low light.
Text: "STARVIS", "Conventional"
A screenshot of a Sony product information PDF for the IMX335LLN sensor is displayed.
"The most common sensor to find in dash cams right now is the IMX335."
Setting: Document view
Text: "IMX335LLN"
A split screen shows nighttime footage from the Viofo A119 V3 and the Rove R2-4K. The Viofo on the left is darker but has less glare.
"The Rove and the Viofo both use this sensor. So, then you would think they would have the same image quality, right?"
Setting: A city intersection at night. — Night, with bright traffic lights and headlights.
Text: "Viofo A119 V3", "Rove R2-4K"
A close-up, digitally zoomed-in comparison of a red traffic light from the Viofo and Rove. The Rove's image has more lens flare and less definition.
"What it could be is something to do with Rove using its limited processing power to upscale the image to 4K."
Setting: An intersection. — Night.
Text: "Viofo A119 V3", "Rove R2-4K"
The man explains the sensor difference, while a graphic shows a comparison table of the IMX334 and IMX335 sensors, highlighting their different resolutions and sizes.
"For the several hundred dollars more that you would pay for the Thinkware U1000, you're getting a Starvis IMX334, which appears to be the next level up from the 335, totally intuitive."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Sarcastic expression.
Text: "IMX334LLR/LQR", "IMX335LLN/LQN"
A split screen compares nighttime footage from the Viofo A119 V3 and the much more expensive Thinkware U1000, showing minimal difference in quality.
"But the difference, as far as we've been able to see, isn't that great."
Setting: A residential street. — Night, with streetlights.
Text: "Viofo A119", "Thinkware U1000"
The man uses a gaming analogy to describe the poor value proposition of the expensive dashcams.
"If I could put it in PC gamer terms, it's kind of like upgrading your graphics card from a 3070 to a 3070 Ti, but for double or triple the price."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Making a comparison, serious expression.
Logos for OmniVision and GalaxyCore appear on screen, followed by a screenshot of a review mentioning 'average at best' night quality.
"There are a few other sensor manufacturers, like OmniVision or GalaxyCore, but these are only used occasionally, and image quality, at least going by the other reviews, doesn't seem to be a huge improvement there either."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Explaining.
Text: "Front video quality is good during the day while night quality is average at best."
The man gestures with his hand to indicate a ceiling or limit on quality.
"The biggest takeaway here then is that no matter which dash cam you choose, there is kind of this hard limit on image quality that can be achieved at the moment."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious, explaining a key point.
A screenshot of an Amazon page for a GoPro suction cup mount is shown.
"And some of the low-end models are already pretty close to that limit. So, you're either going to be settling for good enough, or, as we suggested before, you could throw a GoPro up on your windshield with all the associated inconveniences that come with that."
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "GoPro Suction Cup Mount (GoPro Official Mount), Black"
The man expresses his doubt about the future of dashcam image quality.
"And the problem is I doubt that this is going to change anytime soon because the top dash cam companies seem to be more interested in adding features,"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Skeptical, shaking his head slightly.
A graphic shows a car surrounded by multiple cameras (multiplexer box), followed by a screen showing a video player with gyroscopic data graphs.
"like the ability to string five cameras together or let you review your footage with full gyroscopic readouts,"
Setting: Graphical interface. — N/A
Text: "Multiplexer Box"
The man gives his final advice directly to the camera.
"So, if you're in the market for a dash cam, ignore the Amazon reviews."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Serious, giving advice.
Split screen showing the Amazon pages for the Thinkware F70 and the Viofo A119 V3.
"F70 for the budget shoppers out there and Viofo A119 V3 for pretty much everyone else."
Setting: Amazon website interface
Text: "THINKWARE F70", "VIOFO A119 V3"
A crowbar smashes a car window in slow motion.
"Their video quality isn't nearly as far off the top of the line as you would think, and neither of them is going to put you at major risk of having your window smashed to steal your dash cam."
Setting: Inside a car. — Daylight.
The man smiles and transitions to the next sponsor spot.
"Now, let's break our bank where our sponsor puts money."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Smiling.
The man, now in a different shirt and setting, introduces the FreshBooks sponsor.
"FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use accounting software that helps you do your business."
Setting: A living room or studio set. — Soft, warm indoor lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting on a blue couch., wearing black t-shirt with a white line graphic, Brown, wavy. hair — Smiling, looking at the camera.
Text: "FreshBooks Visit www.freshbooks.com/linus for a free trial"
A screen recording of the FreshBooks website scrolls through its features, showing invoicing, expense tracking, and time tracking interfaces.
"use automated payment reminders if invoices get past due, easily track expenses, and use their time tracker to log every minute of billable hours so you don't have to think about it later,"
Setting: Website interface
Text: "Easy Invoicing", "Maximize Your Productivity with FreshBooks Time Tracking Software"
The man is back in the yellow studio, giving the outro and looking off-screen.
"If you enjoyed this video, our first dash cam video is a treat. You can watch Luke threaten me with a... wait, is that a crowbar?"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Smiling, then looking confused.
Text: "www.lttstore.com", "THANKS FOR WATCHING"
Outtake: The man is frustrated as the globe on his desk keeps spinning on its own. He yells at it.
"What the heck is going on here? Stop!"
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting, turning in his chair., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Angry and yelling at the globe.
Outtake: The man is about to speak when a dashcam falls off its mount on the desk.
"What the..."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Sitting., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Reacting with surprise.
Outtake: The man is trying to arrange the dashcams on the desk, but they keep falling over.
"'Cause it's... and everything is..."
Setting: A studio. — Bright studio lighting.
People (1):
• Leaning over the desk., wearing teal t-shirt, Brown, wavy. hair — Frustrated.