Dash Cams 2025

After buying my Mazda CX-50, I considered installing a dash cam but never followed through with it until after Mark shared some Instagram reels showing their benefits. 

What made me hem and haw for so long was that I didn't want to tear apart the interior or have unsightly wires running across the length of the car. After a little bit of investigation I learned that it's possible to have a clean-looking, yet non-destructive installation.

My next step was to research the makes and models as I knew little-to-nothing about the current dash cam market. One of the first reviews I came across was Linus Tech Tips's Almost EVERYONE is Wasting Money on Dash Cams. I know he has his haters but he's very thorough with his research. His negative outlook on the market was accurate when he created and published the video—in August of 2022. All of the dash cams at that time used the first-generation STARVIS image sensor because Sony only recently announced the second-generation STARVIS 2.

My purchasing criteria was to find a dash cam that used STARVIS 2. I figured for the amount of work I needed to install it, it should at least have the best image quality possible. 

Initially, I was happy to discover dash cams from Mangoal and FITCAMX. They offered clean-looking "OEM-style" dash cams by replacing the interior plastic housing of the rain sensor and lane-departure warning cameras with ones with dash cam integration. What makes these installations even nicer is the use of power adapters that take advantage of the auto-dimming rear view mirror or sunroof's power connection. This eliminates the need to run a power cable to your auxiliary power outlet or fuse box. Ultimately, what turned me off from these models were the use of first-gen STARVIS sensors, support for only ACC power—which means no parking mode—and rather barebone-looking apps.

The models I looked at afterwards were:

• VIOFO A229 Pro
• Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro
• Thinkware U3000
• BlackVue DR970X-2CH Plus

These models range in price from $359 to $479, but both VIOFO and Vantrue offered steep discounts which brought down the price for each of their models to $299.

The first dash cam I ordered was the Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro. On paper it checks all the boxes—STARVIS 2 sensors, HDR, 3-channel support for cameras in the front, interior, and back, and parking mode with impact detection recording.

There was a two-week lead time for the Nexus 4 Pro to ship, so during that time I continued to watch various dash cam reviews. However, the knowledge I eventually gained is what changed my mind about the Nexus 4 Pro.

I thought the barrel-type form factor would fit unobtrusively behind my rear-view mirror, but I found out that it would still be in the driver's view because of how much of the CX-50's center housing extends down the windshield.

Other negatives were the poor parking mode performance, the amount of time it takes to turn off when the car battery drains to a certain level of voltage, and the large amount of overall power consumption. Also, the back camera's resolution was only 1080P in comparison to competing cameras at 2K.

The second dash cam I ordered was the VIOFO A229 Pro. Like the Nexus Pro 4, the A229 Pro had all the bells and whistles, but in a more compact, rectangular form factor. Most reviews gave the A229 top marks so I decided to keep the VIOFO and returned the Vantrue.

A microSD card wasn't included with the A229 so I quickly shopped for one online. I ended up buying three memory cards before settling on a fourth, the VIOFO's Industrial Grade microSD. Most manufacturers recommend using a "high-endurance" memory card that supports a higher number of write-erase cycles before becoming unreliable. The Samsung Pro Endurance fits this criteria but for reasons I can't remember, I decided on the official VIOFO version.

Unfortunately, self-installing the dash cam proved to be more trouble than it was worth. The easiest way to install the A229 is by plugging the power cable to the car's 12-volt accessory socket and run the back camera's cable along the floor to the back windshield. The most difficult way is to hardwire the power or use an OBD cable, hide the data cables behind the pillars, run it across the top and route it through the liftgate conduit for a nearly invisible installation.

I purchased all the tools necessary to do it the hard way but I hit a roadblock trying to fish the back camera's data cable safely behind the side airbag above the driver's door. After 2 hours of frustration, I threw in the towel. I also admit that it was a bit harrowing prying open interior panels from instruction videos found on YouTube with a newer car that is still being financed. 

I had the Sound Doctor from Camarillo take care of the installation and was pleased with the results. I gave them the option of using an iRoad OBD power cable that I purchased, but told them not to worry about using it if they would recommend to hardwire it instead. They ended up using the cable. Using wire harness cloth tape to dress the cables was a nice touch and something I wouldn't have done out of laziness.

The VIOFO app connects to the camera via Wi-Fi, but it will compete with access to the car's audio-entertainment system so it's best to use the app when the car is turned off. I used the settings to fix the date, time and activate parking mode. With Wi-Fi, you can also download screenshots and videos directly to your phone without having to remove the memory card and transfer them to your PC.

See below for a sample of the quality.