It’s true that I was thinking about investing in a dash cam as soon as we decided we needed to buy a new car. My only criteria were only looking for a reliable and affordable one. I didn’t want any fancy or expensive product that could be able to help us in case of accidents.
To my luck, I got the chance to test the Esi Cam Dash Cam 1080P Night & Daytime Recorder free of charges. The product was sent to me to be tested in exchange for an honest review on it.
First things first, the delivery was ultra-efficient. It was sent in less than five days after agreement and together with the camera, I also received an in-car charger, USB cable, manual of instructions (in English and other languages) and a suction cup mount for fixing it to the window.
However, it doesn’t come with an SD card. You will have to buy one.
After watching some videos on YouTube, we could figure out how to set up the camera.
It took a while to find out that it’s necessary to use the in-car charger to be able to check the camera’s screen before starting using it. Something that is a bit annoying and quite unpractical as well.
This slimline car camera is light weight and easy to be installed on the dashboard though.
We didn’t see many problems when trying to configure and start recording. But I confess that after using it for more or less three weeks, we still did’t manage to change dates and other features on the screen.
Its 120º wide angle lens ensures that you don’t miss a thing on the road. But the quality of the footage itself is not the best. I guess it’s due to its 1080P resolution that is the best one.
The video recording has quite poor quality, especially during the night. But I am trying to use some different sets to improve its quality.
Its 2.4-inch LCD screen lets you watch recordings back and built-in IR lights that should be quite useful when driving at night. However, every time we tried to use the camera in the dark, we could’t see a thing.
It’s important to remember that it’s a quite affordable dash cam. The audio is okay, and the built-in microphone doesn’t pick the audio properly if you are also listening to music. But it’s a bit clear when you listen to the record though.
Overall, I think it’s a pretty basic dash cam. I guess it would be better to invest in a more expensive one that will guarantee that would have clear footage and videos in case of an accident.
