It’s been a while since we’ve looked at any dash cams here mainly because there hasn’t really been that much interesting going on in this space. It almost seemed like most dash cams now are tapped out on features so what is there really left that’s new? Well, I can say that the newest dashcam from Vantrue, the Vantrue E3 Dash Cam caught my eye because it has several features I expect in a high-quality dash cam as well as features I haven’t seen before. Mainly, what caught my eye is the fact that this is a three-channel dash cam capable of recording three different video sources at once, which isn’t something very common in the world of dash cams.
SPECS
The Vantrue E3 Dash Cam is an advanced unit with tons of features many of you might not even need, but they’re there when you do.
- New generation of Novatek’s high-level chipset.
- Three cameras in one dashcam system provide full guards from front, inside and back of the car.
- Cutting-edge Sony Starvis IMX335 500M ultra-clear CMOS image processor.
- Unique 2592x1944P super HD resolution presents more details and captures license plate number clearly.
- 5G high-frequency Wi-Fi
- Dedicated wireless remote controller
- Voice control makes everything easier and hands-free
- 2.45 inch display with drop- and scratch-proof 2.5D glass screen.
- Built-in RTC maintains all the settings for 2 months of nonuse.
- Supercapacitor allows the camera to withstand the most frigid cold and intense heat.
- Support up to 512GB microSD card.
Most notable here are the three-camera support and the 1944P resolution. That’s not for all cameras though as only the front sees the max 1944P resolution while the rest of the cams see 1080P. What I really like though is that the main camera and the interior camera are housed in one unit and the rear camera is an add-on.
DESIGN
The Vantrue E3 Dash Cam has a rather interesting design. It’s not the smallest dash cam out there nor is it the largest. But it is a good size considering what the main camera has on it. It basically looks like a small pocket camera with a lens on the front and a decently sized 2.45″ display on the back. What is unusual that you don’t see often is that it also has a built-in camera on the rear for recording interior video. I like that it’s all housed in one unit and keeps the number of parts down. The rearview camera is a separate camera however and will need to be routed through your vehicle and connected to the main dash cam via USB-C cable. The rear camera doesn’t need its own power source and only needs one cable.
I also really like the fact that the base of the dash cam that sticks to the windshield is detachable via magnetic mount which makes it easy to remove the dash cam when needed and also makes it easy to install it again.
The actual dash cam itself doesn’t have a touchscreen, but it does have buttons on the bottom of it that make navigating everything on the dash cam fairly easy.
SAMPLES
EXPERIENCE
For the most part, the Vantrue E3 dash cam is a set-it-and-forget-it unit, just like pretty much every other dash cam out there. Once it’s installed, you never really have to touch it again, aside from when you need to pull video off of it. Speaking of which, you can choose to do this with the Vantrue app or just take the SD card out of it and upload the video to your computer. I find this to be the easiest and fastest method. But you’re free to use the app as you can also pull video from the dash cam via Wi-Fi.
As for video quality, you can see from the sample above that the quality is pretty good. Max fps however is only 30fps even at lower resolutions. It would have been nice if there was at least a 1080p 60fps mode. But since there isn’t, I just up the resolution since 30fps is the highest you can go anyways.
FINAL THOUGHTS
For the most part, I’m quite impressed it the Vantrue E3 Dash Cam. This is the first time I’ve actually used a 3-channel dash cam and I like that two of the cameras are housed in one unit with only the rear camera being optional. That means that most of the installation is a breeze with the only difficult part being the routing of the cable for the rear camera, which in itself isn’t that difficult either. Overall, it’s a solid package that’s well thought out and simple to use. The package itself is a bit pricey, but I think it’s worth it for everything the package comes with.
