two minute review
You're not the only one who thinks the Vantrue N2 Pro is a neat dash cam. The angular body with buttons, lenses, and design details seemingly scattered across every surface is unlikely to win many awards for aesthetics alone. But few of the world's best dash cams are design cues, so we're willing to mostly ignore the N2 Pro's design and instead focus on its features, functions, and performance.
While not attractive, the Vantrue is reasonably compact given that it houses a pair of cameras, along with a TFT screen and six buttons used to navigate the operating system. Aimed primarily at taxi and rideshare drivers, this dash cam records forwards from the windshield, but also backwards into the interior, keeping an eye on traffic but also paying passengers.
The front camera records up to 2.5K, either at 2560x1440p resolution, at 30fps, or 1920x1080p at 60fps, through a 170-degree lens. We say "up to" because the maximum resolution and frame rate are only possible when the rear camera is disabled. Switch the camera to record in both directions at once, and both are capped at 1080p and 30fps; the rear lens has a 140 degree field of view.
The interior camera is assisted by infrared night vision to help produce a clear, grayscale view of the driver and passengers at night. Again, this is more of a dash cam for taxi drivers than for general car owners. The secondary camera can be rotated 45 degrees up or down to ensure a good view.
- Vantrue N2 Pro Dash Cam (256GB Black) at Amazon for €169.99 (opens in a new tab)
A suction cup mount is included in the box, which is good news for those who don't want a sticky pad stuck to their windshield forever. This snaps into a bracket on top of the dash cam, which then locks into place. It's not the most elegant mounting system we've seen, but it gets the job done.
The mount has its own USB port, so the dash cam can be powered through this connection or directly from its own USB port. If you're installing the camera permanently in your car, it makes more sense to plug it into the windshield mount, as the cable is closer to the headliner, where it can be hidden and routed to the car's USB port or 12V socket. .
That being said, a twist lock used to secure the suction cup mount takes up quite a bit of space, and because it rotates all the way to the 12 o'clock position, it's likely to hit the headliner on top of the visor. or the plastic casing of your car's forward-facing cameras and sensors. For us, that meant placing the dash cam lower than we'd like, partially blocking our view of the road ahead. It is true that our car has a small and shallow windshield, and owners of large vehicles should not have problems.
A short USB cable is included in the box, as well as a longer cable connected to a 12V cigarette lighter socket adapter with integrated USB port. A microSD card is not included, so you will need to provide your own.
Contrary to the trend followed by most other dash cams, the Vantrue N2 Pro does not have wireless connectivity. While the lack of GPS is disappointing, as it helps add precise speed and location data to video recordings, we wonder if some buyers will really appreciate a dash cam that works without first installing a smartphone app.
There's no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, so the camera is completely self-contained, and most importantly, there's no account creation process or sending personal data to Vantrue. All you need to do is insert a microSD card, plug in the camera, adjust a few settings via the screen, and you're done.
While this will appeal to some buyers, the downside is that the images can't be easily transferred to a smartphone. Instead, you must remove the memory card and insert it into your computer or tablet. We're not convinced it's a deal breaker, though removing the unnecessary cover every time you want to access the SD card is a frustrating design quirk.
The button layout is also weird, where the ones to scroll through the menu system are below, but the OK/Select button is on the front, and for good measure a different shape and color as well. No, we don't know why either.
Navigating the system is pretty straightforward (pro tip: you'll want to turn off the annoying beeps right away), but don't be fooled by the GPS settings page. This only works if you purchase the Vantrue GPS-equipped windshield mount separately.
We were pleasantly surprised by the video quality of the Vantrue. Setting both cameras to Full HD produced sharp, clear and smooth images, with crucial details like license plates and road signs easy to read. The indoor camera struggles a bit in direct sunlight at times, with parts of its view washed out, but that's just a small criticism of what was otherwise impressive performance.
Audio quality is also good, and while most dash cam buyers will likely turn them off for the sake of passenger privacy, taxi drivers could benefit from decent audio if they were to provide evidence against passengers misbehaving. wrong.
A wiring kit is available separately to give the Vantrue a constant power supply from the car battery. This frees up the 12V socket, but also activates the dash cam's parking mode, which records images when motion is detected.
There's not much to say about the N2 Pro, and honestly we think it's a good thing. Good video quality is by far the most important dash cam feature and we often feel that some models overwhelm the buyer with too many extra features.
Some consumers will require Wi-Fi to quickly transfer images to a smartphone or Bluetooth to set up the dash cam via an app. But we suspect many more will like the simplicity of Vantrue, and aside from the lack of GPS, we think simplicity is a good thing.
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Vantrue N2 Pro Dash Cam: Price Comparison