Vantrue X4 Dash cam: Sharp 4K UHD captures come at a price - beasonunth1951

At a Glance

Adept's Valuation

Pros

Superior day captures and very in effect night captures
Easy to establis and use

Cons

4K UHD telecasting uses a lot of storage
Expensive
Supercapacitor cuts out as well quickly after losing 12-V power

Our Verdict

The Vantrue X4's 4K UHD captures are great, but this camera is pricey, and the capacitor won't allow captures if the 12-volt is disrupted. The ex gratia GPS mount is a must-have addition.

The VanTrue X4 is one of the introductory 4K UHD dash cams available, but you should definitely expect more to keep an eye on–it's the affair with vendors right directly. This bleeding-edge simulate shows some of the challenges of said high-res trend: It's a bit high-priced and patc there's a noticeable increase in detail in its 2160p captures, it might not follow worth the quaternity-fold increase in storage requirements. Beyond that, Vantrue unruffled does a uninjured lot opportune.

This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the top dash cams. Go there for information happening competing products and how we test them.

Design and features

The Vantrue X4 ($200 happening Amazon) has the shape and form of the classical dash cam, looking for suchlike a comprehensive-compact happy-snap camera from a 10 or so ago. The X4 offers a 160-degree field-of-view (FOV) lens and a new 4K UHD Sony IMX317 sensor. Its feature film set International Relations and Security Network't rattling complete without the elective GPS mount ($22 on AmazonRemove non-intersection link), so we promote you to add that to your shopping cart.

There's a mini USB interface along top of the camera itself, opposite (connected the same plane) the power clit, however, there's a moment mini USB connector on the suction mount that's nigher to the windshield and doesn't need to be disjointed every time you remove the camera. It's the same deal on the GPS mount, simply in this case you mustiness use the backing's USB port if you want to power both the photographic camera and GPS.

There are four navigation buttons to the right of the three-edge exhibit (up/down/menu/OK) to surf the menus, turn the camera connected and hit, etc. The menu system is laid out logically, two-chambered by organization setup, record setup, and file viewing functions. You must press okay to stop transcription ahead you tin can access aforementioned menu system. There's probably a technical ground for this, American Samoa I've seen the same requirement on some other flash cams I've reviewed. IT would be nice to be healthy to change settings on the fly piece you're silence recording.

The SDHC slot is on the left wing side and a miniskirt HDMI port is connected the right that allows you to production your videos directly to a TV. The bottom is given over to venting, which exits on the front man of the camera. A slightly unusual thermal solution, merely it allowed the X4 to stay cool during use.

Performance

The Vantrue X4 takes very good picture during daylight hours, however, night video is merely what I'd rate as swell. No matter what the quality, 4K UHD (2160p) TV takes up roughly quartet times the storage every bit 1080p—or about 1GB for every three proceedings.

You can judge for yourself the quality of the day captures in the image beneath. The color is nicely saturated despite the gray day, but compression cuts knock down on the detail pertinent where it's not vastly advisable than with 1080p. (Note that the Nina from Carolina zeroes you assure next to the date stamp are the placeholder for your licence plate number.)

191012 113814 006 hi.mp4 snapshot 00.06 2019.12.18 16.51.42 — The X4 captures much of detail at 4K UHD, but we'd knock it down to 1080p for everyday practice. The details is almost as good, and you'll save a ton of place.

The X4 4K UHD's extra resolution seems to offer less of an advantage in low-light situations.

191016 212633 046 hi.mp4 snapshot 00.29 2019.12.18 16.53.24 — This wasn't a truly fair test as it was raining the night I proved the X4, but you'll need your dash cam whether IT's raining or not. See the next capture for a drying agent image.

Meteorlogical conditions in the next trance were less damp, and you can see a bit more detail. I did non have the Global Positioning System put on at the clock I captured this video, but I did subsequently test the mount, and the GPS coordinates will show up directly under the date and time.

191016 210530 032 hi.mp4 snapshot 00.00 2019.12.18 16.54.42 — This is on I280 at night, with less precipitation involved.

To reiterate, the 2160p captures are punter than 1080p captures, but just a nice uptick. Practically speaking, you're possible non gaining anything of major legal significance for quaternion times the memory with the X4.

The X4 runs nearly cool to the relate, and is rated for operation from -4 to +158 degrees Fahrenheit. I found the default setting of the G-Sensor also sensitive for my stiffly sprung Mazda Miata, and knocked it down a notch, but that was the only affair I'd call an operational hiccough.

My biggest ailment is the supercapacitor, which lasts long sufficient to redeem the new files, simply won't capture if 12-volt is interrupted during an accident. The display actually stayed ignited for about four seconds when I pulled top executive, but recording stopped immediately. So call the Vantrue X4 great for capturing walker fraud, non so much if you get clobbered by a truck.

Should you buy the Vantrue X4?

The Vantrue X4 will probably get a lot of attention just for being one and only of the first 4K dash cams. It's undeniably urbane and easy to use, and it takes it great video—the good I've seen during the day. But that quality might not justify the premium you're paying for 4K UHD video—let alone the extra you'll pay for storage place. For the price, besides, we'd have like to see a thirster-lasting capacitor. With smooth slightly longer run time off of the 12-V, I would've rated it a half-star higher.