Z-Edge Dual-lens Dashcam for Uber Review

• One-button audio recording on/off for privacy protection concerns.
  • One-button picture taking at the resolution of 8M pixels.
  • one-button emergency video recording and locking.
  • Customizable automatic display off while recording for energy saving.
  • Manually adjustable brightness, contrast, white balance settings.
  • One-button switch can toggle the display of the two views in either the full screen or the inset window respectively, or turn off the picture-in-picture display.
• The 16GB micro SD card in the package provides approximately about a total of 3 hours of 1080p front view video recording (or even longer for videos with resolutions lower than 1080p) and 480p rear view video recording storage.
  • Seamless video recording in loop to ensure the efficient use of storage.
    
• Large and decent rear view mirror design, providing a good replacement for your original rear view mirror with the enhancement of a 5″ screen in the middle for display.
  • Front view video recording with the choices of 720p/30fps and 1080p/25fps, and view angle of 120°.
  • Water-proof rear view license plate lens, providing simultaneous rear view video recording and display at 480p/30fps. When connected to the backup lights, automatic backup monitoring will be triggered to show on the display screen at the same time of backing up the vehicle.
• Smart and convenient recording/monitoring
  • Automatic ignition/motion/crash detection and recording with G-sensor, monitoring while parking, automatic display off for energy saving, automatic device off after engine off, one-button emergency video recording and saving, one-button audio recording on/off.
  • Automatic seamless video recording in loop to use the storage efficiently, with the earliest unlocked video clips being overwritten when reaching the storage card’s maximal capacity.
  • Customizable video clip length of 2, 3 and 5 minutes.
• Ignition detection: The device is automatically turned on and recording when the engine starts, and automatically turned off shortly after the engine is off. When in the motion detection mode, if the lens detects any motion, the device starts video recording automatically, and will stop video recording shortly after the lens does not detect any motion. Crash detection: Highly-sensitive G-sensor powered automatic video recording and video file locking when a collision or crash is detected. The sensitivity of the G-sensor can be set to different levels. Parking Monitoring: When the vehicle parked, the device is automatically turned on and recording when a vibration is detected. Picture-in-picture display: The Front view and rear view videos are displayed on the screen in a picture-in-picture appearance.

Here is my review of the device:

• Installation of the mirror dashcam was pretty easy. There is a rubber strap that goes over your current mirror. There are rubber tabs that must go above/below the rear view mirror. Undo the bottom part of the strap so you can access it when you install it on the mirror from underneath the mirror.
• The power input is a mini USB port (cable is provided). It is a straight USB cable so it may cause issues when installing it into the dashcam when it is mounted on the rear view mirror.
• Make sure to adjust the dashcam such that the camera on the back is not blocked by the rear view mirror. The dashcam may block the operation of the front visors because the dashcam is mounted asymmetrically on the rear view mirror.
• The second camera can be mounted anywhere, but for Uber and Lyft drivers, it is best to mount it on a dashboard pointed in to view the interior.
• The second camera needs 12V power via a red and black wire. This was meant to be hardwired into the backup lights. This will cause an issue when trying to wire it on your dashboard. You will need to get another USB cable, cut and strip it and then wire it correct (red-red, black-black) for the camera to receive power. It will also need some two-sided tape to mount onto the dashboard. The tab holding the camera needs to be bent in order to be adjusted up/down. It will need to be manually mounted correctly in the right angle (left, right).
• The second camera does not have IR LEDs so it would not do well trying to capture video of the interior. If you want this capability, you will need to buy your own backup camera with IR, and manually wire it yourself (see below in my summary)
• Image quality:
  • The daytime quality is very good. It is enough to read a license plate from about 10 feet away, which means you still need to be fairly close to the car in front. The light balance and exposure is very good, even in direct sunlight. I can’t comment on the rear camera quality because I did not have the means to power it.
  • The nighttime quality is good as well. It can only see as far as the headlights, but does a good job seeing objects and people illuminated by street lights, which is also affected by the light balance and exposure.
• The audio quality is good with minimal road noise even at highway speeds.
• The dashcam is large and is a great rear view mirror on its own.
• The on/off chime and picture is nice and well done.