Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro

£299.02

Having your own personal witness to events is essential, especially as many of us are now commuting to work in darkness over the winter months. Unfortunately, with this reduced visibility, more accidents tend to take place, and so having your own camera recording any incidents helps protect you from hefty insurance claims. We’ve long been big fans of Vantrue which offers top-of-the-range dash cameras, and so we were thrilled when we got the chance to test out the Nexus 4 Pro.

The Nexus 4 Pro is Vantrue’s new generation of the previous Nexus 4 dash camera, now featuring a 3-channel 4k Superb HD recording front, cabin and near cameras. With 3 cameras operating at once, the Nexus 4 Pro provides a 360° view outside of the vehicle to capture a complete view outside of your car. The front camera features a Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 8 CMO sensor, along with HDR technology to deliver superb camera quality that balances the contrast of the shot to ensure that no matter the light, the cameras record everything clearly. This is particularly useful at night when lighting levels are low, so the dash camera is perfect for capturing other cars and license plates even on the darkest country roads. The rear camera provides a similar high-quality image quality, utilising a 2MP Sony Starvis Night vision sensors which operate with an innovative multi-exposure technology that can capture license plates, even when a car’s headlights are on full beam behind you.

One of the big draws of the Nexus 4 Pro is that it also features a cabin camera which captures you and your passengers whilst driving. However, especially as the nights are drawing in, the camera has been built with 4 infrared LED lights which automatically turn on when low lighting is noticed to deliver crystal clear black and white footage. This means that you get even greater coverage of both inside and outside of the car should a claim be made. Plus, should you want to take a picture, lock a recording or end a recording during an event on the road, you can do all of this completely hands-free with just a voice command. All videos recorded are stored on the dash cam’s 512 GB external storage and can be downloaded and saved to your device using the Vantrue app.

When parked the Nexus 4 Pro is also designed to deliver protection, even when you’re away from your vehicle. The inbuilt parking mode, once hardwired into your car, utilises low-light night vision to detect motion or collisions to your vehicle by capturing 10 seconds before the event and 30 seconds after. This gives a great chance of catching any perpetrator or license plates even in the darkest of environments. These safety features help to give you peace of mind overnight to know that your car is safe and protected by a camera watching every movement.

I also love that the device is built with a GPS inside it, which through the Vantrue app, allows you to map your drives and even see the speed with which you are driving. This is perfect for if a claim is made against you, you can see your speed, location and route as evidence. Plus, you can be sure that even in hot and cold climates the Nexus 4 Pro will be there to support you built with supercapacitors which remain functional no matter the temperature, and last much longer than traditional batteries.

As we enter into the winter months, a dashcam is an essential tool for giving you that extra peace of mind, and should an incident occur, you have your own witness of events stored and saved to your device. I personally wouldn’t drive anywhere without my dash cam, so I think it makes the perfect gift for anyone who drives a lot to give that extra bit of protection should an incident occur.

Plus, in exciting news - Martin Shang, the head of Vantrue's marketing department let us know that the N4 Pro will launch an LTE 4G dashcam in 2025!

Pros:

• Great camera quality even in low lighting so perfect for darker winter months
• 360° view surrounding the car across the front, cabin and near the camera
• Control the dashcam completely handsfree for added safety on the road

Cons:

• The dash cam doesn’t come with a SD card to store the footage on so this does need to be purchased separately.