Best Dash Camera Reviews for 2023

Dashcams are a must-have while driving because they offer so much protection. I feel pretty naked without one, even more unprotected than without a radar detector. For that reason, I’ve spent a lot of time testing out the very best dash cameras on the market. What is the best dashcam and why do you need one?

Why Do You Need A Dash Camera?

Dash cams provide several important benefits:

• Proving you weren’t at fault in an accident
• Protecting you from false accusations
• Capturing important video in a hit and run while parked
• Recording in case someone keys your car
• Capturing beautiful scenery and memorable events on the road
• Recording your radar detector saves

Your dashcam serves as a silent witness, always recording just in case one day you need the video.

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What Makes Dash Cameras Unique?

Dashcams are different than action cameras like GoPros. I love GoPros and use them for many of my normal YouTube videos, but specialized dashcams do a few key things that GoPros can’t. For these reasons, dashcams are preferred as permanent set-it-and-forget-it cameras. Here’s how they work:

• Automatically powers on and starts recording when you start your car
• Automatically stops recording and powers off when you park
• Optional ability to record while your car is parked and shut off before draining your car battery
• When your memory card gets full, it overwrites old footage so you can record continuously
• Detect any events such as accidents and protects that clip from being overwritten
• Can notify you if anything happened to your car while parked
• Records everything ahead and can also record behind with the optional rear camera
• Advanced ones automatically upload important footage to the cloud and remotely monitor your car from your phone like a security camera

Best Dash Camera of 2023?

There’s literally thousands of different dashcams at difference price points, with different features, and different levels of video quality. Which one should you get?

Here’s my top 5 picks including both basic and inexpensive dash cams as well as higher end and more feature-packed dash cams.

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Best Budget Front only Dashcam: Viofo A119 v3 ($99)

The best dashcam you’ll find in the ~$100 price range is the Viofo A119 v3. It offers outstanding video quality for its price point, recording at just over Quad HD / 1440p (2x the resolution of 1080p at 2560×1600) using a new 5MP Sony Starvis sensor. In fact it has some of the best video quality you’ll find at this price point. It also adds some features only previously seen on higher end dashcams.

Daytime video quality is great and it does a very nice job capturing license plates. Low light sensitivity has been increased significantly compared to previous models and so now it also does a great job of recording even in difficult dark situations.

The A119’s wedge-shaped design means it sits flush against your windshield. The lens tilts up and down to ensure you can point it forward. The 2″ LCD on the back makes it easy to change settings, view recorded footage, and aim the dashcam’s lens. Video quality is very good with the A119 v3. If anything interesting happens on the road, a quick tap of the red emergency record button on the back will mark this clip and protect it from being overwritten once your card fills up.

If you get it with the optional $10 GPS mount (recommended), the dashcam can log your speed and location and display that on screen. It also helps the camera automatically sync the time and date with GPS satellites. The GPS mount also adds an additional power connector more conveniently at the top of your dashcam’s mount instead of just the one built into the side of your dashcam, giving you a more streamlined install. With the power cable plugged into the mount, it’s easier to mount and unmount your camera.

The 3rd generation version of the A119 adds buffered parked recording capabilities, something only previously seen on higher end dashcams. When you wire in the optional hardwire cable into the GPS module, the dashcam can also record while you’re parked, using your car’s battery for power. It can use motion detection to capture when something happens, plus it can specifically record impacts to capture a hit-and-run. The A119 v3 adds buffered impact detection so it can record continuously, capturing everything before, during, and after the impact. Even in 2023, this remains the dashcam to beat under $100.

Here’s my complete review of the A119 v3:

Bonus: If you’d like WiFi, voice notifications, and a newer USB C power cable, pick up the updated A119 Mini instead.

Purchase the Viofo A119 v3

Purchase an inexpensive MicroSD Card: 64gb, 128gb, 256gb

Purchase the Viofo hardwire cable

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Best Bang for the Buck Front / Back Dashcam: Viofo A129 Plus Duo ($179)

If you love the idea of the A119 v3, but you also want a second camera to record behind you, pick up the Viofo A129 Plus Duo.

This is essentially the A119 v3 in an upgraded case, plus it adds a second 1080p rear-facing camera, as well as adds WiFi to connect to your phone to give you additional functionality.

With great video quality, low light sensitivity, driving, and buffered parking mode recording, this dashcam gives you excellent front and rear recording at under $200.

Purchase the Viofo A129 Plus Duo

Purchase an inexpensive MicroSD Card: 64gb, 128gb, 256gb

Purchase the Viofo hardwire cable

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Best 4K Dashcam: Viofo A139 Pro ($229 Front, $299 Front/Rear, $369 Front/Rear/Interior)

The Viofo A139 Pro features the all new Sony Starvis 2 sensor and is my current pick for the best dashcam on the market. This is fast becoming my go-to recommendation for 2023 and I’m upgrading my wife’s A139 to the new A139 Pro.

Thanks to its new Sony Starvis 2 sensor, it offers even better video quality and low light performance compared to other dashcams on the market. It records in 4K with the front camera and 1080p with the optional rear and interior dashcams.

Video quality is some of the best around, it has a nice compact design, plus you can get buffered parking recording when you add the hardwire cable.

It is a power hungry dashcam for parking recording though, especially if you get the 3CH version for front/interior/rear recording. When combined with the recommended Powercell 8 battery pack and use the low bitrate continuous recording option, you get over 26 hours with a 1CH front only dashcam, 14-17 hours with a 2CH setup, or around 9.5 hours with all 3 cameras rolling.

I expect many other manufacturers to start introducing dashcams that utilize this Starvis 2 sensor, but for the time being, I think the A139 Pro is the way to go for an all-around solid dashcam with great features and video quality.

Purchase the A139 Pro 1CH (front only)

Purchase the A139 Pro 2CH (front and rear)

Purchase the A139 Pro 2CH (front and interior)

Purchase the A139 Pro 3CH (front, interior, & rear)

Purchase the hardwire cable

Purchase the Powercell 8 battery pack w/ A139 hardwire

Purchase a 256GB MicroSD Card

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Best for Long Term Parking: Thinkware U1000 ($399 Front) or ($499 Front & Back)

If you’re wanting to step up to a 4K dashcam that can record in parking mode for extended periods of time, check out the Thinkware U1000. It records in 4K ahead, offers integrated GPS and WiFi, adds cloud support for remote notifications to your phone, upgrades the parking recording capabilities, and the rear camera records at 2K instead of 1080p for even higher quality recording in both directions.

You can think of the U1000 as a more upscale version of the A129 series. It records in 4K up front, skips the LCD on the front camera, and it adds cloud functionality to send event notifications to your phone (ie. accident detected, here’s where your car is, etc.) The rear cam’s video quality is even better (1440p instead of 1080p) and the parking functionality is more capable.

Thinkware dashcams feature an energy saving parking mode to give you long term parked recording. Pair it with the Powercell 8 battery pack and when you switch from regular to energy saving mode and add the optional radar module, you jump from ~1 day of buffered parked recording to 1 week of buffered parked recording. (Note: The radar module tracks objects ahead of your vehicle, but not behind.) If you’d like even longer recording, skip the radar module and you can get up to 40 days of parked recording, lol. If the dashcam records 1-3 impacts per day, I found you get about 17-18 days of parked recording. That’s significantly better than the competition.

If you park your car for extended periods of time and you also want great video quality, pick up the U1000.

Purchase the Thinkware U1000 (front only)

Purchase the Thinkware U1000 (front and rear)

Purchase the Radar Module

Purchase the Powercell 8 battery pack

Purchase an inexpensive MicroSD Card: 128gb, 256gb

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Best 4K Cloud Dashcam: Blackvue DR900X-1CH Plus ($359 Front) or DR900X-2CH Plus ($469 Front & Back)

Finally, let’s look at the Blackvue DR900X-2CH Plus, my personal dashcam of choice. Blackvue makes the very best cloud connected dashcams which connect out to the internet and give you extra features like realtime notifications to your phone in case something happens to your vehicle, it can upload important videos to the cloud, and you can livestream from anywhere and see exactly what’s going on with your vehicle for extra peace of mind.

The updated DR900X Plus offers some key improvements over the previous DR900X including improved video quality and low light sensitivity so now it performs comparably to most other 4K dashcams.

I like the DR900X-2CH Plus as a driving and parking security camera. Yes other cameras can record while driving and parked too, but the DR900X Plus does a few key things better.

When connected to the cloud either via a WiFi hotspot (in your car or at home) or by plugging in the optional CM100 LTE module and popping in a SIM card, the DR900X Plus can send notifications through the cloud. In case someone hits your car while parked, you’ll get a notification to your phone, you’ll be able to watch the video, and that video will automatically be backed up to the cloud which is especially nice to ensure you have the evidence in case your dashcam gets stolen.

In case someone hits your car while parked, the dashcam will tell you when you get back inside. Thinkware can do this too, but it’s super chatty with a bunch of unnecessary notifications. Disable those voice notifications and you lose the impact detected voice alerts too. Blackvue does the best job of letting you know when something important happened to your vehicle.

It’s available as both the front only DR900X-1CH Plus or the front and rear DR900X-2CH Plus. As a bonus, if you want interior recording, you can get the DR900X-2CH IR Plus which swaps the standard rear cam for an infrared-capable interior camera.

Purchase the Blackvue DR900X-1CH Plus

Purchase the Blackvue DR900X-2CH Plus

Purchase the Blackvue DR900X-2CH IR Plus

Purchase the CM100 LTE Module

Purchase the Blackvue B-130X dedicated battery pack

Buy a MicroSD Card: 128gb, 256gb