Vantrue N5S review: the four-camera dashcam that sees everything
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Most dashcams see the road ahead — this one sees it all. Vantrue’s four-camera N5S could be the new gold standard for drivers.
Dual-camera dashcams are handy things. I have them in most of my cars. One camera watches your forward view, another watches your rear view.
I've also tested countless three-channel dashcams, which offer a third camera that monitors the inside of your car, while the other two cameras perform their normal front and back duties.
Why then, I wondered, would one possibly need a fourth camera? Vantrue, a brand I'm quite fond of, offered to send me their latest N5S four-channel dashcam.
This fourth camera adds a second interior view, this time facing into the car from the rear windscreen. Essentially, each camera module has two cameras built in, one facing one way, one facing the opposite way. They can be rotated a bit to help you position them precisely, and they're each a bit bulky compared to some twin-channel setups - but understandably so.
The specs are important when it comes to dashcams and, true to form with Vantrue, you get a lot for your money.
The N5S packs in a 2.7K main camera, a 1080p interior camera, and then a 2K and 2.5K camera in the rear unit. No 4K here, then, but a healthy batch of pixels swirling around your cabin.
It has infrared night vision, HDR, WDR, 160-degree field of view on each lens, and the all-important Sony Starvis 2 sensors.
The amount of processing power required to combine all four live images like this must be impressive, but Vantrue has also included a parking mode, along with the usual GPS detector and 5Ghz Wi-Fi.
To use the parking mode you need to have a hardwire kit, which costs extra. An SD card isn't included, either, and it'll need to be a fairly hefty one given how much data it's harvesting. You might also opt for a wireless remote control or a polarising filter, and all this will add to the cost.
The price for the dashcams alone is £339.99 on Amazon currently (although check Aliexpress, which seems to be doing some good new shopper deals).
But let's make no bones about it, this is an incredibly comprehensive setup. Pretty much everything you need in a dashcam is here.
The footage is nice and clear, perhaps not the best I've seen in low light, but it copes well, and Vantrue's app functions well, and it's handy for setting the cameras up correctly.
Downloading footage is arguably easier done by just removing the SD card, so it's a shame you don't get one included.
But this is a serious dashcam for serious dashcam users. It's fair to say not all of us will need (or want) every corner of our car covered by cameras, but when it comes to providing solid evidence, the more layers the merrier.
Other four-channel dashcams exist, and there are cheaper models if you'd like to risk something unbranded. But just bear in mind they need serious processing power and, if their sensors aren't up to scratch, they can be quite useless.
The Vantrue N5S is anything but useless. As a pioneering powerhouse, it's one of the best options on the market. Another gamechanger, then.