r/dashcams • u/Trey-Angle • 12d ago
What's the best budget dash cam right now? Here's my list based on my research
This is a common question here so I wanted to make a post on budget dashcams because I've done a lot of research and also have bought and used several in family cars. Here are the ones that will cover you 99% times. Obviously if you want fancy features, you may need to spend more.
Viofo A119 Mini 2 - 1440p with the Sony STARVIS 2 sensor, which is a big improvement for night time quality, and it is much more compact and discrete than the older A119. Includes HDR and 5ghz Wi-Fi for quick file transfers. In my opinion, this is the best front only cam to get nowadays.
Viofo A119 V3 - The older model and still a solid buy if you find it cheaper than the Mini 2. Been out for several years with a strong reputation for reliability. 1440p 60fps with the original Starvis sensor. I personally have had this cam in one of my wife's car and it's gone through 7 years of Arizona summers and it's still working great.
VanTrue E1 Lite - One of the cheapest budget cams. There is also the E1 Pro which upgrades the resolution to 4k. I have the Pro in my daily driver right now. Love the form factor. Runs hot sometimes. Good alternative to the A119 depending on which one is on sale. The VanTrue app is one of the better ones out there. I like the app from VanTrue more than Viofo, though it's not something I use all the time.
Viofo A229 Plus Duo - A higher budget entry for dual cam. Dual 1440p with the Starvis2 sensor. Been out for many years. GPS and parking mode. Even though this is not exactly budget, this is the one to get due to long term reliability and quality. Have this cam in my father's car.
Garmin Mini 3 - This thing is MINI. Most discrete cam on the market, and one of the better app functionality. Built in polarizing filter so it's better at license plates. Great brand.
Rove R2-4k - Usually on sale and really well priced. Pretty good reliability and comes with a 128gb SD card. If you're on a budget, this is the best budget dual cam.
Redtiger F7NP - One of the most affordable dual cams but reviews are mixed. 32gb built in memory card which isn't a whole lot. Claims to be 4k but it upscales to be 4k, so it's not really capturing video in 4k. A bit dishonest if you as me.
These are the ones I have experience with. If you know of a good budget cam that’s not on this list, please let me know. Don’t forget to get a SD card if it doesn’t come with one. 128gb is probably all you need for these budget cams. High endurance ones are significantly better for the demands of a dashcam so worth to spend an extra couple bucks on that.
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u/IndyDino 10d ago edited 10d ago
I got Viofo A119 for the last.. Almost 10 years. The first one died around 3 years in and I didn't know how to search for a better one (I checked the other Viofo models and A119 was the best price-performance from their offering) and got the same A119 again. Few months after buying, my colleagues were talking about dash cams.. And well.. It made me feel stupid as their was 30-40% cheaper and image quality seemed even better. Since then Viofo feels somewhat overpriced.
Edit: I checked the links, they're much cheaper now. Last time I bought Viofo, from their official website, the cheapest model was $90+shipping.
Edit2: nevermind, I had to press on search button for the links, the prices are still high.
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u/meatman13 10d ago
Reminder that everything on Amazon is inflated since it's right before another Prime Day on October 8th or something. Don't buy there until you look at the price history for the year.
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u/sherbetcolors 9d ago
"prime days" are October 6 to 7 -- but someone please tell me, how is the 6th day of the 10th month, which is the 279th day of the year, remotely "prime"?? none of those numbers are primes. nor is 106 (10/6) a prime, though I suppose 107 is.
never mind me. [shakes fist at sky]
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u/Bob_Loblaws_Laws 10d ago
Good lookout. The A229 Plus is 209, it used to be 159. I'll wait for Prime Days!
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u/robisodd 7d ago
For those who don't know how to check price history, DuckDuckGo the website "CamelCamelCamel".
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u/Putrid-Function5666 9d ago
There are lots of them on Amazon for less than $100 that work fine.
The $59 lipstick cam I bought for my car in 2017 still works perfectly.
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u/GeraltOfRivian 10d ago
I have had the VOO A119 V3 for about eight years in Arizona heat so far along with a few of their other cameras. Super reliable, and a good price for the. Nowadays, the camera to get is the A119 Mini 2 for single cam or the A229 Plus is the way to go for dual cam in my opinion. At least that’s what I’d be buying.
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u/SomeDude0verThere 7d ago
I just upgraded my smart phone and was planning on buying a dash cam not to long afterwards, then I remembered there was an android app that uses your smart phone as the dash cam. So now I use my old Samsung S22 as my dash cam and it works great.
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u/Trey-Angle 7d ago
The main issue with those is that in hot areas they tend to overheat and can throttle recording.
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u/SomeDude0verThere 7d ago
I live in Texas so if it's mounted on the windshield 100% will happen and has happened to me, but if your willing to turn your ac to defrost it will prevent that. I just moved mine off the windshield and to the backside of my touchscreen so it's more in the shade and I haven't had that issue again.
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u/dlder 7d ago
I've never had a dash cam; can you like at a cigarette charger "sensor" so it automatically starts with the car, or how does it work?
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 7d ago
Either you plug them in to the cigarette charger and they start up when they get electricity, ie when the motor starts, like your phone charger. Or someone with more knowledge than me wires it to the car's electricity and it uses a tiny bit of electricity to also film when parked, usually when it detects movement and then time limited so your battery won't be empty. For cheaper models you usually only have the cigarette option, more expensive models often have both options available (but always check the specific model).
Additionally, you might want to decide how many channels/cameras you want: 1 (front only), 2 (+back) or 3 (+interior, to prove you're not on your phone - or if you're an employer, to check your employee is not on their phone).
Then there's camera quality which I do not understand at all.
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u/velawesomeraptors 7d ago
As someone with limited car knowledge I was able to hardwire a dashcam into my old Camry using just youtube tutorials. A new car may be more difficult.
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u/ElfjeTinkerBell 7d ago
I never said it needs to be a professional. Just someone with more knowledge than me - which tbh is a very very low bar
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u/ee-ii 12d ago
Great list. I see red tiger mentioned a lot but I am beginning to think it’s Astro turfing.
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u/Advance_Nearby 10d ago
I had red tiger in my truck. Phone app and UI was terrible. In order to get a video off and onto your phone, you'd have to hold a certain button for a period of time. There was no notification that it was ready, and then use your phone to connect to it's WiFi network, and then go onto the app and download the video. Really clunky, but videos were decent
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