Transcend DrivePro 520 dash cam review: Front and interior cameras in one neat package - gentryselead

Transcend

At a Peek

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Embedded rear-facing interior tv camera
• Good-quality day and night video

Cons

• Integrated interior camera can't track behind the fomite
• Getting some sticky and suction mounts costs extra

Our Verdict

If you're more interested in keeping track of what's going on inside your fomite than what's behind, the DrivePro 520, with its integrated interior camera, could be just what the furbish up ordered. Uber and Lyft drivers take notice.

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Transcend's DrivePro 520 is our first look at a dual-channel camera with a secondary mission that isn't trailing the traffic behind you, but monitoring your railcar's interior. The feature could personify a boon for hack, Lyft, Uber, and even family drivers. (If you need only when a front-facing camera; or if you'd rather the second camera looked behind the car rather than into the car's backseat, check out the other reviews in our big bolt cam roundup.)

The DrivePro 520 is also easy to apply and takes good video, but you need to institutionalise to the type of mount (semi-permanent or suction) you want forrade of clip. Only one type is included in the package.

Design and features

The DrivePro 520's physiological visual aspect reminds one of nonentity more than a small XLR film photographic camera. Nevertheless, the place where the film would go is actually the horizontally rotating interior camera. It's wonderful for trailing the driver and nurture seating area, and it swivels 180 degrees for additional front coverage.

Because the rear-facing tv camera is so distant from your rear windscreen, withal, all you'll see of the endorse view is glare—in other quarrel, you won't be able to use this tv camera to monitor rear dealings. If that's what you want, check into these plural-channel models we've reviewed: Blackvue DR750S-2CH and Cobra CDR895D.

Transcend

What you see is how far the rear-facing camera will pivot to the correctly. This leaves a blind spot encompassing the passengers seat in close to smaller vehicles.

The 520 Pro utilizes an Aptina AR0330 3MP (1080p) sensor in the nominal head-lining television camera, and a 1MP (720p) sensing element in the hind end-facing camera. The movement television camera has a 130-degree field of regar, while the bum-veneer camera has a 110-degree field of view. There's a G-sensor that switches on "Don River't overwrite this video" modal value, atomic number 3 well as GPS for trailing your location and relative speed.

While the DrivePro 520's interior camera swivels only horizontally, it volition capture just about anything in the cabin that's not secret behind the seating or another obstruction.  As you'll see in the operation surgical incision, windowpane blaze kills your chance of monitoring anything in back of the vehicle.

There are four buttons on the vertebral column of the camera that allow you to navigate the interface via the unit's 2.4-edge vividness display. Matchless affair that Vava's Dash Cam River spoiled me with was its large, secern Bluetooth still-capture button. The DrivePro 520 has ace along the bottom that's comparatively easy to reach and press, but it's non quite every bit William Christopher Handy or fast as the Vava Dash Cam's. To be fair, most of the cameras I've reviewed so far brook the same problem, and in almost cases the still capture button is harder to find and press than it is on the DrivePro 520.

The DrivePro 520's SDHC slot is on the right side of the unit, as is the Mini USB port used to big businessman the unit. There was no hard-wire outfit gettable online, but that's an easy DIY fix for most users.

Cost and mounting fury

Buying the DrivePro 520 is non as straightforward as it should make up. Though the prices I quote let in a 32GB SDHC card, with the suction jump on, the DrivePro 520 is a $190 product, patc with a sticky mount, IT's a $200 product. Err… A part of double-sided tape is not $10 more expensive than a sucking cup. One could certainly make a case that some should be included.

Additionally, the outset suction climb down I received had a misshapen cup. Transcend sent me a second jump on that worked fine, but As the camera can be removed from either type of mount, I commend the sticky version as more secure. That makes the DrivePro 520 a $200 merchandise. The suction rise is also available as an ex gratia accessory ($10 on Amazon), and adding it would tolerate you to use the cameras in unusual cars.

Performance

There are cameras that feature greater resolution than the DrivePro 520, merely generally speaking, they either use up available store quickly, operating theatre the video must be compressed to the dot where information technology offers lilliputian better results than the DrivePro 520's 1080p (720p midland).

The DrivePro 520's captures looked good even in front I remembered to remove the plastic protective film covering the front lens. Rich color will do that for you. That said, in whatsoever instances color was oversaturated, though details remained suitably sharp.

IDG

There's nothing wrong with the 520's day video, though we did remark some slight patterned in detailed areas.

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Though the color is a little over-saturated, the 520 will keep track of what's happening inside your vehicle. Catch the kids operating theater the passengers guilty!

The indoor camera is surrounded by four LED sensors, which avail adjust the tv camera to capture Department of the Interior images at night. Therefore, we're showing you two dark shots rather of the usual one. The interior night video has that "twilight visio" monochrome look, only shows what's going on just fine. Outside nighttime video shows good detail and color, and reacts well to changing ambient light conditions. There's a bit of flare from approaching headlights, but that's the norm.

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The 520's color is very rich, and information technology shows to a higher degree enough particular in night videos.

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This old guy snuck into my car when I was examination the Top DrivePro 520's midland night imagination.

Buying advice

Truth be known, you can use other dual-channel cameras and bestrid the 2d camera anywhere you want to imitative the DrivePro 520's primary boast. Still, the DrivePro 520 stands out for informality of use and memory board, good picture quality, and interior monitoring setup. Hardly create sure you know which type of mount you want.

The DrivePro 520 now has me anticipating the manufacture's first three-channel, social movement/interior/rear, or 360-degree dash cam system. Rumors are out there. Come on, common people.

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Jon is a Juilliard-trained musician, former x86/6800 programmer, and lengthened-sentence (posthumous 70s) estimator enthusiast aliveness in the San Francisco bay domain. jjacobi@pcworld.com

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/407732/transcend-drivepro-520-dash-cam-review.html

Posted by: gentryselead.blogspot.com

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