A lot of things can happen on the street while you’re driving. Today, the traffics everywhere can get very wild because more people get to have vehicles and drive them like they have nine lives. Regulation and law are not the same anymore either and that is why drivers need to be more cautious and know how to protect themselves. Not only the number of road accidents and death increases every year, crimes also appear in many faces; faking accidents to claim insurance – for instance. These reasons make people in Russia become ones of the most aware drivers in the world; they arm themselves with dashboard cameras. But why a dash cam? Why not a baseball bat under the seat, for example. The answer is because dash cam footages can help to fight the corrupt law enforcers and insurance frauds also be a good evidence on the court if an accident happens.

Technology makes rapid changes everytime, including for the dash camera. People don’t want to use ones making poor quality, blurry recordings. So what points a driver need to look for in a dash cam before purchasing one? You may want to consider these:

• A dash cam with a looping feature is going to save you a lot of time and energy; it means you don’t have to manually delete the footages from the memory card when it is full because the camera will do it for you.
• But how about important footages? Now this is when you have to find a cam with not only looping feature but also a G-sensor. What is that? A G-sensor can detect a sudden change in acceleration and direction like a hard braking, a hit or a crash, or when the car is parked but it gets rocked or moved. The footages from events like these will automatically get stored in a protected mode in the memory card so they won’t get deleted when the looping feature is doing its work.
• Get a dash cam that makes clear recordings. Because, at the end of the day, that is all that matters. Find one that records higher than 1080p.

From all the important points above, which dash cam brands are good in the market? Considering Russia is among the biggest dashboard camera markets in the world, these 4 popular dash cams that are mostly used by Russian drivers may come handy as a reference:

1. Garmin Dash Cam 55

This smart dashboard camera records 3.7 megapixel videos in 1440p and works brilliantly in low-light condition. Encouraging safe driving, Garmin is voice activated so the driver can keep their hands on the wheel while giving commands like “save video”, “take picture”, “start recording” and so on. Equipped with a G-sensor that works together with the GPS, the protected footages of incidents are stamped with the exact time and location of where it happens.

Garmin has a built-in Wi-Fi, so the footages can easily be transferred to your smartphone anytime for a faster and more convenient sharing. Specialized in safety, this camera will give warnings when the car is getting too close to another vehicle or when it strays from the path. When the car is parked or in stationary mode, the camera will automatically records when a motion is detected. This tiny dash cam can easily be removed to capture objects closer if necessary.

2. Mobius Action Cam

Originally an action cam, Mobius is the one for drivers who want to stick with the low budget but not sacrificing the quality. It records in 1080p with wide angle and Wide Dynamic Range that makes it possible to record well in low light condition. The capacity of the battery allows the camera to record up to two hours and, if connected to an external power source, can record live video. The looping recording feature, however, breaks the two-hour limit.

Compared to Garmin, this dash cam obviously lacks a lot of a good motorist camera features. But, considering the price – $125 cheaper than Garmin – it has offered enough for the range.

3. Rexing V1LG

This dash cam comes with dual channel, which means you will get two cams in one package. One to be mounted on the dashboards, the other on the rear of the car. However, reviews say that only the front camera is decent enough to record both during the day and night. The rear one is useless when the light is low. Equipped with GPS feature and easy to install, but lack of parking mode so you might want to keep this in mind when considering to buy this type.

4. Thinkware F800 Pro

The offered dual channel given by Thinkware is better than Rexing; you get 1080p on both front and rear camera although the rear one is optional. This dash cam is dedicated to them who spend less time on the street and park more since half of the memory card’s capacity is reserved for parking mode. It is sensitive to motion and equipped with Thinkware Cloud feature that is connected to the owner’s phone and will send an alert if the car is moved out of the specified zone. Other interesting features are time lapse, energy saving, and impact detection that will guarantee the car’s safety while the driver is away from it. The discreet shape and color blends with the car’s interior so it won’t raise suspicions say someone wants to try and break into your vehicle.

Those were the 4 popular dash cams that are mostly used by Russian drivers. If you are thinking to get one for your first dash cam, hopefully the list above could help you with points to consider and keep in mind before getting a real one. Online user reviews would surely do you a lot of favors too.