VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS

I do a lot of highway and city driving, and there are millions of stupidly bad drivers out there. In the past 30 years, I have been in 15 automobile accidents, and in *ALL* of them, the police charged the other driver and in *EVERY CASE* the police cleared me of any wrong doing. In two other cases, I was hit and run with no one found to be charged.

So I decided to get an in-car camera. I ordered a different model and returned it (see my separate review on that product: CarProCam(TM) HD 1080p Car Dashboard Camera Car Accident DVR with LCD, LED LIGHTS, HDMI OUTPUT, CYCLE RECORDING. Model z06). I got serious, and purchased the VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS. It is expensive ($300+), but it is a completely different product compared to the under $100 market, and therefore a direct comparison between the two product types is not applicable. My review for the VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS follows.

PROs:

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Easy installation

Clear high resolution daytime pictures

3 suction cup feet holds tight to the windshield very well with no noticeable camera vibration

Two color cameras record both the exterior view out the front windshield as well as the interior cabin

Infrared lighting permits clear B&W cabin interior recording at night without distracting lights

GPS enabled position and speed encoded in recording

Separate G-force sensor records acceleration and jerk

Continuous recording no gaps between segmented files, and no delays when the SD Card is full and the camera starts recording over old files

Intuitive and informative PC software, but see CONs

Bundled with Micro-SD to regular SD adapter, and SD-USB adapter

CONs:

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Unclear instruction manual leads to misunderstood PC software function

External night images only adequate

ISSUES (Neither Pro nor Con):

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Proprietary video recording format not recognized by Windows

Must use the included PC App to view recorded video and to create .AVI files

RATING:

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3.75/5 stars (rounded up to 4)

1 star penalty for barely adequate night recording a product this expensive should have better night imaging

0.25 star penalty for unclear PC playback app instructions

REVIEW

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The device comes with an 8' power cord, allowing you to place the camera virtually anywhere in the vehicle. It is plug-n-play both in the car and in the PC. In fact, the PC utility does not actually need any installation in Windows it runs as-is without installation.

The daytime playback on the PC is crisp and clear, and adjusts well for lighting changes. So far, I have not noticed any failure modes or hiccups it just records.

The PC playback is both interesting and information rich. Not only do you see the out-the-windshield view, but you also see the synchronized interior cabin view, with a soundtrack. A separate window shows a live-update Google map of exactly where you traveled as it plays back your trip. Another window shows your exact location (longitude, latitude, elevation), your speed, heading, and G-force.

The camera records all this data to the micro SD card in proprietary format that is not recognized by your PC. This proprietary format has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, it allows the playback application to synchronize the front camera video, in-cabin video, audio, and data track feeds so they all show the correct data and imagery at the same time. On the negative side, Windows does not recognize the file system, and therefore cannot copy, move, or even erase the files. In fact, when you insert the SD card into the computer, Windows reports the card to be empty, even though it is full of recorded video.

The playback app allows you to back-up files in the camera's native format (in an '.sd' extension file) that is recognized by Windows, but its data can only be processed by the playback app. The app also lets you create '.AVI' video files, and gives you the option of including or omitting the front view, interior view, position, speed, and G-force embedded information as a caption across the bottom of the video.

There is a tricky menu in the app that lets you either format the SD card, or 'Restore' it. Formatting the SD card prepares it for use in the in-car camera, and you must perform this formatting before placing any newly purchased SD Card in the camera. 'Restoring' the card allows the card to be used by a normal PC Windows system, thus restoring it for normal PC use. These actions are very poorly explained in the manual, and it took me hours of trial and error to figure out their true purpose.

I understand the need to record to a proprietary format in order to accomplish the synchronized playback the app does. However I would like to have seen a user option that allows the camera to record directly to a Windows recognized .AVI file instead of the proprietary format.

As far as I can tell, the camera records without gaps. The video quality is good, as mentioned. In my playbacks, the audio quality is poor, but that might be due to the placement of the camera I need to play around with that to render a more authoritative judgement.

The PC playback application is well thought out, and for the most part, easy to use. I really like the live Google map as it plays back, as well as the speed, heading, etc. I also especially LOVE the ability to selectively turn on and off speed, heading, location, etc. in the AVI video file creation.

I like the fact that the system comes bundled with both a micro-SD to standard-SD adapter, AND a SD (micro or standard) to USB adapter. It also comes with 3 extra suction cup feet in case you loose some or they start losing their grip. The manufacturer has put a lot of thought and effort into this product, and it shows in the quality, performance, and yes, in the price.

Overall, I recommend this product for serious users who want more than the $100 market of in-car recorders.

This is a well-built, well-designed video recording unit. Starts recording as soon as it gets power and starts up (it's running Linux, and needs about 20-30 second to boot). Solid construction. I only with they'd put a wider front lens on the unit...and unfortunately the lens is cemented in place so there is no chance of swapping it out easily).

It took a long time to figure out where to mount it to get GPS reception. Seems to work best down on the dash. Under the visor seems to block the signal (in fact holding your hand over the unit will sheild the GPS signal too). Sometimes it won't lock onto a signal, but once it gets a signal it's pretty solid.

Software is very well designed too, though I wish they had keyboard shortcuts for the features (I use an Asus in my truck, and the screen resolution is too short for the lower row of buttons...so I can't turn on the map on that laptop.) The mapping, direction, and speed functions are generally very accurate (at least while the GPS signal is locked).

I also wish there was a 3 connector mini-jack to allow for an external GPS antenna. The reciever is soldered to the PC board making a post-consumer mod not terribly easy.

But all in all, very good product!

Buy VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS Now

I work at a detention facility. I purchased the VC-250 Dash Cam for use in one of our transport vehicles. It is compact. It is easy to install and use. I had one question for tech support regarding setting FPS and was responded to very quickly. It has one camera that records the road and one camera that records the interior of the van. It records your position using GPS so you can follow the trip on a map when you play back the video. It starts recording automatically when you turn on the vehicle and stops when you turn it off. I purchased a 16gb microSDHC card and set FPS to 10. We get about 37 hours of recorded video before it starts overwriting previous trips. We are so happy with this system that I just purchased two additional systems for other vehicles.

Read Best Reviews of VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS Here

I previously owned a $50 dash cam and thought I was protected. It turns out these less expensive dash cams record in increments, saving short video files at a time. There is a 4 second gap as each file is created, this could easily be the most important part of the footage, you could in fact miss the cause completely.

Other reviewers claim the fact it does not record in a standard video format as a flaw or con, this is simply not true. This camera uses a proprietary format to store video, this means the recording is continuous, even when it recycles older recordings as the memory card fills up. Software is provided to output the files as a regular video.

Sadly this does not come with Mac software, but using Parallels I was able to set it up and retrieve video just fine.

Setting up a new blank memory card or retrieving the video requires you pop out the memory card and insert it in to the provided card reader attached to a PC, or a Mac running Parallels.

GPS is a nice touch.

The manual is awful, so a call to the seller may be needed if you are not tech savvy.

It should be noted that the memory card is a Micro SDHC card, these are tiny. An adaptor is provided to put it in to a regular card reader.

The picture does not show how small this dash cam is, its very inconspicuous.

I live in Texas and felt the suction cups may not be adequate given the heat our windscreens get to. Instead I removed the cups and used the holes with very small screws to screw it to the back of my rear view mirror so it hangs directly under it. I hard wired the power in to the overhead console. I do not even know it is there most of the time.

Recording starts when power is applied, and stops when removed. No buttons to remember to press. The oldest video is removed as the card fills up, so you never have to worry about deleting video.

This is expensive when compared to other models, very expensive, but as a driver that has tried other cheaper models I have to say it is worth every penny. Piece of mind.

Want VC-250 Dash Cam with GPS Discount?

This is a camera manufactured by Chinese company, more precisely by Shenzhen Electronics and is available for much cheaper prices elsewhere (this seller is basically trying to make more than a hundred dollar profit from each unit sold), just Google for something like "TW-MB1001B" you will find it (as well as similar newer models) for much different prices (for bulk purchases).

This camera model is also SEVERELY outdated by modern standards it is bulky, it has very low-res sensors and uses very low bitrate compression which leads to blurry videos, both day and night (you can see the samples yourself just go to YouTube and type in "VC-250"), it has no "parking" mode (where the camera automatically starts recording video when it detects any motion during the time your car is parked or is not moving for a long time), it has no built-in WiFi access (you can't, for example, use your Android or iOS-based smartphone to connect wirelessly to this camera and watch the videos on your smartphone's display, without removing the memory card from the camera or removing the camera itself from the car). All of these features (and much more) are already available on many modern dashboard cameras (such as the models made by South Korean companies like ITRONICS and Pittasoft, in particular the "Itronics ITB-100HD SP Smart Plus" or "BlackVue DR500GW-HD" models), which are widely available on eBay and other places, for much cheaper prices. You can compare their much, MUCH better video quality to this overpriced junk's blurry video on YouTube, where many owners of these modern cameras have already uploaded the sample videos.

Once again do NOT get scammed by this seller and do NOT purchase this extremely overpriced, old, feature-deficient model with poor video quality there are better options available from many South Korean companies like Itronics, Pittasoft, Urive and others. Don't be lazy and do a basic research first about all those models and their features and use YouTube or dash cam-related forums (such as "dashcamtalk") to find and compare the video quality output of all those models.

Also beware of fake "reviews" for this product! For example, the review done by "Irit" person if you'll spend a few minutes on Google you'll see this name is the same as the name of the actual wife of the seller of these junky products. How lame is that using your family members to "bump up" the ratings of the products you sell???