Best Dash Cams for 2025, Tested and Reviewed

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Whether you want to capture a meteor in the sky or an unfortunate fender bender, a dash cam is the gadget to get.

This article was updated with new information in November 2024.

As we've seen from countless crash videos on social media, dash cams are among the best ways to capture evidence of an accident; for insurance purposes or a good story for the bar on Saturday night. But like anything in the technology market, there are way too many options to choose from. Should you get one with an interior camera? How helpful is a dash cam with a screen? What about nighttime performance? Do you need fancy functions like GPS locating and vehicle speed? And what's the scoop with insurance and legality on these things?

We at the Gear Team considered all of these questions and more, and aimed to answer them with an extensive comparison test. We ran a handful of the top dash cams available today through a set of rigorous testing parameters to separate the decent from the great. Here's everything you need to know about choosing the best dash cam for your vehicle. (For the best visual comparison, make sure to turn up the quality on YouTube videos.)

Dash cams come in all shapes, sizes, and price points—ranging from sub-$50 to well over $500. Considering why you want a dash cam, what features you value, and how much you're willing to spend will help determine which dash cam you should buy.

Before you decide to pony up for a pricey dash cam—or, conversely, a less expensive model without all the bells and whistles—there are a ton of important factors to consider.

Here's the Dirty Little Secret about dash cams: Many are worthless right out of the box. After all, what good is a dash cam if you can't provide its footage to investigators later (or upload it to YouTube or CrashDashes)? Dash cams are generally too small to feature internal storage, so they require a micro SD card to save footage.

The problem is that most don't include a memory card; you need to buy it separately or upgrade to a bundle that includes one. Always check to see if the model you're considering requires and comes with a memory card, and purchase one if necessary.

Pro tip: Since most card-based dash cams typically overwrite older footage when storage capacity is reached, we recommend purchasing a high-capacity memory card anyway to safeguard against accidental deletion.

On the flip side, many modern dash cams utilize cloud storage, which uploads data to a server for remote storage. Cloud-based dashboard cameras generally require an additional subscription cost and connection to a smartphone or Wi-Fi signal at varying intervals, but eliminate the need for memory cards and allow access to footage at any time, as long as your subscription is active.

A dash camera's quality significantly affects the ability to retrieve detailed information later. Image quality hinges on sensor size, dynamic range, lens material and design, and image processing. If you'd like to read a more detailed breakdown of how these elements impact image quality and what you should look for to get the best image possible, we break it down with an in-depth analysis below.

Newer dash cams often come loaded with additional features like GPS, emergency service alerts, and radar detectors. More features usually come with a higher price tag; bundling optional features such as interior cabin cameras can be a more practical approach to "all the bells and whistles."

However, the modern gadgets that many of us own and use, such as phones and radar detectors, already offer some of these features. There are also some really good built-in systems, such as those from Tesla or Rivian, which might render dash cams obsolete in just a few years. Decide what you need from a dash cam before you buy one.

If you drive an older car, consider a dash cam loaded with integrated safety features, such as those often found standard in new vehicles. For instance, Garmin dash cams offer lane-departure warnings, while some Nextbase models can automatically call for help in case of an accident.

More Gear: Best Radar Detectors | Best Home EV Chargers | Best OBD-II Scanners

The Gear Team strived to keep this test as objective as possible by comparing specs and video recordings side by side. But subjective things matter too. We took notes on the usability of the cameras themselves, along with any companion apps. Additionally, we noted other random tidbits that we felt impacted the overall results. Here are the parameters we tested for:

The Vantrue N4 is an exceptional value, offering a dash cam, cabin-facing camera, and rearview camera. It attaches to the windshield with a suction mount, and its cameras can be adjusted for optimal coverage. The front dash cam records at 2560 by 2160 pixels but drops to 2560 by 1440 when all three cameras are used. The cabin and rear cameras have 1920 by 1080 resolution. The cameras have wide fields of view with minimal distortion, and the cabin camera includes infrared lighting for low-light conditions.

The N4's integrated screen features a picture-in-picture mode that displays all three cameras' feeds simultaneously, along with settings and recording modes. It offers low-frame-rate and low-bit-rate recording modes, but we found these can drain the car battery. The device also includes collision and motion detection, automatically saving relevant footage. A 128 GB micro SD card holds about 6.7 hours of footage.

We picked the Vantrue N4 as our Best Overall dash cam mainly because of its value. It's a strong competitor at a great price, with three cameras and lots of features, and it came in only slightly behind our top pick in image quality. Video quality was impressive across various light conditions, with good dynamic range and minimal noise reduction.

As far as pure visual performance, the Cobra SC 400D was the best dash cam we tested thanks to its 4K resolution. We agreed that its video footage genuinely looked the best too. We found the touchscreen to be easy to operate and responsive, and the Cobra uses its proprietary DriveSmarter app to provide police alerts and other driver reports. If we had one minor grumble, it would be that the mount only swivels forward and backward, not side to side. However, the wide angle of the lens practically eliminates the need to do so. The Cobra secures to the windshield via a large sticky pad for the mount and a very strong magnet for the camera itself.

Of course, this kind of quality and sheer amount of features add up in cost, but if you're serious about purchasing a dash cam, we loved this one.

We appreciate that we'll probably get some flak for including this model in this test when there are so many dash cams out there. But we were determined to evaluate our (licensed) namesake unit on its own merits—and darned if it didn't step up as the best budget option we tested.

The Car and Driver 1080P Dash Cam has front and rear cameras and a touchscreen interface for easy driver control. The unit has standard features like parking mode, collision detection, and a G sensor to keep one eye open after you've left the vehicle.

One thing we really liked about this model is its dual tripod option that allows different mounting iterations from the top or bottom of the camera. This feature made it easy to adjust the dash cam according to the angle of the windshield. During our driving test, we detected a faint magenta hue on the screen, which we could not adjust for. But when we uploaded the data, the magenta hue did not affect the footage.

This budget-friendly dual camera covers all the essential features and has adjustable orientations. It's an excellent choice for dash-cam beginners.

The Garmin Mini 2 is an excellent choice for someone looking to keep their dash cam discreet and out of the way. It's compact enough to tuck behind your rearview mirror if so desired. The app functionality is quite nice as well, and the 1080p matched up well against the competition despite its diminutive size.

While it's a nice set-and-forget dash cam, we found that it's a bit tricky to determine whether everything is set up correctly without checking it via the app. The lack of a screen makes it difficult to see if the camera is lined up properly. Additionally, there are a few different lights that blink on the cam, and it's confusing at first to know what they all mean. But once you get that all set, the Garmin Mini 2 is a solid choice for a tiny dash cam.

The MAXcam 360c primarily serves as a radar detector with a secondary dash-cam function. It isn't ideal for those seeking only a dash cam. But for anyone wanting a radar detector with a competent camera to boot, it's a great choice.

The dash cam boasts a 2560 by 1440 resolution with a Sony Starvis image sensor that captures 30 frames per second and offers a 143-degree field of view. The video quality is contrasty, with noticeable noise reduction and compression that significantly impacts image quality. We found the MAXcam 360c performed well in low-light conditions, although finer details became blurry. It clearly captured license plates up to ten feet away under ideal conditions, but beyond that, its clarity is a miss, even in the most ideal conditions.

This product isn't suitable for everyone due to its high cost and the complexity of using a radar scanner. But if you're looking for a radar detector as well as a dash cam and want to kill both birds with one stone, this Escort fits the bill.

The Nexar Beam is an excellent entry-level dash cam. With a reasonable price tag, it boasts the standard features you'd expect to find, like parking guardian and G-sensor collision detection, and advanced features like GPS connectivity for data overlay. Another unique option is that the app can generate an insurance incident report aligning with footage and handy GPS coordinates.

Different models of the Beam come with different SD card sizes; in our case, we purchased the 32 GB option. However, one nice feature of the Nexar is that it offers unlimited cloud storage for all G-sensor-locked data, meaning all collisions will always be stored and accessible on the cloud, which can be particularly crucial after an incident or even months after the fact.

If you're looking for additional safety features, the Garmin 67W model is an excellent choice. The unit is small and unobtrusive, even compared to its Mini counterpart. To navigate through the unit's features, you utilize a series of buttons on the side of the camera instead of a touchscreen to toggle through the menus.

What we liked the most about the Garmin 67W was the integration of lane departure and forward-collision warnings, both valuable safety features missing in older vehicles. The lane departure warning was a little touchy, admittedly, but we appreciated Garmin's commitment to integrating safety features, especially for those with older-model vehicles.

If you drive an older vehicle and want a modern but unobtrusive and easy-to-use dash cam, this Garmin is an excellent pick.

Gannon Burgett loves cameras, cars, and coffee: a perfect combination for his Hearst Autos work. His byline has appeared in USA Today, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, the Detroit Free Press, and more.

Katherine Keeler is Associate Testing Editor at Hearst Autos. By day she evaluates tools for your enjoyment; by night, she Frankensteins her ever-changing fleet of rustbucket oddities back to repair. Her dream is to open a roadside attraction where the public can view, drive, and learn repairs at her emporium of curious cars.

Collin Morgan is a Commerce Editor at Hearst Autos, where the former Rust Belt mechanic and gadget enthusiast presents the best gear for your automotive endeavors.

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