Key Points
- Reddit’s dash cam subreddit, r/dashcam, is a valuable resource for finding the best dash cams according to real users.
- The BlackVue DR900X is Reddit’s top pick for the best overall dash cam, with its high-quality footage, live view, and cloud backup capabilities.
- The Blueskysea B1W is a budget-friendly option with a wide-angle lens, built-in Wi-Fi, and a parking mode function.
- The Garmin Mini 2 is a small dash cam that offers voice commands, automatic uploading to a secure vault, and the ability to charge a phone using the same USB outlet.
- The VIOFO A119 V3 is recommended for beginners due to its strong resolution, GPS features, and parking mode protection.
For better or worse, using a dash cam has become something of a saving grace for many drivers with both insurance companies and police reports. Having the ability to capture driving footage in real time and use it in case of an emergency, or being able to grab the license plate of someone who may be at fault in an accident, can be invaluable.
Unfortunately, if you jump onto Amazon these days, an overwhelming number of dash cams are available. Being able to sort through the noise can be challenging, and that’s exactly why you can turn to Reddit to help discover which dash cam is right for you. Reddit has done a lot of the important legwork having tried out a variety of different dash cams, and therefore, can make reliable suggestions for the best ones worth buying today.
Let’s take a look at the 8 best dash cams available according to Reddit.
Why Use Reddit for Dash Cam Suggestions?
As much as you might want to think of Reddit only as a place for discovering memes or looking for funny news, it’s actually far more useful than that. This is especially true as you look at the dash cam subreddit located at r/dashcam. With over 220,000 members, the r/dashcam subreddit is in the top 1% of subreddits by size and is full of daily conversations from members around a myriad of dash cam topics.
As the members of this subreddit are either currently or in the past looking for suggestions on the best dash cam, they are eager to help new members. Better yet, the dash cam subreddit has an ongoing list of the most recommended cameras already available as a sticky, or the very first post everyone sees when visiting the r/dashcam subreddit.
Last updated in February 2023, these Reddit favorite dash cams from the sticky post are broken down by budget, as well as whether they provide coverage in front, inside, behind you, or all of the above.
#1 Best Overall: BlackVue DR900X
- With 32GB microSD card
- 4K UHD Cloud Front Dashcam
- Built-in Wi-Fi, GPS, Parking Mode Voltage Monitor
- LTE via Optional CM100 LTE Module
Widely regarded as the best overall dash cam available today, the BlackVue DR900X is a fantastic choice as long as you don’t mind the price.
Right away, the BlackVue DR900X stands out with its 8-megapixel front-facing camera that captures in 4K quality (3,840 x 2,160p) at 30 FPS. This quality plus a 162-degree view allows for some of the best footage available on any dash cam at any price. Even the rear-facing camera’s 2.1-megapixel Starvis sensor is an excellent choice for recording 1080p footage with a 139-degree viewing angle.
Of course, capturing this level of high-quality footage requires a good amount of power. This means you will want to hardwire the DR900X to your vehicle’s fuse panel and give it a constant power supply, even in parking mode.
As good as the DR900X is from inside the vehicle, having a live view and push notifications sent to your smartphone makes it equally useful when you are not with your car. Best of all, any important video you need for later use can be backed up to a cloud service where you can then recall the video for showcasing to law enforcement or insurance.
Best Budget-Friendly: Blueskysea B1W Dash Cam
- Mini video driving recorder
- 360-degree rotatable lens
- 1080p
- 30 FPS
- G-Sensor loop recording
A small but powerful dash cam, the Blueskysea B1W is a terrific budget option for anyone looking for an easy pathway into dash cam life.
Available for under $60, the B1W is still packed with features including a 1080p camera that records at 30 FPS. The surprising feature set continues with a 150-degree field of view with a wide-angle lens, which is a higher FOV than many more expensive dash cams offer. For its size, a small 3.5 x 1.14 inches, the B1W is easy to put on a dashboard and forget about it while it does its job.
However, don’t think the small size means fewer features. The inclusion of built-in Wi-Fi makes it easy to quickly move footage onto a smartphone, which is arguably the most important feature of all. Another highlight feature of the B1W is its parking mode function, which is triggered by what Blueskysea calls the onboard G-sensor. When activated, the camera will begin recording for 30 seconds to capture any potential persons or vehicles that might have been involved in an incident while your vehicle is parked.
Last but not least, the B1W offers a full 360-degree rotation so you can quickly transition to recording the interior should the need arise.
Best Small Option: Garmin Mini 2
- 1080p resolution
- 140-degree field of view (FOV)
- Voice control
- Tiny size
Widely regarded across Reddit as the most discreet dash cam around, the Garmin Mini 2 is a fantastic purchase for anyone who wants a dash cam that gets out of the way.
Essentially the size of a car key, the Garmin Mini 2 is easy to mount behind a rearview mirror to do its job without being directly in your line of sight. The most important thing to note about the Garmin is to not let its size fool you, as this dash cam can still record using a wide-angle 140-degree lens with 1080p video quality. As soon as a video is recorded and saved, it is automatically uploaded using a Wi-Fi connection to a secure Garmin vault for viewing at any time.
One more big highlight of the Garmin Mini 2 is that it offers voice commands so you don’t have to risk diverting your eyes from the road while driving. Add this feature to other outstanding benefits like Parking Guard, which monitors your vehicle when you are parked in case of an incident.
These features, plus the option of connecting the Garmin Mini 2 to your vehicle with its dual USB plug, means you can use both the dash cam and charge a phone using the same USB outlet.
Best for Beginners: VIOFO A119 V3
- 2K (2,560 x 1,440p) Quad HD+ camera
- Ultra-clear night vision
- 140-degree wide angle
- GPS included
- Buffered parking mode
- True HDR
- Motion detection
- G-sensor
- Time lapse
Considered one of the most popular dash cams on the r/dashcam subreddit’s sticky page, the VIOFO A119 V3 is a great budget choice for anyone looking for their first dash cam.
The reasons for the VIOFO’s popularity jump out with its F1.6 lens and 5-megapixel Sony sensor, which shoots at 1440P at 60 FPS. Given the strong resolution and the ability to shoot at this level of quality during the day and in the evening, it’s easy to understand why the VIOFO is such a strong choice.
Thanks to the inclusion of features like GPS, you can also have the VIOFO display your real-time speed, time, and GPS location in the video. Capturing all of this data can be incredibly helpful if you need any additional evidence in the case of an insurance investigation.
Yet another reason for choosing the VIOFO is its strong parking mode protection. Automatic event detection is the most popular mode, with time-lapse and low-bitrate recording being two additional available options. All of these modes provide an increased sense of security while your vehicle is parked either at home or in a public parking lot.
The most commonly used mode, automatic event detection, provides 15 seconds of recording before an event and up to 30 seconds after an event.
©GikaPhoto By waraphot/Shutterstock.com
Best Budget-Friendly Dual Lens: VIOFO A129
- Full HD 1080p
- 140-degree wide angle front and rear camera
- With GPS, Wi-Fi, and Parking Mode
- Supercapacitor
- Low light vision G-Sensor
Highlighted by its new Sony Starvis image sensor, the VIOFO A129 is a terrific choice for anyone who wants their first budget-friendly dual lens dash cam.
Where this VIOFO really excels is with its F1.6 aperture lens that assists with the full 1080p recording at 30 FPS for both the front and back cameras. This aperture size supports the 140-degree angle views giving the A129 almost a complete front and rear view for footage capture. The 2-inch HD screen on the front-facing camera provides immediate playback of any recorded incidents and is the same screen where you can make camera setting adjustments on the fly.
As is the case with other VIOFO dash cams, the camera captures GPS tracking so you have recorded speeds and route data instantly available for any use case. The GPS data also assists with ensuring any footage is appropriately time-stamped as well.
To help capture any footage, you can also add up to a 256GB microSD card for additional storage of captured footage.
Best Double Camera: VIOFO A129 Pro Duo
- 4K +1080p front and rear dashcam
- 5GHz Wi-Fi GPS built-in
- Ultra HD dual car camera
- Sony 8MP sensor
- Buffered parking mode
- G-Sensor
- Motion detection
- WDR
- Loop recording
A step up from the budget-friendly VIOFO A129, the VIOFO A219 Pro Duo dash cam adds a set of excellent features like 4K recording and an upgraded aperture lens.
Whereas the value-friendly VIOFO A129 only shoots in 1080p, the Pro Duo edition of this popular dash cam adds a front-facing 4K camera with an 8-megapixel Sony sensor. The rear camera remains available with 1080p video recording, but the 4K at 30 FPS recording (or 2K at 60 FPS) is a real highlight of the Pro Duo’s abilities. Having 4K quality enables you to record increased detail from any street signs, or to make license plates more legible in a recording.
Adding to the value is the dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity feature, which ensures smoother sharing of recorded footage to any smartphone. Also helping the VIOFO 129 Pro Duo grow in popularity on Reddit is its loop recording, motion detection, parking model, GPS functionality, and F1.8 aperture lens, which is especially helpful with nighttime footage.
Best for Interiors: Garmin Dash Cam Tandem
- Front and rear dual lens dash camera
- Interior night vision
- Two 180-degree lenses
- Front-facing lens with 1,440p
- Interior-facing lens with 720p
Whereas other dash cameras offer front and back recording to capture behind you while driving, the Garmin Dash Cam Tandem stands out by recording in front of you and inside the vehicle.
A pocket-sized dash camera, the Garmin separates itself from the dash cam pack by offering not one, but two 180-degree fields of view for both the front and interior cameras. The front-facing camera offers 1440p recording in HDR quality, while the interior camera offers 720p video quality with night vision. As is typical with Garmin, you receive standard voice control features as well as a built-in GPS to help automatically capture where any incident has taken place.
Having the option to record inside the vehicle makes the Garmin Dash Cam Tandem an easy recommendation for ride-share drivers. The ability to capture what people do inside your vehicle can make all the difference if they cause disruption or damage while you are driving.
Should you need to view any video, built-in Wi-Fi helps easily move recordings over to your smartphone for easy viewing.
Best Value: Blueskysea B2W Dash Cam
- 1080p Wi-Fi dash cam
- 2" LCD screen
- 2 rotatable HD lenses
- IR night vision
- 32GB SD card
- WDR
- Voice recording
- G-Sensor
- Parking Mode option
Another standout Reddit favorite, the Blueskysea B2W Dash cam is a great choice for anyone who wants both front and interior recording.
A favorite among ride-share drivers, the B2W offers 1080p recording through its front-facing camera, as well as with its interior camera. This means Full HD recording across both lenses, which is great for ensuring the best quality content for a clear view of any exterior and interior activity. Where the B2W shines is with its rotating lens for both cameras that can be adjusted or moved to get the best possible position.
Regardless of how you position each camera, you can record up to 30 hours at a time thanks to support for up to a 400GB memory card. When you want to playback footage, you can quickly do so on the 2-inch display or by using the B2W’s Wi-Fi connectivity and easily move footage over to an Android or iOS device for quick viewing.
Wrapping Up
There is no question that a dash cam is one of those devices you didn’t know you needed until after it’s too late. Having the security that comes with being able to capture footage while driving can potentially save you thousands in insurance costs or worse if emergency services are involved.
The ability to pick up a dash cam for as little as under $60 makes it an impulse investment that can be invaluable down the road.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©EKKAPHAN CHIMPALEE/Shutterstock.com.
