5 things you must consider when buying a dash cam

As we transition into the autumn and winter months when road conditions become more treacherous, there's no better time to consider a dash cam for your car. 

Dash cams not only provide evidence in event of an accident, but some can also monitor your vehicle while you’re away. 

We reveal what to look for, what to avoid and the models to shortlist.

Best dash cams: compare 16 models that have been through our exhaustive lab tests

1. Check the footage quality

It’s all well and good to have a dash cam, but if you discover the footage isn't up to scratch after an accident, it's money down the drain. 

Our latest dash cam tests found that most record well during the day, but many fail to capture clear footage in low-light or at night. Some also have a narrow angle that won't capture much.

Make sure to read our dash cam reviews to see which you can rely on to record detailed footage both during the day and at night, as well as offer a wide angle of view of the road. 

2. What’s included

Dash cams are not necessarily a one-off purchase, often you’ll have additional costs.

For example, most dash cams store recorded footage on an SD card. Although these are supplied with some models, for many they're a separate purchase. In fact, of our top eight models, only one comes supplied with an SD card. 

Even if you plan to download footage directly to your phone via a companion app, you’ll still likely need an SD card to initially store footage. SD cards range in size and most dash cams have limits in the size they’re compatible with, while others only support the micro SD format. 

Hardwiring your dash cam into the power supply of your vehicle can be another additional expense, but it offers some useful advantages. In addition to reducing the clutter from wires it also means the dash cam can remain powered at all times. This lets you to take full advantage of features such as parking mode, which allows your dash cam to continue to record and monitor your car when parked. 

The cost will vary depending on who you select to do this and if it's a front or front and rear model. The cables required are also sometimes an addtional purchase.

3. Subscriptions

Dash cams often have companion apps which offer various features. While these features aren't necessary, its likely you'll want to take advantage of at least some of them, so it can be irritating to learn they're locked behind a subscription paywall. 

Although many features are offered for free, we've seen big names such as Garmin and Nextbase offer further features as part of one or more subscription packages. These can be a pricey addtional monthly cost.

The most expensive example we’ve seen so far charges £9.99 per month to unlock all smart features or £6.99 to unlock some. Only voice controls and real-time notifications are available for free with this dash cam.

Our dash cam reviews specify which models have subscriptions attached.

4. Voice controls

When driving, you don't want to be fiddling with the tiny buttons on your dash cam or trying to navigate a small touchscreen display.

To combat this, dash cams often come with voice controls. This lets you issue commands such as 'save video' or 'take a picture', without taking your focus off the road. 

Some will make this a paid-for feature through a subscription, however. 

5. GPS tracking

Most dash cams will claim to have GPS built-in, meaning they'll record not only the location of your vehicle, but also the speed and direction you're travelling (useful when submitting footage after an accident). 

However, our lab tests have repeatedly shown that accessing this tracking information isn't always easy.

Some dash cams let you access GPS tracking information via an app or website, sometimes both. In our reviews, we report on how well a manufacturer has implemented GPS tracking.

Three dash cams to shortlist

These three dash cams are among the most popular models we’ve reviewed. 

Nextbase 422GW

This forward-facing dash cam can record in 1440p at 30fps. 

It has voice controls, meaning you can keep your hands on the wheel without fiddling with the device, along with GPS tracking, motion detection and event recording.

Find out how well these features work in our Nextbase 422GW review..

Nextbase iQ 4K

This powerful forward-facing and cabin 4K dash cam has a wide variety of smart features such as voice controls, real-time notifications, live view, remote downloads and cloud storage. 

Many of these features are locked behind a subscription service, though.

Does all that power and capability equal great performance? Find out in our Nextbase iQ 4K review.

Garmin Dash Cam X310

A compact forward-facing Garmin dash cam, the X310 includes a number of useful features such as motion detection, GPS tracking and voice assistant controls. 

You can also subscribe to securely save footage in Garmin’s online vault storage system. 

To find out more about this dash cam and how well it performed in our tests, read our Garmin Dash Cam X310 review.

Cars with integrated dash cams

We’ve seen over the past few years that some car manufacturers are adding dash cam technology into their cars. 

One of these is the luxury car brand BMW, which has implemented Driver Recorder in all new 3 Series, 7 Series, 8 Series, X5, X6 and X7. Drive Recorder will record 20-second clips if collision is detected. 

It's part of BMW's subscription service though, and costs a one-off fee to be activated.

With that being pushed by such a big player, we’ll likely see other car manufacturers follow suit.

Interested in a new BMW? Check out our latest BMW car reviews