The DBPOWER 1080P Dual-lens Car Camera DVR is an interesting take on the dash cam. Rather than it being a little box that sits on your windscreen this is a very large mirror that replaces your existing mirror.
Note that this won’t be suitable for use in some cars, for example the mirror in a Ford Focus was too ‘fat’ for this to clip over, however it worked fine in a Ford Fiesta.
As well as the unusual design this is the first dash camera reviewed that happens to feature an optional rear camera.
Setup was OKish, after overcoming the mirror problem by installing it in a different car there was then the issue of trying to fit all the wires, there is a wire from the mirror camera to the car and from the mirror camera to the rear view mirror. A nice touch is that the charging plug also acts as a USB port to allow you to charge your mobile on the go.
The manual attempts to help demonstrate how to install this, but it was rather poor and the black and white pictures were of little help.
You’ll need to provide a memory card, once installed you’re ready to get going. It records the front and back camera (back camera is optional, you don’t need to install it) as two separate files. These should be named similar time dates so you can match them up.
The DBPOWER car DVR features a little 5 inch screen built into the mirror and this is where you can adjust menu options or select different camera views. The design of the mirror means you can focus on the screen or focus on the mirror aspect. This took a bit of getting use to and wasn’t something that felt like I’d get use to.
Video quality was below average, having tried a number of dash cameras this has to produce the worst picture ever seen, however it was at least good enough that you’d have evidence of what happened, both in front and behind you, if you needed it, and that’s the important thing.
So lots of interesting ideas, it will certainly do the job of recording an accident. The over the mirror design is a little too much of a design innovation, with it replaces your existing mirror and having to get use to focusing on different things. The traditional dash cam design that doesn’t interfere with your rear view in any way.
Keep in mind this records front AND rear footage for the low price, not a feature I’ve seen on other cameras I’ve tried, so if you can get use to the replacement mirror this could be a good low cost way of having footage in case of an accident.
