Building on the success of the recently reviewed TaoTronics TT-CD01 car camera comes the TaoTronics TT-CD04, a smaller unit with better specs than it’s older brother. The TT-CD04 has a much nicer look to it and increases the camera from 640×480 to full 1080p high def video at 30fps.
The TT-CD04 comes with a mount, charging cable and USB cable and you also get an 8GB memory card so it’s ready to use right out of the box. Interestingly the USB cable is a mini USB cable rather than a micro USB cable, personally I’d have preferred a micro USB cable as then I could use my mobile/camera/MP3 player cables with this.
Setup was very easy, at the bottom of the TT-CD04 are some silver buttons which can be used to control the on screen menus (for setting things like date/time, if you want to record sound etc). The buttons let the otherwise great little unit down a little as they feel rather plasticky and cheap for the price paid, but as you probably won’t use these much after the initial setup it’s likely this won’t be an issue in the long run.
The windscreen mount attaches to the top of the unit and is designed in such a way that you can quickly and easily remove the camera section without removing the mount. Note this has been designed for attaching to glass and isn’t designed to sit on your dash. I specifically say glass because the extra long power cable means you could potentially position this on any window in your vehicle and still be able to reach the power socket, so if you wanted to have it looking out the back rather than the front that’s no problem. Alternatively the long cable is useful in cars that have two power sockets, e.g. in some models of the Ford Focus there is one next to the driver and one in the back, meaning it doesn’t prevent you from also powering a sat nav or charging your mobile while travelling.
After using the TT-CD04 you you’ll find a number of files on the SD card as rather than generate a single giant file the TT-CD04 splits them up, which makes it much easier to find a specific time compared to looking through one giant file. Picture quality is excellent and surprised my by just how good it is, you can easily see what’s happened on your journey. The unit records sound as well, useful if you want to listen out for some high volume sound such as a crash or tires squealing, or if you really want to you can listen to yourself sing along to the radio! Depending on your car you might hear a lot of background noise, especially when travelling at speed on the motorway.
The TT-CD04 is a really nice little unit that improves on the earlier TT-CD01 in every way. Once setup you’ll likely forget it’s there bar the power plug, which does need to be used all the time and could be a problem if you need to power something like a sat nav. The buttons don’t feel up to the higher price tag but the important thing, as you’ll see in the below video, is that it gives you really clear recording of your travels.
Available now from Amazon: https://goo.gl/38Ftss
