Dashcams have become more popular over recent years as they're a good way to document your car journeys should anything happen and you need to provide proof of what happened. Some insurance companies are actually starting to offer cheaper premiums if you have a dashcam as this evidence moves away from disputes when it's just one person's word against the other as to who was at fault. I'd been contemplating getting one of these for a while so when Didobuy contacted me to see if I would want to review one I was more than happy.
The Tonbux HD Dashcam (£43.99)* looks and feels much more expensive that it actually is, without compromising on features. I really like the appearance of the camera with the sleek finish that I wouldn't have expected from a dashcam. To record your footage you just have to pop in a micro SD card and off you go, however, this isn't included with the dashcam. I appreciate it is well priced but it would have been useful to have even a low storage memory card included so it was ready straight out the box. A mini HDMI port allows you to play your footage directly from the camera onto a TV. It can be charged up to use the built in battery but for longer journeys, you'll probably be best plugging it in via the 12v socket adapter, which also has a handy USB port in the back to allow you to still charge another device such as a phone or sat nav. You may even end up using this camera for recording other activities due to its compact design and decent sized screen.
To attach to your windscreen there is a simple suction cup mount that screws into the top of the camera to create a stable hold with an adjustable ball and socket mount lets you make small adjustments to the angle you need the camera at. There are buttons on the side of the camera that let you work through the menus and options on the camera and are easy enough to use. This means the screen is able to to take up most of the back of the camera making it easier to view the road and check the angle of the camera is where you need it to be. Being able to see what's in front of you is the whole point as a dashcam and with the Tonbux you get a 170-degree wide angle lens to capture as much as possible.
Quite a few features are packed into this dashcam which can be altered in the menu. When the loop option is enabled it will automatically record over the oldest footage when storage is nearly full to ensure you can always capture what's right in front of you. A preserve function will protect your clips in case you were to delete a video by accident which I can see coming in useful as I sometimes do try items without thinking sometimes. I was really impressed by the built-in adjustable G-Sensor that can feel any sudden stop or an impact and will automatically lock the current video to protect the evidence. Other features that can be configured include HDR, Exposure, Resolution and usability alterations such as whether you want to the screen to be constantly on or not. I found having this level of options really handy as I could tailor it to make sure I could capture the best video possible. I haven't driven at night with the camera, but I suspect it will adapt enough to still record well.
This Tonbux dashcam records in 1080p Full HD at 30 fps to make sure you get all the detail you need which could be vital if you had to use it as proof in the case of an accident. I was very impressed with the video quality output by the camera, particularly given how reasonable the price is. I've included a couple of screenshots above to demonstrate what it looks like. You can see that you're able to make out detail not just immediately in front of the car. I've watched back some of my test footage and you can make out number plates very clearly so there would be no doubt when needing to get the details of a car. I didn't want to include a photo of this for privacy reasons. Date and time stamping the video remind me of the old camcorder videos, but this feature is actually very useful when watching back clips to ensure you have exact details of when something happened. This will make reporting an incident that bit easier and I will be leaving this option turned on. Overall, I think the Tonbux HD dashcam is a well priced and great little camera to record your journeys, with plenty of features to let you set it up how you would like.
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