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Mike Bantick15 Jun 2018
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Dash-Cam Review: Navig8r Crash Cam

We check out two affordable offerings from the broad range of budget Navig8r Crash Cams

Dash-cams have proved so useful in the event of a collision — and for many budding YouTubers — that one day your insurer might make them mandatory in your car.

Today there are a plethora of options for capturing those contentious — or at least priceless — moments on the road, including the Navman MiVUE850 which has a marvellous lens and extra high-resolution recording ability.

However, in the arms race of technology, the MiVUE850 probably has too many bells and whistles for those simply looking for a camera to record road events, making it just a little too overwhelming for many.

So in steps LASER Corporation, a home-grown electronics retailer, with the Navig8r range of Crash Cams to suit an array of budgets and needs.

“We are thrilled to introduce in-car recording into a sub-$200 crash camera, while GPS tracking can be found in a sub-$100 option for the first time. It speaks to our commitment to constantly deliver both feature-rich and affordable options,” said LASER managing director Chris Lau of the new Navig8r Crash Cam range.

“With road trip season just around the corner, and the rising number of people looking to companies like Uber to change their career or supplement their income, the role of crash cameras is changing and evolving.

“We can record road incidents with greater detail and more cost-efficiently than ever before but it is now so much more than that, which is reflected in this exciting new range.”

This range includes six variants on the concept of recording road events, including accidents. We tested the cheapest model in the range, the Navig8r FHDX 307 Crash Cam (which has an RRP of just $60), as well as the almost-top-of-the-line Navig8r Cab X 717 (with an RRP of $200).

Both models include enough items in the box to get you up and running, except for the all-important micro-SD storage card.

You will need to select your choice of speed and capacity, but both models will overwrite storage continuously, so there is really no need to get a large storage card unless you are planning to record as much as possible before offloading the data. All crash cams will work with SD cards from 8GB to 64GB in size.

Unlike the Navman, there are also no cables or mounting devices included with the Navig8r Crash Cams. This means either a dangly cable, or some thought and ingenuity to neatly get charging cables out of the way.

The FHDX 307 is a little thing; it feels light in your hands and somewhat cheap in construction. However, it is compact and easy to set up and mount, and it’s particularly simple to position behind a rear-view mirror so only the small (1.5-inch) screen is visible.

This means this camera does not obstruct the driver’s view and is mounted securely, partly because there is hardly any weight in the thing.

The Cab X 717, on the other hand, takes up a bit more space and requires more physical set-up. This more expensive device includes a separate GPS function as well as a swivelling internal camera at the base of the unit.

The screen is also bigger, so planning will be required to get it mounted securely, legally and aligned with the road ahead.

Both cameras are relatively easy to get up and running, however, the user interface and buttons to operate the functions take some getting used to. You would not call the UI intuitive and there’s minimal documentation to help you out. But once the few options are selected and configuration is complete, your camera is ready to go.

The FHDX 307 features a respectable 120-degree arc of view and records at full 1080p HD. That view range is a little more restrictive than other dash-cams on the market, and it does tunnel the view a little bit so that the full windscreen experience is not part of the recording.

It’s hard to say if that means it will miss critical parts of a collision (such as somebody pulling out from a side street at the wrong time), but there’s a clear view of the road ahead and our judgement is that it’s probably satisfactory for the vast majority of road incidents.

You will need to hook the FHDX 307 up to a computer to get the files you need but, generally speaking, this is usually only required for legal reasons -- or to upload another appalling YouTube crash (or near-miss) video.

Besides, the process is not that onerous if required and is as easy as hooking up a phone or portable hard-drive then browsing the files.

Quality of vision in the files was great, particularly during daylight hours, and the cheapest Navig8r dash-cam’s night-time images were also surprising at this price point.

The FHDX 307 can also record in-car audio – perhaps including a significant amount of swearing in the event of an incident – and our only real complaint with this $60 device is the inconsistent auto-start function. However, recording is quick to start with a flick of a button if necessary.

The Cab X 717 features an internal-facing second camera which Navig8r describes as “ideal for professional drivers such as Uber or taxi drivers”.

“Occupant recording is both a safety feature and offers peace of mind. The occupant camera would also be useful for parents who may want to monitor beginner driver behaviours (like texting whilst driving) or for companies with fleet vehicles also ensuring compliance from company drivers.”

In practice it is a little bit fiddly to set-up using the user-interface, which includes picture-in-picture modes, zoom functionality and auto recording. There are also sensitivity settings for “bump recording” to be calibrated. Much of the set-up will depend on your needs and storage options.

File playback was a bit of issue and depending on your computer’s operating system this may be somewhat more hit-or-miss than it was with the FHDX 307.

Instead, the Cab X 717 saves files in a format that is ideal for playback using the Navig8r Tracking Software, which is maps-aware (ie: it translates GPS coordinates into visual locations).

If all that seems too hard, video playback is available via the LED screen of the device itself, and again the quality is good. Night-time vision is good as well, though the internal camera will largely be capturing a very dark cabin during night driving.

Overall, the refreshed range of Navig8r Crash Cams provides a wide range of choice that meets both your functionality requirements and wallet capacity.

The Navig8r Crash Cam range is available now via www.laserco.com.au and selected retailers nationally.

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Written byMike Bantick
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