Bought a Pioneer dashcam from Amazon: Review after 9 hours of testing

To conclude, provided that it lasts for 2-3 years, Pioneer H120SC can be a much better option than budget Qubo and DDPAI models that offer similar specs.

BHPian self_driven recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Had to leave on a work trip to Delhi and fixed the device temporarily as the car we were traveling in had no dash cam. It has been recording continuously at max resolution for more than 9 hours now without any errors.

Some observations:

1. Footage clarity is decent during day time. Numbers are readable in close range and slow moving traffic only. The clarity starts to become inconsistent at normal city speeds. I've attached some screenshots below. One of the image is captured at 40-50 km/hr, other two are at crawling speeds. At triple digit speeds, it does not capture a lot of details but the footage is good enough to steer clear of false accusations. I will be using it for rear view, so it serves my purpose.

2. Zenvue app has a very neat UI, easy to understand, no connectivity issues or bugs encountered so far. Recording resolution can be set to 1.5k, 1080p and 720p. There's no option to increase recording time interval from the default 60 seconds. File size is around 42 MB per clip at max resolution. Downloading clips is a breeze.

3. Heating is a concern. The device felt considerably hot to touch in just half an hour of operation even in early morning hours. That said, the higher-than-normal temperature remained consistent throughout the day. The drive included 4 hours of blazing sun as well, with the car's MID indicating ambient temperature of 37 degrees. Even though the device didn't skip a beat, I'm sure the lifespan will be compromised due to excessive heat.

4. Plastic quality and packaging is top notch. Everything feels classy, there are no cheesy words used anywhere on the product or the package. The camera has type C power input and is capacitor-based. The hinge mechanism looks good as of now, but I'm not too sure about its long term durability. Quality of 12v adapter is below average. There are no extra adhesive stickers in the package.

To conclude, provided that it lasts for 2-3 years, Pioneer H120SC can be a much better option than budget Qubo and DDPAI models that offer similar specs. Don't expect any miracles from it just because the package mentions a brand with great recall value. The app is good, design is cool, footage is decent, price is low and after all, as someone rightly pointed out, any dashcam is better than no dashcam.

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