Vantrue N2 Pro Review: A Quality and Affordable Dash Cam

Do you drive a lot? If so, then it’s crucial to have a quality dash cam installed in your car. The Vantrue N2 Pro is an excellent option for those looking for something that will provide high-quality footage and be affordable at the same time. Previous to our current dash cam, the Nexar Beam GPS, we used this camera for nearly two years while rideshare driving.

While this camera has been on the market for several years now, its outstanding video quality for front and rear cameras make the Vantrue N2 Pro Uber (and Lyft)-ready. But you don’t need to be a rideshare driver to love this camera: we’ll talk about what makes this dash cam different from competitors on the market and why it may be right for you.

Vantrue N2 Pro 2 Specs

Here’s a rundown of the basic specifications of the Vantrue N2 Pro:

• Dual HD video cameras, both 1080p, rear camera includes infrared night vision
• Optional 5K [email protected] or [email protected] single front recording
• Parking mode
• G-Sensor
• Time-lapse mode

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Setting up the Vantrue N2 Pro

Vantrue sets you up with everything you need, including the camera, suction cup mount, car charger cable, and car charger. We also purchased the optional GPS mount, which is sold separately. Installation was pretty straightforward, however, the Vantrue N2 Pro‘s charging cable is relatively thick.

This made the installation a little bit trickier than planned. Other dash cams, like the Nexar Beam GPS, come with a tool to help you push the cable under your headliner and pillars for a cleaner installation. We couldn’t fit it under the headliner, so we opted to use adhesive cable clips to feed the wire around.

But once everything was in, the only other thing we needed to install was the Micro SD card we purchased and we were ready to go. The camera will walk you through the initial setup so that your video clips will be timestamped correctly. If you purchased the GPS mount, your video could also show latitude and longitude, equally important.

It’s a bit of a bummer that the GPS mount is optional. It’s an additional $20 or so, which we think should be included. Most modern dash cams have GPS built-in.

Using the Vantrue N2 Pro

The functionality of your Vantrue N2 Pro will depend on how it’s powered. If your cigarette lighter does not have power when the car is off, the camera will automatically start recording when the vehicle is started, and stop recording when the ignition is shut off. That’s how our car was.

However, if you’re lucky enough to have power to your cigarette lighter when the car’s off, or have the Vantrue N2 Pro hardwired to your car battery for a permanent power supply, you gain access to “parking mode.” A motion sensor within the dash cam will automatically record a clip when motion is detected, either a person or the car itself moving, and lock it so it can’t be overwritten.

We couldn’t test the parking mode functionality, but from what we could gather, it works fairly well, although some reviewers seemed to have some issues with over-sensitive event recordings. Parking mode on a lot of dash cams isn’t perfect either, so we’ll give the Vantrue N2 pro a pass here.

We also didn’t have a chance to test the time-lapse feature either, something we weren’t even aware of until we sat down to do additional research for this review!

The Vantrue N2 Pro also uses the same sensors while the car is on to detect accidents, which we have tested on this dash cam — twice, unfortunately (those videos can be found further down in this review).

There is no app, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth capabilities. You’ll need to use Vantrue’s somewhat clunky desktop app to retrieve videos with GPS and accelerometer data (although you can pull videos off just like a memory card when it’s connected to your computer). But the video quality of the Vantrue N2 Pro is why this dash cam is so popular.

Crystal clear video and superb audio quality

The Vantrue N2 Pro offers some of the highest quality HD videos that we’ve seen on a dash cam, and this is due to the camera quality of the N2 Pro, which uses Sony sensors. It’s crisp, and we can easily pick out identifying information (a license plate number, etc.). Its night video modes are excellent, too: the front camera needs minimal light to produce a solid picture.

While you can bump up your video quality to 2.5K if you use front-only mode, we found ourselves using dual camera mode 95% of the time; the video quality is that good. The higher settings didn’t produce that big of a difference that we would have forgone the rear camera.

On bright sunny days and well-lit streets at night, you’ll be able to see everything. Of course, like any small camera sensor, it is prone to glare from bright sunlight, a bright street light, or imperfections in your windshield, but we didn’t have too much trouble overall.

Interior footage from the rear camera is stunningly clear, even in complete darkness. This is essential as there is often little light in the cabin at night time. Better yet, the rear-facing camera can show a clear picture of what’s outside your rear window, too. Some cameras suffer from poor night vision. That is certainly not the case with the Vantrue N2 Pro.

The camera can automatically switch to night vision, so you don’t need to worry about switching between standard and night vision mode. However, you can opt to have the night vision capability of the interior camera on at all times if you’d like, or not at all: it’s all up to you.

As I said previously, this camera has made it through two rear-end accidents, both pretty violent (the second ripped the suction cup off the windshield). Don’t worry; I’m okay and lucky not to be injured more than I was! But we’re showing the actual video here to show what the Vantrue N2 Pro can do.

As you can see, the footage is super clear, including what’s happening out my rear window (obviously important in this case)! The G-Sensor in the device both times automatically detected the accident and locked down the footage until I could download it off the dash cam.

A lack of connectivity options

As the Vantrue N2 Pro was initially manufactured well before features like Wi-Fi or a companion app became more common, there’s no connectivity functionality in the Vantrue N2 Pro. We weren’t huge fans of the software, which isn’t that user-friendly and often cumbersome to use.

This is the tradeoff with the N2 Pro: for outstanding video and audio quality, you’ll have to get your video clips off the old-fashioned way. If this is your first dash cam, or you’re looking for something easy to use, the Vantrue N2 Pro isn’t it.

The menu system on the N2 Pro sometimes feels necessarily complicated, and it’s not clear what the buttons do. This frustrated me until the very end, as I could not remember the certain button combination to certain everyday tasks and would often accidentally shut the camera off or mess up a mode.

The screen on the device is also tiny, which made reviewing footage after these two accidents on-scene a little painful. Again, I go back to the lack of connectivity options: it would have been much easier to pull out my phone and an app to view the incident on a much bigger screen.

More positives than negatives

While the above sounds like a lot to be concerned about regarding the Vantrue N2 Pro, I want to stress that the two years of ownership were trouble-free. Sure, the dash cam gave me fits from time to time, but it never malfunctioned.

At the time, I didn’t know that Vantrue stands behind their product too, offering an 18-month warranty on the device and customer support that guarantees a response within 24 hours. Any warranty over a year is a huge positive as we can’t count how many gadgets we’ve had that have decided to malfunction just a few months out of warranty.

I also strongly recommend the GPS mount. While dash cam footage is a godsend in an accident, insurance adjusters will find ways to dispute your evidence. Having it GPS-tagged strengthens your case. Also, having clear footage is essential, and the Vantrue N2 Pro delivers in that regard.

The video is great. It’s the perfect dash cam for rideshare and taxi drivers, as well as anyone else that wants a complete view of what’s going on around them.

We strongly recommend you consider the Vantrue N2 Pro when considering your next dash cam. It was our first, and we got two years of trouble-free use out of it. And we know of several rideshare drivers who have owned (and used) these dash cams for even longer than that.