Give your car sight – A Blackvue DR900X-2CH Dash Camera Review
A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to take a long weekend trip down to Houston, Texas to meet up with a few friends that live down there. In a year where we’ve all been bunkered down in our homes with very little outside world contact, this was going to be one exciting 2020 story to share.
Amongst all of the fun activities and stories that happened down in Texas, one thing I immediately noticed was how different the drivers were compared to Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, drivers are considerate and aren’t too aggressive. People are also insured and take care in both their own car and the ones around them.
Texas was, and is, a complete opposite of that. Their city drivers drove rough, hard on the break, and loved their accelerators. To make matters worse, most drivers in Houston are uninsured and they showed no appreciation for a red stop light.
It was in that moment that I had greatly appreciated my car’s dash camera. For years now I’ve been using, and recommending, Blackvue dash cameras for all of my cars and my family’s cars. Their products are the top of the line when it comes to quality and image resolution. It has certainly come in handy many times over the years.
In fact, recently I had captured video of a near rear-end of my car, a very close call on a deer hit, a pipe that popped my tire in the road, and a road raging driver who attempted to push my car off the road.
Speaking of the road rager, the police were called on that call. Because of proven video, they were able to issue an immediate ticket on the spot. Unlikely she’ll do that ever again!
As useful as the dash camera is in Wisconsin, it could be far more valuable in Texas. From a hit and run, to a road raging driver, don’t fall victim and have to explain things to the police when you can instead show them all of what happened.
Today we’re taking a look at the latest Blackvue dash camera, the DR900X-2CH. This new model offers a 4K Sony sensor and not only records the front of your car, but also the rear. Plus, Blackvue is continuing to innovate and future proof themselves as shown in this new lineup.
Welcome to my review on the Blackvue DR900X-2CH Dash Camera.
Design
As I previously mentioned, for many years now I’ve been reviewing and using Blackvue products. In fact, you can find most of their products available on Qwerty Articles as reviews.
From when the company first started to today, I’ve always expressed high positivity for Blackvue because they truly do make excellent products. I like to refer to them as car insurance, because much like car insurance, you don’t technically need a dash camera, but when you do, you’re very glad you have one!
Just like the first Blackvue generation dash cameras, the DR900X-2CH is an all-black, cylinder-shaped camera that uses a 3M sticky pad to mount itself to your front and (optional) rear window(s).
Take a look on Amazon for “dash camera” and you’ll find all weird designs. Suction cup mounts, mirror mounts, flat ones, you name it, but the Blackvue design is one of the best in my opinion. Its cylinder body lets it go incognito and keep it well out of the way of your driving experience. In fact, I would argue if you sat down in any of my cars, you wouldn’t even notice it was there.
A new edition to the DR900X-2CH is that Blackvue went an added a subtle rose gold ring around the camera lens. The same goes for the rear bar housing the status LEDs.
Previously this ring was silver, but I much rather prefer this rose gold color. Not only is it modern and stylish, but it helps bring up the feeling of a more premium product. The rear camera remains solid black.
In terms of I/O, the DR900X-2CH supports integrated WiFi for connecting to the device to change settings, see a live view, or watch recorded footage, uses a microSD card slot (up to 256GB) for internal recording, built-in GPS and Bluetooth, and an optional LTE SIM card device to allow you to check in on your car from anywhere in the world. There is also a speaker next to the rear facing status indicators. The both the front and rear cameras also have a white recording LED that can be disabled.
Still made from a premium plastic, the camera mounting mechanism hasn’t changed over the years. It’s still as simple as leveling the removable rotating bracket from the camera and sticking the extremely sticky 3M pad to your windshield/rear window. Then, slide the camera on and provide power.
Your entire setup of this camera could be as little as 10 minutes. You technically don’t even need to configure its settings via the iOS or Android Blackvue app because the camera will immediately boot up and start recording. Please do configure it though, more on that later.
All-in-all, I personally love that Blackvue has maintained this shape and design over the years. The new edition of the rose gold accent pieces are a welcomed change and the slightly smaller size over the years helps lower the footprint on your windshield.
Functionality
The DR900X-2CH is a feature rich product from Blackvue. This camera offers all of Blackvue’s available options and services for a complete dash camera setup.
As a 2CH model, this unit comes with two cameras in the box. The powerful 4K all seeing front camera and then a 1080p rear facing camera to capture a hit from the rear. While small, that rear camera is essentially a lens that is used by the front camera’s powerful components to easily capture license places and other events.
The camera’s built-in WiFi allows your smartphone to connect to the camera to configure settings, watch a live view of both cameras, and see previously recorded footage.
In the app, you can set your time zone, mph/kph, recording length, image quality, and disable the status LEDs amongst a few other bits. Footage on a 32GB microSD card will last you about 2 weeks of driving depending on your driving habits. Of course, the more driving means less footage is stored on the device as the camera automatically overwrites the oldest for the newest.
Playback on the DR900X-2CH is very quick. The app will ask you if you prefer a quick view (less resolution temporary) or to download the video in full 4K resolution to share or show to others. To help navigate the footage, each 1 – 3-minute video is timestamped and classified as Normal, Parking, or Event.
Built-in GPS lets the camera also include a Google Maps location of where that footage was taken when viewed via the desktop application. It also records the car’s current speed on the footage as well.
The last radio is their optional LTE nano SIM card device. Available through AT&T and T-Mobile, users can opt to add a SIM card to their dash camera that allows them to use the free Blackvue Cloud service to remotely monitor the car and see a live feed.
I would have liked the SIM card connectivity module to be a tad smaller for its purposes, but it does easily stick to the windshield as well and has a decent length cable on it to hide in most desired places.
This LTE module can be extremely beneficial to both companies and parents. Companies can maintain a fleet of cars while being able to see where they are and their driving habits. While parents may feel more comfortable letting their child go out and having the ability to speak to them through the camera and vice versa.
My experience over the last month and a half with the DR900X-2CH has been nothing but a treat. I used the newly added Blackvue fuse tapping kit available on their site to hard wire my dash camera directly into my car’s fuse box. Allowing the camera to turn on and off with my car’s ignition. Optionally, you can also install their Power Magic Battery Pack for running the camera even when the car is off.
Video playback on the 4K 30FPS H.265 HEVC recording is clear, crisp, and really helps identify any unexpected road events. That includes great night vision too with Sony’s STARVIS 8-megapixel front, 2.1-megapixel rear sensor.
In addition, signing up for the LTE connectivity is as simple as it could be. Either stop by a carrier’s store or call them and ask for a nano SIM card for a dash camera. Provide them with the information on the back of your connectivity module and then slip the nano SIM into the device and voilà! You’re now already smart dash camera just became a whole lot smarter. Use either the app or desktop application to view the device.
Once again, I couldn’t find a single thing I didn’t like about the Blackvue and there wasn’t anything that I would change. Everything works flawlessly and perfectly and I’m happy knowing that my car and myself are always protected and watched over no matter where I drive.
My Final Thoughts
Blackvue’s feature rich DR900X-2CH is a welcomed edition to their lineup. The 2-channel array, 4K video, optional LTE connectivity, and easy setup are all massive benefits for any driver and for any car. It also works flawlessly and never needs to be touched with again after setup.
Blackvue offers the DR900X-2CH at $479 for the 32GB microSD card model. The optional LTE connectivity device will tack on another $169. While this may seem expensive, remember that this camera will last more than a car’s lifetime and easily pay for itself if something bad does happen to your car.
In fact, ask your car insurance provider if they offer a discount if you have a dash camera. If they do, the Blackvue will eventually pay for itself! This is a device that is certainly something you’ll wish you had when you need it.
As with all of my previous Blackvue reviews, I would recommend the DR900X-2CH to anyone, for any car and you too can feel safe driving even in the craziest of cities like Houston.
Buy it now:
© 2020 Justin Vendette
