Last Updated on April 9, 2022 by Stephen Tillman
If you’re an Uber or Lyft driver, i would say that the most important thing is to own a dash camera. Since you bring many different people every day in your car, you need something to record everything that is going on.
That’s why, we took our time and tested the best dash cams for Uber & Lyft drivers that you can buy without spending a large amount of money. Every car should have one, so you can have proof of everything that is happening around you while you are driving.
Let’s not waste any more time and jump straight into it.
The Top 5 Best Dash Cams For Uber & Lyft Drivers
5. YI Smart Dash Cam
While we all don’t like accidents and any bad thing that may happen on the road and we are careful to not let those scenarios happen, we need to be always prepared for things like that. The best way to be prepared for the road, besides having your car in tip-top shape and practicing defensive driving, is having a dash camera, and we have seen countless times that they worked out to be very useful in proving you are innocent or helping clear the air out. While there are tons of models in the market, delivering different performances, for those that want a model that is affordable but still can deliver plenty of performance the YI Smart Dash Cam is the best option. This affordable camera is extremely easy to set up, has emergency recording features, has good low light recording performance, and has a long power cable. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look.
Setting up the YI Smart Dash Cam is very fast and you can do it in a few minutes tops. You just need to install the 3M sticky mounts and connect the micro USB cable from the camera to your lighter power socket, and that’s it. You can check your footage in two ways, by taking the memory card from the camera and checking it out form your PC or through the Yi companion app, which is very easy and intuitive to use. Through the app, you can also change the resolution and white balance which is pretty good for this affordable device.
The YI Smart Dash Cam is very light in terms of weight but it doesn’t feel flimsy and it will survive drops and any other accident. However, the adhesive of the 3M pad is permanent and a little difficult to remove. While this camera doesn’t have tons of features, it has some good options you can play around such as its Advanced Driver Assistance System or ADAS, which measures the speed and distance of the car in front of you and alert you if you are pretty close to it.
The biggest selling point of the YI Smart Dash Cam is its amazing video performance as it can record footage at amazing 2304×1296 resolution at 30 frames per second, and 1920x1080p at 60 frames per second, which is perfect. The 165-degree wide-angle glass lens has an aperture of f/1.8 which I great for low light driving and gets everything in your peripheral vision.
For a budget dashcam, the YI Smart Dash Cam delivers more than you could ever want.
4. Garmin Dash Cam 55
The Garmin Dash Cam 55 comes as a super-compact dash camera from the tech manufacturer, and it delivers excellent features in its lightweight body that looks like an action camera. This camera has amazing video quality, with plenty of detail and is coupled with tons of safety features that will make this package very worthy. Let’s take a closer look.
The Garmin Dash Cam 55 has pretty slim and compact dimensions measuring 56x35x40-millimeters in total. The lens sticks out a little from the body almost doubling its depth but it is perfect overall, and inside it, there is a 3.7MP CMOS sensor that offers 1440p resolution with 30 frames per second which is great for this camera. On top of that, it can also record Full HD resolution video at 60 frames per second with and without HDR, and there is also the option to record 720p video at 30 frames per second for those that want to save storage space.
The windshield mounting system that comes with the Garmin Dash Cam 55 is pretty compact as well and works via an adhesive pad and in the package of the device, you have a second adhesive pad in the case of getting the position wrong or moving the camera. On the package of the device you will also spot the extra long charging cable that is used to power and charge the device, on top of that you get another USB cable for your computer for using the Garmin Express companion software properly.
The Garmin Dash Cam 55 has tons of safety features you can choose from that I mentioned earlier. The most important is the GPS receiver that is built-in the device so it will record the location along with the video footage, in addition to that there is a G-sensor that is used to detect incidents, so it will save videos of accidents and incidents to a different location so it won’t be overwritten when the storage of the device is full. What impressed me the most was the Forward Collision Warning System that detects if you are coming close to a vehicle in front of you, and it worked pretty well in a few instances, on top of that this dash camera will deliver warnings when you approach red lights and speed cameras which is a good addition.
If you want a great quality camera from Garmin with a great companion software this is a great tool.
3. Vantrue N2 Pro
Next up we have a professional level camera that will prove itself as a very useful tool in the long run and for the price, it offers the most features and performances for its price, the Vantrue N2 Pro. This device will deliver an extra easy setup, a stable software, long and reliable battery life, very light and compact and video quality for ages. This product brings the most bang for your buck.
The Vantrue N2 Pro comes in a square box that has the camera inside, the data cable, charging cable, the windscreen mount, and a connector for the mount to the camera. However, this dash camera doesn’t ship in with a memory card and you have to buy one separately or install one that you have handy in the house.
The biggest selling point of the Vantrue N2 Pro is its amazing dual full HD cameras that offer both road and driver recording with 1920x1080p resolution. The camera that faces the road has an amazing 170 degrees field of view and the interior has a field of view of about 140 degrees. This solution is perfect for those who want to keep their car secure at all times since the interior camera is capable of recording every corner of your car. The Vantrue N2 Pro by default captures footage at 30 frames per second however, with some slight resolution drop to 1920x1080p you can capture footage at 60 frames per second.
This camera also has night vision, thanks to its f/2.0 6-glass lens with 4 IR LED lights that face the passengers and driver of the vehicle, and an f/1.8 6-glass lens observing the road, and on top of that, there is a microphone which can be disabled if you need to. The Vantrue N2 Pro can work in some extreme circumstances, as it is rated to work between 32 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and if it goes above or below those numbers it will shut down itself.
Installing the Vantrue N2 Pro in your car is extremely easy and you can do it yourself, and once you find a good place to install the camera in your windshield I would recommend you to find a place behind the trim and fascias of the car to keep the cables out of the way.
2. WheelWitness Dash Cam
While there are tons of dash cameras in the market that promise interesting features and performances if you want to get a truly feature-rich package you have to opt for the WheelWitness Dash Cam. This camera comes with a free 16GB SD card, is extremely easy to use and install, has the on-the-fly-zoom feature, amazing video quality, comes with a dual charger, is compatible with a wide range of devices, amazing night vision and many more features that make this dash camera one of the best.
In the package of the camera you will spot the user manual, a suction cup for the mount, a GPS, two sticky mounts, a micro USB cable for transferring files and footage, 12-foot power cable, the aforementioned 16GB micro SD card and the dual charger head for your car so you can plug the camera and charge your phone at the same time.
The biggest selling point of the WheelWitness Dash Cam is its amazing 170-degree lens which delivers amazing footage. This camera will record footage depending on the video size you select and it will split them into specific intervals and save them on the SD card, and once it is full it will overwrite on the oldest video, so it would be wise to take important footage from the card before forgetting about it. Back to the quality of the video, it delivers a 170-degree field of view, allowing you to see the lanes and things in the side of the road pretty comfortably. The camera delivered excellent footage in different conditions such as daylight, cloudy weather, in the night, rain, fog and many more, and it delivered its excellent Full HD video every time at 30 frames per second.
While it has plenty of features the most important one, in my opinion, is the GPS functionality, a feature that did not only record your location in real-time, but it also records your speed, bearing, altitude, and it puts them all into your footage so you have proof of everything. When you connect the GPS to the PC you will spot that it will excellently map out all your journey.
1. Owlcam
Coming to the top of the list we have a pretty clever dash camera, the Owlcam. This camera is a great security device that will pair with your phone so no memory card required for its operation. It offers great remote access, records the inside of the car as well, and it is extremely easy to use overall. It may be a little expensive but it is all worth it in the end.
The Owlcam has a very attractive design, and it looks better than all of the dash cams in the market, it is slim and very unique and it won’t interfere with the interior design of your car. The Owlcam has two cameras, one that records the road which is a 120-degree field of view 1080p camera, and the other is an interior recording device with 720p resolution.
This camera also has built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, a cellular LTE modem, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a GPS, and temperature sensors. On top of that, it also has a speaker and two microphones that assist in the noise cancellation for the commands that it can get, albeit very limited at that, and LED lights for night vision so you get amazing footage any time of the day.
The whole setup of the Owlcamis very easy and you can do it in a few minutes, the user manual states the instructions carefully and it recommends you to place the camera in the middle of your windshield for the best footage, and after that, you will sync your camera to your smartphone via a QR code. The app allows you to check the recordings and it will prevent false alarms when you are around the car thanks to its Bluetooth connectivity.
The Owlcam delivers super solid footage and everything is pretty clear and detailed. The definite best dash camera in the market so far.