What’s A Taxi Cam?
If you’re a taxi or Uber driver, and especially if you’re driving at night, you may want to get a dash cam that records the passenger cabin as well as the road ahead. A taxi dash cam can provide evidence of misbehaving passengers. It can also clear you of any false accusations of misconduct. Plus, it’s very presence will often encourage drunk (or otherwise difficult) passengers to behave.
You won’t usually want to have your cabin lights on when driving, so the main feature of any taxi cam is an infrared (IR) rear camera. It should also have IR LEDs that illuminate the car’s interior at night, without bothering the driver. This article features only dash cams with infrared-capable rear cameras.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since the arrival of 3-channel dash cams, taxi cams have been going out of style recently. Check out this article for an overview of the best 3-channel dash cams on the market.
All 13 Major Taxi Dash Cams Compared
We’ve done some extensive market research, and compared all 13 of the most popular taxi cams currently available. Some of them are great, others not so much. Here’s a quick overview table so you can find the best fit for your needs:
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Viofo A129 Duo IR | BlackVue DR750S IR | Pruveeo D30H | Vantrue N2 Pro | Transcend Drive Pro 520 | Z-Edge F1 | Blueskysea B2W | Anker Roav Duo | Akaso Trace 1 | Pruveeo C2 | Toguard CE46 | Crosstour CR750 | Falcon F-360 |
| Price | $180 | $400+ | $80 | $210 | $180 | $170 | $140 | $110 | $100 | $90 | $90 | $80 | $80 |
| Video | Very good | Good | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mediocre | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Poor |
| Reliability | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Very good | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Good | Mediocre | Fair |
| Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | - | Yes | - | Pro version | - | - | - | - |
| GPS | Optional | Yes | - | Optional | Yes | Yes | Optional | Yes | Pro version | - | Optional | Yes | - |
| Notes | Best Video | Cloud View | Best Value | Bad night video | Bad night video | Bad night video | Outdated |
Scroll table to the right to see all the cameras. We’ve placed the most cost-efficient models on the left, so you can find them quickly.
Criteria For Evaluating Dash Cams
Our main criteria for dash cams are video quality, and reliability. You don’t want to be involved in a situation where you need the video footage, and then discover that your dash cam decided to take the day off! And if the incident involves another vehicle, you ideally want to catch the other driver’s license plate.
For the same reason, we encourage you to use a high-endurance memory card: Unlike photo cameras or mobile phones, dash cams write to the memory card continuously while they are recording, which can be several hours per day or even 24/7 if you use parking mode. Therefore, you want to make sure that your SD card can handle heavy use.
Other must-haves for any dash cam are loop recording, auto on/off, and a date+time stamp on the video footage. All dash cams have those features today, so we won’t bother listing them separately here.
Useful Dash Cam Features You May Not Have Heard Of
Here are some useful features that you should look for, but that not all dash cams have: 1. A lock-file button that allows you to save important footage from becoming accidentally overwritten, 2. a capacitor instead of a battery to make the device more heat resistant (batteries are more prone to failure), and 3. a CPL filter (learn more) is to reduce reflections on your windshield when driving towards the sun.
#1 and #2 are relatively common, but the Viofo A129 Duo IR is currently the only taxi cam that comes with the option to add a CPL filter.
Things like Wi-Fi, GPS, and parking mode (learn more) are optional and may cost you extra, so you can decide for yourself whether you need them or not. GPS will record your geo-location on video, plus your speed if you set it up that way (this could obviously also work against you, if you tend to drive faster than the speed limit). Wi-Fi lets you control your dash cam with a smart phone app, and parking mode can help to catch any incidents while you are away from the car.
A cutting edge feature that only the absolute high-end dash cams have is cloud connectivity (learn more). This allows you to view footage from your (parked or driving) car remotely, over the internet. Currently, only BlackVue and the latest Thinkware dash cams support this.
If you’d like to learn more about the basic dash cam features before you buy a taxi cam, feel free to have a look at our home page, then come back here.
Our Favorites: The 3 Best Uber Dash Cams
1. Viofo A129 Duo IR — Best Taxi / Uber Cam
Price: Amazon US / CA – more countries & vendors (affiliate links)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (front and rear)
Front video: Very good at day, Good at night
Cabin video: Very good (day and night)
Reliability: Good
Memory capacity: 256GB
Unique features: Supports simple, time-lapse, and buffered parking modes; optional CPL filter
Pros: Wi-Fi, 2″ screen, lock file button, capacitor
Cons: Two separate cameras
Optional add-ons: GPS mount, CPL filter, remote Bluetooth lock file button, hard-wiring kit
The Viofo A129 Duo IR not only records by far the best video of all the cameras we present here, it is also the most “complete” taxi cam. Meaning, it’s the only taxi cam that comes with all the desirable extras, such as a capacitor instead of a battery, an easy to find lock-file button, and an optional CPL filter to reduce glare when driving in direct sunlight.
It is also the only taxi dash cam that supports all three types of parking mode, including buffered parking mode. Until recently buffered mode used to be a feature exclusively found in high-end dash cams that cost upwards of $300. Of course, the Viofo can also do time-lapse and simple (motion-activated) parking modes.
You’ll need a hard-wiring kit if you plan to use parking mode, which costs around $15 extra.
The A129 Duo IR supports Wi-Fi as well, and GPS is optionally included in the mount.
Another useful extra is Viofo’s remote lock file button that you can place somewhere easy to reach, such as on the steering wheel. That way, you don’t have to reach over all the way to the camera when something interesting happens.
Video quality is very good at day, and good at night. Here’s a sample video:
The only drawback of the A129 Duo IR is that it’s actually two separate cameras which you’ll have to install on your windshield, making the installation procedure slightly more complex. However, you get to adjust the field of view of each camera individually, unlike most 2-in-1 cams.
Unlike most other taxi cams, the infrared LEDs of the Viofo’s rear camera emit a faint red glow, as the light they emit is partly in the visible spectrum. This may help to alert your passengers that they are being recorded, which in turn (hopefully) encourages them to behave.
If you’re interested, check out our full review of the Viofo A129 Duo IR for more video samples, and to find out any details that we may have skipped here for the sake of brevity. For video samples of the front camera, see our review the Viofo A129 Duo (non-IR).
2. Blueskysea B2W — Only Uber Dash Cam That Can Record Driver’s & Passenger’s Windows, Too
Price: Amazon US / CA / UK – more countries & vendors (affiliate links)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (front and rear)
Front video: Good at day, Fair at night
Cabin video: Very good at day, Good at night
Reliability: Very good
Memory capacity: 400GB
Unique features: Can swivel lenses sideways to record driver and/or passenger window
Pros: Wi-Fi, 2″ screen, large lock file button, capacitor, simple parking mode
Cons: Bulky form factor
Optional add-ons: GPS mount, hard-wiring kit
It’s larger than the Viofo A129 Duo IR and its video quality isn’t quite as good, but the Blueskysea B2W also costs a bit less. Plus, it has a very unique feature: It is one of very few dash cams with lenses that can swivel left or right, towards the side windows. This for example allows you to record interactions with law enforcement, or clients if you’re a ride share driver.
Forward video quality is good at day, and fair at night. With the night footage, license plate readability is a bit hit and miss, but the image is still a lot sharper than what most budget dash cams produce.
Interior video footage is very good at day, and good at night. To see more sample videos, check out our full review of the Blueskysea B2W.
Sample night video:
The B2W supports a simple parking mode, but you’ll need a hard-wiring kit ($20) for this to work. The camera takes about 6 seconds to wake up and start recording when an incident is detected.
At 400GB, this camera has the largest memory card capacity of all the dash cams tested here. With a 400GB card, you can record about 30 hours of front and rear video before loop recording kicks in, and overwrites the oldest files.
3. BlackVue DR750S-2CH IR — High-End Uber Cam With Cloud View
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1920×1080 (front and rear)
Front video: Very good at day, Fair at night
Cabin video: Good at day, Fair at night
Reliability: Good
Memory capacity: 128GB
Unique features: Can view video remotely, parking mode sends notifications to phone
Pros: Wi-Fi, GPS, lock file button, capacitor, buffered and time-lapse parking modes
Cons: Two separate cameras, no screen, expensive
Optional add-ons: Hard-wiring kit (Power Magic Pro) or battery pack
The Korean company BlackVue are arguably the most innovative manufacturer of high-end dash cams, and they have been for a long time. While their cameras may not record the greatest video quality, they are certainly the ones with the most advanced features. BlackVue always seem to be at least one step ahead of their competition in this regard.
Their DR750S and DR900S models are not only highly elegant with their stealthy black cylinder shapes, they are also the only dashboard cameras on the market that allow you to connect to your car over the internet and view video footage remotely, over the cloud.
Note that for cloud connectivity to work, the dash cam needs a functioning internet access point in your car.
Video quality during the day is very good, comparable to the Viofo Duo IR’s. At night, the Viofo performs a bit better. The BlackVue’s night video quality is fair, both for the front and rear cameras.
The DR750 comes with more high-end features than we can list here. They include Wi-Fi, GPS, buffered and time lapse parking mode, and many more that you can read about in our full DR750S review. You will also find video samples there.
If you really want to go over the top, the BlackVue DR900S-2CH is a 4K camera that also comes in a uber version. In fact, the infrared rear camera is the same for the DR750S and DR900S, and can be used with both.
The DR900S records at 4K resolution (3840×2160 pixels) forward, and 1080p rear. Do keep in mind that 4K cameras record better video during the day, but at night they actually perform worse. Therefore, the DR900S IR is recommendable if you’ll be mostly driving during the day, and would like the highest possible resolution for the footage of your trips.
Other Decent Uber Dash Cam Options
Apart from our three favorites listed above, we found the following infrared-enabled dash cams to also be pretty decent:
Pruveeo D30H — Best Value Taxi/Uber Cam
Price: Amazon US / CA (affiliate links)
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Fair (day and night)
Cabin video: Good (day and night)
Reliability: Fair
Memory capacity: 128GB
Unique features: Both cameras can be rotated 180 degrees forward and backward, and 50 degrees left and right.
Pros: Wi-Fi, capacitor
Cons: No lock file button
Not everyone is going to want to spend over $100 for a dash cam. Pruveeo have many Chinese low-cost dash cams in their portfolio. Most of them aren’t of stellar quality, but the Pruveeo D30H does a decent job. At only $80, it delivers the best value for money for uber and rideshare drivers.
Its video quality is fair overall. It’s not cinema quality obviously, but the front camera records good enough footage to read license plates of other cars when you’re close, even at night. The rear camera does a good job too, both at day and at night.
Unfortunately, the Pruveeo D30H doesn’t have a lock file button, so you can’t manually save video footage from becoming overwritten one the loop recording completes its cycle. The camera will lock the video file automatically though if it detects a crash or major jolt with its G-sensor.
All in all, the Pruveeo D30H is fit for purpose as a low-cost security camera for uber drivers, and it’s fairly reliable.
Here’s a sample video of the Pruveoo D30H that includes day and night footage, front and rear:
Vantrue N2 Pro Uber — Our Previous Favorite
Price: Amazon US / CA / UK – more countries & vendors (affiliate links)
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Good at day, Fair at night
Cabin video: Very good (day and night)
Reliability: Fair
Memory capacity: 64GB
Pros: 1.5″ screen, simple and time-lapse parking modes, lock file button
Cons: Built-in battery
Optional add-ons: GPS mount, hard-wiring kit
The Vantrue N2 Pro Uber used to be our favorite taxi dash cam up to 2019, when the A129 IR and B2W came out. The N2 Pro is still a good taxi cam. At its current price of more than $200, however, we feel it is grossly overpriced in comparison to both the A129 IR and B2W, which both cost less and are more reliable than the Vantrue N2 Pro.
If the vendors decided to lower prices to around $100 or so, this would be a good value-for-money taxi cam.
For more details and video samples, check out our full review of the Vantrue N2 Pro.
Note that there’s also a camera called just Vantrue N2, which is cheaper than the N2 Pro Uber but does NOT have infrared lights and is therefore not suitable for use as a taxi / uber cam during the night. Make sure to get the Pro version.
Transcend Drive Pro 520 — Oldie But Goodie
Price: – more countries & vendors (affiliate links)
Resolution: 1080p front, 720p rear
Front video: Good (day and night)
Cabin video: Very good at day, Fair at night
Reliability: Good
Memory capacity: 32GB (free 32GB card included)
Pros: 2.4″ screen, Wi-Fi, GPS, lock file button
Cons: Built-in battery
Back in the day before the Vantrue N2 Pro Uber, the Transcend Drive Pro 520 was the most popular taxi cam. It’s still available for sale. Video quality is good on average, and it’s not a bad taxi cam by any means. It comes with Wi-Fi and integrated GPS, and a free 32GB Transcend memory card is included.
Do keep in mind that it’s from 2015 though, and newer cams will give you better value for the money. We’re including this camera here anyway because it’s still being recommended on other review sites, and because we want to give you a complete overview of the market in late 2019.
If you’re interested, you can check out video sample in out full Transcend Drive Pro 520 review.
Z-Edge F1 — Okay Uber Cam, But Too Expensive
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Good at day, Fair at night
Cabin video: Very good at day, fair at night
Reliability: Fair
Memory capacity: 256GB
Pros: 2.7″ screen, capacitor, GPS
Cons: No lock file button
Z-Edge used to make some decent dash cams back in the day. Their F1 is a taxi cam with a rather “traditional” form factor. It’s not stealthy, but it’s not super ugly either. It basically just looks like you would expect a camera hanging from a suction cup mount to look 🙂
Forward video quality at day is good enough to read license plates of other cars, at least if you pause the video. At night, forward video is fair — you can see the road ahead clearly, but you won’t be able to read most license plates unless you get lucky,
Cabin video is great during the day, at night, it’s a little bit too dark for our taste, but you can clearly see the passengers.
The Z-Edge F1 comes with built-in GPS and is powered by a capacitor instead of a battery, making it more reliable in hot climates.
All in all this isn’t a bad dash cam at all for Uber drivers, even though we would prefer it to have a lock file button. Also, at $150, it’s a little bit too expensive. You can get better cameras such as the A129 IR or the B2W for this kind of money.
If this were a sub-$100 cam, it would be good value for money.
Here’s a great video sample of the Z-Edge F1 (night footage starts around 1:21:35):
Low-Cost Taxi Dash Cams With Insufficient Video Quality
If you came here through a Google search, chances are you stumbled upon other web sites that also recommend uber dash cams. Not all of the dash cams suggested out there are necessarily of good quality.
The most common issue that low-cost dash cams struggle with, is forward video at night. At day, it’s not so hard to record decent footage.
We therefore had a good look at the video samples from each camera, and checked whether we were able to read other cars’ license plates at night. Of all the sub-$100 dash cams we looked at, only the Pruveeo D30H (featured above) had night footage that allowed us to read license plates.
Pruveoo C2
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p), front and rear
Front video: Fair at day, Mediocre at night
Cabin video: Very good at day, Fair at night
Reliability: Unknown
Pros: 2.7″ screen, lock file button
Cons: Built-in battery, forward night video if of low quality
The C2 is a cheap taxi dash cam by Pruveeo that sports a rather futuristic design. It costs more than the D30H, but its video quality seems to be worse in direct comparison. We were especially put off by the performance of its forward camera at night. As you can see in the sample clip below, there’s a lot of glare in the footage. License plates of other cars are washed out and unreadable, unless when you’re standing right behind the other car.
Here’s a sample of front night video for the Pruveeo C2:
Akaso Trace 1 (Pro) — Budget Uber Cam, But Mediocre Night Video
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Fair at day, Mediocre to Fair at night
Cabin video: Good (but black and white, both day and night)
Reliability: Unknown
Pros: 2″ screen, simple parking mode. Pro version: Wi-Fi, external GPS, lock file button
Cons: Built-in battery
The Akaso Trace 1 comes in two flavors: A basic version, and a Pro version that includes Wi-Fi and an external GPS antenna.
The interior camera records black and white video during the day as well as at night. This is unusual. Normally, only night video is recorded in black and white, because the infrared LEDs would produce weird colors. Nevertheless, the Akaso’s cabin video is of good quality overall.
Our main issue with the Akaso Trace 1 is, like the Pruveeo C2, its forward night video: As you can see in the sample video below, footage is sharp at close range, but becomes very blurry at medium and larger distances. As a result, it’s impossible to read license plates of other cars while driving, due to the motion blur.
Furthermore, straight lines such as edges of buildings are strongly warped due to the fish-eye effect.
Here’s a night video sample of the Akaso Trace 1:
On the plus side, the Trace 1 comes with a simple parking mode that doesn’t need a hard-wiring kit, because it’s powered by the camera’s internal battery.
Anker Roav Duo
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Fair at day, Mediocre at night
Cabin video: Very good at day, Poor at night
Reliability: Unknown
Features: GPS built-in, simple parking mode (needs hard-wiring kit), capacitor, lock file button
Cons: Low night video quality, both front and rear
Anker make some really good dash cams (like this one), but unfortunately, the Roav Duo isn’t one of them. While its video quality is acceptable during the day time, at night it’s just downright poor. It seems as if the rear camera doesn’t pick up any light from the infrared LEDs, the cabin video looks just dark.
Forward video at night isn’t much better, either.
Here’s a sample video (night footage starts at 1:48):
Crosstour CR750
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1080p front, 720p rear
Front video: Fair at day, Mediocre at night
Cabin video: Good at day, Mediocre at night
Reliability: Mediocre
Features: GPS built-in, simple parking mode (needs hard-wiring kit)
Cons: Battery powered, low night video quality front and rear, questionable reliability
The Crosstour CR750 is a popular low-budget taxi cam that costs a bit less than the Pruveeo C2. It records worse video though. especially at night. Rear video is only 720p, as opposed to the Pruveeo C2’s 1080p.
Here’s a night video sample. It doesn’t look terribly bad, but we weren’t able to make out any license plates of other cars at all, even when driving by close and slow on a brightly lit parking lot (towards the end of the video):
The CR750 has a very high number of reviews on Amazon, most of which gave 5 stars. We’re not sure if these reviews are honest, though. If you have a look at a couple of the 1-star reviews, you may get an idea why.
The maximum supported memory card size of the Crosstour CR750 is 32GB, which is very low for a modern dash cam.
While researching taxi cams, we came across a similar camera with an identical casing, called AZDOME GS65H. Its specifications are the same as for the CR750. It’s likely that this is the same camera, just with different branding.
On the plus side, the Crosstour CR750 comes with in-built GPS, and it supports a simple parking mode. You’ll need a hard-wiring kit (not included) for parking mode to work. If an impact is detected by the G-sensor when your car is parked, the camera will wake up and start recording for 30 seconds. The hard-wiring kit should have a low-voltage cutoff to protect your car’s battery.
All in all, this isn’t a dash cam that we recommend, mainly because of its performance at night.
Toguard CE46 Uber
Price: n/a
Resolution: 1080p (front and rear)
Front video: Good at day, Mediocre at night
Cabin video: Good at day, Fair at night
Reliability: Good
Pros: 2″ screen, optional GPS (CE46G, costs about $10 more)
Cons: Built-in battery
Toguard have two dash cams on offer in Amazon that they label as Uber cams. One of the two (the CE45) doesn’t have infrared LEDs for the rear lens, so for our intents and purposes, it doesn’t qualify as a uber cam. The one with infrared LEDs is called Toguard CE46 uber.
Front video quality is good at time, but mediocre at night. License plates of nearby cars are unreadable due to motion blur. Cabin video is acceptable both day and night.
Check out this sample video with day and night footage, front and rear (picture-in-picture though, but it still gives you a good idea of video quality):
Falcon Zero F-360 / F-360+
Price: n/a
Resolution: 960×720 at 20 fps (front and rear)
Front video: Mediocre at day, Poor at night
Cabin video: Mediocre at day, Poor at night
Reliability: Fair
The Falcon Zero F-360 is a camera from 2013. Nevertheless, when doing research for this article, we have found several web sites that still seriously suggest it as a good uber dash cam for 2019.
This camera probably has the lowest resolution of any dash cam we have ever reviewed: 960×720 pixels, which is not even 720p (720p is 1080×720 pixels). And it records at 20 frames per second instead of 30.
Furthermore, the F-360 is a camera that clips onto your rear-view mirror. While this may sound like a good idea, rear-view mirror dash cams actually make your the mirror image noticeably darker, which is probably the reason why they never enjoyed much commercial success.
We did a full review of this camera in 2015 that includes video samples.
While this camera may still be available on eBay, we recommend you stay away from it, unless you are a collector or something. Also, you may want to avoid web sites that recommend a camera with less than 720p resolution in 2019… or at least, don’t take them too seriously 😉
