The Owl is one of the few 4G dashcams now shipping offering the ability to view inside the car when the security system senses a disturbance in or around the car.
It began shipping in February and has been in and out of backorder due to higher than expected demand. “We built a lot of product, we weren’t prepared for the demand,” said Andy Hodge, CEO and Founder, who has helped create such notable products in the past as the iPod, iPhone, HoloLens and Dropcam.
By the end of the year, Owl expects to have sold through tens of thousands of the 4G dashcams, proving there’s a market for these high end, high tech car DVRs.
All of Owl’s sales thus far have been online. The company expects to be available through Amazon by the end of the year. However, it is also looking at brick and mortar stores, Hodge told us.
Owl sells for $349, including one year of service, with fees of $10 per month thereafter.
Hodge is quick to point out that consumers are willing to pay for ADT security for their home, and the car requires even more protection. One in two Americans have an incident regarding their car. “People pay for ADT, so $10 a month isn’t unreasonable for the car,” he said.
Owl has another cool feature. While driving you can say, “Okay, Presto,” and the dashcam will automatically send a clip of the latest video footage to your phone.
The camera also includes WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. It is user installable, and works with an OBD2 device plus a cable that can be hidden.
Since Owl is paired with your phone, it knows if it is you who is approaching the car, or someone else. If a stranger breaks into the vehicle, Owl’s LED floodlights turn on to scare off the thieves. Then you get an alert so you can watch a live feed. There’s also an intercom feature so you can literally tell the thief to go away.
On-board sensors automatically detect events while you’re away from the car. If someone dings a fender you can check the video footage and see what happened. And it continues recording during traffic stops if you want to record an interaction with law enforcement.
Here are more statistics offered by Owl:
Nine out of ten people who have been impacted by continuous crashes, dents or break-ins, want a video of the next time it occurs.
Cars need more security than homes. Crashes, dents, traffic stops and break in occur much more frequently than home issues such as burglary, fire or package theft.
Waylens and Raven also offer or plan to offer 4G dashcams/car security devices.
Waylens recently began shipping to the aftermarket a WiFi 360 view dashcam called the Secure360. A 4G version, which allows live video views in and around the car. The 4G version is due in August at $399.99.
