A new 4K dashcam from BlackVue, offering 4 times the pixels of HD, has taken off, despite a price tag close to $500.
The product has been in back order since its release four months ago, although production is now meeting demand, according to NAV-TV, master distributor for BlackVue.
4K provides better license plate recognition and facial recognition and the picture is sharper for identifying vandals or hit and run guilty parties, said NAV-TV’s Derek Schmiedl.
Thinkware, another high end dash cam supplier, said it will offer a 4K dashcam by mid next year.
The BlackVue (DR900S-2Ch 4K) dashcam at a suggested retail price of $479 is now NAV-TV’s best selling BlackVue dashcam, despite its $100 premium for the 4K feature and another $100 premium for the 2-channel version versus the single camera version. NAV-TV says the 2-channel model outsells the single channel version 4 to 1.
The DR-900S 4K single and dual dashcams are WiFi compatible, so if the car comes with a WiFi hotspot, as do many new vehicles, users can actually check in on their teen as he drives (with the 2-channel version and a camera aimed at the car cabin). Parents get a live view of the teen as well as tracking capability, again, provided there’s a hot spot in the car.
BlackVue sales are up 400 percent year to date compared to the year prior for NAV-TV, said Schmiedl. The company entered the market in March of 2016.
Dashcams, in general, are expected to be a popular Black Friday seller, according to retailers.
The two DR900S 4K models come with a 16GB SD card but they accept up to 128K cards. They allow you to view video footage on a smartphone.
They use 8-megapixel CMOS sensors in the main camera. The 2-channel version uses a full HD Sony 2.1-megapixel image sensor for the rear camera. They also offer a free cloud add-on service to store video. Users can check on their car from anywhere, and they receive impact alert push notifications.
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