INTRODUCTION

   Online streaming services like YouTube may be filled with footage taken from car dash cameras but still they are nowhere close to what they should be in terms of popularity. I've been using dash cameras for over 10 years now and so it strikes me as odd that most people out there don't care enough to have this extra layer of protection while on the road, not just for them, their families and even their cars but other people as well. Several years ago, that would be understandable since good dash cameras did cost quite bit, today however consumers can find affordable models that perform extremely well so cost is no longer the issue. VanTop may not be among the most well-establish manufacturers in the market but they have a rather rich lineup of action and car dash cameras and today I’m testing the Discovery H609 Mirror Mounted Dash Camera.

   Everyone has a worthy sharing moment. An active lifestyle full of award-winning memories is in the palm of your hands. At Vantop, we have summoned a group of tech-savvy talents with an appreciation for premium details and utility of great products. With the product line covering Action Cameras, Drones and Gimbals, we are here to offer thoughtfully-designed products so that every story teller can enjoy an easy-to-access, and fun-to-operate filming experience.

   As the name clearly states the VanTop Discovery H609 is a combination of a rear mirror like 10 inch LCD touch screen (IPS panel with a resolution of 320x1280p) and a dash camera. The Discovery H609 is mounted on the rear mirror of your vehicle and actually includes two cameras, one front facing one with the ability to record at Full HD resolution (1920x1080 @ 30fps with 170 degrees wide angle lens) and a rear HD one (features a recording resolution of 1280x720p @ 30fps with 160 degrees wide angle lens - VanTop states that the rear camera is also 1080p but during my tests i was only able to get 720p) which is also waterproof. Of course, the H609 is packed with secondary features as well including 4-layer glass lens, built-in G-Sensor, adjustable front camera orientation, automatic reverse camera view, parking monitor, motion sensor and HDR (high dynamic range - front camera). Now of course 1080p/720p recording in 2020 doesn't sound as impressive as it did a few years back but resolution is not everything so let's see what the Discovery H609 Mirror Mounted Dash Camera is capable of.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Discovery H609 is placed inside a long box that has a partial product picture at the front and the company logo.

Packing is pretty good with the device placed in a formed piece of foam and wrapped inside a synthetic cover.

Contained in the box is the H609 Mirror Mounted Dash Camera, rear camera, lighter power cable, trim tool, 4 rubber mounting straps, two double side tapes with 4 screws (for the rear camera installation), rating/opinion card and the user manual.

THE DISCOVERY H609

The H609 is a rather large model (it does have a 10 inch IPS touch screen after all) measuring 258mm in length, 98mm in height and 39.5mm in thickness.

At the top we find the power mini USB port, the rear camera port and the micro SD card slot (Vantop states that the H609 supports cards up to 128GB in capacity).

Both the speaker and the screen on/off button (the H609 can be used as a regular rear mirror when the screen is turned off) are located at the base of the camera.

Taking a look at the rear we find the mirror holders and the camera lens.

To attach the H609 onto your mirror you will need to use the bundled rubber mounting straps as seen above.

There's also a reset button at the rear of the camera.

Vantop claims to have used 4-layer glass lens for improved picture quality.

The good news is that the lens can be rotated left, right, down and up thus simplifying installation.

Since rear mirrors are not all of the same size the lens can be extended as seen above.

The rear camera can certainly come in handy especially for people who may want a rear parking camera.

USING THE DISCOVERY H609

As mentioned already the Discovery H609 features a 10 inch IPS touch screen which reveals all available options just by touching it.

So from the main screen you can adjust the focus of the camera (up/down - separate from the manual adjustment of the lens), set the brightness levels for the screen, mute the microphone (muted by default so my videos ended up being without audio), start recording, enter the settings menu, switch to snapshot/still mode and enter the main menu.

You can adjust everything in regards to video (resolution/HDR/exposure/watermark), camera mode (single/dual), recording (loop recording/intervals), sensors (motion/gravity) and sound from the settings menu.

Switching to snapshot/still mode reveals different available settings as seen above.

From the main menu you can access the files (recordings) and the main settings tab for the screen.

AUDIO & VIDEO QUALITY

FRONT

REAR

Once again in order to maintain the full quality of the recordings instead of using YouTube i stored them here (unfortunately since these clips are stored on our server they are very short in duration) so to download the above clips you just need to left click with your mouse or right click and use the save as command (some browsers just require a regular left click). As you will see for yourselves the Discovery H609 achieves bitrate levels between 11Mbps and 22Mbps for the front and between 9Mbps and 11Mbps for the rear camera (unfortunately by the time i took out the 128GB micro SD card with over one week worth of recordings and saw that the mute function was enabled i had removed both cameras from the car – just for the record however the H609 records basic single channel 16-bit 128kbps audio).

CONCLUSION

   The VanTop Discovery H609 is marketed as an affordable mirror mounted dash camera so that alone means i didn’t expect stelar performance right from the get go. Video quality is far from the best I’ve seen to date (including from most Full HD models I’ve tested) and the same goes for audio (which unfortunately wasn’t included with my clips). At the same time however the 10 inch IPS touch screen is very large (for some people that will be a huge plus), build quality is set at good levels, the rear camera can come in handy especially in certain parking scenarios (once again VanTop states it can record at Full HD but in my case it only did at 720p – do keep in mind that my sample may have been an early one which would explain this) and as for available settings let’s just say it may take a while for you to check all of them. At the same time however the lack of GPS is significant as is the less than stellar night recording (doesn’t do well with light sources).

   Typically, what “makes” or “breaks” products aimed towards consumers with tight budgets is their price tag and with one currently set at just USD59.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 69.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) it’s safe to say that the Discovery H609 Mirror Mounted Dash Camera by VanTop made it, at least in that regard. With this in mind i really can’t hold much against it, yes its performance is just above average but for that amount of money you’re getting an 10 inch IPS touch screen, Full HD wide lens front camera and an HD wide lens rear camera with automatic parking mode. As always you can find plenty of better products if you climb higher in price (VanTop released 2 new and improved models since i received this) but the Discovery H609 offers a rather good price/performance ratio which is why i do recommend checking it out if you’re in the market for a dash camera (and/or a rear camera).

PROS

- Build Quality
- Full HD Wide Lens With HDR (Front Camera)
- 10 inch IPS Touch Screen
- Built In G Sensor
- HD Wide Lens (Rear Camera)
- Automatic Rear View (Parking Mode)
- Adjustable Lens
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Overall Image & Audio Quality
- GPS Not Included
- Weight (For Some Rear Mirrors)