INTRODUCTION

   My interest in car dash cameras begun roughly 4 years ago when i had the chance to visit Moscow after being invited by a good old friend of mine. Now you may not be aware of this but many people in Moscow have such cameras installed in their cars not only because it's obviously the best way to prove you are not at fault if an accident occurs (and you're really not the one who caused it) or someone tries to trick you (staged accidents) but also because several insurance companies in Russia offer discounts if you happen to own one such device and you have it installed in your car at all times. The same applies for many insurance companies around the world (although not everywhere) so it's not something most drivers should ignore since the total savings will certainly surpass the cost of a car dash camera (even if you can't find an insurance company that gives a discount the benefits alone are well worth it). Today we will be taking a look at one of the latest car dash cams to hit the market the XHD Marcus 3 by VicoVation.

   VICO is the core value of our brand. The four letters stand for Vision, Integration, Creativity and Observation. Our attitude toward the brand is sustaining development. We apply the latest technologies for all product development. Our management strategy focuses on both globalization and localization. We have great ability of integration toward optical related products. We choose the most competitive key components with best performance, such as lens, sensor, compression chipset, and accessories. As for the software, we communicate with component suppliers and do the deep integration to present the best user-friendly operation interface. We are the team with new ideas. All features and operation interfaces are the outputs of the brainstorming. We believe that the unique features are made by a team of creativity. We have sharp observation on market demands and trends. This makes us to develop the most updated and competitive products. VicoVation® products are always easy operated and useful in life. VicoVation® is the combination of Vico and Innovation. We manage to make innovation on top of our core value. VicoVation® only presents the most in and best performed products.

   XHD stands for Extreme High Definition and is used to describe the latest 1296p standard which can basically record video at a very high resolution of 2304x1296 at 30Fps. The Marcus 3 is amongst a handful of car dash camera models in the market capable of this resolution thanks to its Ambarella A7 image processor and the 3.1 megapixel CMOS sensor so the results of this review should be quite interesting (especially since we have two more 1296p compatible car dash cameras here). The A7LA SoC by Ambarella includes a high speed 700MHz ARM CPU and combines advanced image processing filters and technologies including High Dynamic Range (HDR), 3D Noise filtering, smart auto exposure , full-resolution over-sampling, WiFi connectivity for iOS and Android devices and a lane departure warning system. Of course the usual Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) and HD 720p (1280x720) resolutions are also supported at both 30 and 60fps but i really doubt someone would choose an XHD compatible car dash camera only to use it to record video at Full HD or HD (this is also why the recorded clips in this review are both at 1296p).