Pros
- Very small and unobtrusive
- Good range of modern features
- Easy and quick installation
Cons
- Lacks bigger camera features, like a screen
Our Rating
8 / 10
Get Viofo VS1 Dash Cam
Having established themselves as indispensable safety equipment for drivers, dashcams have been getting bigger and are filled with more features than ever before. They have Wi-Fi, GPS, and even built-in screens, but the downside of all this technology is that they may become a minor additional distraction.
Addressing this, the always versatile maker of dashcams, Viofo, has come up with a stripped-down, tiny 2K dash cam that melts away behind your rear view mirror. The Viofo VS1 Dash Cam is smaller than an action cam, yet full featured.
This is a sponsored article and was made possible by VIOFO. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author, who maintains editorial independence even when a post is sponsored.
Content
Tiny Dash Cam
The tiny 2K Viofo VS1 Dash Cam is what you would imagine from that description, a dashcam that is barely 6.5cm tall and 3cm wide.
It comes in a sturdy box, along with its accessories: a dual USB charger plug for your accessory socket (what us old guys call a cigarette lighter); a USB type C power cable, capable of stretching from the socket to the cam; a type C data cable to connect the unit to your computer; a trim mover tool to bury the cable in the trim of your car; plus replacement stickers and “static stickers” to affix the device to your windshield. Also included is a comprehensive and well-written instruction manual.
The review kit I was sent for review also included optional luxury items which upgrade your experience, like the HK4 hardware kit (for hard-wiring the cam into the power system of your car and adding functionality like parking cam, etc.), the Bluetooth remote (which you can stick somewhere convenient) to control the cam without having to lean forwards and crane your neck while driving, and a TF card.
Minimal Installation
As this is a tiny single camera setup, there are no additional cameras or cables to deal with, which is a massive boon if you’re busy. It’s a one-and-done installation with no fuss. Place a static sticker (or cut portion thereof) in a convenient place behind your rearview, where you want the camera to go. Peel the protective plastic (with difficulty) from the super-grabby 3M double-sided pad, and affix the camera to the static sticker, and therefore the screen.
The reason for using the static stickers as an intermediate surface is up for debate. If you want to be able to remove your mount with less mess, use the static sticker. If you’re feeling bold and cavalier and don’t want the mount to come off in the heat, stick the 3M glue pad straight onto the screen. The stickers are, for all intents and purposes, permanent, so think carefully. (It is not impossible to remove them, but it’s very difficult.) There are many resources online about the pros and cons of static stickers. I use them, but you may choose not to.
All that’s required then is to plug in the cable, and run it along a route from the cam to your accessory socket, using the supplied trim prybar to conceal the cabling and make it safe to get in an out of the car without issue. Safety is important, and this is an added bonus of the unit: its unobtrusive size makes for in-car safety. You won’t see it, you won’t knock it. Once it’s in, you’re good to go.
Plug it into the power socket, peel the protective film from the lens, insert a suitable TF/SD card, and you’re good to go.
At this point, you can set up the Wi-Fi connection using the Viofo app on your phone. Connect to your camera and adjust the settings and preview videos, and even get a live feed from the camera to check the angle.
Fully installed, the camera is small and tucked right behind the mirror.
From the driver’s position, it’s not visible at all. (I’m in the UK, so I sit on the right side of the car.) You will hardly realize it’s there, until you need it.
Road Test
The Viofo V1 Dash Cam’s primary feature, being unobtrusive and small, works perfectly. Half the time I forget it’s there. Only when I turn the car off and on do I hear it and remember that it’s tucked away in there. This may be a problem if you like to take your cam in at night to prevent theft. I admit: I have left it in there a few times.
The dash cam couldn’t be simpler to use. Start the car, and after it boots up, the camera starts with a chime and begins recording. As you drive, the dash cam records clips to the TF card at a set length that you configure in the cam. The default is one-minute clips, so that the file sizes remain small, and incidents are easy to find on the card.
To review the footage, you can do one of two things: either take the card out and put it into your computer, or connect your phone to the camera via Wi-Fi. It’s not essential to connect to Wi-Fi, but it does give you additional access to camera settings and the ability to preview the footage.
The quality of the camera is really good, with a good, fast frame rate. This enables you to see and read passing registration numbers, make out faces, etc., which a slow frame rate would blur. I really appreciate the sharpness of the image, too. For a tiny camera, the quality is excellent.
There are many big box features in this little cam, too, including the emergency recording/parking mode. For example, if your cam is hooked up with the hardwiring kit (which I recommend getting fitted professionally), the camera will activate if there is a collision or act as a CCTV or time-lapse camera. Recording collisions or attempted theft are great upgrades to your peace of mind.
To save space on your TF card, select a much lower bitrate for these recordings. Obviously, if you use it for time-lapse while parked, there will be no audio.
Recordings are created with the camera’s mic, so it records the audio inside the car. I tend to disable this most of the time, as it records me cussing at other drivers, and no one needs that. I should, however, leave it on, as audio can sometimes provide vital clues to the causes of accidents. Besides, when the disk is full, those cuss words and the bad driving that inspired them are overwritten.
The resolution of the videos with the high-end Sony Starvis 2 sensor are either 2560×1440 at 30fps or 1920×1080 if you want to save space. I recommend you leave it set at the highest resolution to capture the most detail.
All of this is specified in the settings when you link your camera to your phone. You can also format the card in the camera, add your car’s plate number to the display, and do periodic firmware updates, when available, to make sure your camera software is up to date.
Final Thoughts
The Viofo VS1 Dash Cam is a great little camera: it has all the features you’d expect and some you would be surprised by, and it’s simple and easy to fit and use. I loved how compact and discreet it was, so I can tell you this is one of the very few dashcams I can declare to be fully distraction free. You’ll forget you even have it. Obviously, that’s its strength.
At present, the Viofo VS1 Dash Cam is very reasonably priced. You can save $10 on the VIOFO website with the code MTEVIOFOVS1 or 5% at the U.S. Amazon store with the code MTEVIOFOVS1. For the amount of modern features you get and the compact form factor, I’d say that’s a bargain.
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Phil South –
Contributor
Phil South has been writing about tech subjects for over 30 years. Starting out with Your Sinclair magazine in the 80s, and then MacUser and Computer Shopper. He’s designed user interfaces for groundbreaking music software, been the technical editor on film making and visual effects books for Elsevier, and helped create the MTE YouTube Channel. He lives and works in South Wales, UK.
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