With a resolution of 2.5K, app connection and a stylish and small housing, the Vantrue E1 offers powerful features for a dashcam at an affordable price.
The Vantrue E1 is characterized as a dashcam by a particularly compact housing. The “E” stands for “Elements”. The manufacturer even won an iF Design Award 2022 for the visual design . But not only the shape is successful. The video resolution is comparatively high at 2.5K. This gives hope for sharp video recordings on which license plates are still clearly recognizable. Our test reveals whether this is true in reality.
A dashcam is a tried and tested means of clarifying who is at fault after an accident. However, the use of car cameras in Germany is legally controversial. Dashcams per se are not prohibited. Sale and attachment in the car are permitted. Under certain conditions, the recordings are also admissible as evidence in civil proceedings. When using the dash cam, however, users must pay attention to data protection. According to a BGH ruling from May 2018, permanent and unprovoked recording of the entire traffic situation is not permitted, as it represents an encroachment on the general personal rights of the road users concerned.
In order to better take data protection into account, car cameras use technologies such as an endless loop, which only creates a certain number of short clips that are permanently overwritten. In the Dashcam guide, we explain what you should pay attention to : Legal issues, technical details and models from 40 euros . If you want to go on vacation with the dashcam, you also have to be prepared for regional peculiarities. We describe more about this in the article Dashcam on vacation: Legal protection and avoid high penalties of up to 10,000 euros .
design
The Vantrue E1 is almost cube-shaped, compact and really chic. We’d say it’s the most visually appealing dash cam we’ve seen to date. The lens is strikingly large. Without the lens it is just under 35mm long (with the lens it is 42mm), 45mm wide and around 83mm high with the windscreen mount. Only the Garmin Dash Cam 67W (test report) and Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 (test report) are more compact car cameras from our tests . The compact dimensions ensure that the dashcam does not impair the field of vision and thus does not distract the driver. Only the height of almost 83 mm is a bit lavish. This is significantly smaller in Garmin models, for example.
The processing is convincing. The case is made of metal and does not have any annoying gaps. The camera simply clicks into place in the mount. On the left is the conspicuous power button in orange, below that is the slot for the micro SD card. The three menu buttons on the underside are less well placed. These are difficult to get to in the vehicle.
The fastening is cleverly solved. As with the Viofo A119 V3 (test report) , an antistatic film is used. This is first freed from the protective layer on both sides. The film is then placed on the windshield. Only then do you stick the dashcam bracket onto the foil on the pane. This offers the advantage that the car camera can be detached again easily and without leaving any residue. With cameras from Nextbase or Garmin, this usually involves a lot of effort. The disadvantage: the film may bubble, which looks ugly. You can also simply stick the Vantrue E1 directly to the pane, but then it will be difficult to remove it again.
Furnishing
The image sensor of the Vantrue E1 is the Sony Starvis IMX335 with 5 megapixels and f/1.55 aperture. This offers High Dynamic Range (HDR). Typical of modern dashcams is an acceleration sensor, GPS, a loop function and a battery for a short-term power supply if the power cable should come loose in an accident.
The scope of delivery includes a small remote control, a 3.5 meter cable with connections for USB-C and the 12-volt plug in the car and a 1-meter data cable for USB-A and -C. A warning sticker for the vehicle is also included. This should inform others that the vehicle uses a dashcam.
A micro SD card is not included. The car camera supports a maximum of 512 GB, Vantrue recommends using memory cards of the U3 type for video recordings. We show a selection of suitable solutions in the top 5: The best micro SD memory cards in a comparison test . A hardwire cable is also available as an accessory to permanently supply the Vantrue E1 with the on-board electronics. This is helpful when using the dashcam parking surveillance. We will explain more about this later. A polarization filter (short: polarizing filter) is available as an accessory for screwing onto the lens. These suppress unwanted reflections on the recordings from the windshield.
The loop function is particularly important in this country for data protection reasons. The car camera always creates short video clips with a preselected length (usually 1 minute). Once the micro SD card is full, the camera will overwrite the oldest clip. This is to prevent the memory from being full of recordings in which the personal rights of other road users are violated.
But even better is a solution where the dash cam only creates one or a few clips at a time, which are then repeatedly overwritten. An example of this is the Transcend Drivepro 230Q Data Privacy (test report) , which only takes a maximum of two shots. The Vantrue E1 does not have this option. Here the dashcam only deletes the oldest recordings when the memory is 70 percent full. We recommend regularly deleting older recordings manually.
But what if an accident happens? Then the accelerometer comes into play. If this registers a strong delay, the camera saves the recording in a protected memory area so that it is not overwritten by the loop again. At the touch of a button on the camera or with the included remote control, drivers can determine whether an ongoing recording should be blocked. The acceleration sensor is also useful for parking space monitoring.
special functions
The Vantrue E1 does not offer any driver assistance systems. The only special function is parking monitoring. However, its use is legally controversial in Germany, as people are unwittingly filmed in front of the vehicle. It is also recommended to use a hardwire cable (available as an accessory) to power the camera directly from the car battery. Otherwise, the dashcam’s battery could run out quickly when the car is parked. For the parking mode, you specify that it films as soon as it detects vibrations or, alternatively, movements in front of the vehicle. The latter option is not recommended, because in this case the camera will probably start all the time.
service
The orange button is used to switch on the dashcam. The buttons on the bottom are used to activate the WLAN connection or to start and stop a recording as well as to scroll through a menu. As already mentioned, the buttons are difficult to reach.
However, the control via the app works well. First you have to turn on the WLAN and then pair it with your smartphone. That works surprisingly well. The app is also clear and allows you to make all settings and download videos.
The battery-operated remote control (CR2032) is unusual. It is best to stick these to the fittings where you can easily reach them without taking your eyes off the road. One button is used to activate the voice control, the other to activate the emergency mode: Now the current video recording is pushed into the protected memory and is no longer overwritten. The dashcam can be controlled by voice, but not in German, only in English, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.
picture quality
The Vantrue E1 allows fairly high image resolutions: a maximum of 2592 x 1944 pixels (2.5K) at 30 fps (frames per second) is possible. In addition, 2560 x 1440 pixels (QHD) at 30 fps and 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD) at 60 fps are available. The latter offers a less sharp image quality, but the higher frame rate can be valuable for clarifying the question of guilt, after all the car camera then takes twice as many pictures.
The picture quality is good. Despite the higher resolution, the image sharpness could be a bit better. License plates can only be recognized sufficiently well up to a distance of almost 30 meters. Details can still be seen well in the dark, but the image noise then increases noticeably. Compared to the other dash cams from our tests, the Vantrue E1 still scores very solidly.
The viewing angle is 160 degrees. This ensures a large coverage of the area in front of the vehicle. However, this also means that the recording looks slightly distorted (fish-eye effect) and license plates are then more difficult to recognize at a greater distance.
Vantrue E1 Price
The Vantrue E1 currently costs 150 euros on Amazon. It is available in the colors dark grey, red and blue. The polarizing filter for just under 21 euros is also interesting as an accessory.
Conclusion
The Vantrue E1 is really stylish and pleasantly compact. As a result, it hardly disturbs the driver’s field of vision. The app connection works well, the operation is self-explanatory. The image sensor from Sony also offers high resolution. However, the image sharpness could be better, license plates are difficult to recognize at a distance of more than 30 meters. There are no driver assistance systems, the voice recognition does not speak German. Nevertheless, the price is fair for what is offered.
The Nextbase 522GW (test report) offers a similar image quality and also Alexa and an SOS function . The Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 (test report) is even more compact . A cheap alternative, especially with regard to data protection, is the Transcend Drivepro 230Q Data Privacy (test report) . This is limited to a maximum of two video clips at the same time. We explain more on the subject in the Dashcam guide: Legal issues, technical details and models from 40 euros . Retrofitting head-up displays for cars starting at 20 euros are also exciting .
