This Dashcam Is My Tech ‘Upgrade of the Year’

To be alive in 2025 is to assume that you are recorded at all times. There are cameras just about everywhere we go these days: security cameras, video doorbells, and smartphones record frequently, and are so ubiquitous that I tend to think that if I go out in public, I’m being watched.

But when you’re driving, it can be a different story. Sure, there are cameras on the road – whether they’re street cameras or cameras built right into modern cars – but there are plenty of moments behind the wheel where nothing you do is recorded. You might consider this a nice respite from the surveillance of modern life, but it also means that if you have an accident, it could quickly turn into a “he said, she said” incident. Someone could reverse right into your car, but since there were no cameras to document the accident, your insurance company could throw their hands up in the air and make you both pay for something that wasn’t your fault.

I’ve never been in this situation, but I was tired of worrying about it. My car is older and doesn’t have any of the modern safety features that newer cars now include, including cameras. Where something like a Tesla records everything in and around the car, my vehicle records nothing. If someone accidentally hit my car, or worse, intentionally tried to rip me off, I might be out of luck, and without clear proof, I wasn’t at fault.

You won’t regret buying a dashcam, even if you never use it

After following too many online chats sharing such horror stories, I decided it was time to get a dashcam. But before I could do that, I received a gift last Christmas: a Redtiger 4K dashcam. It was simple enough to install, although even after a full year of use I’m still not taking full advantage of it: the main unit attaches to my front windshield, with a cable that plugs into the cigarette lighter port, but this particular model also comes with a rear camera which requires a bit of extra maneuvering to install. I’ve been a little lazy on this one, but I should give it a go, because it would also be useful to have a camera protecting the back of my car.

I almost wish I had a poignant story to tell that showed how the dashcam saved me over the past year, or even a story about catching some of my fellow drivers’ crazy driving habits. But spoiler alert: I didn’t really need to use it, because fortunately I didn’t have an accident, or even experience an interesting close call. But the peace of mind that comes from knowing that if an otherwise ambiguous clash has been refreshing. It’s nice to know when I’m driving on a particularly busy road that I have a little extra protection if someone jumps lanes or decides to text and drive.

There are so many different dashcam models out there, so I won’t try to argue that mine is specifically the one everyone should buy. But there are a few things I like about it: First, the main unit records in 4K, which means your videos will be clear enough to use in case you need to prove your innocence. Although 4K takes up more recording space than 1080p, this model is designed to record on itself as it fills up. Since you probably don’t need all of your driving footage, you don’t really have to worry about running out of space and can recover the file when something actually happens. There are other features that I don’t use, like Wi-Fi connectivity as well as a smart app, but I prefer to just retrieve images from the included SD card – at least I would if I ever needed to.