This innovative solar-powered dash cam could do away with awkward hardwiring for good

• The Baseus PrimeTrip VD1 Pro has a tiny solar panel that powers recording while you’re parked
• There’s also a battery for continuous, on-the-road recording
• Complete with front 4K and rear 1080p cameras

I look after TechRadar’s dash cam coverage and have reviewed plenty of the best dash cams^[1] from the likes of Nextbase and Garmin^[2]. Thankfully, there’s still room for innovation in this space, as this week I came across the surprising Baseus PrimeTrip VD1 Pro.

The VD1 Pro has a unique trick up its sleeve: a tiny solar panel. Let’s be clear, it’s not enough to power the dash cam for continuous, on-the-road recording – there’s an internal battery for that. No, what the solar panel can do is power a parking mode for up to two weeks.

Parking modes are a relatively recent thing in dash cams. They spark to life to record the evidence when motion and threats around your parked vehicle are detected, like bumps or break-ins. Typically, they’re powered by hardwiring to your vehicle’s battery^[3].

You don’t want to leave a dash cam hardwired into your parked vehicle for too long, though – eventually it’ll drain the battery completely. However, the VD1 Pro potentially does away with the need for hardwiring, providing what its maker says is up to 14 days power for the parking mode, storing up to 20 recordings through the front and rear cameras.

I can’t believe a feature like this hasn’t utilized before, especially given the position that most dash cams find themselves – on a windscreen with exposure to daylight.

I personally prefer the simpler plug-and-play dash cams rather than fiddling with the mechanics and hardwiring for permanent installation, so points go to the VD1 Pro for that. But how does it fare in other areas?

It’s surprisingly cheap, too

Baseus is better known for making power banks and security cameras^[4], so it makes sense that it could combine those worlds into a dash cam with an innovative power supply design.

Beyond its solar skills, the VD1 Pro is a dual-channel dash cam, meaning there are front and rear cameras. The front camera shoots 4K video with a particularly wide 170-degree field of view (most dash cams are 140-degrees), while the rear camera tops out at just 1080p.

The sensor tech is actually slightly basic compared to today’s best dash cams^[5], so I don’t have super high hopes for video quality. However, the VD1 Pro is on the cheaper side, costing $139.99 at Amazon US^[6] at the time of writing. I can’t see the VD1 Pro at Amazon^[7] UK yet, but it appears at other discount sites for a much lower price – buy at your own risk.

Elsewhere, the Baseus PrimeTrip VD1 Pro is packed with features, including voice control, 5GHz Wi-Fi 6 for quick file uploads, and a companion app for streaming, saving recordings, viewing GPS data, and receiving OTA updates – all in-car, not remotely, which is a shame.

I’m yet to test the VD1 Pro so I can’t comment on how well it holds up in the real world, but it has piqued my interest enough to check it out.

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