Car and Driver Eye2 Pro dash cam review: Worst to near first

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$249.99

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Unlike our last review of one of Car and Driver’s dash cams, the company’s $250 Eye2Pro turned out to be one of the best we’ve tested, both in terms of captures and out-of-the-box experience; the pre-inserted 16GB SD card lets you have it up and running in less than five minutes.

Setting the date and time is included in those five minutes, as the camera doesn’t have GPS, or even an external GPS option, the only missing feature in an otherwise excellent, but expensive product. .

This review is part of our roundup of the best dash cams. Go there for more reviews and shopping tips.

Design and specifications

The Eye2Pro is small at 6.22 x 5.04 x 2.83 inches deep. At least half an inch of the latter is the lens body, so it looks even smaller. The unit comes with a suction cup mount that converts to semi-permanent adhesive. In both configurations, it magnetically pairs with the dash cam itself (see below).

Short-term removal is a snap, which comes in handy in the convertible I drive. There’s no horizontal adjustment, but that’s okay with the suction cups, which can easily be reoriented. If you choose sticky, see our installation guide.

On the left side of the Eye2Pro (as seen above) are the power button, rear camera jack and card slot. That’s it. Everything else is handled via the ultra-sharp 3-inch color OLED touchscreen. Although the icons on the screen are tiny, they’re well spaced out and I had no trouble getting where I wanted to go or turning features on and off. Kudos to the designers.

The Eye2Pro features a wide 140 degree field of view and a maximum resolution of 3840×2160, 30 frames per second. You can, of course, lower the resolution to conserve storage space: every three minutes at 4K/30fps takes up nearly 700MB of space. That’s okay, but with heavy use, you might start browsing memory cards pretty quickly.

In another bonus, Eye2Pro has a battery that powered the camera for a good 10 seconds after unplugging the 12 volt auxiliary port plug. It’s better than most and much longer than you’ll get from any super capacitor. That said, batteries tend to hate extreme temperatures.

While the Eye2Pro has all the normal bells and whistles such as a parking monitor mode, its lack of GPS is a bit of a deal breaker in an otherwise extremely capable camera. GPS data is useful as concrete evidence of the location of incidents, without forgetting to document your movements afterwards via mapping software.

Performance

Any questions about the Eye2Pro’s capture quality received an immediate response: very good. You can see the details for yourself by right-clicking to view full size images below.

The Eye2Pro’s image is a bit distorted at the top due to the fisheye, as you can see below. This is normal for the course with cameras that provide a wider field of view.

The night capture below, while not quite on par with the incredible Thinkware 1000, is also very good. Note that you can bring out more detail by simply lightening the image in post-production.

Note: Ignore dates. I never set them, thinking the device must have, yes, GPS. These were taken on 02/12/22 (day) and 02/15/22 (night).

Overall, the video from the Eye2Pro is equal to that of the impressive Cobra SC 400D, which is saying a lot. Good color, lots of detail during the day, with clearly detailed night shots when lit after the fact.

Great, but expensive without GPS

If you have $250 to spend on a front-only dash cam, you won’t do better than the Eye2Pro, if you don’t need or want GPS. If GPS is an important feature for you, take a look at our other top picks.