The Vantrue Pilot 2 is a great dash cam with a night vision camera, but it's probably overkill for anyone other than professional drivers.
The typical car dash cam is simple. It's a camera or two, designed to capture footage of other people's driving to help with either insurance or the police investigating an accident.
But with those cheaper cameras at the lower end of the spectrum, the camera may not be able to capture everything it needs to see in all conditions. In heavy rain, fog, sleet, or even the dark, a camera can miss important details simply because its sensor cannot "see" them.
The Vantrue Pilot 2 builds upon the core idea of a dash cam and tries to improve the driving experience. With its excellent heat-detecting sensor, it can see a lot more of what's on the road than your average vehicle camera system.
To be clear, Vantrue markets the Pilot 2 as being a professional product. That is, it's meant for people who drive for a living.
It is absolutely that. In the process of this review, I found that I loved it, but it is incredible overkill for my jaunts.
So, Uber drivers and delivery gig workers, pay attention! This is the camera you want.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: The standard elements
The Pilot 2 is a very comprehensive dash cam system. You have two cameras at the front capturing the road ahead, one camera pointed at the cabin, as well as one at the back to film the road behind you.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Out of the box
On its own, it is a very compelling package. The two front camera units attach to the windscreen; one handles both forward and cabin viewpoints.
That one is made up of a Sony IMX675 Gen 2 Starvis CMOS sensor with a 5MP resolution, an f.1,8 aperture, and a 158 degree field of view.
The same unit also has, on the opposing side, the cabin camera. That's an IMX662 Gen 2 Starvis CMOS sensor as well, but this time a 2MP version with a wider 165-degree view.
It also has a quartet of infrared lights, designed to illuminate the interior of the vehicle while driving at night. This is handy if you need to capture and record passenger activities at night.
A rear camera has an IMX675 sensor, also with an F1.8 aperture and a 160-degree field of view.
Both camera units connect up to the main controller, which has a 6.25-inch IPS touchscreen for managing and viewing footage from the cameras. Its resolution of 1,560 by 720 isn't great, but it's certainly enough to get working with the unit when it is mounted on the dashboard.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: The front camera, which also monitors inside the car
All of the cameras connect using USB Type-C, with it also having Wi-Fi 6 support and Bluetooth connectivity.
The unit also has a high-sensitivity microphone for capturing audio. That's as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack for playing audio, and its own 1.5W speaker. This is a little tinny on playback, but more than enough for documentation.
When it comes to storage, it has 128GB of flash memory. This isn't enough on its own, but it does also support up to 1TB via a microSD card for longer capture periods.
The main unit also has a button cell battery, but it takes current from the vehicle itself as a main power source.
When it comes to capturing footage, resolution depends on the combination of cameras being recorded.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Insert a microSD card here for more capacity
If it's the front, rear, and cabin, you can get 1440p footage for the front and rear and 1080p for the cabin. If it's front and rear, that's two 1440p feeds at 30fps, while front and cabin are 1440p and 1080p 30fps as a combo.
For the front camera alone, you can do a 2,560x1,440p video at 30fps.
The video is captured in H.265 MP4, though you can also capture JPEGs at the same recording resolutions.
Setup is pretty easy, but hiding the cables is not. If you don't have experience with taking your dashboard off, it might be worth paying a professional to do it and run the cables for you.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Visual thermals
The main feature of the Pilot 2 is its thermal camera. Hooked up outside of the cabin and positioned on the hood near the windshield, it has an unobtrusive view of the road ahead.
Handily, it's waterproof to IP67, so it will handle most weather you'd throw at it. During testing, there were several rainstorms, and to date, the camera still functions.
As a thermal camera, it's at a much lower resolution at 256 by 192 pixels, and its field of view isn't great at 40 degrees vertically and 30 degrees horizontally.
However, the point of the camera is less about recording high-resolution heat signatures and more about helping show what is outside the vehicle that you may not see at all.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: The main display has multiple modes and settings
In extremely foggy or turbulent conditions, a driver may not necessarily see a car ahead of them if the lights aren't working. Or even worse, a pedestrian on the road.
The intention is that the heat signature will be detected, and tell the driver and its software that there's something in a specific position ahead, even if it's not immediately visible.
It also manages to do this at a distance of up to 200 feet away, which is quite impressive. And, since it will be traveling at speed, that distance will be needed for drivers to react in time.
Implemented in the Pilot 2, it's augmenting the existing vision system, which automatically detects parts of the road. This manifests in the forms of collision detection, pedestrian detection, and animal detection.
The system also has features like parking assist, night vision, and GPS automatic timing. These are good if you don't already have parking assist, but I found that my car's own parking assist system was a little more sensitive and responded quicker.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Field of view of the cameras - Image Credit: Vantrue
The main forward-facing dashcam is claimed to have a viewing angle of 158 degrees, with the rear having a 165-degree field of view, and the interior cam at 160 degrees. By contrast, the thermal camera in the front is said to have a 60-degree field of view.
In testing, I agree with Vantrue's claims, though one spec is conservative compared to reality. The infrared camera is closer to an 80-degree field of view.
Don't be put off by the narrow field of view on the infrared camera. Consider that the camera is working with the middle of the road, not the periphery.
Ideally, you want that early warning of issues in the middle of the frame, working as far ahead of the car as possible.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Beyond the driver
Thanks to its onboard Wi-Fi connection, it's possible to connect remotely to the unit using your iPhone. This does let you control features, as well as view footage captured on the device.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: The main display unit also works with CarPlay
This can be extremely handy for car accidents, as you can have quick access to footage of what just happened, findable on your iPhone.
Since it's a reasonably-sized screen on the dashboard, you can also make use of the display for CarPlay and Android Auto. This may not necessarily be as useful as the recording capabilities while driving, but it certainly can justify using the system if you don't already have a CarPlay infotainment system installed.
We've had the camera system for a bit, and the CarPlay implementation is a little crashy and not as good as it should be.
We've been told that the release version will be more full-featured. Since this is a Kickstarter, and we got the hardware early, we believe it.
The onboard display is fine, and customizable as to which camera you display on the screen, one or all of them. This is good enough for now.
Following the release, we'll update you all on this here.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: Safety overkill for non-professionals
It's obvious that the Vantrue Pilot 2 is a more extreme dash cam system. There's already a robust experience here for recording the road and keeping yourself safe, or at least gathering evidence both inside and outside the vehicle.
The addition of thermal imaging may seem like an unnecessary addition for most people. But it is intended as an enhanced safety feature that will do its best in the more extreme driving environments and situations.
I knew there were rabbits in my neighborhood. Now I know that there are far more of them than I thought there were.
Vantrue Pilot 2 review: The view of the rear, the connection points, and a pretty robust mount adjustment knob
CarPlay is an afterthought, really, though accessing the system from your phone is a pretty useful feature to have.
Vantrue's Pilot 2 is certainly something made for professional drivers to use for both their protection and their safety. It may be a bit expensive for home users, but it's a solid system for those who can afford it.
Vantrue Pilot 2 Pros
- Thermal vision
- Robust, high-resolution cameras
- iPhone access
Vantrue Pilot 2 Cons
- CarPlay is an afterthought
- Installation of the thermal camera is fiddly
- Professional-leaning, not consumer.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Where to buy the Vantrue Pilot 2
The Vantrue Pilot 2 is available as a Kickstarter, with Super Early Bird pricing at 56% off at $399, while Early Bird is $449, and a two-pack is $789.
The early bird packages are extremely cost-effective, and the review goes up to 4.5 if you get that price. The MSRP is $799 for one, which is a bit painful for a dash cam. It just takes one contested accident with truth on your side to potentially save you a ton of money.
As I've said, this is a crowdfunded project. As a crowdfunded project, there is always the risk of the product not shipping as promised — or at all.
Because of this, AppleInsider doesn't cover the majority of crowdfunding efforts as a rule, unless hardware is available and after an assessment of the team behind the effort and their previous releases, if any.
That said, Vantrue has completed multiple Kickstarters successfully, and we don't see any red flags in the project.
