Customer Ratings & Reviews

I’ve been using this product for a few weeks, and it’s been working perfectly. The setup was simple, and the performance is very consistent. The alerts and features are accurate and easy to understand, which makes driving or daily use much more convenient. It feels well-built and definitely worth the price for the quality you get. Highly recommend it for anyone looking for reliability and peace of mind.

Works very well and easy to install. 3 trucks and one in every truck.

Does do what it's supposed to, that being said it leaves a lot to be wanted. The ease of use suffers as it requires going online to see how to utilize many features. It also suffers in reliability as it sometimes doesn't register that it's supposed to turn on so you need to keep an eye on it. Also features like the police radar are not as simple to use as they are made out to be. Another annoyance comes from the locked video being triggered by things like going over speed bumps. Not a bad option but one that has many flaws.

I just wish it would record properly it only records inside consistently and never saves the outside camera

The Cobra SC 220 dual-view dash cam includes a QHD video quality front cam and HD rear cam. The camera was easy to install thanks mostly to the rear camera being integrated into the front camera rather than requiring a separate cable run to the rear window. The DC outlet power cable has a pass-thru USB A charging port for added convenience. Video can be monitored via the 3-inch QHD full color LCD screen. The entire camera is small and discrete enough to mostly hide behind a rear view mirror and avoid obstructing the driver’s view. The integrated rear camera makes installation and management easier, but it primarily records a cabin view rather than a true behind the vehicle rear view, especially at night. After sunset, the night-vision kicks in and basically mostly only the cabin is visible from the rear camera with a little outside view. After physically installing the camera, I installed the companion Cobra Drive Smarter app on my smartphone. I then performed a firmware update on the camera which annoyingly took 2-3 attempts to fully complete due to errors. The Drive Smarter app offers a wealth of useful features, including Android Auto and CarPlay compatibility. In addition to managing the dash cam, the app provides crowd sourced data to assist with navigation and threat avoidance among other features. The captured QHD video quality from the front camera and HD video from the rear is sharp and smooth with virtually no jitter or artifacts while driving. Like most dash cams, the camera utilizes micro-SD storage and clips are filmed and auto saved in one-minute increments. This recording is convenient for indexing and retracing particular clips and events, both inside and outside the car. The only issue I encountered with capture is occasional latency when downloading videos. Occasional slow transfers aside, the SC220 is a robust and nice performing compact dash cam that won’t break the bank.

This is very good dash cam helps alot in driving on road working well very good quality

The Cobra SC 220 is a compact, capable dash cam, with both a front view and cabin dash cam. Included in the box is the SC 220C (with the slide-out mount), a USB C data cable, a 16 GB micro SD card, some wire clips for routing the power wire around the windshield, a tool for prying on the inside trim of the car, and some electrostatic films to make the installation a little less permanent (in case you wanted to pull it off and install on a different vehicle). Installation was relatively easy. Instead of mounting the cam with its 3M adhesive strip straight to the windshield, I utilized one of the electrostatic films and attached that to the windshield first, then attached the SC 220 to that. I was glad I did too, because my first attempt ended up with the dash cam slightly out of level and I had to pull it back off to level it out. The two cameras are adjustable, in other words they can be turned upwards or downwards to match the angle of the windshield. Once I got it set on the windshield, I started routing the cable around the cabin trim. This turned out to be very challenging. I have a Dodge Challenger Scat Pack, and the cable was pretty thick and provided some challenges getting it wedged in just right. With that done, I ran into another challenge. I only had one ignition-source 12 volt connector in the Challenger, and my radar detector Escort Max 4 was plugged into that. It would have been nice to have a USB connection option, but since the SC 220C did not, I had to order an adaptor that had two 12-volt plugs. Once that arrived, I was good to go. Since I already had the Escort Max 4, I had already installed the Drive Smarter app. When the SC 220C was powered on, I was able to easily add it to the Drive Smarter app and I was up and running. Some fine tuning on the rotating cameras, and everything was good to go. the SC 220C works just as intended. It records everything while driving, stores it on the 16 GB micro SD card, and then deletes older videos as storage fills up. The app on the phone can be used to view the videos, save them, download them, whatever is needed. The included USB data cable can be used to connect the SC 220C to a computer or the micro SD card can be removed and viewed in a drive. Pretty easy to use and effective. Video is solid. The SC 220C also displays alerts that come in on the Drive Smarter app, so if you have a radar detector that is using the same app you can see those alerts on the SC 220C. All in all, the SC 220C is a solid dashcam. Installation is easy, in real-life use it works perfectly, and, if you are like me and live somewhere it gets really hot, you can slide the SC 220C off of its mount and keep it out of the sun. Highly recommended. You can’t be too safe nowadays when it comes to having a dashcam. The Cobra name brand is a big seller to me also.

KEY SPECS 2560 x 1440 Front Camera Resolution 1920 x 1080 Rear Camera Resolution 16GB MicroSD Card Installed Dual-Band Wi-Fi Cloud Connectivity SUMMARY The SC220 is one of Cobra’s new line of connected dash cams. It includes nearly the full suite of expected features in a premium dash cam, but does it without having to pay the monthly subscription fee to access. INTRODUCTION The SC220 is the entry-level model of Cobra’s offerings. This dual view dash cam not only records the view in front of the vehicle, but it also has a rear facing camera that constantly monitors and records the interior of the vehicle (this feature can be disabled for privacy). I can see this as a huge plus for the ride share drivers, especially since Cobra has given the SC220 infra-red night vision for the interior camera at night. The SC220 includes nearly every option that one would expect from a premium dash cam. Dual cameras with dual view capability, dual band Wi-Fi to communicate and transfer videos to the Drive Smarter app, parking protection, GPS, and the ability to send MayDay alerts via the Drive Smarter app. The SC220 has a bunch of nice features for the money. I’m going to say this many times throughout this review, all the SC220 features are available WITHOUT paying a monthly subscription fee, like Cobra’s primary competitor does now. INSTALLATION The SC220 installed without issue. Cobra includes a much need trim removal tool, some 3M adhesive tape, wire clips, and a 12V “cigarette” plug with a pass-through USB port. Thank you, Cobra. That passthrough USB port made all the difference of this being a no-go for me. I didn’t want to tie up my already used 12V port. There is no OBD connector option or hard-wire connection option included with the installation kit. While those are available, they are provided only at an additional charge from Cobra. Furthermore, these items are required if you don’t have an always on 12V cigarette socket and you want to use features such as motion detection and parking event detection. This is one of the few demerits to the Cobra SC220. Unlike many competitors’ products, there does not appear to be any form of battery back-up to record parking incidents or motion like the competition has. DRIVE SMARTER APP Once the camera was installed, I downloaded the Drive Smarter app to my Galaxy smartphone. App installation and set-up was easy and straightforward. Same with connecting my phone to the dash cam. The Drive Smarter app found my dash cam within seconds and immediately prompted me for a firmware update. It too, went without fuss. The Drive Smarter app is easy to use and navigate. After answering a few basic questions, mainly how much I wanted the dash cam to talk to the cloud, I was set-up and ready to go. The whole process took 3 minutes at best, including the firmware update. Kudos to Cobra. As you know, if you’ve researched Cobra dash cams, their parent company Cedar also makes CB radios and most importantly Escort Radar Detectors. The Drive Smarter app is entry into the smart radar detector community. Newer escort radar detectors report locations of detected radar sites and upload that data to the cloud. Using your Cobra dash cam and the Drive Smarter app, the camera will pop up a warning on the display indicating the potential event ahead. Radar, Traffic, Accident, etc all get displayed on the screen of the SC220 or on the vehicle’s screen, if using CarPlay or Android Auto. In addition to detected road hazards or police presence, the Drive Smarter app has its own built-in GPS and navigation function. Using the Drive Smarter app for navigation, turns your dash cam into your GPS screen. The phone will give you audible prompts about what to do, but those prompts are also shown on the SC220’s screen, as well. It’s slick and has worked without lag or hesitation. Cobra has done an excellent job on most of the Drive Smarter app. NEGATIVES First. As smooth and responsive as the Drive Smarter app is, the navigation is lackluster. Cobra uses Mapbox ?!?!? for mapping and navigation. I’m guessing to avoid licensing fees from Google / Waze thereby keeping costs down. Use the navigation app one time and you will see that Mapbox doesn’t even come close to Google or Waze. There are several shortcomings compared to Google (Google owns Waze now). First, the traffic conditions lag woefully behind Google. There have been numerous times Google has reported congestion and Drive Smarter did not. Google was ALWAYS correct. When Drive Smarter finally indicated congestion, it had cleared. Same with police reports and accidents. Second. The mapping algorithm employed by Mapbox / Drive Smarter isn’t nearly as accurate as Google. Drive Smarter indicated several times that I needed to make a U-turn to get to my destination, whereas Google directed me right to the destination. This is extremely frustrating in heavy, urban traffic. Second. The police reports and radar notifications are often stale by the time I have encountered the events. Let’s face it, the user community on Google Maps and Waze is so much bigger, it is hard to compete with so many users nearly all online at the same time. The information is fresher and far more accurate. Lastly, the GPS accuracy is not nearly as good as using the standalone Google Maps app. I find that the Drive Smarter app consistently tells me I have 50 feet to my destination, when I am sitting the parking lot. CONCLUSION The SC220 has all the necessary features expected in a premium dash cam today. It has excellent image quality, dual facing cameras, a full suite of options available from the Drive Smarter app, and most importantly allows the buyer to access all these features at no additional charge after purchase. The SC220 is one of the fastest and most responsive dash cams I’ve paired my Galaxy phone with to date. The Drive Smarter app has not yet failed to immediately pair with the camera or get hung-up while accessing videos or features. Even simple changes to the cam itself via the capacitive touch buttons are quicker and more responsive than my other cameras. Cobra should be commended for giving the SC220 a robust processor. In the end, if you are in the market for a full-featured dash cam, especially one like this geared clearly for ride share drivers, this should be on your list. It is quick, responsive, reliable, and easy to use. Most importantly, you have access to a bunch of advanced features and a community at no additional charge after purchase. I just wouldn’t rely too heavily on the Drive Smarter app for navigation, but it does everything else well. RECOMMENDED

The Cobra SC 220c is a dual camera dash cam system with a 1440p (QHD) front camera and 1080p (FHD) interior camera. Both cameras record at 30FPS and the camera has a 3” screen. The camera comes with a car adapter power cord, 16GB microSD card, adhesive mount, a spare adhesive strip, 3 electrostatic clear patches (like a screen protector material), USB C data cable, and a trim prying tool. I am no stranger to using a dash cam, which I have relied on twice for evidence in accidents. They bring an extra layer of security and can be invaluable in recounting your POV in an accident. Pros: Easy to install – I liked the included electrostatic patches Clear picture quality day and night – 1440p a good upgrade over 1080p GPS tracking and speed overlays on recorded footage Interior camera is a nice feature – would recommend for any rideshare Easy to setup and use Fit/Finish build quality is excellent Cons Navigation only driven by the app – not the most accurate Parking Mode needs full time power – no small onboard battery for events Screen not visible with polarized glasses Setup I installed the dash cam in my small crossover using one of the electrostatic patches for a placement aid. The camera mount uses VHB foam tape which is very strong and difficult to remove. The patch gives you a quick reset method if you want to move the camera at a later date. I have 2 ports available in my car – one that is always on inside my armrest and the other is below my radio/HVAC controls and is ignition triggered. I use the center armrest for phone charging, but I am sure the cord would reach. Routing the cable behind my dash was easy for me, since I have been involve with dozens of stereo installs over the years. Routing the cable along the door trim and up along the headliner was the easiest path. Due to the size of the camera I chose to mount it near my rearview mirror, but on the passenger side. I made sure the interior camera still had a good view of the cabin while providing a centered location for the main camera. Initial setup was straightforward. The 16GB microSD card was preinstalled, and it was ready to go without any need to format it first. Once the unit is powered you can go into the settings and select speed units, overlay options, volume settings, clip length and more. Connecting it to the companion app is accomplished via Bluetooth at first and then it switches over to a WiFi direct connection. Through the companion app you are able to jump straight into a navigation mode, and also select what sort of roadway alerts to pop up (speed trap, enforcement presence, etc.). Once you have the camera display going you can adjust the pitch of the lens by rotating it until you get an adequate view on screen. Features The 220c is at the entry level of Cobra’s dashcam+display lineup. However, this is still a fairly upmarket camera with a decent amount of features and capability. It has video overlays, GPS tracking for speed, phone connectivity (WiFi direct and Bluetooth) for transferring videos, a parked mode, turn-by-turn directions while navigating through the app, and radar/police alerts. The camera records in a continuous loop and overwrites old footage. Photos are not overwritten, and neither are locked or favorited clips. The 16GB card is not very large, so it will only hold a few hours of dual camera recordings. The device can support up to 512GB cards. The app works well for the most part. It connects without any issue and it allows me to go through any saved/locked files and review previous recordings. It takes about a minute to establish the connection and display the files, but then you are able to review it. Setting overlays is a nice feature to have – especially the speed readout (determined by GPS I think). This is all good information to have any on footage. The camera has a couple of quick interaction buttons on the device. The front of the unit below the screen carries 4 touch buttons that have corresponding icons on the screen. The far right brings you into the settings and the button to the left of that is image/clip gallery. To the left of that is the privacy settings button, which can be used to turn off audio recording and the interior camera. The button on the far left is used to lock the current recording and protect it from being overwritten. On the right side of the cam body is the action button where a single press creates a protected recording while a double press takes a picture (both interior and exterior cameras). The camera also has a couple of other features for vehicle monitoring and overall safety. The Mayday alert can be setup in the app, and it will notify your emergency contact in the event of an accident. You do have to have the app either open/running or give it permission to run in the background for this to work. There is also motion detection which can be used to monitor activities around your car while it’s parked. This can be used in conjunction with Parking mode, which will monitor for impacts/break-ins via the G-Force sensor and create a recording of the event. Both Parking mode and motion detection require the cam to have continuous power even when the car is off. So either a hardwire kit is needed or the car adapter must be plugged into an outlet that is not triggered by the ignition. Issues I did run into a few issues while using the camera. If you are connecting to the camera to see the gallery/live view make sure you aren’t doing anything else on the camera. It can cause everything to lock up, and my only fix was to unplug the camera’s power and plug it back in. Other issues within the app revolve around the navigation. It’s not a great map tool for accuracy – it was less accurate than Google Maps, and would sometimes freak out and think I was off the roadway. The audio directions from the app are also atrocious – it tells you to turn so many times that it badgers you with direction updates. The overspeed warnings are also enough to drive you crazy. There is a setting in the app where you can indicate the overspeed threshold, but it flat out does not work. Setting it to off does nothing as you still get overspeed warnings. If I use the app to navigate it has to be muted. Which brings me to my next issue and that is you cannot see the display if you are wearing polarized sunglasses. My prescription sunglasses are polarized and the screen brightness is cut down to the point of illegibility. Combine that with the incessant audio prompts (1 mph over the speed limit dings you with an “Overspeed” prompt), and it turns out to be a bad experience using the app to navigate. I really wanted to like it because it would be great to have the heads up navigation for my passenger or myself to read off. I can use it at night when I don’t need my sunglasses, but that’s pretty limiting. I would’t mind the screen being hard to read if the navigation app was better configured. Another issue is the permissions the app requests. It wants your location at all times and authorization to run in the background. It becomes a huge battery hog, and it’s not necessary unless you are using all of the features (parking mode, parking live view, push notifications). You also need the camera hardwired/full-time powered for these modes, and have a WiFi hotspot. I don’t have a WiFi hotspot, and while it can connect to my home WiFi in the garage I have no real need to monitor my car in my garage. Playback There are 3 different ways to review your footage: Straight from the camera, via the phone app, or on your computer. Viewing it on your computer can be accomplished with the included data cable – you will need to slide the camera off the mount and bring it to your computer. Otherwise you can pop the microSD card out and stick that into your computer. The computer is by far the best and fastest method to review your footage. Your computer will see the camera as a mass storage device, so there isn’t any additional software needed to view your footage. However, if you want to edit or trim any footage you will need to download video editing software that preserves the dash cams metadata. There are a number of free options out there, so just find one you like. Viewing on the camera itself is serviceable as is the app. I wouldn’t do it unless I had no other option. The camera viewing is clunky because the controls aren’t well suited for perusing a file library, and the camera is mounted in a position that is cumbersome to constantly interact with controls. Going through app isn’t too bad and it does organize your files by date, which is nice when you are trying to narrow down a recording. However, it is not a great way to check anything other than saved files unless you know the exact moment you are looking for. Overall, this camera works really well as a recording platform. The dual camera setup is great for capturing what’s ahead, and can give insight to the activities of the interior at the same time. The recorded video was clear enough both daytime and night, and the photos taken came out pretty good. The lack of a built-in battery is somewhat limiting if you don’t have an always-on power port. That means if you want to take advantage of the parking monitoring features you will need to spring for the hardwire kit option. The app itself works well and connects with ease, but the in-app navigation leaves a lot to be desired. I do like the camera so far, so I am happy with it.

I got this Cobra dash cam because I was familiar with the brand and liked its appearance. The package included various installation options, cable mounts, extra 3M tape, temporary static mounts to assist with installation, and a 16GB SD card. Installing it in my Toyota Sienna was straightforward, and the long cable provided plenty of extra length for tucking it away neatly. The dash cam powered up immediately. However, when I tried to pair it with the app for the first time, I faced an issue with a firmware update. It took a few attempts to successfully update the firmware, but after that, it worked well. The app, although useful, could benefit from some improvements, particularly in the area of the crowdsourced map. As a result, I've decided to simply use the dash cam to capture footage and extract the SD card when I need to view it. If you plan to use your phone as the hotspot, you'll need to enter the WiFi name and password manually. The app itself appears to be well-designed, but for someone seeking a simple dash cam, it may seem a bit bloated with unnecessary features. One thing to note is that the camera saves clips in one-minute increments, which can be a bit cumbersome when reviewing footage. I haven't found a setting to change this yet, if one even exists. The camera's image and contrast quality are excellent, and its operation is straightforward. While I would have preferred a touch screen, the four addressable buttons below the screen work just fine. Overall, the dash cam offers a lot of advanced features, such as GPS, WiFi, WDR, and its QHD video, making it a great value for the price. Its form factor is sleek and the included accessories are comprehensive and well-designed. In conclusion, I recommend this dash cam for most people due to its quality and features.

I have had a chance to use and play around with this in dash camera and it is very simple to use and very convenient. The build quality seems very sturdy and appears like it will last a long time. INSTALLATION The installation was very simple, basically pick a centered spot on the windshield and use the attached sticker to secure it to the glass. The next step is running the power cable, included cigarette lighter power adapter. I wanted a cleaner look and purchased an after market ODB power cable and ran it it thru the trim in order to get power at all times without the cable running to the cigarette power adapter. CLARITY The quality of the camera is decent, the exterior camera resolution is 1440p and the interior camera is 1080p, overall it is good enough to capture vehicle details while driving. The 3" screen is nice and big because it allows you to get the perfect placement for recording and it takes all the guesswork out of wondering if an incident was captured by the camera because the screen will let you know if it was in frame. APP The wireless productivity is where this device really shines. The ability to view clips on your phone wirelessly, the ability to get directions like a GPS with turn by turn directions without having to look down on your phone- it is displayed on the 3 inch screen. You will also get alerts via the app, radar alerts, speed traps or accidents but these are based on community members relaying info to the app. OVERALL The camera does not have alot of bells and whistles but it has all the basic needs and even better makes those basic needs/features easily accessible by using the APP. The only downside is that I wish it had a rear view camera included in the kit.

So I've had this dash cam set up on the windshield of my car for about a week now and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with this dash cam. It doesn't have the best image quality ( I was expected it to be a bit better since its advertised as QHD) but this dash cam comes packed with a bunch of features and is convenient and easy to use. So it's hard to knock on it too much. It has a camera that you can swivel 360 degrees, It's meant to be used as a rear / cabin facing camera. Would be great for some security for those of you who might be driving for a ride share service. I personally do not, and feel weird being recorded while I drive, so I turned the camera around to face outward and turned it off. Although I might find it convenient to use one day, I mostly keep that camera off, it's nice to be able to turn it off when I don't need it. The main camera only swivels up and down, about 45-90 degrees and faces outward. Like I mentioned earlier, image quality isn't the greatest, license plates were hard to read for me if the car is further away from me while driving. Cars about 2/3 cars lengths ahead of me are legible. One thing to mention is that the camera has a pretty wide angle, so "objects are closer than they appear" really comes into play with this camera. The dash cam is pretty smart and will stamp the time you were driving, the speed you were driving , and provides gps coordinates conveniently on your video. It comes with a 16gb micro sd card, which is plenty for a day's worth of driving. It is easily accessible and you can transfer video files directly from the card if you do not want to use the app to do so. The app will provide real time traffic and directions if you use the provided app for directions instead of other services. It is supposed to provide realtime feedback from Cobra radar detectors that are connected to their network. I did not get to experience this feature while making my daily commute, so I can't say how reliable that function is. Hopefully it'll come in handy on a road trip some day! All in All, I really like this dash cam. There are a lot of wild drivers in my city, so it provides some peace of mind for me knowing that If I happen to be in or witness an unfortunate accident one day, the dash cam will be able to provide a replay of what happened to emergency responders.

We installed this device on our second vehicle, and been using it the past few days becoming familiar with it. I’m writing this review based on the latest firmware available at the time, which is 1.18. Cobra is a well-known brand for car products so I was looking forward to this one as I’ve owned a variety of dash-cams over the years. The install was very straight forward and easy. We live in a very hot climate this time of year so I waited until dusk to mount the camera to avoid the extreme heat and started using it the following day. Just mount and plug it in and you’re good to start. Ideally you want to tuck the wiring away as much as you can, and they include some hardware to help with that which is nice. The camera is mounted with 3M tape which has held up reasonably well with the high heat levels we have. They also include some Electrocstatic film that you can use, but they didn’t really explain its purpose that I could find. Which leads me to my next topic… There are not really many instructions or material explaining options or proper installation. Wasn’t sure the correct mounting temperatures or how long it needed to be mounted for before starting to use. A lot of the menu is self-explanatory, but there are a few things that I have no clue what the issue is such as a warning triangle on some of the recorded videos. Aside from that, everything seems to work pretty seamless. Both cameras are heigh-adjustable so your mount doesn’t have to be perfect and the cameras can be moved if needed. The device has touch buttons right below the screen and is actually quite responsive along with navigating the menu. You can change settings on the device itself or phone connected through Bluetooth. Lots of options which are always a plus and the firmware was easy to upgrade through their app. I will say I’m very impressed with the picture quality of photos and videos from both of the cameras, including on the digital screen and when you actually view/download them on your phone. The sound quality is pretty good too if you have that enabled. You can also connect the device directly to a computer with a provided USB cable, so you really don’t even need a phone if you don’t have one available, but only phones with the appropriate logged-in account can access the device through Bluetooth. A proper security measure to make sure no one can log into your dashcam and delete/steal your data. I will say the one slow part about this is connecting to the media gallery through your phone. While connecting, it takes like a minute or so to start pulling media up, but once you are connected going through media is pretty fast, especially compared to other dash-cams I’ve used before. I also had a few times were there were issues connecting to the device or connecting to the gallery. I forced close the app, and tried again and it would usually work. So not a big deal, especially since I don’t plan on pulling media from it regularly, and I’m sure future firmware updates will make improvements. Overall, it’s a high quality dash-cam with great picture, better than some I’ve seen labeled as “4k”. Its easy to download the files to your phone. The setup is a simple plug and play, and the app is user friendly. There is additional work required for features such as parking mode, but those are optional. Oh and the 12v plug has a USB port on it so you can still use it to plug other things in which is a big bonus! The more I’ve used it the more comfortable I am with it and the more I like it. Attached is a sample video of the image quality.

I replaced my old dash cam with this dual vide cam and it’s been working great for me, the dash cam was very easy to install, I’m glad the this cam included static removal film, that way I didn’t glued the 3m sticky mount straight into my car windshield just in case I have to remove the dash cam. This Cobra dual dash cam has a clear view of the inside of my car as well as a clear view of the road ahead thanks to QHD 1440P video resolution, a full 1080P and the infrared night vision helps records videos inside and outside the vehicle day and night, this dash cam works well with Apple CarPlay and others vehicle Bluetooth connectivity and so far I haven’t had any issues connecting the dash cam with my vehicle Bluetooth connectivity, although I did encounter a few issues with the drive smarter app for the dash cam. The 3” screen display shows what happen inside and what’s ahead of your vehicle on a picture on picture screen, you can also turn the camera into private mode if you don’t want to record what’s happening inside the vehicle. The dash-cam have some nice features like Trip clips so you can create videos of your trips, use the 3” screen to view your GPS directions, notifications or red light cameras locations, speed traps, road hazards, over the speed limit and other notifications that you can set on the Drive smarter app. One thing that I believe that needs a little more work on is the Drive smarter app, it does have some features that helps set the dash-cam but for some reason it keep getting disconnected from the dash-cam, also while the dash-cam is connected to the app , it constantly shows notifications alerts that interfere with the camera recording and unless you close the app or turn off all notifications, it will continue to interrupt the recording, other than the app needs an upgrade , the dash-cam is a good buy. This dash-cam includes 16gb microSD.

I wanted to like this Dash Cam more than I did. But there are too many issues I’ve encountered with it to officially recommend it. Installation, in terms of installing the camera to your dash and routing the wire through the headliner paneling, was a breeze. I had it installed cleanly in my 2024 CRV within 10 minutes. Next, I downloaded the DriveSmarter app, and continued through the prompts. This is where things got a little off track. I was able to connect to the camera via Bluetooth to my iPhone 13 Pro Max, however, when it came to setting up WIFI - which is required in order to use the cloud features, I ran into problems. I was able to connect to WIFI, however the app was not able to connect immediately to Cobra’s servers and cloud services. I was only able to access these connections and features when disconnected from Apple CarPlay in my car… which seems a little strange and isn’t going to be intuitive for most drivers who use Wireless CarPlay. That means that in order to view my recorded videos from the app, I had to manually go into my car’s settings and disconnect my phone from my wireless Apple CarPlay, then reconnect my phone to CarPlay to continue using the other features of the camera. Then I encountered a similar problem when attempting to download the most recent firmware update: I couldn’t download the firmware or update the camera while connected to my vehicle’s CarPlay. So, in both cases (updating the firmware and wirelessly retrieving videos), one would think you may be able to dismount the camera from the dash mount and take the camera inside and power it up with another USB-C cable lying around to do both of these tasks. I gave this a try, and had no luck powering up the camera. Next, I thought I’d try pulling out the SD Card and viewing the files on my laptop. But of course, I was greeted with a message that said the SD Card’s contents were unreadable by my computer. I should have known because they briefly discussed their SD Card formatting process in the setup guide. Once finally disconnecting from CarPlay, establishing a full hotspot connection with the camera, and downloading the firmware update (all while sitting in my car while powered on), I was able to begin viewing my gallery… At least sort of. I experienced disconnections after less than a minute into scrolling my gallery each time, as well as every disconnecting every time I downloaded single clip. The process of trying to simply access my videos given that the Wireless setup and usability is frankly a mess on iOS proved to be much more difficult that I had anticipated, and I generally don’t have issues setting up these types of devices. This camera went on an entire trip to Vegas with me over the weekend, and trying to view my recordings from it is like doing gymnastics. As for the DriveSmarter CarPlay app, well that’s not great either. On my trip it routinely warned me of potential police or radars ahead that were not there when passing those locations. Additionally, at one point when I was driving about 75 mph the DriveSmarter app displayed my speed as 137 miles per hour. Because of that, I would not recommend using this app but rather stick with Google Maps or Waze. All in all, I don’t think this is the best option on the market. Yes, it does record at 1440p and includes both a dash and cabin camera, and the video quality is decent, but usability in the iOS ecosystem appears to be very flawed. I hope this is fixed in future software updates, but I wouldn't buy this camera in the hopes of upcoming features and support.

Introduction Cobra is a well known brand in the realm of radar/laser speed detectors. I honestly didn’t know that Cobra even made dashcams. Going in I have had a couple of other Cobra products in the past, and they have served me well, so I was optimistic going in. This will also be the fourth dashcam that I’ve installed into a vehicle, so I’m familiar with the basic set up and function. Minor win Pairing the dashcam to the app took less than 30 seconds. You have to create an account which is pretty annoying, but then again, you’re asked to create an account with virtually everything these days. The app allows you to change the settings faster than you would going through the dashcam itself. You can certainly do it through the dashcam itself, but I found it more convenient doing it through the app. Major win The Cobra SC220C has both a front facing and cabin facing camera. This is a great feature to show what the driver experiences during a collision. You can also have audio recorded. I turn it off due to it feeling weird having my audio recorded on the daily. Usage Out of the box you get the dashcam, a long DC to USB-C cable, a USB-A to USB-C cable, a wedge tool, some inserts, and three static sheets. After installing the dashcam and routing the cable through the passenger side panels, it was time to download the app. Once the app was paired, I set up the settings how I wanted. I added some of the features that didn’t work for me, so after a couple of frustrating moments in certain aspects of the app not working or needing extra hardware to make it work, it was time to give it a test via a quick drive around the block. The camera was set at 1440, and was pretty clear. I think that most cameras should be at 4K at minimum, but 1440 is definitely better than 1080. I think limiting the FPS to 30 was another miss. Most basic smartphones on the lower end still do 4K at 60 FPS. I don’t see why dashcams can’t fall into the same resolution. I was able to see a tag on another car that was about 10-15 ft away. Things got a little blurry or difficult to see on the screen the further the car was. It was easier to remove the micro SD card and uploading the video to a laptop. One of the more interesting features is the alert types. Seeing how Cobra is known for their radar/laser detectors, it uses a “community radar” which I’m guessing is similar to what people do on GPS when they “report” an accident. I don’t really see any feature that separates it from other dashcams. The dashcam is a bit on the larger side, which is great to see what’s happening, but it’s a bit distracting at first. Minor loss Some of the app features don’t work or are redundant compared to what a smartphone has already. For example, I tried using the gallery/live view, and no matter how many times I tried, it wouldn’t work. It doesn’t mention anywhere that the live view is a paid subscription feature, so my brain automatically thought this would/should work. Alas, it does not. The basic screen of the app is a GPS map. I don’t understand this. My phone already has two GPS maps. I don’t see what this map offers that my current ones do. Major loss I think this would have benefited greatly by a rear facing camera. In most cases, I think a rear facing camera is more useful than in a cabin facing camera. In most accidents, you would like to get as many points of view as possible. I am not a believer in the 3M tape that you use to attach the dashcam to the cabin side of the windshield. I prefer using suction cup mounts. I like the flexibility of taking it off if you need it for a rental, or to another family vehicle. Frankly, it’s quite annoying to get the tape off, and then you need to apply new 3M tape and repeat. I have yet to see a dashcam company that provides a suction cup mount out of the box. I think this needs to become a standard along with the 3M tape. Another issue I encountered was that I tried to turn on parking mode, but apparently I needed to purchase a hardwire kit. Was this a way for Cobra to make extra money? I thin this kit should have been included if the app is not hidden behind a subscription wall. Probably for I would say that this would be great for anybody doesn’t have a dashcam. These days, with rising insurance costs, it’s best to invest a little money into a dashcam to cover yourself in the event of an accident. Probably not for If you already have a dashcam from the last two years, then the Cobra SC220C doesn’t offer anything major that separates itself from the pack. All in all The Cobra SC220C is a mid level dash cam with a fairly good app, but the resolution is something you might have seen on a dashcam 3-4 years ago. I’m glad that there’s no silly subscription for “extra” features. Having a feature not work outright, and another feature requiring a hardware kit does sour my experience. I think this a quality issue, and a marketing miss that could have made this a better dashcam. I would recommend it despite some of the hiccups.

PRODUCT REVIEWED COBRA - SC 220C QHD DUAL-VIEW FRONT & CABIN DASH CAM QUICK REVIEW Excellent (premium quality) dashcam with extra (basic) features which you may not need, but nice to have anyway. REVIEW I was not aware that Cobra made dashcams, but after having a bad experience with a different brand premium dashcam from a UK mfg (without USA support or parts), I was glad to see a more familiar name in the dashcam business with US based products and US based support. I have had several Cobra products over the past few decades and never had an issue with any of them. You can read the full specs and features for yourself, so I won’t repeat them here. Primarily, you get a rock solid dashcam with some basic mobile phone enabled extras like turn-by-turn navigation and “community” sourced alerts from fellow mobile app users. While the SC 220C is not the top of the line from COBRA it checks most of the same boxes, except for 4K recording, and a rear-view camera vs interior view camera included with the SC 220C. I can live with the 4K vs QHD tradeoff for the compact all in one form factor. Otherwise, it is a very premium build. SETUP Finally! A company that has a simple set up that actually works the first time without any fussing (I use Android). Answer 3(?) questions on the screen, scan the QR code to download the app, and you are ready to go. The app quickly found and paired with the Dashcam. THANKYOU COBRA OPERATION What I want from a dashcam is to set it up, and the forget about it, just knowing that it is doing its job. The SC 220C does exactly this. When I turn on the car, it fires up, and I see the recording icon working. I setup the screensaver to turn on after 1 min and to show the time and speed instead of the video. I have a bit of a lead foot, so I set up MPH alerts for 10MPH over the speed limit. NOTE: The SC 220C is not touch screen, which took some getting used to. Instead, there are navigation buttons below the screen (eg left right enter), like you find on many computer monitors. While I miss a touch screen, once it is setup, I’ll probably never need it again. I can easily connect to the device from my phone to download and view recordings to make sure everything is working as needed. INSTALLATION There is a well thought out pass through 12v (cig lighter) adapter which powers the Dashcam and gives you an extra port for your phone. There is tape to attach the webcam to the windshield. While I would have appreciated a suction cup, honestly, suction cups always come loose eventually fall into your lap, which is a huge hazard while driving. You can also use the Dashcam as sort of a security device by hardwiring it into your auto with an optionally purchased cable. A cable tucking tool is included if you want to hide the extra-long cable. PERFORMANCE The SC 220C seems very responsive. I am only using the dashcam and not all the other features. I already have a top-notch Navigation System built into my car. I played a little with the other features but, in the end, I turned them off as being redundant to what I already have. For example, if you have no navigation then basic turn by turn navigation is better than nothing. However, if you have a mobile phone, then you probably already have a superior navigation system built into your phone. WHAT I LIKE • Everything needed is included for most users • Pass though Power / Charging Cable • Solid Build Quality / Looks and Feel • US Based support WHAT I WISH FOR (at this price point) • A Larger Memory Card (Only 16GB in 2024? Should be at least 64GB) • Suction Cup Mounting Option Included in Box • Built in Rear Window Camera (instead of Cabin Camera) • 4K Main Camera WHAT I DON’T LIKE • There is nothing that I don’t like or that does not work. RECOMMENDATION I would recommend the SC 220C for a premium build dashcam. If you want rear window view instead of cabin view, or 4K, then you need to look at COBRA’s higher models.

This review is for the cobra model number SC220C, With front facing camera and interior camera. What I like about this the most is that it comes with everything you need to do an install. The only thing this doesn't come with is the hardware kit which enables you to record in parking mode. That provides a hardware connection to the vehicle's battery it will be deport which powers it while the vehicle is off. I think the vehicle charger cord that comes with is long enough to handle the distance from your windshield ton your cigarette lighter in just about any car. You might have issues if your cigarette lighter is in your middle armrest console. I've had cars like that in the past. This also comes with a USB C data cable, a micro SD card, six wire clips for finishing the install when running the wires under the dash, cable routing tool, and three (3M) clear electrostatic film pads . The micro SD card is already formatted and installed. The cable routing tool helps you remove trim pieces and push the wire into crevices. I used to install car stereos when I was younger so this was a breeze. Just the fact that I didn't have to go to another store to buy wire or something else for the install was great. I recommend using the electrostatic film for placement reasons. They allow you to get the install really neat and tidy. They also help when you're trying to place your camera for the best picture possible with the most coverage. Once you've installed the wire and plugged into the cigarette lighter, plug the wire into the device. The setup is really easy, you will however have to set up an account with the drive smarter app. The drive smarter app is where you can get 360 alerts, shared radar detector alerts, red light and speed Cam locations as well as navigation. The camera comes with a 12 month subscription. I like the fact that you can turn off the interior camera if you don't want to be recorded, or for privacy reasons. The camera quality is incredible, and it works on a loop basis. It takes one minute videos constantly, and deletes older videos as more become available. In order to review your clips , save them , download them to your phone, or save them to the cloud you must be in the car with the vehicle po Basically it's common sense, the camera has to be powered on, so either you're sitting in the car or you take the SD card out and view everything on your computer. This would be where the hardware kit from cobra.com would come in handy. That way you could edit review and save videos from the comfort of indoors on your phone. Saving the videos to my phone seems to be the best way for me. The camera takes one minute videos, stops, and continues to record one minute videos for your entire trip. You can save them to the cloud, however each video is approximately 100 megabytes and this takes quite a long time. I love to listen to music from my phone in my car, which brings me to my one hang up with this camera. I have to turn off apple CarPlay in order to stay on the drive smarter app and or view videos. Since this camera isn't really for anything other than insurance purposes, I'll get over that small hang up. I hope I never have to use the videos for the authorities, but it will be great to have in case something bad happens. Videos and pictures speak 1000 words. All in all this is a really great product, with great picture clarity, great sound quality, and I think cars should come equipped with cameras like this. If you've been looking for a dashcam, you can't go wrong with this. Nice job cobra on the outstanding dash Cam.

This is an amazing dashcam, and I think this is the one you want, specially if you Uber or Taxi. They include a front cam, an interior cam (both cams are on the same device that seats on your front windshield), and 32 GB Micro SD card, cables, additional heavy duty double sided tape (in case you need to unmount the camera and re-mount it again), plastic strips with double sided tape to route your cables if you need them and plastic pudgy to make it easy to move your car trimmings to hide the cables. Instructions were clear, but I have installed dash cams before so it was really easy. First I cleaned well the glass so the double sided tape attaches well (this is a little con, I wish they included other mounting options, like suckers i.e. but they only include double sided tapes), then I attached the front cam smack duck in the middle of my front windshield. From there I used the plastic pudgie they include to pull a bit on my car's trimmings so I could start routing the power cable. How easy this would be depends on your car... Mine was pretty easy. Then I started the power (my car only delivers power to the cigarette lighter if the car is on/Accessories power), you may want to see if your card does this or keeps power even when off (you don't want to run out your battery). They also sell an accessory on their website (not included) to wire the cam directly to a fuse or the OBD port for permanent power (this device has a sensor that if your battery goes lower than 11v it will cut power, so it wont run your battery out). If you use this extra accessory, you can also have parking detection (if someone bumps, hits or breaks onto your car the camera will sense this and record when parked). Once the cam was on, it told me to format the SD card and I went onto configuring it. This is where I found a little con, the screen is nice, however its not a touch screen, it has 4 capacitive buttons on a horizontal row and this is how you navigate the menus... not very intuitive and I wish the screen was just touch. I love that if you also connect it to their "Drive smarter" app, the cam can also give you alerts (like cop traps, radar traps etc that other people report to the app, you can report to and/or confirm if you see a speed trap or cops on your road, helping other people), the also can give you navigation and trip alerts. This camera in particular records the front of your car and also the interior of your car (if you position it well, the interior camera will be able to also see the back through your back glass). This is a great camera, specially if you Uber or Taxi, as it also records the interior, you will have proof of any unruly passengers... The video quality is very good, I was able to distinguish license plates from other cars on the road and the quality at night is good too. Sound was good to. The camera will record clips on a loop and if it detects a collision it will lock that clip for you to have it as proof of the accident. It will also record the interior of your car and sounds too. I highly recommend it, specially these days with so many irresponsible people without insurance out there and and so many people trying to pull off insurance scams etc, and also all the horror stories you hear from people that use their cars for work like Uber or Taxi, you will have proof of anything that happens while you are driving!!!

Installation was quick and straightforward, and the device itself is compact, so it doesn’t block my view while driving. I also like that it automatically starts recording when I turn on the car — no need to worry about forgetting to activate it. The loop recording works perfectly, and the G-sensor feature gives extra peace of mind since it locks important footage in case of sudden movements or accidents. The app connection (if applicable) is also smooth and makes it easy to review and download videos directly to my phone. Overall, this is a great value for the price. Reliable, easy to use, and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a solid dash cam.