Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Cobra SDC 400 Dash Cam is a very workable, helpful device after the end user understands the functions and limitations. One of the ports (the rear camera port) failed on the first unit I purchased. It just suddenly stopped working. So customer support from Cobra suggested that I attempt to plug in the cable from the rear camera into the inside (cabin) camera port, and — voila! — I could see images from the rear camera. So, nothing wrong with the camera; instead, the dash cam unit itself had become defective. So, I chi it acted Best Buy, the the tech people were very helpful. I had to purchase a second Cobra dash cam, but I was able to return the original defective unit and received a refund. The rrr ET placement has been working well, but an amber horizontal line is at the bottom of the display screen. I’ve contacted cobra customer support, and I sent photo of the unit, but no response yet. Beware that while the Best Buy tech folks did a great job installing the unit, they hardwired the unit into the fuse panel. The way it was wired makes it necessary for the engine to be running constantly in order for the dash com to be on. If I let my AutoStop feature be enabled on my engine (fuel consumption feature to increase mileage), when the engine stops running, the dash cam shuts off. So, now I manually disable the AutoStop feature so the engine is always running, and, therefore, the dash cam is always on while I’m driving. The downloads to my laptop computer are very good, with good audio, excellent video resolution, and location data, tine/date stamp, and mph. I download every few weeks, and more often if I want to save an incident. Downside is that I would need to order an extra power source if I want the dash cam to remain on while my SUV is parked. Although Alexa compatible, you don’t need Akexa to issue voice commands to the unit. I say, “Screen off,” and the screen goes off while still recording. I say, “Take photo,” and it permanently saves photos from front, rear, and cabin cameras. (I do this when I have concerns that the driver behind me is playing with his/her phone abs nay accidentally rear-end my vehicle.) So, overall not perfect, but once you get used to its features and limitations, it’s a good, solid, 3-camera dash system. (BTW, it comes with front and rear cameras, but I had to purchase the cabin camera separately. It just plugs right in, and the dash cam records all 3 cameras simultaneously.)

I really loved this camera. We've been in the market for a while for a dash cam since we have young kids and do a lot of driving. We feel so much safer now knowing we have the cobra. It was so easy to use and install and I am usually not good at installing things. The picture quality is fantastic and it's so convenient to be able to see the images on your phone.

Excellent product, easy setup! As a mom of 3, I am always taking steps to ensure the safety and well-being of my family. To that end, I've been looking for a Dash Cam for several months now and decided on this one by Cobra. Set up was super easy and the video quality is great. The hardest part was figuring out what to do with the wires but I ended up tucking them into the nooks and crannies of the minivan and voila! Love the voice controls -- looking forward to exploring all the additional features. Happy with this product and the peace of mind it provides!

Just installed the Cobra- SC400D dual-view smart dash cam. Install was super easy even for those of us who are technologically challenged. It is Alexa enabled and responds to basic voice commands so you can be safe and focus on your driving. Features continuous loop recording and deletes your oldest videos to make space for new recordings. You can easily save your video clips in your favorites by using the "Lock Video" voice command. This particular model includes a rear view accessory camera so you are covered both front and back in case of an accident or emergency. Front camera is definitely 4K HD quality video. So not only are you protected in case of an accident but you are able to record beautiful landscape images on those family road trips. Highly recommend!

I have bought 2 of these cameras for both of my cars. They work great and are easy to install. My only heads up info. to share is if your car has a humidity issue that traps moisture inside, resolve that problem before you install the camera! Prolonged humidity will ruin the camera, I found this out the hard way...but,I still replaced it with a new one of the same model.

I had an old dash cam in my car and decided to upgrade. Didn’t realize how much better this camera would be. It’s easy to install with quick startup instructions. Picture quality is much better than my old camera. You don’t know how much better a dash cam can be until you invest in a Cobra. Highly recommend

Amazing camera with 4k, gps, Alexa and all your adjustments to your liking…. I bought two of them and if the come out with one for motorcycles I’ll buy that one too

Geek Squad hardwired this but it's face the passengers seat, not me. I asked if it could be fixed... the answer was NO! So, I cannot adjust settings without moving to the passenger seat! And it leans to the right. This isn't a pleasant experience. I tried to get that pic but the glare was a problem.

Recently my family was rear ended by a young kid who fell asleep behind the wheel of his parents minivan. Thankfully he admitted fault and nobody was gravely injured, but as I spent weeks waiting for the insurance company to pay for repairs - I realized that it would be wise to install a dash cam in my wife’s SUV. Because we were rear ended, I wanted to make sure that video would be recorded of both the front and rear of her car. Thankfully, Cobra has done a nice job at providing everything that is required for simple and easy recording of both the front and back of the vehicle. Upon opening the box, the main unit seemed rather large. I felt as though I was mounting a full sized point-and-shoot digital camera (which I suppose it is). But, after comparing the unit with the Nextbase 522GW dash cam that has been in my car for over a year - the size is actually comparable. ***See included pictures for a size comparison*** One negative is the mount which is difficult to position as it is only able to pivot up & down. Mounting Tape is used instead of a suction cup - which is a much more permanent fixture. It’s nice that the dash cam never falls down, but initial installation will never be perfect as you have to just press on the tape and hope for the best. The box does come with 1 extra piece of mounting tape for both the front and rear cameras, but the tape is not easy to remove. I would strongly suggest that they update the mount to one that can pivot left / right/ up / down on a ball joint. The 3 inch screen is nice, but is not big enough to truly see both the rear camera & front camera simultaneously. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate - and every setting I want was quickly accessible. Thankfully, you are able to turn off the COBRA watermark and choose what information is displayed on the screen. My wife and I find the screen rather distracting at night time, so we appreciate that the screen can be programmed to dim after 60 seconds. The cords that come included have plenty of length even for full sized trucks and SUVs. I was able to install the cords along the trim of our Nissan Armada without any additional tools. Thankfully, the power plug has a USB-A port so we are still able to plug in the charging cable for my wife’s phone. The Drive Smarter Mobile App leaves A LOT to be desired, but as this dash cam is in my wife’s car, she has no desire to mess with any of the app functionality. Luckily we can just set it and forget it. Having Alexa in the car is surprisingly convenient, but in the short time I have used the dash cam - Alexa isn’t very reliable. I imagine that Alexa would be much more effective if the Mobile App is manually opened every time that we get into the car. The main unit does a good job of recognizing a set of core vocal commands, but I don’t like the word choice required for some features. For example, instead of being able to say, “Take a picture”, the user is required to say “Take photo.” The command is simple enough, but when an emergency arises the word I will blurt out is “picture” not “photo”. And, unlike other units, you cannot simply tap on the screen to save a picture. You have to tap on the screen to wake up the unit, then select the photo button. The 4k resolution is only 30 frames per second, but with such a high resolution you are able to grab crystal clear screenshots by simply pausing the video at any point. 4K Resolution is a much larger file size, so it is something to keep in mind as you select how long each video is before a new video begins. I also don’t believe that the rear camera is 4K - although the manufacturer’s website does not seem to specify the resolution. Note: The package does not come with a camera that records the interior of the car. A 3rd camera can be purchased for this purpose, but I do not suggest recording the inside of your car. Apparently insurance companies are rather quick to add partial blame to any driver who appears to be distracted in ANY way. If you are using the radio, talking to the passenger, interacting with kids in the back seat, happen to be holding your phone, etc - the insurance company will attempt to put you at fault. Overall, we are both satisfied with the cameras and the features that are offered. The mobile app may not be perfect, but it offers a great deal of safety features that many will find useful. And for those who want more simplicity, the camera records in a loop and saves video files separately for the front & rear camera. Files are clearly labeled and easy to access. I would happily recommend this Cobra dash cam to anyone who is comfortable with a permanent Dash Cam Installation. If you travel, or change cars often - you will want to choose an option with a suction cup mount.

The best camera to capture anything front and back with audio included. Crisp images and audio! You would definitely NOT be disappointed!

Good investment! Still learning how to use. Better

The front and back camera are great. The day after installing we witnessed a crash behind us and this saved the victim as the other driver was trying to lie their way out.

Easy to install and use. Although the holder for the camera is on the side and after 1 week the camera started to slant due to uneven weight. I was surprised no one else mentioned this in the reviews.

Stopped working after 2 years. The app sucks and is slow. Takes time to link camera to phone.

Works great except the cord for the back camera isn’t working! Going to get that figured out with total tech though!

Bought this camera 3.5 months ago, a week ago I got a message to update the firmware (V 1.30) and now I have a pixelated screen. I highly suggest for you not to but this dash camera. Manufacturer isn’t of any help either, good luck.

The Cobra SC 400D comes with most everything you would need for video protection of your vehicle and drive. The front camera has a 140 degree wide angle polarized lenses, and the rear camera has a 120 degree lens. Both are very good in low light settings, and have excellent clarity and color. I have had minimal difficulty reading license plates or street signs in the videos or snapshots, with items under 30ft from the vehicle. Words might still be readable at greater distances, but that depends on motion blurring and lighting. The clarity is much better than the HD dash cam I had previously installed. Unlike a lot of other dash cams this camera has the ability to simultaneously record up to 3 cameras. With the optional interior camera, you can record everything inside and out of your vehicle, giving you complete coverage. The optional interior camera(FV-CV1) comes with infrared night vision, and simply plugs directly into the side of the SC 400D. The rear view camera that comes with the SC 400D is an internal camera, it is not waterproof and comes with a sticker mount. It is to be installed very similarly to the front camera. There is an optional external camera that can be ordered for external mounting, the FV-EV1. The external camera is waterproof and comes with a screw mountable bracket.  The SC 400D has built-in Alexa capabilities. It is very easy to set up, simply add the new "skill" in the Alexa app on your phone, and it's good to go. Just a word of caution, there is a mute button on the bottom of the Dash Cam, when the mute button is pressed there is a red line that stretches across the screen of the display. None of the Alexa features will work while the mic is muted. When the mic is unmuted you can access all the typical Alexa features. If Alexa is not connected from the camera to a supporting phone, then a yellow line will appear. When Alexa is connected, it can be accessed by speaking "Alexa" or hitting the on screen button for Alexa. The 3" touchscreen has on screen buttons for record /stop recording, snapshot, audio recording on/off, lock video/ emergency recording, and Alexa. The Camera has an optional, but necessary voice command feature. The voice command "screen off" is actually the only way to completely turn the camera's display off. The SC 400D has a screensaver feature built in, that can switch the live stream off and show a darkened screen with the current mph and info, but it will not turn the display 100% off while driving. I tried pressing the power button at different lengths to simply turn the screen off, but it only resulted in powering off the device. I spoke with Cobra's tech support and they were unable to offer any solutions for turning the display off while driving. During the day the always on display is not an issue, but at night I do not like the constant distraction of light coming from my windshield. Luckily I was able to find the answer in the voice command features. I am hoping Cobra will offer an automatic screen off feature to the screen saver options, as an update some day. At least for now I can just tell the camera to turn the screen off.  The voice commands are actually extremely helpful while driving to activate some key features like snapshots, and locking important videos. These are currently the available voice commands; "screen on/off", "rear video on", "front video on", "record video", "lock video", and "take photo". Using the voice commands is a lot easier while driving than trying to touch the screen or camera in the right spot to activate a feature. The SC 400D does come with several alert and emergency features. The most impressive feature is the "Mayday" feature. This feature automatically contacts a designated person of your choosing, with an  emergency notification, alerting them of your emergency and location. The Mayday feature can be manually activated or automatically triggered by sensing a 5g impact. With the Drive Smarter Services you can choose to have incident reports automatically uploaded to the cloud or sent to your insurance company. The "Real Time Driver Alerts" is another feature that works through the Drive Smarter app and the connected community, here you can get live audible or visual alerts for; red light cameras, police, caution areas, speed cameras, and speed traps. Just as a note, the emergency record feature will automatically grab the adjacent video , either before or after the selected video if the the button or action was initiated too closely to the beginning or end of the selected video.  As another note, the parking mode will only work if the camera can have a constant source or power, most auxiliary power ports in cars automatically turn off after a few minutes of the keys being removed, so you might need to install an another auxiliary port that has constant power or get a direct wire accessory kit from Cobra's website. Watermarks can also be displayed on all videos, if selected, with the following information; GPS coordinates, speed, date, time, and driver ID stamp.All videos are recorded at 30fps with the available resolutions (4k)3840 x 2160,  (QHD)2560 x 1440 , and (FHD)1920 x 1080p.The recorded videos have excellent definition and color clarity even in the evening. Some definition is lost in extremely low light situations, but the videos still look good and should be able to be used for any situation. With the polarized lens and manual contrast adjustments you can have a clear and clean looking video in any bright lighting situation, but to be honest I did not need to adjust anything in the settings to get a clear video with the polarized lens in the morning while the sun was rising and still at a low angle. I personally was virtually blinded, but looking at the video, the solar flare and extremely bright sun were very well controlled and the video looked great considering the sun was shining in my path. The main camera has a 140degree wide angle to capture more of your field of view. 140 to 149 degrees are actually the preferred angles for these types of cameras because it gives you increased field of view, without overly distorting the definition in the video. Typically with wide angle lens a warping effect can be seen in the corners and edges of the image, but most good cameras come with distortion correction built into the device and videos. The clarity and definition even in the corners of the videos is excellent with the Cobra Dash Cam. I was also recently caught in a snow storm that was virtually a white out, everyone was driving 10mph or less due to the conditions and visibility at night. There was so much snow coming down that it was extremely difficult to see, however the SC400D was able to record a near normal looking video without the overexposed snow flakes blocking out it's vision. Videos and snapshots can be viewed directly from the camera, or through the Driver Smarter app, available on Android and iOS. The Drive Smarter app adds a lot of extra functionality and options, so definitely install it. When you first launch the app it will automatically try to set up the connection between your phone and dash cam. You can access all of the camera's settings directly through the app, and activate all the extra alert and notification features, mentioned above.When the app is open, while driving, you will get a GPS map of your current location and some surroundings, the map follows your location with an icon on the screen, representing your vehicle, just like a regular GPS display.The second tab will simply display your speed, and direction, but also has additional tabs on this screen to show "threats", "notifications", and "incidents". The threats are the alerts put out by the community about speed traps, accidents in the road, cops or street cameras.  The app typically connects your phone and dash cam via Bluetooth, but will automatically switch to a WIFI connection  when viewing or downloading recorded videos and images. You can also view a live stream feed directly from the camera over the WIFI connection. The WIFI is done all through the app by itself, there is no need to open your settings and search for a connection and enter a password and such. You might however, get prompted by your phone to allow the connection to the dash cam, so keep an eye out for that, otherwise you wont be able to view anything. The dash cam comes with a 64gb microSD card which I filled with approximately 260 2-minute videos, equaling out to be about 520-minutes of HD recording. If you would like to fit more recordings you can either reduce the video resolution or buy another microSD card. The max size allowed for use is 256gb. There are a lot of different grade microSD cards out there, make sure you get one with high data transfer speeds, so that your dash cam will continue to be quick at its features. Slower cards can bog down high data devices. Currently, some of the top speed cards are performing at 100 megabyte per second (MB/s) read and 90MB/s write. The included card was a SDXC, V30, UHS class 3. Which should put that card in the 30MB/s write speed class. I would still recommend getting a faster speed card for the improved performance. I have been extremely impressed with the video quality from the SC400D, it has managed to record great videos in all kinds of situations. The features are great and I am constantly getting alerts about speed traps, and caution areas up ahead. The Alexa feature works great too, and now that Alexa has a driving mode they have included hands free calling, so even if your vehicle doesn't offer it, you can still get it through Alexa. The dash cam voice commands are also a welcome addition to dash cams, I can't tell you how many times I used to fumble around trying to press a button on my old dash cam, just to take a snapshot, or lock a video while I was driving. Overall this dashcam is great, I am very pleased with it's performance.

Thing is junk screen flashes the app is slow whole set up is just Trash will be returning. Always been told cobra was the best but I guess not. It literally stays in the window 24/7 and the screen is glitching and picture quality is from the 1800s

--- SETUP --- The setup of the camera can be quick or lengthy, depending on how you want to take care of your wires. The camera comes with a cigarette lighter charger with the cable protruding from it and a USB to allow you to connect your phone or other USB powered device. The rear view camera is a separate camera that can optionally be installed and that connects directly to the front camera. --- FEATURES --- 4K recording, front and rear facing camera, 64 gig micro-SD card included, GPS, Alexa compatible, internal WiFi, touchscreen, and wireless transfer of videos or pictures to your phone. --- EXPECTATIONS and PERFORMANCE --- I’ve had a total of 4 dash cams and this one is by far the most superior. For starters, it includes everything you need to be up and running in no time. More specifically, you don’t need to buy a separate micro SD card, as a 64g one is included. By connecting the Drive Smarter app, you can be guided for the installation. I did all the steps up until I had the option to connect it to Alexa. I tried about 5 times and even though the Alexa app would recognize it, when trying to pair up, it failed every single time, so I wasn’t able to test the Alexa functionality. Regardless, I was able to use it without it. The Drive Smarter app leaves a lot to be desired. I have Norton mobile protection on my phone. Upon trying to use the app, I kept getting constant warnings that the websites the Drive Smarter app was using were unsafe and Norton insisted on me leaving that app quickly. As a result, I didn’t use the app’s GPS functionality. Even when I turned off my Norton protection, I didn’t like that I couldn’t use the Drive Smarter GPS map in landscape mode. It only allowed me to view the map while the phone was vertical. Ultimately, I used waze for navigation but I allowed the camera to record everything. I installed the rear camera to face the back of my vehicle. I can now clearly see how close a car gets to me and gives me a more clear idea of what’s behind me vs. my own vehicle's rear view camera that activates when I put it in reverse. I wish there was a way to only show the rear view camera with just a push of your finger, but that wasn’t possible. One thing that I appreciate from both cameras is that they are installed with an ultra sticky pad vs. a suction cup. My previous dash cams have all used suction cups and they will eventually fall off with heat. These sticky pads have strong adhesive. Hence, it makes them more stable and will stay on your windshield until you remove them. That being said, you are committing to the location that you install it on, but you have an additional adhesive pad per camera included. Lastly, you can transfer files to your phone by using the Drive Smarter app. It will connect wirelessly to the camera and you can see what’s been recorded and save the file to your phone. Three times, though, the app did freeze on me and I couldn’t get the camera to go back to recording mode without having to turn it off and on. The camera itself is great, but most of the bugs I encountered stemmed from using the app in some sort of way. I am glad that the app is optional and not essential to the experience. --- APPROVAL --- With 4K resolution it’s much easier to record and read license plates in vehicles even at night. If you want a quality dash cam, this is the way to go.

Great dash cam, easy to use and install. Comes well packaged and its very compact. They also include a large cable to mount the rear camera. Quality on both is great, it records on 4k 30 fps. Install was easy for me, I have installed another dash cam on another car, just needed a plastic wedge to pry open some of the weather proofing in my car to route the rear camera cable hidden from view. If you don’t have experience, I would recommend looking out for some local car radio installers, they can install it for you for a good price. The camera itself comes with GPS attachment, which in turn is the part that fixes up to your windshield (they include double sided industrial grade tape and an extra one for both the cameras). This is one of my cons, while fixing it to the glass this way is sturdy enough, is kind of semi-permanent. I wish they included suction cups style ones, and I haven’t seen any of those accessories in their website, I hope they come up with some. The cameras are powered via a cigarette lighter plug (if you get the permanent hardwire kit, you can also use other features of the camera, like parking mode, hit detection while parked etc., since they need constant power). Once you plug everything and power on the camera, it takes you thru a setup, and one point it will tell you enable the “smart features” you need to download their Drive smarter app on your phone (you can skip this step, however I highly recommend it as it offers many great features). Once you download the app and launch it, you register it with your info and then it connects your phone to the camera (the camera basically creates a Wi-Fi access point, to which your phone connects). From there, the first thing it told me is that there was a firmware update for the camera, which I did. Once finished and a reboot later, it connected again and I was able to setup many other things, like Amazon Alexa integration. You can change tons of camera settings from your phone (you can change them in the camera itself using its touchscreen, but I found that doing so on the phone was easier). The video is quality is great and audio too. In low light conditions it records with great quality too. I was surprised the camera has lane shift assist, near collision detection too. Although I would not trust much on these, as the camera is mounted inside your car (generally, new cars with these driver assists have their cameras or sensors outside). You can also view your videos and photos taken by the camera via the app, no need to remove the SD card and connect it to a computer. Great feature. Lastly, it includes a GPS, so it can record your location, speed etc. I highly recommend this camera, especially these days, with some many people trying to pull insurance scams and many people without insurance, you will have proof for anything on the road