Dashcams come in all shapes and sizes in 2022, and that’s certainly true of the Vantrue M2 dual dash cam system. While other dashcams are designed to be just that, the Vantrue M2 comes in the guise of a rear-view mirror for something that’s not only harder to spot than a standard camera, but it comes with a few tricks up its sleeve that make it worth the premium price tag.

Are you ready to ditch your rear-view mirror for a smart one?

Design and setup

The Vantrue M2 is designed to replace your rear-view mirror, clipping into place on your existing rear-view mirror and displaying the live feed from the rear camera – a 21st-century spin on the rear-view mirror, if you will. Though it sounds intimidating, it takes no more than 10 seconds to secure the rear-view mirror into place using grippy rubber straps.

The touch-screen rear-view mirror measures in at 12 inches, making it bigger than standard rear-view mirrors – it was the case with my 2016 Vauxhall Corsa, anyway – although it’s not big enough that it obscured my vision when driving.

It’s mirrored as you’d expect from a rearview mirror, but it’s dimmer than a standard mirror when the display isn’t in use – possibly due to overdoing the anti-glare tech designed to minimise reflections. It’ll do the part in most lighting situations, but it’s not the perfect replacement.

The width of the rear-view mirror is, in part, down to the 1440p 148-degree front-facing camera on the rear. It sits comfortably next to my built-in rearview with no obstructions, and the angle can be adjusted, although the range of motion is fairly limited. Still, as long as it’s perpendicular to the road, you’ll have no issues.  

The mirror dash cam plugs into a lighter plug as most others do, but Vantrue insists that you use the supplied cable and charger and not one that you might’ve been using with another dash cam, so look forward to cable management as you install the unit.

There’s also a GPS receiver that plugs into the head unit to provide GPS and speedometer readings in recordings, which sits on your dash.

The Vantrue M2 can serve simply as a front-facing camera using the built-in camera, but it works best when paired with the 1080p rear-facing camera. The small rear camera connects via USB in the same way as a standard rear-view cam and can be affixed to the interior of the car using an M3 adhesive strip, but it functions best when it’s installed on the exterior of the car.

There’s also an optional – but highly recommended – step that requires you to wire the rear camera into the reverse light of your car to automatically activate the rear camera on-screen and add reverse parking guidelines, but more on that in a bit. It’s a little too involved for most novices, but a local garage will install it (and tidy your cables!) for around £70.

Features

Once you’ve got the Vantrue M2 hooked up and it’s powered on, you should see your camera feed along with key information like time and speed, visible in the top-right of the display.

The 12in anti-glare IPS display is bright in use, utilising the rear-view camera to provide a rear-facing view unobstructed by the interior of the car. The 140-degree ultra-wide-angle of the rear camera works well in this regard, helping to stay aware of cyclists and bikers in my rear blind spot as I’m driving.

You can swipe the display to move the view up or down depending on your preference – although never do this while in control of a moving car, of course. You’ve also got the option to automatically turn the display off after a few minutes, and you can turn it off manually via a button on the underside of the mirror if it becomes distracting.

Via a series of swipes and taps on the display, you can switch the default rearview, opting instead for a view of what the front-facing camera is capturing (perfect for getting the angle right during setup) or displaying both side-by-side.

There can be a bit of lag when browsing the various menus and functions of the app, and scrolling will cause a stutter, but it’s not something you’ll find yourself doing too often – once it’s set up to your liking, you’ll rarely need to interact with it. I just wish it was a bit easier to navigate, with settings hidden away in obscure menus that should be easier to access.

It’s when you connect the rear-facing camera to the rear reverse light that the Vantrue M2 truly shines. If you go the extra step, you’ll find that the mirror automatically switches to the rear-view camera when you put the car in reverse. What’s more, it’ll automatically adjust the angle of the view to see more of the kerb behind you, and it’ll overlay parking guidelines to help guide you into place.

The guidelines are a great addition that can really help gauge spaces while reversing, but I wish the setup was more intuitive. As with other reverse cameras, the software doesn’t know the dimensions of your car and displays a generic grid on-screen to give you a rough idea of distance. It’s down to you to finetune the shape and size to match your car.

Though it’s a bit of a pain, it is doable – I just wish that the UI better explained the host of buttons used to adjust it, or better yet, let me adjust the box using drag-and-drop like with some high-end alternatives.

Reverse parking camera functionality aside, the Vantrue M2 has many of the features you’d expect from a dash cam including G-sensors that’ll automatically save footage in the case of an accident, a built-in microphone and a parking mode.

The only big omission is a companion app for smartphones; the Vantrue M2 doesn’t have is a mobile app to make it easier to view and export footage. Though it’s viewable on the mirror itself, you’ll have to eject the microSD card and plug it into a PC or Mac to share the footage.

There is a Vantrue app for PC and Mac that’s a little basic in design, but you can browse through recent captures along with telemetry data like GPS coordinates and speed – ideal for insurance claims.

Cameras and video quality

The most important factor is, of course, the camera quality – and there aren’t any huge disappointments in that department, sporting a 1440p front-facing camera and a 1080p rear-facing camera that perform fairly well in most situations.

Let’s start with daylight; as you’d expect, both the front- and rear-facing cameras excel in well-lit environments during the day. There’s balanced colour, and the detail is impressive – just be sure to clean your windscreen first!

Front camera during the day

Regardless of the camera, you’re able to pause the video at any moment and pick out finer details like car registration plates from almost any angle – a benefit to using Sony’s Starvis sensor in both cameras.

Rear camera during the day

It’s typically at night that dashcams begin to struggle, and while it’s not quite as good-looking as during daylight, the Vantrue M2 handles low-light environments very well – another benefit to using Sony’s sensors.

The front-facing camera retains more light than expected on dimmer roads, with noticeable detail and a well-tuned noise reduction system that leaves videos looking largely crisp. The issue is that bright headlights can – and often do – blow out the registration plate of oncoming vehicles due to the reflective nature of plates in the UK.  

Front camera during the night

Though the rear camera drops to 1080p, you should expect a similar level of impressive performance. The drop in quality is more noticeable at night with noise reduction tech working a little too hard, but it offers great dynamic range and a clear, smooth image.

Rear camera during the night

It’s worth noting that, unlike much of the premium competition, the frame rate is capped at 30fps – likely to retain that impressive low-light performance. That’s fine for those that want to use the camera for insurance purposes, but it does limit the quality of videos recorded for other purposes, especially when compared to the likes of the 120fps Nextbase 622GW.  

The bigger annoyance for some will be the format it uses; rather than the easily shared MP4, files are encoded in a .ts format. It makes sense as it encodes other data – including telemetry data – into the file, making it easier to view on a PC or Mac, and it saves files from being corrupted if power is lost during recording, but it’s difficult to convert into an MP4 without the use of third-party software.

Here’s a sample of clips taken from the Vantrue M2:

Pricing

The Vantrue M2 isn’t the cheapest dash cam system around at £229.99 from Amazon in the UK and $249 in the US at the time of writing, but with advanced features like a rear reversing camera, it’s a price that some will be happy to pay.  

If you’re on the hunt for something a little different, our selection of the best dashcams might point you in the right direction.

Verdict

The Vantrue M2 isn’t an ordinary dash cam, but that’s what makes it work. It brings something new and interesting to the dash cam market, allowing the rear-facing camera to double up as a reverse camera and displaying that feed on a large internal mirror display – particularly handy if you need a hand when parking.

It’s not a gimmick either, with the Vantrue M2’s dual-camera system capturing impressively detailed imagery both during the day and night, although it suffers from the same issue dashcams have with reflective license plates blowing out at night.

The bigger problems for some will be the .ts file format, which makes it difficult to share clips with others, and the fact that there isn’t an accompanying app for iOS and Android to easily access files.

Still, if you can get over that, and the premium price tag the Vantrue M2 demands, it’s a great dash cam system that offers something truly different from the competition.