Best front and rear dash cams in 2023: two-way protection for you and your vehicle

The best front and rear dash cams are something you'll be glad you have bought if you end up being involved in an incident when driving. By capturing what happens in front of and behind your vehicle with a dual dash cam set-up, you'll have a full record of events should anything go wrong on the road. 

Then if there's a dispute over what happened, either from another driver, the police, or the insurance company, you can prove your side of the story.

If you want to only cover the front of your vehicle, we also have a guide to the best dash cams for single-direction recording. Then there are the best budget dash cams if you don't want to spend very much.  

But in general, we'd recommend you get a dash cam front and rear, to cover all bases in the case of an accident. Not to mention that rear cams can also be used as backup cameras for reversing and parking.

Also known dual dash cams, or 2CH or two-channel dashcams, our experts will help you find the very best front and rear dash cams available today – and we'll tell you everything you need to know need to choose between them. 

Note that some dash cams are sold in one, two or even three camera kits - so make sure that you have the version you need. To complicate matters, some dual dash cams use the second camera to record the interior of the vehicle rather than the road behind you (these are commonly known as Uber dash cams).

If you want guidance on what to look for, first read what to look for in the best front and rear dash cams, otherwise we'll run through our favorite dual dash cam models.…

Best front and rear dash cams: our top picks

Best front and rear dash cams in 2023

Best overall

The Thinkware U1000 dash cam is a hugely impressive piece of kit that gets our top-spot recommendation. It can record footage in UHD 4K at 30fps or 2K 1440p at silky-smooth 60fps. Both are great, although opting for the lower resolution and higher frame rate might make it easier to see detail in paused frames of the footage, and also keeps the file sizes lower.

This is a setup with an optional rear camera; it shoots 2K 1440p at 30fps, and does so through a lens with a generous 156-degree field of view, giving you a wide latitude for seeing what's going on behind your vehicle. It's also a pleasingly compact and unobtrusive unit, so won't be distracting or get in the way. Just stick it to your rear screen and forget about it.

A suite of handy features like GPS, speed-camera detection, and average speed warnings make the Thinkware U1000 a tempting proposition for the vast majority of users. It's a fairly large unit, and there are definitely smaller options available on this list, but if this doesn't bother you then it's highly recommended.

Read our full Thinkware U1000 review for more details

Best for image quality

The Cobra is a chunky-looking front/rear dash cam, but what impressed us most with this was the quality of the footage from the 4K front camera. We noted that it is sharp, bright and nicely balanced, with minimal grain and a great amount of detail – a revelation compared to some 4K dash cams that overpromise and underdeliver. The rear camera offers a slightly narrower field of view, and an inferior Full HD image quality - but there is plenty to like here. The integrated GPS and Alexa are particularly welcome.

See our full guide to the best 3 channel dash cams

Best for value

If you're seeking something a little cheaper than our first choices, check out the Viofo A129 Pro Duo. In terms of quality of the footage, its front camera is one of the best around, capable of capturing 4K UHD, utilizing its 8.29MP Sony Exmor R sensor. You also get multiple bit-rate options and H.265 high-efficiency video coding. 

The rear camera isn't quite as high quality as that of the Thinkware U1000, being only Full HD rather than the U1000's slightly higher 2560x1440 resolution. This may well be more than enough for your needs, however, and it still looks pretty darn good. You also get some useful extra modes such as Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and Super Night Vision, meaning you're always prepared no matter the weather and lighting conditions. 

The camera units themselves are rather bulky, and can't be removed from their mounts. The front unit especially is sizeable, which is partly due to the LCD screen. If you're not bothered about an LCD screen and want a smaller dash cam, it may be worth considering one of the others on this list. Otherwise, this is a really solid buy. 

Best for Alexa-integration

The Nextbase 622GW dash cam comes in-built with Amazon Alexa assistance. This means you can tell the dash cams to start recording, as well as ask Alexa on other devices for directions, to play music, to give you news and weather updates, to make a call, and so on. And given that you don’t want to be doing anything distracting with your hands or eyes while driving, this is one situation when voice control really is handy.

The Nextbase 622GW is a fully-fledged 4K dash cam with powerful features like image stabilization, Alexa, What3Words, and SOS emergency response. Video quality is superb and the camera is easy to set up thanks to a smart magnetic windscreen mount with integrated GPS. Only the clunky smartphone app lets it down, but using this isn’t compulsory.

The optional rearview camera (available in some kits) connects to the front camera, comes with a long cable for routing through the vehicle, and attaches to the rear screen with an adhesive pad on a magnetic mount. It records in 1080p HD and has a 140-degree lens.

Read our full Nextbase 622GW Dash Cam review for more details

Best for expandability

The Garmin Dash Cam 67W replaces the 66W, which was already one of our favorites. It can be used as a regular front-facing dash came, but it can be used as a dual dashcam, too. That's thanks to Garmin’s smart Dash Cam Auto Sync feature, where up to four compatible cameras can be set to record at the same time. 

That way, you could fit dash cams to the front and rear of your car, but also facing out of the sides, which could be particularly useful for larger vehicles like vans and motorhomes. Obviously, this means you do need to buy two or more cameras (as these are not sold in kits) – so factor that into your comparisons

This Auto Sync feature is not exclusive to the 67W; it also works with Garmin’s 46, 56, Mini, and Tandem dash cams. The latter has two lenses of its own, to record the interior of the car as well as the exterior. 

It records in 1440p (so a little higher than Full HD) at 60 frames per second and with HDR. It also has a 180-degree wide-angle lens. Unusually for a dash cam, the 67W has a battery. But it only lasts for 30 minutes, so you’ll really want to plug in for most journeys, or permanently hardwire the camera to your car. 

Read our full Garmin Dash Cam 67W review for more details

Best for reliability

If you rely on driving for your livelihood, you may prize reliability above all else. In this case, we'd recommend the Kenwood DRV-A601W 4K. This bundle offers 4K resolution at the front and QHD (1440p) from the rear. 

The use of HDR (high dynamic range) tech helps alleviate the problem of harsh shadows obscuring details like license plates. A detachable polarizing filter helps guard against glare and reflections. And the viewing angle of 161 degrees is wide indeed.

The setup is nice and easy. A built-in GPS receiver helps you to pinpoint the exact location of incidents when making an insurance claim. An LCD display screen lets you use video playback to review your footage. And it comes with a 64GB card too. There’s nothing particularly special or unique about this front and rear dash cam bundle, and it lacks some high-end features like Alexa or speed camera recognition. But overall it does a solid and reliable job, time after time.

Read our full Kenwood DRV-A601W 4K Dash Cam review for more details

Best for driver assistance

The Thinkware Q1000 is a high-end dash cam, which features high-quality 2K videos (with a slightly higher resolution of 2K rather than the 1440P of its predecessor the Q800 Pro), lane departure warning, and a speed camera alert system. The camera also offers advanced night vision capabilities, shoots through a 156-degree lens, and has integrated GPS.

By understanding the movements and distance of the vehicle ahead, the camera can also warn you if it thinks you are going to crash into the car in front. It can also be set to sound an alert when the car ahead moves away and you haven’t noticed.

Thinkware’s dash cams are shaped differently from most others, and despite being expensive the Q1000 does not have a display. This is a deliberate move to limit driver distraction, so instead there are a few buttons to adjust settings, and you can take more control via the Thinkware smartphone app.

The rear camera is much smaller but also shoots at 2K through a 156-degree lens. It plugs into the front camera using a long cable and both record to the same SD card held in the front camera.

Read our full Thinkware Q1000 review 

Best for discreet mounting

There is a lot to like about Blackview’s DR750S. While it lacks a display, it's small enough to be all but hidden behind your rearview mirror. Both cameras of the two-channel version shoot at Full HD, although the rear has to make do with 30fps, compared to the front camera’s superior 60fps.

 Both cameras have a 139-degree lens, which is a little narrower than others, but there is an argument that a wider lens can distort images to the extent that the details (like exactly where another vehicle is in relation to your own) can be tricky to determine accurately. (We think 139 degrees is fine, but we wouldn’t want to use a dashcam with a lens narrower than that.)

As there is no display, videos are managed on the Blackvue app, which is available for iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac. Videos are saved to an SD card but can be transferred from the camera to the app over a direct Wi-Fi connection. As well as Wi-Fi, there’s also integrated GPS to add speed and locational data to your videos.

Best for cellular

A step-up model from the Blackvue DR750S-2CH (number 8 on our list), the Blackvue DR750-2CH LTE adds its own 4G LTE cellular connection. That means you can use backup and cloud services even without your smartphone, giving you another level of reassurance when you and your loved ones are out on the road.

Best for motorcycles

Looking for a dual dash cam system for a motorcycle? Then we recommend this hard-wired system. It's a serious step up from a helmet camera, giving you two-way coverage of the road ahead, and what is coming up behind. 

There are four components to the system. The two cameras are identical, with 1080p full HD capability and a wide 140° view. There's also a remote control console, and the central hub that includes a microSD card slot. There is no screen, but this Wi-Fi and GPS-enabled system connects to your smartphone to check, download or delete recorded imagery. 

The M1 Sportscam is not just for bikers. This weatherproof dash cam is also a great fit for snowmobiles, dune buggies, tractors, and other all-terrain utility vehicles.

What to look for in the best front and rear dash cams

How we test front and rear dash cams

There are a huge number of dash cams on the market today, and some of them are very cheap indeed. But the best dash cams go further, with better quality, better connectivity, more driver aids, or more safety features. 

We have reviewed many of the dashcams on our list. That means we have installed them and tested them for real-world driving. We pay particular attention to the video quality that you get with each dash cam, compared to other dash cams we are tested. We also look at just how easy the dashboard camera is to install and use on a daily basis in your vehicle - as in our experience, some are much more straightforward than others.

We test the dash cam and night, as well as in the daytime testing various features such as video quality, ease of use, and overall functionality.

See more on how we test and review the products in our guides

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