Update: The camera's battery no longer holds a meaningful charge. When the car is turned off, the camera shuts down immediately, rather than showing a message and turning itself off. I'm speculating here, but if the camera does not turn off gracefully, there is the possibility of file corruption on the memory card. I returned the camera and will be looking at dash cams that have a feature this one does not, an internal GPS function for recording speed and location.I have been contemplating getting a dash cam which is why I accepted this chance to review one. Since it is the first dash cam I have ever used I obviously cannot compare it to others. But I am a very experienced photographer and gear head, so I think I have a good idea of the sort of things to expect.Overall I think this little dash cam is a good value for less than $50. The field of view is wide which is what you would want for keeping a record of your travels, and the images are sharp and clear when viewed on your computer. I recorded my travels during the day and night and in a night-time drive home in a snow storm. The video was clear and sharp in all cases, so long as the windshield was clear of course!The unit is quite small; I included a photo of it in my hand to help get a sense of scale. The display on the back is about the size of a credit card. The icons and text are tiny so you may need your reading glasses to read them, but otherwise the text is pin sharp and easy to read.The camera is designed to be mounted high on the windshield which is the best location. Just make sure it is looking out where your windshield wipers will give it a clear view. I would have liked to mounted this on the dash, but with the supplied mounting kit, that would have required the camera to be upside down. It would have been nice if there was a menu setting for inverting the saved video for that type of installation.This unit is designed to be plugged into your cigarette lighter socket on your dash. With most cars the power to this socket goes on and off with the ignition. So when you start your car, the camera emits a pleasant little start-up chime and immediately starts recording. When you turn your car off, the camera displays a warning message that it is powering down, and within a few seconds the chime sounds again and camera shuts down. So once installed it really doesn't need any attention in normal use, and the little start-up/shut-down chime is a good reminder that it is on duty.An important thing to keep in mind is that this camera also records audio. You can temporarily mute the audio recording but I did not find any way to permanently do this. Having conversations in the car being recorded all the time may be a privacy concern for some. I almost always drive by myself and rarely use the phone. So for me it just recorded the sounds of the radio and maybe a bit of bad singing.There is a built-in rechargeable battery which is charged when the unit is in use, or turned on but not recording. However the battery does not charge when turned off, even if plugged into a power source. This makes sense since this removes the possibility of it draining the car's own battery. I think it is clear that the camera's battery is not intended to run the camera and display for more than a few minutes. The display in particular is quite bright so it places a heavy drain on the battery. The battery is provided mostly (I assume) to allow the unit to gracefully stop recording when the power has been turned off, run the internal clock for recording the time and date, and perhaps as a convenience for quickly checking the settings when not attached to the car. On my unit, the battery charge indicator on the display never showed that the battery was ever fully charged, even after the red LED charge lamp went off. So is the battery getting fully charged or not? Who knows. An annoyance.A rear camera is included in the kit. It is not required to use the dash cam, the front camera will record fine without it. While it will take some effort to do a nice installation of the rear cam, hiding and routing the wires, it is the inclusion of the rear cam that helps makes this kit a good value for the money. Just keep in mind that unless you have a car with a rear windshield wiper, the rear camera may not capture a usable image in sloppy weather. There is a feature where you can use the camera display as an automatic backup camera, but this requires some tricky wiring to work when your car is put into reverse, and keep in mind that the display on the camera is small, probably too small to be of much real use when backing up.While driving you can see what the camera is recording on the built-in screen. It can be a little distracting at first, but it is nice to see the little blinking red dot to confirm that the unit is recording. One thing I did not expect is that at night the lights of passing cars on the camera display were a bit distracting. This was probably because I mounted the unit close to the rear view mirror, so out of the corner of my eye it looked like cars behind me were about to pass me on my left.The camera does do a good job of recording images illuminated only by your headlights and street lights. However it is not a 'night vision' camera. There is a feature to turn on a 'fill light' on the front of the camera. But instead of infrared emitters which would be invisible to you but visible to the camera, the LEDs of the fill light are white and not that strong. They would not illuminate anything beyond the hood of your car and the lights themselves are distracting, causing reflections on the windshield. I can't see any point in this feature unless you want to take close-up selfies in the dark!If you wear polarized sunglasses, you will not be able to see the screen image at all. This is because many LCD screens are themselves polarized. (Try looking at your mobile phone or laptop screen while rotating your polarized sunglasses to see the effect.)This camera comes with a generic memory card. Since it is not a name brand it is unlikely to be a counterfeit card with a less than stated capacity, but I tested it anyways and the full 32 GB was available.I did not test all of the features like the automatic locking of recorded segments if there is a shock, as would happen in an accident.The recordings are saved as a series of files. A drive to work may be spread over half a dozen or more files. As the card fills up, there will be a lot of them. So it is important to set the date and time on the camera so you can more easily find the segment you want.The manual does not fully explain all of the features. For example I am guessing the "gravity" menu setting is for controlling the collision sensitivity, but no where in the manual does the work 'gravity' appear. On the other had this is not the worst Chinglish manual I've ever seen.## How I assign stars in a review. ##The star ratings are always in relation to the item's intended purpose, type, and durability.5 stars - The item is perfect with no room for meaningful improvement. The item performs its intended function consistently, and without fail. It also appears to be durable in its manufacture and materials.4 stars - While not perfect, any imperfections are likely to go unnoticed in normal use. The item should be durable given normal care and handling.3 stars - The item has significant short comings or limitations, but these do not significantly degrade performance. And/or the item may not be durable if not handled with some degree of care.2 stars - The item has defects or short comings that compromise performance. And/or the item may be likely to fail prematurely even with careful use.1 star - The item does not function correctly in any meaningful way or is very difficult or even hazardous to use. And/or the item failed completely with very little use.