Polaroid C270 Dashcam Quick Review

DUB Global, Inc, exclusive importer and distributor of Polaroid here in the country, handed us two dashboard cameras to review and give away to our readers — the C270 and the C201. What we’re checking out here is the more expensive of the two and is a mid-range model from their lineup with features that help its users both on the road and even when the car is parked. Meet the Polaroid C270.

Design and Construction

While we’ve seen different form factors of dashboard cameras like the square-ish HP f310, and the Vico-Marcus 4 that has a huge sensor attached to its body, the C270 has a slim, rectangular body that makes it unobtrusive while you’re driving. The sensor is equipped with F2.0 aperture that should fairly help when recording at night and a 130-degree wide-angle lens that captures a wider field of view.

All the connectivity ports are located at the sides of the device. The left houses the microSD card slot that supports up to 32GB and above it is the HDMI port for watching recorded media on a big screen. On the right, we have the mini-USB for powering the camera and an AV out jack.

Users can navigate through the menu and have access to the device’s features through the physical buttons surrounding the 2.7-inch LCD screen. Starting from the top left, we have the Power, Record, and Menu buttons, while the arrow keys are on the right together with the button for capturing photos or video playback.

At the bottom, we see the reset button if you want to restore the device to its factory settings, while a nearby pinhole is present for recording audio.

Features

The C270 comes with features that are commonly seen on dashcams, but still prove to be helpful on and off the road, as mentioned earlier. These are:

• Parking Mode – Automatically records when an impact has been made to your vehicle while parked.
• File auto-protect – During an accident, the device automatically saves and protects the recent clip that captured the collision.
• Loop Recording – Overwrites the oldest unsaved files to maximize memory.
• Motion Detection – Activates camera upon detecting external movements.
• Auto Start and Stop – Recording can be automatically started or stopped when your car is turned on or off.

Video Quality

The C270 shoots clear videos with good color during the day. There are some noticeable noises due to the cloudy weather, but overall shows decent and acceptable footage. There are options to include additional details like time and date which are watermarked on the screen.

At night, plate numbers up front are still readable, so that’s always a good thing. Although the lights coming from the posts or headlights are the only details you’ll see on the video (night video sample starts at the 1:00 mark).

Conclusion

The Polaroid C270 has an overall good form factor. Although the entirety of its shell is made of plastic and could easily attract smudges and fingerprint, it didn’t really matter much since it was tucked away behind the car’s rear-view mirror anyway.

There is also the assurance that it would start recording when something hits your vehicle even when you’re away, so that’s a good thing. The image quality is highly acceptable during the day as we could see the sharpness, but come night time, we were able to notice loss in detail but still clear enough to read plate numbers ahead.

Plus, the wide angle lens works well and shows everything that’s in front of you.

Locally priced at Php6,499, the Polaroid C270 is available at Ace Hardware and Blade Auto Center and comes with 1 year of warranty.

Polar C270 specs:
2.7-inch LCD display
2MP Polaroid optics with F2.0 aperture (images interpolated to 14MP)
130-degree wide angle lens
Built-in speaker and microphone
30V overcharge voltage protection

What we liked about it:

• Slim, unobtrusive form factor
• Equipped with useful and convenient features
• Detailed image quality during the day
• Wide angle lens

What we didn’t like:

• A slight loss in detail when recording at night