I didn’t quite know what to make of Soliom’s G1 380° ($100 on Amazon) the first time I saw the horizontally split-frame front/rear, surround video that it captures by default. It’s unique among dash cams in my experience, and while the quality is weak, this camera is arguably the best I’ve seen for pure legal daytime protection to the front and sides. For everything else, not so much.
Split-frame video
The Soliom uses two extremely wide field-of-view, 190-degree cameras. By default the view captured by the front camera occupies the top half of the video, and the view captured by the interior/rear captures the bottom. This obviously saves space and makes it easier to view an entire scene, but as I also mentioned, the quality isn’t up to snuff except at very short distance. More on that in the performance section.
Design, features, interface
The G1 380° has the appearance of a half-cylinder about five inches wide, a little over an inch thick in the body, and a little over two inches thick at the cameras. The two 1080p cameras are on the left side of the unit, with the 2-inch color display and the center button/rocker ring controls to the right. I wasn’t particularly enamored of the control ring, as it is nearly impossible to read the raised lettering. Read the user’s guide thoroughly first.
Performance
When it comes to capturing the action in front of you and to the sides you during the day, the G1 380° works quite well, covering areas in the periphery that most dual-camera systems won’t. But interior night captures are extremely dark due to the lack of infrared lighting, and exterior day and night captures rapidly decline in quality with distance. As little as 20 to 30 feet away, details such as license plates become less distinct.
All told, the G1 380° is a fascinating concept that would work far better with three cameras, front/interior/rear or rear telephoto, rather than the two provided. As it stands there’s too much blockage from the car itself (unless you’re in a convertible with the top down) to capture events at angles to your rear quarter-panels. Night video is weak, and even during the day, the video quality fades so badly at distance that there’s no guarantee that what the camera captures to the rear will reveal enough detail to be legally useful.
Conclusion
I’ll give Soliom an A-plus for thinking outside the box, but the follow-through is a C-minus at best. The video to the rear might not be up to the job; GPS is teased but not delivered; and interior night captures are just about useless. The unit should also let you lock in front-only or interior-only video if that’s what you need.
That said, the G1 380° is the only dash cam I’m aware of that captures day action to the sides of your vehicle adequately. If that’s paramount to you, then you can probably live with the rest. But I’m hoping the company completes the clever concept with a new product soon.
Abigail Smith is an inventive person who has been doing intensive research in particular topics and writing blogs and articles on Printer Customer Support and many other related topics. He is a very knowledgeable person with lots of experience. If you’re not running A/V protection right now and you want more than what Windows Defender offers, this is a great buy.
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