Qubo Dashcam Trio costs under Rs. 11,000 in India, a price segment with few high-quality choices. Here's our review.
Qubo Dashcam Trio offers great value as most three-channel dash cameras are relatively expensive
How many of you remember the first time you drove a car? Or the first time you drove your car from the dealership to your home? Most of you do, and are probably smiling, thinking about either instance. We spend lakhs, and even crores, on our vehicles. After our homes, our cars serve as a secondary safe space we spend hours in, whether stuck in traffic or just going on a long drive. However, driving on roads also invites unpleasant moments as cases of road rage, accidents, and auto theft rise. This is where dashcams come into the picture, remembering all unfortunate instances for you.
I got to spend some time with one, the Qubo Dashcam Trio, and dare I say, I am impressed with what it has to offer. If you're in the market for a three-channel dashcam, the prices could go as high as Rs. 30,000. Meanwhile, the Qubo Dashcam Trio does it all at one-third the price, while also offering the reliability and trust of a well-known brand.
For your understanding, a three-channel dashcam has three cameras in total, one for the front, one for the rear, and the last pointed towards the cabin. Hence, Qubo's recently launched three-channel offering is not only a must-have car accessory for private car owners but also an unmissable gadget for cab owners and drivers, allowing them to monitor and record what's happening inside their vehicles.
First, let's talk about the design of the Qubo Dashcam Trio. If your car has dark interiors, the Black colour of the dashcam will never feel out of space. It is sleek and pleasing to the eye, and the piano-black finish on the front and back of the device gives it a premium look. While dashcams themselves have a novelty factor, often becoming a topic of discussion as soon as someone sits in your car, Qubo's Trio also gets compliments for how it looks. Although it has a plastic body, the quality of its materials could trick passengers into mistaking it for a higher price segment.
It has four navigation buttons at the bottom. The navigation UI only appears after you press a button. While the UI itself is snappy and intuitive to use, the lack of a dedicated button for capturing photos was a let-down. Additionally, when I first received the dashcam, I had my doubts about whether it would block my view or distract me from looking at the road, as it has a broad casing. But I never faced any issues during my testing, debunking my initial scepticism, even as it was being installed.
Coming to the installation process, getting the Qubo Dashcam Trio fixed inside your car is an extremely smooth and hassle-free experience. While I don't recommend it, the process is so simple that you can do it yourself by following the instructions in a YouTube video. However, I opted to have a professional from Qubo visit my garage and install it for me.
The technician was friendly and was able to install the two units, one for the rear camera and the other for the front and cabin cameras, in about 15 minutes. However, there is a catch. This installation is not free. Qubo charges Rs. 1,200 for getting the dashcam installed by a professional, which is steep in my opinion. There were no wires cut; the person simply removed the door rubber and the glove box to hide wires, and connected the dashcam through a 12V socket.
This is an important point because, if you cut any wires in your car to connect the dashcam, you will indeed void your car's warranty, while also violating the terms of your car insurance policy. Upon enquiry, my vehicle insurer informed me that installing a dashcam does not violate the policy. However, making modifications, including cutting wires, can be grounds for claim refusal.
Coming back to the product. After installing the Qubo Dashcam Trio, you will need to download the Qubo Pro app, available on both iOS and Android. The initial setup process is exhausting. The app kept glitching, and it took me at least five tries to connect to the dashcam's local network. However, once you're logged in, the app is easy to use, letting you view real-time footage, device health reports, GPS location, recorded events, and more.
Except for a few hiccups, the initial experience of the Qubo Dashcam Trio was impressive.
Now, let us get into what matters the most, the performance of the Qubo Dashcam Trio. But before that, let's look at the specifications and features it offers. As previously mentioned, there are three cameras onboard. The front camera is the only one which is capable of recording at 4K QHD, with a 140-degree field of view (FOV) and a 4-megapixel sensor. Meanwhile, the cabin and rear cameras capture 1080p Full HD video with a 120-degree FOV.
During the day, when I expected it to perform well, the front dash camera delivered inconsistent video quality. In direct sunlight, the video from the front camera lacked clarity and crispness. The number plates appeared as black ink smudges on a white metal plate, and I felt let down. This changes as soon as there is enough natural light, but the sunlight is not directly falling onto the windscreen. Suddenly, the image gets sharper, and letters and numbers become legible.
Similarly, the front dash camera performed impressively at night, provided the street was well-lit. In stop-and-go traffic, the Qubo Dashcam Trio never feels out of its depth. The video is again detail-rich, and the colour production seems accurate. The 140-degree FOV also helps in capturing most of the road. Things present in the periphery are also clearly visible. However, I must point out that the dash camera was not perfectly aligned, and the videos captured appear to be tilted to one side, which is very annoying. Even after making several adjustments, I wasn't able to fix it.
Coming to the cabin and the rear cameras, both are capable units which perform in natural light. The footage is decent and passable for 1080p shooters. At night, the two can capture broad details while skipping over recording the minute ones. However, for its price, it might not be a bad deal. The cabin camera, especially when leveraging IR Night Vision, remains sharp. Owing to its 120-degree wide FOV, it not only captures the details of what's happening inside the car, but also around it.
On the contrary, the nighttime video quality of the rear camera left me disappointed. The camera barely captured anything. The brake light from the car it is installed in, and the high beam from vehicles behind it, blinds the dash camera completely. However, under softer artificial lighting, the quality is still passable.
The same can be said of the G-sensor-enabled event-capture feature on the Qubo Dashcam Trio. Firstly, it is overly sensitive and erratic. The dash camera would often capture images when you're passing a speed breaker or when you accelerate too quickly, registering it as an event. On the other hand, Dashcam Trio might not capture an event when you brake hard and come to a halt fast. Additionally, the photos taken for the event are often blurry, barely showing anything.
Apart from the camera quality, the Qubo Dashcam Trio supports up to a 1TB microSD card. I installed a 128GB High Endurance microSD card, as recommended by the company's website. Installing the memory card was as smooth as slicing butter with a hot knife. Insert the card into the clearly marked microSD card slot, and within seconds, that dash camera will format it, and the recording will begin automatically.
Lastly, the Qubo Dashcam Trio features a 3.16-inch IPS LCD screen. The display quality is decent. But it is marred by an extremely low refresh rate. However, this barely concerns you as you're looking at the road for most of the time. In the few instances you do catch a glimpse of it, you feel let down.
Overall, the camera performance is a mixed bag, but you will not be caught off guard by the same when you look at the price tag.
To sum it all up, the Qubo Dashcam Trio, which retails in India at Rs. 10,990, is a spectacular offering if you're specifically looking for a three-channel dash camera. Even with the added Rs. 1,200 for the installation, it is a great deal for the features and quality it offers. The Dashcam Trio's 2K resolution recording for the front camera is on par with the competition, and the 1080p video capturing support on the cabin and rear cameras is passable. However, the erratic G-sensor-enabled event recording and low-quality event images might bother some people.
There is a plethora of 2K dash cameras on the market from players like 70mai, available at extremely reasonable prices. On the flip side, there are various three-channel dash camera options that are priced really high. Qubo's Dashcam Trio appears to fill this very gap, where it marries a lower resolution standard camera with a three-channel setup and several good-to-have-features.
Then, who is it for? Definitely not for you if 4K recording is a deal breaker. However, for someone willing to make some compromises to get a jack of all trades at a relatively low price, the Qubo Dashcam Trio might just be an unmissable deal for you.
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