Xenta HD 720P Dashcam (XEGX-12H) Review

What We Say

What is it?

Xenta states that 'After an accident or road incident it can be difficult to recall what happened, or there can be differing views on the incident, these situations can be extremely stressful, but with a HD Journey recorder you can be at ease.'- and they aren't wrong.

It's fairly simple to get going with this dashcam - you can drive away with just inserting a Micro SD card (Up to 32GB - Not Included), mounting it behind your rearview mirror with the suction mount, plugging it in and it will be ready to record. One thing to note - the SD Card must be formatted in FAT32 format rather than NTFS. Whilst recording if the memory card becomes full, an auto loop function will kick in overwriting the oldest, none protected, recordings.

The dashcam records at 720p with a 120 Degree viewing angle and includes 6 IR night vision LEDs to improve nighttime recordings. Recording can be played back on the 2.7" integrated screen, the Micro SD card can be removed plugged in to computer or via the Mini HDMI/AV-Out to a TV.

The built-in G-sensor will allow the Dashcam to record any impacts or sudden movements and the footage is automatically protected on the memory card. Should you have this setting switched off there is another button that you can press that will protect the current recording should you be involved in an incident on the road.

This was one of the budget dashcams we tested that has a RRP of £39.99 but at time of writing it was available on Ebuyer for just £19.98 on special offer.

How we tested it?

We tested the dashcam individually over a period of time and followed the manufacturers'recommendations when configuring the recorder. We tested it in both daytime and nighttime.

We Liked:

• It was easy to setup, you can get away with just popping in a Micro SD card and plugging it into the cigarette lighter.
• It has an LCD screen allowing you to preview clips directly on the Dashcam.
• It has an obvious button for if you wish to permanently save a clip on the back of the dashcam.

We didn't Like:

• The G-sensor was very sensitive - to the point where even on the lowest setting we were finding that the SD card would become full of protected clips - the only way to resolve this is to un-protect all clips and delete all videos on the dashcard regularly, or switch the G-sensor off all together - we did the latter.
• There is no GPS, so recordings aren't linked with a location.  Not a biggie, but it's nice to have it.
• The nighttime recording wasn't the best we've seen, but is just about sufficient.
• It doesn't come with an SD Card, so make sure you have one handy!

Video Example (Watch in HD)

Overall:

The price is a massive plus point, at the time of writing, you can get it delivered for just £19.98 from Ebuyer - for a budget dashcam, it's very good quality. We've tested some unbranded Chinese imports that you can pick up at around £20 also (on ebay usually) and they have been nowhere near the quality of this Xenta Dashcam. It's only 720p, so don't expect amazing quality, however the recording quality is still sufficient (see the video above).  Would I suggest this dashcam? If you're on a budget and want to spend less than £40, then go for it!

Specifications