When you’re living or commuting in the metro, you know that there are a lot of opportunities for different types of action to come by our very busy, and usually traffic-heavy roads. Sometimes, you might wish you had a camera present for recording, say, how the other driver kept on trying to edge into your lane, and then BOOM! scratches and accidents happen…

Or like what my husband and I have witnessed. You  might be out on the road and then along an intersection in Macapagal, a couple of motorcycles are boxing into another motorcycle while the stop sign is on. We had just realized that what was happening was actually a hold-up. #TrueStory

A Dashboard Camera or dashcam is the perfect gadget that can protect you from these situations, or from the few bad apple Traffic Officers on our Metro Manila roads. These dashboard HD cameras are actually the same ones that U.S. police cars use to monitor the roads. With this in mind, Ms. Stephanie See Dee of Zumi PH thought of a way to make this latest efficient and practical technology available to Filipinos today.

A Zumi DashCam is one of the best and most affordable choices that you can get for protection in these cases. Its features include:

• A 5 MP with CMOS Sensor
• 1080p Full High Definition recording
• Expandable Memory: Micro SD Card up to 32 GB
• Auto ON/OFF
• A 2.7” LCD Screen and Display
• 6pc LED for night recording
• A 140-degree wide viewing angle
• An SOS Button to save files with one easy button
• A screen saver mode to continue recording even without on-screen display
• A built-in Microphone for audio recording
• Loop Recording which overwrites the oldest unsaved files to maximize the memory
• A G-Sensor to automatically save and lock files in cases of collisions.

I tested all of the claims of the Zumi DashCam, and I have to say I’m pretty excited about it. The Microphone is pretty awesome. As I played back our recorded videos, I could clearly hear what was happening even though the radio was turned on. The recording of the video is okay, too, even at night. I have included a video that I recorded for you guys to check out…

And here’s the Zumi DashCam in action at night (as taken from Zumi PH’s Youtube Channel):

I’m not the only one that got to check out how awesome this little camera is, either. Cheryl Golangco did, too, and here’s what she has to say on the Zumi DashCam:

“I really like the Zumi Dashcam. It is such a useful and handy thing to have, especially here in the Philippines. In some ways, I feel more secure having it because i know I’ll be able to document whatever ‘craziness’ we may experience on the road. I highly recommend everyone to get one for their cars!”

Power button, menu and scroll buttons are located below the device

Another awesome feature is the automatic on and off because all you have to do is plug the cam onto the car. Then, once you turn the car on, the camera will go on, too, saving you from the effort of taking it off of your car and turning the camera on. As for the size, it’s small and discreet – two qualities that I think everyone should look for in a dashcam. After all, you don’t want your camera to stick out like a sore thumb on your car’s windshield, do you?

What’s inside the box:

Given the quality of the video and audio, how easy it is to install onto vehicles, the quality of the video at Full HD and the longevity of recording time ( 8GB of memory can give you around 40 minutes recording at Full HD. For VGA around 1 hour 20 minutes.), and the auto on/off, I’d give this a rating of 3.9 out of 5…

The thing here is: you may never know what can happen in a second, a minute, or an hour, the moment you get in and drive your vehicle.  It’s not just for recording “the bad”; you can also capture things with your dashcam when you go on a roadtrip – maybe even some fireworks, or maybe a bigger opportunity like the meteor-like object over Russia that was caught on a dashcam!

Price is at an easy Php3,300, and you can get them at Kimstore, Lazada or at their personal website as stated below. Think of this as a good investment. It’s handy, discreet and perfect for those emergency need-to-capture moments. Need I say more?

Oh, by the way, Zumi PH is very generous as they will be raffling off a Zumi Dashcam for you guys! And the winner is:

• The winner must claim the prize at the Zumi PH office by coordinating with the owners of Zumi Ph upon receiving the email.

Zumi PH

Mobile: 0917 827 0388

www.zumi.ph