Z-Edge S3 Stealth – Dual Lens Dash Cam Review

Pros and Cons

Where to Buy

Z-Edge S3 Stealth Dash Cam – Full Review

The Z-Edge S3 comes inside a good quality retail box. Along with the Front dash cam, there’s also a rear camera, two mounting brackets, a pack of cable clips, a fitting tool, a 16GB microSD card, three sets of cables, a user manual, and quick start guide.

The user manual is well written and simple to follow. The same can be said for the quick start guide which helps you to easily identify the preferred settings depending on your specific requirements.

The options are; daily commute, continuous recording, road trip, normal parking, and parking watchdog.

The Front Camera

Measuring around 90mm wide and 65mm high (3.5 x 2.5 inches), the S3 is compact enough to fit neatly behind the rearview mirror. It features a 2.4 inch LCD display with five control buttons underneath.

There’s a mini USB port on the left for connecting the rear camera, a micro USB port on the right for powering the device and a MicroSD slot on the top. Around the rear is the camera lens which has a vertical adjustment, but no means to tilt it sideways. This shouldn’t be a problem if you’re mounting the camera in a central position on your windscreen. If however, you had intended to offset it to one side, then you’ll struggle to achieve the desired angle.

Most dashboard cameras have a ball swivel mount for adjustment. The S3 has a sliding mount that sticks to the windscreen. While this does limit the adjustment options, it does provide a very stable and consistent positioning. Having used both types of mounts, I have to say, I much prefer this one. I don’t have to worry at all about it getting knocked and it’s a doddle to remove and replace it.

The Rear Camera

The S3’s rear camera is very compact. It features an adhesive pad that sticks to the rear window and there’s thumb screw adjustment for positioning. This camera has no means to easily remove it, however, you can pivot it upwards out of view if you need to.

The user interface and settings

The Z-Edge S3 has a bright display screen, good audio for playback and a great selection of settings to choose from. If you’d like to see all of the settings and you haven’t already watched the video review, here’s a link to the section of the video with the settings.

The options are split between menu settings and feature settings. This makes it really easy to access and adjust the modes, especially when using it with the quick start guide.

Navigation is easy and it features a PIP (picture in picture) to give live views of both cameras. In record mode, each of the buttons provides additional options.

The far left button will protect your footage from being recorded over – this will also happen automatically in the event of a crash. The ‘up arrow’ will take a still photo, the ‘down arrow’ will mute or unmute the microphone and the ‘ok button’ will stop the recording.

Fitting the Z-Edge S3 Dash Cam

Installing the camera took no time at all. The cable lengths were perfect, I had about 20 inches of excess on the rear and about 10 inches on the front cable. The only visible area was a small amount of slack that I required on the rear cable to allow the boot to fully open. This would only be required on hatchback cars, if you own a saloon then this would not be necessary.

Specifications

• Display Screen Dimension: 2.4″ HD screen
• Front camera: 150 degrees
• Rear camera: 150 degrees
• Video Resolution: Front camera and rear camera connected:1920x1080P 30fps
• Front only:2560x1440P 30fps ,2304x1296P 30fps, 1920x1080P 60fps, 1920x1080P 30fps
• Still Picture Resolution: 12M
• Motion detection and G-Sensors
• Battery:470mAH internal Li-ion battery
• Supports up to 128GB MicroSD card

Using the Z-Edge S3 Dash Cam

The recording will begin automatically when the car starts and it will turn off automatically once you leave the vehicle – unless you have it set to parking mode. If you do intend to have it monitor your car when parked, you’ll need to connect it to an external power bank. This will ensure the internal battery won’t fully deplete if there’s a lot of activity.

Image Quality.

Generally speaking, I’ve been very pleased with the footage taken on the Z-Edge S3. The picture is surprisingly clear when paused during playback. Number plates of oncoming traffic are visible and the footage is vibrant and colourful. I did notice that in direct sunlight the contrast can seem slightly overblown. That only really affects the view of the sky, so it’s not much of a concern.

Night footage is not bad either, although the outer edges of the image are a little on the dark side.

Unlike the daytime footage, number plates of oncoming cars are not clearly visible, although this is to be expected. Bright headlights and dark skies are never a good combination.

It does offer low-light compensation to help balance the exposure, but as with just about every dash cam, you’re always going to get much more noise on the image due to higher ISO in low light.

Verdict

The Z-Edge S3 Stealth is an easy-to-use dual dash cam that performs well compared to others in the same price range. It is a little bit of a shame that you can make use of the 4K resolution on the front camera without disconnecting the rear though. I guess if you really wanted to maximise the image quality from the front, you could temporarily disconnect the camera at the back and just hope you don’t get rear-ended. That said, I found the 1080p image quality from the front and rear camera to be more than adequate for my needs.

Z-Edge offers a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re not entirely happy with the product and an 18-month extended warranty. So, If you’re looking for good quality yet affordable dual camera set up, then I highly recommend you check it out for yourself.

Where to Buy

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