If you live in Europe, Mercedes-Benz is as common as seeing Toyota Camry’s in the United States. But when you live in America, you know that Mercedes is considered a luxury car brand. No matter if you have a Mercedes A Class, C Class or E Class, or even a Mercedes GLE 350, all their vehicles require you to have some deep pockets regardless of where you live in the world.
- Front and Rear Dash Cam with 170 degrees Field of View
- Sleek form factor to conform to the shape of a Mercedes-Benz’s windshield
- Built-in WiFi and GPS Logger to record speed/location and review or transfer footage
With such a large investment into a vehicle, you might want to take some precautions that could save you headaches in the future. How about a device that can save you thousands of dollars and painful headaches? That’s right, I’m talking about a dash cam; one that can run you a few hundred dollars, but can make a big difference to a cop or a court if you are ever in that situation.
Owning a Mercedes-Benz car needs to be paired with the best dash cam that will protect your investment. Let’s talk about the best dashboard camera solution for Mercedes.
Installation
The most unique concept Mercedes-Benz’s owners needs to learn is how to install a dash cam for their vehicle. While the installation is generally the same from car to car, there are some nuances you should pay attention when installing any dash cam in a Mercedes. If I scared you, don’t worry, Mercedes’ cars are actually very easy to install a dash cam seamlessly so you hide all the cables and have the option to hardwire the dash cam into your fusebox.
Hard wiring the dash cam into a fuse box allows your dash cam to be on even when the key is not in the ignition, if you allow it. This is a great way to stop vandalism, or monitor a parked car. We can get into specifics later, but let’s focus on dash cam placement.
Dash Cam placement varies driver to driver, but we find for Mercedes owner’s, that area directly in front of the rear view mirror is the most optimal spot. First off, it doesn’t obstruct your view which is the first step when it comes to dash cam legality. It also blends in with the dark colors of the mirror so it doesn’t stand out. I use the 3M tape that come standard on most dash cams. Other alternatives are mounting it on the windshield or on the dash either with a suction cup or the tape. We don’t recommend these alternatives for more than one reason.
I mentioned earlier that I would help you install your dash cam in an organized and clean method. Who wants to ruin a luxury car with wires dangling everywhere?! Unorganized cables are unsightly and could pose a distraction to the driver.
Installing it near the mirror allows the cable to run along the outskirts of the trim to be tucked behind the car panels. The dash cam kit should come with a panel remover.
Gently run the wire behind the trim along the top windshield underneath the headliner and down the “A” pillar. Your car may have airbags in the “A” pillar so we recommend snaking the wire on the outside of the “A” pillar, not the inside so if the airbag deploys, the wire wont be in the way. Then you can make your way to the fuse box. Here you make a decision whether or not your hard wire into the fuse box that is located in your Mercedes-Benz glove compartment. Otherwise, you can make your way to your cigarette lighter or other USB source.
Rexing V1P Pro Dual 1080p Full HD Front and Rear
First up is the Rexing V1P Pro. This is a Dual, front and rear setup for maximum coverage. The first thing that stood out to be was the form factor. If you are anything like me, I’m a very minimalist decorator. You’re not going to see me put bumper stickers, or little puppets on the car. I’m not judging if you do!
When I’m choosing a dash cam for my Mercedes-Benz, I’m not only looking for the dash cam features that will help protect my vehicle, I’m looking for it to match the look and feel of it as well. What does that mean?
Well, looking at the Rexing, you can see that the dash cam’s style is built to be flush to the windshield so it doesn’t stand out. To be honest, even if you stand in front of the car, you wouldn’t know there’s a dash cam there.
Besides this, it’s packed with features. It features 2 cameras, both filming at 1080p @ 30 fps. It has built in WiFi which allows you to connect your smartphone to view, download or share footage without having to remove the dash cam. The Rexing also comes with a GPS unit that records your speed, location and movement which is a unique feature at this price point. It also has a wide field of vision at 170 degrees for maximum visibility. Even though this is a good feature, it does try to cover up for the fact that the front lens is fixed, so you can’t make any adjustments once it’s set. Don’t worry though, 170 degrees is plenty of coverage and works well with all Mercedes’ vehicles.
BlackVue DR900S 2 Channel – 4K UHD
This BlackVue dash cam is a monster of a setup if you decide to go with it. Yes, it is expensive, but I did some math and found out that it is 1% the cost of a new Mercedes-Benz. If I asked you, would you pay an extra 1% to ensure that your vehicle always has a camera monitoring it and can be accessed remotely, what would you say?
Firstly, the front camera films at an insane 4K resolution. While the novelty of this resolution might change in 10 years, the numbers of pixels this records is fine for me and is sure to last longer than other dash cams still filming in 720p or 1080p.
Like the Rexing, this has WiFi capabilities allowing you to review and transfer footage. It also has GPS to record location and speed.
The coolest feature is that it has Cloud functionality. This means you can stream footage live to the internet. You can review footage at any time from your phone and even have a conversation via “walkie-talkie”. This is really awesome and would be great if you ever borrowed your car out or got your car stolen. Of course this dash cam also includes Parking Mode and the cloud functionality can be used to combination.
Crosstour Dual 1080P Dash Cam
Lastly is our budget option. You will sacrifice some of the luxury features, but it will have the main ones you need to protect your assets. Let’s start with what it does have. It features dual channel front and back 1080p cameras. Like the Rexing it has a 170 degree wide angle. It does not have GPS (it is optional) nor does it have WiFi abilities. WiFi only matters if you like reviewing your footage a lot. Otherwise many people don’t have a need for that and can just take the SD card out if needed.
It has a F/1.8 aperture which is great if you are driving in low light conditions and need superb image quality. The lens is able to take in a lot of light.
Dash Cam Features in a Mercedes Benz
Motion Detection
Can dash cams really detect motion? Yes! Many newer models call it several different names like Parking Mode or Motion Detection. Motion detection being activated will utilize your dash cam when the car is off and you are away. Any motion will wake the camera up and begin recording. This is synonymous with parking mode. If you find yourself parking outside a lot in unsupervised areas, you might consider this feature when you purchase a dash cam.
Form Factor
I mentioned before that if you own a Mercedes, you can’t have a car that’s too “busy”. That’s just my opinion, though. Too busy means bumper stickers, fluffy dice hanging from the mirror and stuffed animals on the dash. I love the clean look and having a dash cam that hangs out just doesn’t work for a Mercedes Benz. All of our recommendations are dash cams that have a discrete form factor that flows well with the vehicle. People won’t even know if you have a dash cam!
Wide Angle
Having sufficient coverage of your windshield is necessary when it comes to car security. It makes perfect sense, you want the front of the car covered by the camera and you want it to capture anything that happens. Our top recommendation has 170 degrees FOV or field of view. Like the front, if you decide to go with a rear facing dash cam, you want to be able to capture as much as possible.
WiFi Capabilities
While it may be a luxury for some, WiFi can be extremely important. The ease of use to simply connect your smartphone to the dash cam is so much easier than taking out the SD card, going to the computer and viewing the footage. I feel like luxury cars get pulled over by the cops more often so having the ability to pull up footage on the spot could be good for you, though be sure you were in the right before showing the footage. It could backfire on you.
Conclusion
I hope you have a better idea of what direction you want to go for a dash cam in a Mercedes-Benz. Whether it be a Mercedes C Class or E Class, they are expensive cars and should be protected like an investment.