Botslab G980H Review - Side Cams for 360 Coverage

Hey, what's up, guys? So, let's take a look at the Botslab G980H. This is a dash cam that has some dedicated side-facing cameras here like this on both the left and the right-hand side.

And so, this is a four-channel dash cam that can record not only front and rear like a traditional dash cam, but it also means that it can capture inside the vehicle as well as off to either side.

This way you get more of that 360° coverage in case something happens while you're driving or while you're parked.

Maybe somebody wants to break into your car while you're gone or you wind up getting a door ding. And these side cams are also really nice in case maybe you have an encounter with law enforcement, you know, maybe you get pulled over and license and registration, please. Now,

you've got the dedicated cameras here to record yourself, your passenger, as well as law enforcement regardless of what side they want to approach here in your vehicle. Now, this design here with the

vehicle. Now, this design here with the add-on cam attached to the main front camera is a little bit different than what I'm traditionally using here where I've got my main front cameras here like this, and then I've got some separate interior cams that can record here

inside the car, but are also ultra-wide to help record the sides while also keeping these cameras in a more optimal position right up here. And then the front camera is kind of hidden behind my rearview mirror like this. And in this video, we're going to go ahead and focus

in on these dedicated side cams here on the G980H. And then we're also going to

the G980H. And then we're also going to take a look at the dash cam as a whole to see how good of a dash cam is it. How

good is the video quality? How good is the audio quality? How good is its parking mode implementation? And then

also at the very end, I also want to touch on an important privacy note when choosing a dash cam specifically here from Botslab. And so, with that said,

from Botslab. And so, with that said, let's go ahead and take a closer look now here at this G980H four-channel.

Now, to start things off, let's begin here by taking a look at the design of the dash cam. Now, I've got it set up with the full four-channel configuration, so front, rear, left and right. And for starting off with the

right. And for starting off with the front cam, the lens here is actually adjustable in different angles depending on how it's installed in the car here with double-stick tape. There's also an optional polarizer that's available here

like this. It just attaches here to the

like this. It just attaches here to the front camera, though it does have pretty poor build quality I'm finding. There's

a number of uh disappointing factors here with the dash cam.

Speaking of which, they advertise it as a 4K dash cam, but this is not a 4K sensor, which we'll touch on here in just a moment. Uh the rear cam is going to be a barrel-shaped dash cam here like this. You've got your standard

this. You've got your standard double-stick tape. Then flipping it over

double-stick tape. Then flipping it over here, as you can see, we have all four cameras hooked up. And you can actually see all of the dash cams here at the same time. So, here's the front. Uh

same time. So, here's the front. Uh

here's the rear. Here's the left, and here is the right. Uh now, these cameras here are also adjustable. You can have them pointing inside the car, uh off to the side at 90°, or even somewhere in between. I personally like to have it

between. I personally like to have it somewhere in between, that way I can capture maybe the inside of the car, the passengers, as well as off to the side windows, too. Then resolution-wise,

windows, too. Then resolution-wise, these are going to be 1080p cameras just like the rear cam. And then the front camera like this, it's sold as either like a 3K or 4K option depending on how many cameras you've got hooked up. Uh

right now, I've got it set up with all four channels, so you see it says uh 3K right there in the corner. And if we go here into the uh settings, and if we take a look at the resolution, you can see it says uh 3K for the front and then

1080p for all of the other options. Now,

they also sell the same dash cam as a three-channel model where they remove one of the side cams and they leave on the other one that you can run here as an interior cam. Now, when you do that, you do have the option here to run it as

a 4K dash cam. And if we take a look here in the settings, you'll see that it says now 4K for the front and 1080p here for the other two cameras. Though again,

this is not going to be a 4K capable dash cam. That's different if you go for

dash cam. That's different if you go for the two-channel version, which is just front and rear. For that model, they use a different front image sensor. It's the

Sony Starvis IMX415, and that actually is a 4K sensor. Now, when you buy it with a three-channel or four-channel configuration, it does come with a different front image sensor. It's the

Smart Sense SC501AI.

That is a 5-megapixel sensor, what we traditionally refer to as like a 2K sensor. And with this lower res and

sensor. And with this lower res and lower quality image sensor, you're going to see reduced video quality compared to the competition, and I'll cover this here in more detail once we get to the video quality section. Now, when you

have it set up as a three-channel dash cam and it's recording in 4K, it will output a 4K video file at 25 FPS, not at 30. Uh but it's really just an

30. Uh but it's really just an interpolated image. They've stretched a

interpolated image. They've stretched a 2K or 3K image up to 4K, which does not add any additional video quality. On the

other hand, when you're running it in a full four-channel configuration and the front cam is recording at 3K, uh it's going to be recording at 2880 by 1620 at again 25 FPS. And so, this is closer to

the native resolution of the sensor, giving you that 2K or I guess we could call it 3K video. Now, coming back to the design of the dash cam, the rear cam does have a little quick-release connector here like this to make

installation a little bit easier. And

then there's two connectors here on the side of the dash cam. We've got uh USB Type-C here for power as well as micro HDMI for the rear cam. The LCD on the back of the dash cam is a touch screen

that lets you go in and change different settings without having to use the app, which is a feature that I do like here.

That said, there is an issue if you're going to be using it here with polarized sunglasses because if you want to trigger the emergency recording with this button here, you have to press the button on the LCD like that to trigger

emergency recording. However, if you're

emergency recording. However, if you're using polarized sunglasses, you cannot actually see the display here to go in and push the button like this.

And so, in order to do it, you got to either take off your glasses or turn your head a little bit like this in order to be able to see the button. Now,

there is a physical button here on the bottom of the dash cam that you can press, but all this does is turn the display on and off. I wish it could actually trigger the emergency recording uh instead, but that's not an option.

The other way to do it is to use the voice controls here on the dash cam, which is kind of nice, but I never really like voice controls because it doesn't always hear you over the road noise while you're driving, and it does sometimes incorrectly trigger emergency

recording just if you're listening to the radio or something. And so, I really like having the dedicated button, but I want a physical button that doesn't rely on a touch screen like this because of the fact that if you're wearing

polarized sunglasses, you simply can't see what's going on here with the dash cam and where to press the button while you've got your eyes on the road. Next,

let's take a look at the video quality, and we'll start off here first with the front cam. Now, for all of the different

front cam. Now, for all of the different dash cams, they're going to record at only 25 FPS instead of 30. And so, if you notice that the video seems a little bit more jerky, that's why. Now, the

front camera like most any dash cam is going to be able to give you a general overview as far as what's going on around your vehicle. It can capture license plates particularly in easier scenarios and especially in the daytime.

But due to the lower resolution sensor, it's not going to be as good as some of your high-end dash cams. Additionally, if you're running it as a three-channel dash cam, which will stretch that image up to 4K, that does not add any

additional detail or video quality the way you would get if you actually capture at 4K. And so, this contributes to both the lower video quality and the lower price point compared to a true 4K

dash cam. Now, some of the biggest image

dash cam. Now, some of the biggest image deficits actually come at night. again

give you a general overview as far as what's going on, but this dash cam does not have HDR. It does have WDR, but compared to dash cams that have the dual

exposure HDR capability, you'll notice that it's really going to struggle when it comes to capturing license plates as you pull up behind a car and your headlights are shining directly on that reflective license plate. This is a

really common scenario that you're going to want the dash cam to help you with at night, and unfortunately here with this Botslab, because this lower-end sensor does not have HDR, it's just not going to be able to reliably help you capture

those license plates. Then moving on to the rear cam, it's going to record here at 1080p. And again, I noticed the video

at 1080p. And again, I noticed the video quality is definitely pretty poor. Now,

the optimal situation is again in the daytime when a car pulls up right behind you nice and close, and so you're able to capture that license plate. But I

find that in less than optimal conditions, this is where I find it start to struggle way more than other dash cams. And I don't think it's just due to its lower resolution. I compared

it with a few other rear cams I got installed, and to be fair, those are 2K rear cams instead of 1080p like we've got with the Botslab. But either way, with the Botslab, you'll notice you really do have to get close up here to a

car back behind you in order for the dash cam to be able to capture that license plate back behind. Now, what I'm most curious about here, of course, is going to be the side cams. Now, both of these also record at 1080p, and we don't

need crazy high resolution or anything to record something right inside the car. But again, you do notice some

car. But again, you do notice some limitations if you try to look maybe outside the car or something. Video

quality here is okay. It's passable.

It's usable to again record what's going on inside the vehicle and to see what's going on outside. I do notice that because it does not have an IR filter on the interior cams, black clothing can

sometimes show up as purple depending on the quality of the fabric. And then at night, thanks to the infrared LEDs around each of the side lenses, you do have the ability to light up the inside of the car and record what's going on

inside the vehicle. Now, those LEDs are not designed to help record what's going on outside. That's what things like

on outside. That's what things like street lights and headlights are for.

But again, the dash cam can help you record off to the sides here, which is really one of the main appeals of this dash cam. Now, personally, I kind of

dash cam. Now, personally, I kind of like the all-in-one ultra-wide view of my traditional interior cams that can record the inside of the car and off to the sides in one single video file. But

this is definitely a nice capability that helps you get that interior and side coverage here from the dedicated side cams. It does make the front cam bigger and bulkier and blocks more of your visibility up ahead. But the

benefit is it does make the installation here easier when the side cams are connected here to the main front cam.

And adjusting the angle of the different side cams, my favorite field of view is having the two kind of record the driver and the passengers in the interior of the car a little bit, and then also trying to angle them out to get the side

windows as well. And having the customizability here with these dedicated side cams lets you angle them exactly where you need depending on the shape and size of your specific vehicle.

Next, let's do a quick audio test here with the dash cam so you can hear how well the microphone can pick up my voice over the sound of the road noise, for example. I'm doing about 40 miles an

example. I'm doing about 40 miles an hour, maybe 45 or so. Uh and this is what the uh microphone sounds like here from the dash cam. And here's a quick sample of what the audio sounds like when it's raining out. There's a little

bit more noise from not only the road, but also the rain on the windshield.

Maybe not the normal thing that we test, but here in Seattle it rains quite a bit, so I figured we'll just do a quick sample of this here as well.

Next, let's take a look at the parking recording modes and how useful a dash cam is like this with these side cams at recording what's going on around your car. And if we take a look here at the

car. And if we take a look here at the parking mode settings, there's two main parking modes. You've got century mode

parking modes. You've got century mode here, which is going to give you motion detection, as well as impact detection, and you have a time lapse video mode.

Now, traditionally, the motion detection and impact detection are going to be my go-to options. And with the front cam

go-to options. And with the front cam here, the motion detection actually works really well. Additionally, that'll

also trigger recording on the other cams as well, so you get that side and rear coverage, too. That said, I've also

coverage, too. That said, I've also noticed that the motion detection will sometimes trigger unnecessarily. History

detected. But I think the bigger issue is the fact that these side cams here and the rear cam do not actually work for motion detection. And so, for that reason, if you're buying this to record in case of like a police encounter or

something, this dash cam will not trigger when the cop is standing next to your car. Additionally, the G sensor for

your car. Additionally, the G sensor for the impact detection doesn't work very well, either. I was able to enter my car

well, either. I was able to enter my car and crawl around inside the car without this Botslab cam ever waking up and beginning recording. And so, unless

beginning recording. And so, unless somebody like really hits the camera, the impact detection is not going to trigger the dash cam, either. And so,

without good uh motion detection recording here on these cams, I think it really kind of defeats the purpose of choosing this specific model. Now, if

there was an impact detected while you were gone, the dash cam can actually notify you of that next time you get back in the car. But because the impact detection doesn't work that well in the first place, I found myself not really

benefiting from this feature. Now, the

other option is to switch to the uh time lapse recording mode here like this.

This way the dash cam is going to be continuously recording everything while you're parked from all four of the different camera angles. The obvious

downside, though, is the fact that it's going to be recording this sped-up video and with no audio. And so, you can see this sped-up video of what's going on, but you do not get any audio recordings again in case maybe a cop pulls you over

or something. And so, for this reason, I

or something. And so, for this reason, I don't really see this as being a viable option here to get your uh parking recording, especially if you really want to get these side cams working while you're parked, too. There's also some other minor annoyances, how like you've

got this uh screen saver right here, which can show the clock while the dash cam is idling and is recording in the background, but in case of daylight saving time, there is no option to actually change the hour here. The only

option here, uh when the time is off by an hour, is to go into day and time, and then we're going to be changing the time zone directly. There is no option for

zone directly. There is no option for like a 1-hour DST offset. So, there's

little things like that that could be nice to have them improve, but I think some of the biggest issues are things like the uh sub-standard video quality and the parking mode implementation.

Now, the G980H also has Wi-Fi built in, and so you can pop up its Wi-Fi hotspot and connect to it here from the dash cam. Uh that way you can do things like

cam. Uh that way you can do things like uh live stream the video directly from the dash cam to the phone, both the live video and the previously recorded video, as well as go in and change the different settings to the dash cam. And

even though there's an LCD here on the back of the dash cam, I find it really useful when maybe like installing the rear cam, for example. This way you can get it installed on the rear window, and then just use the phone to make sure you got the rear cam aimed exactly where you

want. Additionally, you can go and

want. Additionally, you can go and replay or watch the uh previously recorded video that's been saved on the memory card while you're driving around.

Now, as far as transfer speeds, it's got 5 GHz Wi-Fi built in, and they advertise about a 10 MB per second uh transfer speed, but we can try uh downloading a video here real quick. And let's go ahead and uh start downloading, and I'll

just put here on screen how long it takes to download this roughly 150 MB front cam file. And so, it's not crazy fast or anything, but it is definitely still usable. Personally, though, I

still usable. Personally, though, I still like uh taking the memory card out of the dash cam itself like that, and then just popping it directly into the computer. And then, as far as the dash

computer. And then, as far as the dash cam settings, you can of course go in here and adjust the different uh dash cam options here, the different settings, instead of going in uh right there. Uh and then, resolution, as we

there. Uh and then, resolution, as we talked about before, you can see we've got uh 3K, 1080p for the others, or I guess you can do 1080p here for the front cam, if you want. Uh 4K for the front cam is only going to be available if you uh disconnect one of these add-on

cams and you run it as a three-channel or less setup. And using the app, we also have the option to go in here and update the firmware, which is definitely convenient. Looks like I've got the

convenient. Looks like I've got the latest firmware right now, so when I try to update it, it's not going to actually let me load in anything newer. Now, as

for this app, I do want to mention a specific privacy concern when you're using anything here that's created by Botslab. You see, Botslab as a company

Botslab. You see, Botslab as a company here, they make a number of different products, everything from dash cams for the car to security cameras for the outside or inside of your home. And this

company is actually a sub-brand for a Chinese company called Qihoo 360. And

the thing is about Qihoo 360, there are some big security concerns here with their products. So much so that the US

their products. So much so that the US government has actually added them to the entity list. And what that means is that the ERC has determined that uh Qihoo 360, along with several other

companies, they say that there is a reasonable cause to believe that these entities pose a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security

interests of the United States. And so,

obviously, that is a really big deal that we don't normally see from different dash cam companies. And so, I don't know if it applies to their dash cams the way it does for some of their other security cameras. You see, back in

uh 2017, uh it looks like they were actually webcasting different uh live security cameras, private webcams, and IP cams in a way that was uh violating people's privacy uh and their rights.

And so, I don't know if this is still happening, but that's obviously a big concern. And so, national security

concern. And so, national security interests aside, I feel like this dash cam itself is overall a pretty cheapy and half-baked dash cam. I mean, the cool part is that you have these side cams here, so you've got the full uh you

know, four-channel configuration here to record in different directions, but otherwise, the dash cam is kind of cheapy. You know, the video quality is

cheapy. You know, the video quality is definitely sub-par, the parking mode implementation is pretty poor, but really, I guess the big appeal is just the fact that we've got uh these additional cameras here like this that

can connect to uh either side. And as

much as I really like different dash cams that can record in different angles like this to give you more of that 360° coverage, I don't feel like this one fully fits the bill, especially if you want something that can uh record reliably off to the sides in case maybe

you get pulled over by the police or something.

Uh this is going to do that if you're in driving mode, but if they make you turn off the car, the parking mode is not going to be doing a sufficiently good job to ensure that you're recording things on uh both sides in case somebody approaches your vehicle from the side.

And that, I think, is really one of the big appeals here of this dash cam, and unfortunately, this G980H falls short.

Now, you can check out my full list of the best dash cams that are available at different price points and with different features, and I'll link to that for you down in the description below, underneath to where you can go and purchase this dash cam here, if you

like. But either way, thanks so much for

like. But either way, thanks so much for watching. Uh that's a look here at the

watching. Uh that's a look here at the Botslab G980H.

I hope you guys are all doing well. Stay

safe, and I'll see you in the next one.

Bye.