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The Waylens Horizon is an interior-mounted car camera that records HD video from the driver’s perspective. While you might be inclined to consider the Horizon another dash-cam clone, its features and functionality separate it from the majority of the pack; for example, it uses an OBD-II dongle to capture vehicle data and overlay that information over the video feed. While OBD-II data overlay has been among the feature sets of more expensive setups for years, it’s never been as affordable—or as seamlessly integrated—until now.
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We were provided a Horizon unit for review recently. At first glance, its architecture represents a radical departure from just about every other camera on the market. Its conical shape is curious, but the form factor allows for a 1.39-inch AMOLED display without adding significant bulk to the entire package. It also provides enough room to house a seven-element aspherical lens and a 1/1.8-inch backlit image sensor. This all translates into a very high-quality 1080p image with good low-light performance compared with many competitors.
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The interesting aesthetic can also create its own set of challenges, particularly mounting; the options are limited because of the unique design as well as the accessories. The single suction-cup mount attaches to the camera unit via a quick-disconnect mechanism. The camera is then powered and charged through this suction-cup assembly, effectively eliminating other mounting options for continuous usage. The mount itself was not as stable as we would have preferred; traveling over rough roads created shakier footage than we expected.
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The Horizon captures video in a continuous-loop mode. The user can manually trigger a highlight function by pressing the single-button remote control. Highlights saves video clips of predetermined duration both before and after the push of the remote button. That duration can be changed using the Waylens smartphone app. For our testing, we set the duration for 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after button press, yielding 60-second clips. This allows you to capture a window of time for future playback, even if you can’t press the highlights button immediately once you start to see events unfold in front of you that you want to capture.
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The brains behind much of the Horizon’s functionality are found in the companion smartphone app. The app is a hub for videos and a way to access all the settings and parameters of the Horizon camera. You can very easily share videos and car data to all the usual social-media channels, and the Waylens app also allows you to share your videos with other Waylens users—including bragging rights to the fastest zero-to-60-mph and zero-to-30-mph times via the Leaderboard section. If you’d like to edit your content on a more robust platform, Waylens offers its own Waylens Studio desktop application as well.
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Given the technological wizardry and the upscale design language of the Waylens package, who is the primary audience? The Horizon is aimed at automotive enthusiasts eager to record their escapades both on- and off-road. While it is certainly capable of doing that, scrolling through the Waylens user-video section shows a more common and general-purpose use: Many users are capturing footage of poor driving behavior and even accidents happening right in front of them. The unique highlight-and-capture functionality lends itself to documenting and sharing such events quickly, without searching through hours of computer footage. As with most new technology, early users will shape the direction of future development.We suspect you could think of uses for one.
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The Waylens camera is available for $ 499.95 via the Waylens store.
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