Review: 4/5 TOGUARD Mirror Dash Cam

dandamano

Well-known user
Aug 12, 2011
5,862
4,949
Wolverhampton
Been after a dashcam for a while and came across this Toguard one on ebay

For the price of £27 couldnt really go wrong

After having lived with it for a few days this is my review

Good

1. Simple to install and use, simply clips onto the existing rear view mirror

2. Video quality is excellent 1080p on front camera and 720p on the rear

3. Rear camera is included and records both front and back and sound

4. The parking sensor is very good any knock or loud sound near the car sets it to record

5.The files saved to the SD card are seperated and easy to find, it names the files so you can see it at a glance if its the front or rear camera or a parking sensor recording

The Bad
1. If you of average height like me to get a perfect view in the front camera you have to angle it at such a way you cant see all in the rear view mirror without ducking a little, but this can be counteracted by using the rear camera to display on the screen or loosing a little side view of the front camera

2.On the cougar you can see a corner of the standard rear view mirror behind this one(not an issue on the focus)

All in id recommend this camera to anyone in the market for one

Ill post a 'how to' of fitting it including how to hard wire it in the coming days

VTDIuUw.jpg


Ebay link to item

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183137387250
 
Been after a dashcam for a while and came across this Toguard one on ebay

For the price of £27 couldnt really go wrong

After having lived with it for a few days this is my review

Good

1. Simple to install and use, simply clips onto the existing rear view mirror

2. Video quality is excellent 1080p on front camera and 720p on the rear

3. Rear camera is included and records both front and back and sound

4. The parking sensor is very good any knock or loud sound near the car sets it to record

5.The files saved to the SD card are seperated and easy to find, it names the files so you can see it at a glance if its the front or rear camera or a parking sensor recording

The Bad
1. If you of average height like me to get a perfect view in the front camera you have to angle it at such a way you cant see all in the rear view mirror without ducking a little, but this can be counteracted by using the rear camera to display on the screen or loosing a little side view of the front camera

2.On the cougar you can see a corner of the standard rear view mirror behind this one(not an issue on the focus)

All in id recommend this camera to anyone in the market for one

Ill post a 'how to' of fitting it including how to hard wire it in the coming days

VTDIuUw.jpg


Ebay link to item

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183137387250

Good review, I've got something similar but RAC branded - doesn't have rear camera but does have speed camera warnings. I noticed the same where you have to angle the mirror to get a full front view for the camera which means you have to lean over slightly for a full rear view in the mirror. I wonder if this is due to having been intended for LHD markets with the camera mounted on the left side of the unit? Anyway, have been in the market for a second one for Wildcat so may well invest in one of these (y)
 
Thats a good point about it being designed for the LHD market, I did think when fitting it trying to get a good view of the road on the camera with still being able to see in the rear view it would be so much better with the camera on the other side of the unit, our cars being RHD explains it
 
I may well get one of these for Millie the Micra. I'd love one in the Audi, but I'm a little nervous of messing about with that, lest I bugger something up!
 
I had a similar thing to this some years back in the Sierra iirc, very good it was too. Back then it was called "Magic Mirror". I have the mondy anti- dazzle mirror in DG atm but am considering replacing it with another one of these but i am looking at the central display ones, @ +£5
 
Fitted today for me about an hour at my speed try it out tomorrow on way to work rear camera stuck on rear window didn't realise how much cable hiding there is not hot wired it in to overhead light see how it goes so far so good
 
Yep tried tested works great even when not plugged in to ciggy lighter records bump I no lol question how many leave it plugged in to ciggy lighter is there a drain on battery thanks oh and happy Easter
 
I've hardwired mine so no need for the ciggy lighter and wires dangling all over the dash. I have it permanently "ON" monitoring parking but it only draws any kind of current when the am actually switches on. The dashcam auto switches on with the ignition.
 
Ive hardwired mine in too so cant comment for sure but I wouldnt leave it plugged into the ciggy lighter when the engine isnt running as it will constantly be drawing power to charge the interal battery on the dashcam
 
You can get a 128gb card for about £15 now Matt.

You can always transfer the files from the SD card to a laptop before formatting , a 128gb will get you almost 12 hours of footage so it would be a once a day thing.

Be aware though it records on a 3 min loop so you'll have a fair few files
 
Will the camera read the 128Gb card though? A lot of devices are limited in how much capacity they can 'see' and utilise. Case in point, the Sony head unit I had in my Cougar (might be still there, Noel?) had a USB port on the front, into which I put a low profile 128Gb flash drive. I loaded it up with a ton of music only to find the head unit would only access about half of it as it was limited to 64Gb, regardless of the capacity of drive actually fitted.
 
The Sony Xplod head unit is still there Rich - I rather like it. You don't perchance have the remote control do you ? I don't tend to use the memory stick, which as you point out is a 64Gb. However, it came with 10Gb of varied files on it, but I prefer to use Spotify via bluetooth. I have also fitted a CD changer in the glovebox and understand it will accomodate 2 more changers if I felt like it !

I would say that it is highly recommended to buy memory sticks / cards etc., from a reputable source ( i.e. NOT far east / eBay ). There are a number of scams where the capacity can be less than advertised, typically 25%. They appear to work, but either the files get overwritten or the same files appear more then once. They can also be much slower and less reliable than they should be. I have some utilities that can analyse them, format and test them....