Tom's Guide Verdict
Unless you’re on the tightest of budgets and absolutely need a dual dash cam, there’s no real reason to pick out the CR350. While its 1080p front camera is just about passable during the day, it falls far short in many other areas. A dash cam to be consigned to the thrift store bargain bin.
Pros
- +
Cheap
- +
Light design
- +
Large display
Cons
- -
Poor sound and image quality
- -
Build feels very cheap
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Field of view: 170°
Resolution: 1080p front, 720p rear
GPS: No
Display: 3” LCD
I know what you’re thinking — a full HD dual dash cam for under $70? Sadly, however, the Crosstour CR350 is one to steer clear of.
It may offer dual camera functionality at a fraction of the cost of its name-brand peers. However, it scores poorly in just about every other department, leaving much to be desired.
Crosstour CR350 dash cam review: Price and availability
The Crosstour CR350 can be purchased from Amazon for $40. You can find the dual-view Crosstour CR350S on the Crosstour website for $770.
Crosstour CR350 dash cam review: Design & features
The Crosstour CR350 adopts a traditional compact camera design with a hexagonal front panel that houses the lens. And with a bodyweight of just 56g, this dash cam is exceptionally light. However, upon picking up CR350, the flaws in the plastic become apparent. With sharp edges and rough, scratchy material, this dash cam feels cheap and flimsy.
It does come with a generous 3-inch display, though, and the front camera features 1080p resolution and 170° viewing angle. On paper those are pretty decent specs.
Besides the waterproof rear camera, the 350’s features are commonplace. An onboard G-sensor triggers when it registers a collision or incident, kickstarting and protecting the recording from being written over. A parking guard can be set up for round-the-clock vibration and motion detection, providing you’re willing to set up a hardwire connection to your vehicle’s power supply.
The bundled 32GB memory card is also a nice touch, as it can be very easy to forget to pick one up otherwise.
Crosstour CR350 dash cam review: Setup
The dash cam comes supplied with two cables for the rear camera and power supply. The former wire is capably long, and the rear unit itself was easy to install near the handle of the trunk, thanks to its reasonably strong adhesive pad.
Installing the camera to the suction mount is achieved using a small slide joint on the camera body. However, this fixture never felt truly solid, and any cable adjustment or nudge to the device threatened to dislodge the unit entirely.
It can also take a while to fully set up the Crosstour CR350. Its menu system feels outdated, while the seven-button arrangement on the body’s sides make it awkward to hold and operate.
Furthermore, this unit lacks any sort of data connectivity or GPS, so you’ll need to change the date and time manually and ferry the memory card to and from a reader to extract footage when needed.
Crosstour CR350 dash cam review: Video and audio quality
During the day, the Crosstour CR350 just about manages a passable effort at short-range image quality. It doesn’t help that the unit feels loose in the slide mount, making it highly vulnerable to judder while on the road.
Contrast, too, can cause problems — in direct incoming sunlight, objects can appear heavily darkened. In low light, colors often look subdued and dull.
Things get worse at night time, however. Images become fuzzy and lack definition, particularly with objects into the distance. Headlights and street lights also cause big issues, inducing huge lens flares in the frame. And at middle ranges, headlamps drastically hinder the ability to make out vehicle tags.
The CR350’s rear camera doesn’t fare much better, unfortunately. Images from this 720p cam were rendered super hazy, as if they were heavily out of focus. In dusky conditions, I struggled to make out a registration plate from a vehicle approximately one car length directly behind me.
Sound is also problematic with this Crosstour cam. It tends to pick up heavy amounts of road noise so that it can be difficult to hear voices, which can play back muffled or sometimes crackled. Overall, like video, audio lacks refinement.
Crosstour CR350 dash cam review: Verdict
Unless you’re on the tightest of budgets and absolutely need a dual dash cam, there’s no real reason to pick out the CR350. While its 1080p front camera is just about passable during the day, it falls far short in many other areas, with a lackluster design, rough audio, and inferior build.
This is a dash cam to be consigned to the thrift store bargain bin.
