Baseus’ solar-powered dash cam keeps an eye on your parked car for up to two weeks

Baseus has announced a new dash cam that can continue capturing incidents even while your vehicle is turned off. The PrimeTrip VD1 Pro includes both a rechargeable battery and a high-efficiency solar panel it uses to record incidents when motion or impacts are detected for up to 14 days while your car is parked, without draining your vehicle’s battery.

It’s available now through Amazon for $169.99 (discounted to $109.99 with a coupon that expires on October 1st) and while the VD1 Pro doesn’t need to be hardwired to your vehicle’s electrical system or fuse box during installation, it’s definitely not a wireless solution. While you’re driving the main unit draws power from your vehicle’s auxiliary outlet so its 4K camera with a 170-degree wide-angle field of view can record continually, ensuring the events leading up to an incident are captured. Another cable, which you’ll need to conceal in the seams of your car’s trim panels, connects the main unit to a second 1080p rear camera with a 120-degree field of view for capturing what’s happening behind your vehicle.

The VD1 Pro’s solar panel is about as small as those used on calculators so the unit remains unobtrusive, but it only generates enough power to extend the dash cam’s battery, not keep it charged indefinitely. As a result, you’ll only get up to 14 days of what Baseus calls “standby parking monitoring.” When motion around the vehicle or an impact is detected, the dash cam will wake and capture 30-second clips from the front and rear cameras up to a maximum of 20 incidents or 40 clips that are stored on a 32GB microSD card that can be upgraded. If you’re parking someplace like an underground garage where the available lighting is limited, you can expect the battery life to be reduced.

Other features include continuous loop recording that will automatically overwrite the oldest videos when the microSD card gets full, and hands-free voice controls. The VD1 Pro connects to the Baseus mobile app over Wi-Fi 6 for wirelessly downloading videos from the dashcam or uploading firmware updates.