I have been turning wrenches in my driveway outside Dalton for about 30 years, and I have seen what a fender bender does to a person's week. The other driver swears one thing, the insurance company wants proof, and suddenly it is your word against theirs. A dash cam takes that argument off the table. I put a REDTIGER F7NP in my 2012 F-150 about six months ago, and it has already paid for itself in peace of mind. Here are ten reasons I think every vehicle ought to have one.
Stop guessing what happened. Start recording it.
The REDTIGER F7NP records the road ahead and behind you in 4K, and it comes with a card included so you can start using it the day it arrives.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →It settles the he-said-she-said before it starts
The biggest reason I recommend a dash cam is the simplest one: video does not argue. When the other driver tells the officer the light was green and you know it was red, the footage settles it. I have watched neighbors spend months fighting a claim over a parking lot scrape. With a camera, that conversation takes about ten minutes. My neighbor's sedan got clipped in a Kroger lot back in March, and the other driver swore they never touched it. No camera, no witnesses, so he ate the deductible. I thought about that the whole drive home.
It can lower what you pay for insurance
A lot of insurance companies give a discount for a dash cam, the same way they do for anti-theft gear. It is not a huge number, but it adds up over the years. And when you do have to file a claim, the video usually means the adjuster can close it faster instead of dragging out an investigation. My agent told me to send her the footage before I even filed the paperwork, and she said a clear video can turn a two-week claims dance into a two-day one. That is time and hassle you do not get back.
It watches your truck while you are parked
The F7NP has a parking mode that keeps an eye on things when the ignition is off. I have a neighbor whose mirror was knocked off in a lot, and the driver just left. With a camera, you have a plate and a time stamp. That alone is worth the price of admission. I wired mine to the fuse box with a hardwire kit so the parking mode actually runs, and it has caught a raccoon wandering past the driveway at 2:14 in the morning. Nothing useful yet, but I like knowing it is there.
It protects you from false claims
It is not just the other driver you have to worry about. Sometimes it is the person in the car behind you who suddenly claims you backed into them. Video shows what actually happened. I would rather have the footage and not need it than need it and not have it. A buddy of mine had a guy jump out at a gas station and claim my buddy's door had dinged his car, and the station camera was pointed the wrong way. He had to pay out of pocket just to make it go away. That story is why I stopped debating and bought the REDTIGER.
It records the rear view too
The F7NP is a front and rear setup, so you are covered from both directions. The rear camera is small and mounts on the back window without blocking your view. That matters when someone rear-ends you at a stoplight, which is one of the most common claims there is. I ran the rear cable along the headliner and down the passenger side, and it took maybe ten extra minutes. Now I can see the truck behind me in the same clip as the one in front, which is the difference between a full story and half of one.
It gives you a clear picture at night
The F7NP uses a STARVIS 2 sensor, which is made for low light. I have pulled clips at night and been surprised how readable the plates are. If you drive rural roads like I do, where the only light is your headlights, that matters more than you would think. On a moonless night on Highway 136, I could still make out the tag on a car that cut me off, and that was without any streetlights for a mile. I did not expect that from a camera in this price range.
It is easy to install yourself
You do not need a shop to put one of these in. The F7NP mounts to the windshield with a sticky pad, and the cable tucks up under the headliner and down the A-pillar. I had mine running in about twenty minutes, and I did not have to take anything apart. If you can change your own wiper blades, you can install this. I did the front camera first, drove around for a week, then added the rear camera one Saturday morning with a cup of coffee on the workbench. The whole job used a trim tool and a pair of needle-nose pliers.
It comes with a memory card, so it works out of the box
A lot of dash cams show up and you realize you need to buy a card separately. The F7NP includes one, which sounds like a small thing until you are standing in the driveway with a camera you cannot use yet. It records in a loop, so you never have to worry about running out of space. The included card is 32 gigs, which gives me about three days of driving before it starts writing over the oldest clips. I pull anything I want to keep onto my laptop the same day, and I have never lost a clip I needed.
It is built to handle a hot Georgia summer
Heat is what kills electronics in a car, and I have seen cheap cameras warp and shut down in July. The F7NP has held up through a full summer in my truck, including a few afternoons where the interior got hot enough to cook on. That durability is the reason I trust it as a daily driver. Last August the thermometer on my workbench read 101, and the truck sat in the sun for six hours while I was inside. When I climbed in and turned the key, the camera booted up and started recording like nothing happened.
It is cheaper than a deductible
A dash cam costs a fraction of what you would pay out of pocket after an accident, and it works every single time you drive. Think of it as the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. One avoided dispute pays for it, and everything after that is just peace of mind. My deductible is a thousand dollars, and one fender bender without a witness would eat that in a heartbeat. The REDTIGER F7NP has been on my windshield for six months and has not missed a single start, and that reliability is worth more than any feature list.
What I'd Skip
If you are the kind of person who never drives more than a few miles from home and you are not worried about parking lot damage, you can probably skip a dash cam. And if you want a camera with a fancy app and a million settings, the F7NP is not that. It is a straightforward tool that does one job well. That is exactly why I like it. It is not the camera for someone who wants to livestream their commute or geek out over phone apps. It is for the person who wants to mount it, forget it, and have the footage when the day comes that they need it.
I would rather have the footage and not need it than need it and not have it.
The cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
The REDTIGER F7NP records front and rear, works in low light, and comes with a card included. Mount it once and forget it is there.
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