With two new drivers in our home, my husband and I naturally have the same concerns all parents do. We’d love to have some extra peace of mind and we think the Cobra SC 201 Smart Dash Cam will help provide it!
Thanks to our partnership with Cobra, we’ve had the opportunity to test out the Cobra SC 201 Dual-View Smart Dash Cam with Built-In Cabin View and have found it to be exactly the solution we were seeking.
The Cobra SC 201 checks all the boxes for features and ease-of-use you want. It’s the modern drivers ideal companion for every twist and turn of the road. Easy to install with incredible picture quality, it’s more than just a camera, it’s a smart system to help keep you and your loved ones safe and secure this holiday season and beyond!
Why Buy a Dash Cam?
Sending your teens out on the road is a scary proposition. With over a half century of driving as passengers and primary driver, both my husband and I are well aware of the hazards out there. Obviously, ensuring that your teen has proper drivers education and training is of great importance, but even still, as a parent, I know all-too-well that it’s still nerve-wracking when your child gets their first car.
The truth is, we can’t be there ever time to ensure their safety but we can equip them with all the best tools to help including the Cobra SC 201 Dual-View Smart Dash Cam. Drivers in Europe and Asia have been using dash cams for years and now they are finally, thankfully, beginning to take off her in the States, too.
The Cobra SC 201 gives you and your teen driver a great advantage on the road with handy features including monitoring both the front-view and interior cabin-view of the vehicle, motion detection, lane departure warnings, and speed alerts.
Dash cams are a fantastic gift for new drivers, the parents of new drivers, commuters, road trippers, anyone in the transportation industry (including Uber/Lyft drivers,) and general car enthusiasts everywhere!
Cobra SC 201 Features
A typical dash cam is simply just a camera, but the Cobra SC 201 Dual-View Smart Dash Cam with Built-in Cabin View is a game changer, transforming the cam into a multi-tasking smart device.
Cobra SC 201 gifts drivers (and parents of new drivers!) advanced safety and security benefits benefits including:
- the ability to monitor the road ahead and behind the vehicle
- monitoring of the inside of the vehicle
- two-inch display with infrared cabin night vision
- compact system that doesn’t block field of vision when driving
- real-time alerts of traffic conditions from the Cobra community of drivers
- built-in GPS
- Bluetooth capability for use with smartphones
- and cloud video management.
Using data from your standard cellular phone plan features, the Cobra SC 201 can track and show time, date, location, and speed information. All recorded video is accessible remotely or on-the-spot with the Drive Smarter cloud storage feature. This is one of our favorite features as it makes it super convenient check in on your teen in real time, gifting you peace-of-mind.
Your young driver has more peace-of-mind, too, with the advantage of being able to easily build trust in their driving skills and adherence to road rules. Plus having much need support while driving.
Installation
It took only about five minutes total to start and install the Cobra SC 201. Really, that’s it! If you’ve ever installed a smart camera in your home or on your front door, it’s a very similar process.
The unit adheres easily to the window of the car. The power adapter uses your vehicle’s 12-volt power source for quick plug and play. We opted to place ours near the rear view mirror for ample coverage, ease of viewing, and to ensure the camera didn’t obstruct view.
Once the Cobra SC 201 is installed, it starts up automatically when the car starts and stops when the engine is turned off. If you are involved in a collision, the built-in sensor detects changes and saves the footage.
Performance
After installation, it was super easy to use and enjoy all the features of the Cobra SC 201 Dual-View Smart Dash Cam with Built-in Cabin View. Our initial test was a drive through our neighborhood so that we could get used to all the features before taking it out on the main roads. We quickly learned it’s simple to master the touch controls and enjoy all the features.
With up to 1080p resolution, the picture is quite clear, even in low light. We had a wide field of view both inside and outside the car.
You can monitor the view in real time but can also easily access it on your phone via wireless. This feature is great as it means we can check in our son’s driving and receive alerts if something goes awry. We discovered the unit also has the capability of instantly sharing your policy number, event details and videos from your car camera to insurance companies and will also send emergency contact an automatic text message in the event of a serious accident.
Our son loves it too. For any young driver, having up-to-date tech tools to use is a thrill and he readily sees the value for all of us.
Overall, we’re very pleased with the ease of installation, the quality of the video, the real-time alerts feature, and the ability to have advanced safety and security features installed in our son’s car.
My husband and I think we’ll be adding additional Cobra SC 201 units to some of our other vehicles, especially our truck which we often use for camping and boat trips. The extra peace-of-mind is and will be a more-than welcome holiday gift for us all!
This is a great gift idea. I have a teen learning to drive and this would give me huge peace of mind. Great idea!
Isn’t it nerve-wracking?! We have two teen drivers right now, my youngest is the one pictured who just got his license. I’m truly thrilled to have this extra tool to help keep him safe and sound!
These cameras are great for safety. A little over a year ago, someone hit-and-ran while we were in my husband’s SUV at a bbq restaurant. They just took off. We didn’t have a camera at the time, but a police officer recommended that we get them. However, the functionality that we have is not nearly as advanced as what you have because it looks like you get a wider view. We’ll have to look into this!
Oh wow! I bet that was not a fun experience! It’s truly a smart device to own and so handy for things like that, for sure. The wide view is awesome to have. Highly recommend checking out this model when you have a chance to!
My husband would love this. Thanks for the gift idea.
You’re welcome! Glad we could inspire your gift giving this season!
This is a great gift idea, not only for our young drivers, but for peace of mind while on road trips! Even with your head on constant swivel, every vehicle has a blind spot or two. This handy device could help in so many scenario’s.