Thermal Master NV300 Max hands-on review: A captivating car night vision camera

The NV300 Max uses a 6.4-inch OLED display to provide the video feed from the dashcam. The display resembles a standard smartphone and features a power button, microSD card slot, speaker, USB-C port, and a body constructed of aluminum and glass. On the back is the Thermal Master's logo, and the back is magnetic to make it easy to attach to the provided car mount

The installation is the most intense part of setting up this dashcam. To install the camera, users must place the dashcam on the roof of their vehicle and route the signal wire into the interior. For users needing help with this process, the Kickstarter page for the NV300 Max provides a video on how to route the wire underneath the windshield and over the dash. The video makes the concept seem simple enough and claims it takes five minutes, but it may be more challenging in practice.

In this case, routing the wire under the windshield would not work, and the idea of having wires on the vehicle's dash is rather unappealing. Instead, the wire is routed through the engine bay, past the firewall, and under the interior console on the passenger side of a Jeep Compass. The instructions say to route the wire through the driver's side, but this was decided against to prevent any loose wires from obstructing driver operations. Furthermore, there is more than enough wire to route from the passenger side.

The main feature of the NV300 is the IR thermal imaging camera, and its performance is surprisingly quick and responsive. When the car is started, the display immediately turns on and begins to boot the camera. Initially, the first screen displayed is the thermal feed, which is indeed thermal but looks zoomed in. Unlike most dashcams that feature a wide-angle lens, the thermal camera is locked into a zoomed view with quite a narrow field of view.

Driving the vehicle reveals that this detects heat signatures further out to give drivers more time to react if something is detected in the road. Thermal Master claims this translates to a night vision distance of 300 m or 328 yards. Unfortunately, despite the claims that the thermal camera can handle all inclement weather, fog proved to be a challenge, causing the camera to appear blurred and inaccurately detect thermal signatures.

The standard camera provides a much better view of the surrounding area. Additionally, all detection features, such as collision avoidance and object identification, are still enabled. However, the audible detection feature is hit-and-miss and tends to misfire. With this feature muted, the experience is much more enjoyable. Including OBS data is a welcome bonus, providing trip data for speed, RPM, and acceleration.

It should also be noted that the example pictures from the standard camera are screenshots from a video recording. The manual still shots produce a low quality image that is heavily pixelated. 

Another interesting feature of the NV300 Max is the so-called fusion mode, which layers the feed from the visible light and thermal cameras. While this feature helps provide additional detail in thermal vision, users lose the benefit of having the wide-angle lens, which feels too limiting for general use. The NV300's split-screen mode is often better suited for providing clearer visual information from both cameras.