Vantrue E360 hands-on review: A curious 360-degree dashcam hybrid

The Vantrue E360 is an impressive dashcam, and the bonus of working as a standalone 360 camera upsells the E360 functionally and uniquely. The image quality is solid with excellent night vision and image stitching, the camera's performance is reliable, which can't be said for the app, and the overall UI experience is minimal and intuitive. The addition of the rear camera in the Ace kit creates a bubble of surveillance that can offer peace of mind for even the shortest car ride. However, the hardwire requirement to utilize the 24/7 monitoring feature is inconvenient but is well worth considering, given the performance of the Vantrue E360.

The Vantrue E360 Ace kit is available on Amazon for $460 with a $60 coupon and on Vantrue's site for $460. Thankfully, Vantrue has provided additional savings of $20 on Amazon and 10% on their site using code "DOVKIKA6" at checkout. With both coupons used, the price drops to $380 on Amazon, making it the best deal available.

The Vantrue E360 is the company's latest dashcam, featuring full 360-degree recording and a host of advanced features. Notably, users can mount the dashcam to a battery-powered baton for use outside the vehicle. The Vantrue E360 truly blurs the line between dash and action camera.

The Vantrue E360 Ace kit comes well-packed in a small and unassuming box. Everything needed for the dashcam install and handheld mode comes neatly packed in its own smaller box. Vantrue even includes a set of stickers to let drivers know that a dashcam is in use.

The setup for the E360 is simple and requires minimal prep. Vantrue supplies a primer sticker to ensure the installation of the dashcam mounting bracket is secure. Unfortunately, the power adapter only has one USB port. Furthermore, the orientation of the wire coming from the adapter means that it has to wrap around if positioned correctly. Additionally, the adapter has abundant cable, requiring considerable cable management to keep it looking tidy. The same is true for the cable leading to the rear camera. Thankfully, Vantrue included some cable clips to aid in the process.

Although the camera can function without it, Vantrue suggests downloading the app to use with the E360. Pairing is simple and, thankfully, didn't present any issues when trying to connect to the camera. Unfortunately, this was not the case later in testing.

The standout feature of the E360 is the seamless panoramic video recording, which begins immediately when the vehicle is started. With everything connected, drivers can see a full 360-degree view of their surroundings on their smartphone, with a small cutout in the upper left corner of the dedicated rearview camera. Additionally, the built-in GPS will display real-time data for the driver's location and speed as a stamp in the bottom left corner of the video.

The app and display offer several views of the camera feeds, which drivers can access with swipes or voice control. Users can also take still images by pressing the camera's side button or the app's snapshot button. In testing, however, the default display provided more than enough functionality and gave the best general overview of the driver's surroundings. That is if the app works properly. During the night driving portion of the testing, the app would frequently force close and needed to be restarted to connect to the camera.

Footage from the E360 is excellent for a dashcam; both pictures and video look clear and vibrant when exported from the device. Due to the Wi-Fi connectivity, users don't have to remove the SD card to transfer footage and can download it wirelessly to their smartphones using the app. Night mode is also noteworthy, as the six IR lights coupled with Sony's STARVIS 2 technology produce clear visuals in the dark.

The E360 supports many different camera options and resolutions that can be used in both dashcam and handheld mode. By far, the most impressive is the full-resolution panorama mode. However, the fish eye and lower resolutions offer unique visuals and space-saving potential to users who don't need full-resolution videos. This is especially useful for users with low storage space or limited microSD cards. The following are sample images taken in handheld mode for all the camera setting options as well as images showcasing the night vision capabilities of the E360.

The E360 is packed with some welcomed features that offer extra security, such as parked car monitoring and LTE connectivity. However, both functions require additional Vantrue hardware to work with the E360. Additionally, users have access to voice control functions for hands-free operation as well as an abundance of settings to customize every aspect of the device's functionality for both dashcam and handheld mode. Settings such as IR brightness, license plate registration, and shooting modes like time-lapse can all be found in the settings menu.

The Vantrue E360 has proven to be a premium dashcam with unique features. The camera quality and low light performance are exceptional, and the user experience speaks to the high level of consideration given by the team at Vantrue. However, the Achilles heel of the experience using the E360 is the unfortunate state of the companion app. Hopefully, future updates to the app may fix these issues and rise to the standard that the E360 has set.