We’ve reviewed plenty of dashcams in our time…, but for me personally, I like a dash camera to be as covert as possible. Dash cams are akin to being a snitch; you just look like a bit of a do-gooder by having one front and centre clinging onto your front and rear windows.
That’s where Fitcamx comes in. Their dash cameras are as near to OEM in fitment as possible by seamlessly integrating within your rearview mirror housing.
They make them for many different marques. Many require minimal wiring as they can be hooked into the interior light, making the whole set-up even more straightforward.
So, we decided to get one for our new (to us) Porsche Cayman.
Fitcamx Review
Fitcamx offers different versions of their camera set-up based on your vehicle’s rearview mirror housing – the bit of plastic behind the mirror.
For example, there are three different Porsche options. It’s best to contact Fitcamx and send them some good-quality photos of the plastics behind your rearview mirror. They can then advise you which camera you need.
Fitcamx Camera Resolution
There are three options when it comes to camera and resolution.
Front only – 4K (2160P)
Front & rear – 4K front with a 1080p rear
Front & rear – 1440p front with a 1080p rear
Depending on the model selected, these can be optioned with either a 64GB SD card or a 128GB. All cameras work with up to 128GB.
Fitcamx Prices
Prices start from £164 for the front camera to £230 for the 4k front and 1080p rear set-up.
They tend to have deals occasionally, so it’s worth checking to see if they have some promotions.
Fitcamx Specs
Spec-wise, the 4k front Fitcamx camera has a f/1.6 aperture with a 170-degree field of view. The Novatek chip records at 2160p and 30fps. There’s built-in WiFi with an Android and iOS app for easy downloading and viewing.
There’s also a built-in g-sensor that detects movement and collisions. The sensitivity for this can be tweaked for both driving and while parked. These files are locked so they aren’t overwritten by the loop recording function.
To enable the full ‘parking’ mode, you’ll have to buy the extra fuse box cable kit. Just like the Road Angel system, this comes complete with all the necessary fuse taps in different sizes. You’ll have to find a permanent 12v, an ignition-switched 12v and a ground.
This will enable the camera to switch on from standby and record if it senses your car, has been bumped while parked.
Fitcamx User Manual
You can download the full Fitcamx user manual here to see how it works before you pull the trigger.
What’s the Fitcamx like?
The quality of the plastic housing containing the dash cam is as OEM as possible. It really is top-notch. Our camera housing came clipped together. You need to separate it to fit it, but the included trim removal tool made it easy to gently pry the clips up and separate the two halves.
The camera body has two push buttons on the right-hand side, one power, the other camera button can be held to factory reset the camera. Two small LEDs, red and blue, sit next to these. When recording, the blue light flashes and the red light flashes when video recording is paused.
On the opposite side of the body, you’ll see the MicroSD card slot with the edge of the card sticking out, allowing easy removal.
Because I opted for the front and rear cameras, I had two connection plugs coming out of the front camera. This made it a little more challenging to hide the wires, but I managed to fit them all in the roof housing for the rearview mirror.
Removing the original trim was easy enough using the pry tool. It was then a simple job of holding the side that contains the camera to the windscreen, lining it up with the rearview mirror arm and clipping the other side into place.
Finding the correct fuses to tap into was easy; try to find one for the alarm or the alarm horn for your permanent 12v feed. Then, something like the 12v sockets for the switched live. You can use a bolt for the dash as a grounded earth. It took me two attempts to find a grounded one, but test it by keeping an eye on the camera and seeing if it powered up – blue and red LEDs on the left-hand side.
What about the Fitcamx rear camera?
The rear camera lead plugs into the small pigtail lead in the camera body, so you’ll need space to run two wires across the top of your windscreen. I could hide these in the headlining, but it was a tight fit. You’ll also need to plug the other end of the dash cam into this ‘extension’ lead, which must be 5 metres long. Hiding all that wire in such a small car was a challenge!
I tried to hide the rear camera as much as possible, so it’s installed quite deep into the car and to one side. The wire for the camera comes out of the right-hand side of the unit, so being a right-hand drive car, I ran the cables down the left-hand side of the car. That means the wire comes out of the trim on the left. But installing the camera this way around left the image upside down. I could have switched the camera around, but then there would be even more wiring showing…which would have looked naff.
Unlike the similar Road Angel app, Fitcamx doesn’t currently enable you to flip the image around. Road Angel’s rear camera looks identical to the Fitcamx (apart from the LED colour), and their app is also very similar, so I don’t know how they can offer the option of mounting the camera vertically as well as left or right, but Fitcamx don’t. Hopefully, they add the feature to the app in the future.
How does it look once installed?
Superb! Unless you were looking for it, you’d never notice the Fitcamx, and even if you did, you’d have to question whether it was a traffic sign recognition camera or a pedestrian collision camera. There’s no way to tell it’s a dash cam at all.
The rear was easily hideable, too, but placing it on the interior boot trim rather than the glass offsetting it behind the passenger seat also helped – yes, the view isn’t going to be as great, and yes, I do have part of the right-hand side cut off, but the camera still gives a view out of the majority of the rear. I may move it in the future, but for now, I prefer it hidden rather than obvious.
A before and after comparing a Road Angel with the FitcamX.
What does the Fitcamx footage look like?
The footage from the front 4k Fitcamx is very, very good. I’ve uploaded these samples from around sunset to prove just how clear it is – most cameras usually struggle in low light, with numberplates becoming indecipherable. But even when travelling at 70 MPH in these dusky conditions, plates are still readable in every paused frame. Seriously impressive.
As for the rear, well as mentioned before, and as you can see the camera is mounted pretty deep in the car to keep it as covert as possible. But still, with a lorry pulling out behind me in the below example, the numberplate is still readable albeit a lot closer than with the front camera.
In terms of comparing Fitcamx to the big dashcam players, Nextbase, Road Angel, etc the Fitcamx easily exceeds the Nextbase 522GW and the Road Angel Halo Pro – the latest models we’ve currently tested as of 2023 from each brand.
Where can I buy a Fitcamx dashcam?
Fitcamx sells directly via their website, or you can purchase them directly from Amazon. They also sell directly on AliExpress if you have an account on there.
As we mentioned before, it’s well worth contacting them first with a picture of your rearview mirror to ensure you get the correct Fitcamx model the first time.
