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Street Guardian Sg9663dc – Excelling in reliability and quality
Key features:
- Full 1080P HD recording at 30 fps
- 127° view
- GPS logging
- G-Sensor
- Continuous recording
- 2″ Screen
- Internal capacitor instead of battery
- Internal microphone (mutable) and speaker
- Multi Language Enabled
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The Street Guardian Sg9663dc aims to stand out from the crownd by getting the basics right and doing them well. Its priority is usability, reliability and quality, not the gimmicks like innovative technologies or pioneering design. I have been fortunate enough to try out the Street Guardian Sg9663dc for the last 6 months, and here’s my verdict on how it performs in those three priority areas.
Usability
Installation of the Street Guardian SG9663DC was pretty straight forward. I have a very basic understanding of care electronics, so did rely on YouTube videos at times to ensure I had correctly installed it using the hard wire kit, but overall, managed this pretty seamlessly – though I recommend you set aside a few hours, as it’s not a quick job. Or, even better, seek professional help!
The Street Guardian SG9663DC features a 2″ screen on a wedge shaped dash cam. It’s straight forward to set-up and configure by following the prompts and buttons on the screen. The cameras stick to the front and rear windshields using an adhesive tape that stick onto a mount. At first, this seemed fine (and standard practice), but a couple of months into our summer, I have noticed the adhesive has deteriorated quite badly, so have purchased a suction mount for both cameras instead which seems to be a little more durable.
Make sure you get your hands on a good quality and large SD card to store the footage. If in doubt on what size, get larger. This is an extra expense, not included in the price of the dash cam which is a little unfortunate since it is priced on the more expensive side of the dash cam scale. My biggest learning here, is not to purchase the black and silver Transcend SD cards – they cause the Street Guardian SG9663DC to beep constantly. I ended up contacting the support team very irriated and confused. Their customer service team were very responsive and helpful, recommending I get the Samsung EVO U3 card which has worked perfectly since.
Quality
I have been blown away with the quality of both the audio and video from the Street Guardian SG9663DC – it really is second-to-none. Both the read and front cameras record in full 1080P HD at 30 fps. This means that the footage is crystal clear, you can read number plates and street signs, even while the car is in full motion. The colours captured are vibrant and the footage very steady. I am able to easily view the video files in .mp4 format either on the playback option on the 2” screen, or by simply removing the SD card and watching on my computer using the recommended programmes, Dashcam Viewer or Registrator Viewer. These programmes were a bit foreign to use at first – not as user friendly as you’d expect, but I am pretty comfortable using them a few months in.
Equally useful and high quality is the audio feature. The dash cam has a built-in mic which you’re able to mute as and when you please. I have found it to be really helpful in a situation I experienced another driver approach my car, trying to talk to me through my window – it captured the entire conversation very clearly.
Reliability
Six months on, I still love my Street Guardian SG9663DC. After only a few minor teething issues in the beginning with the SD card and adhesive mount, I haven’t had a fault since, especially in terms of capturing important footage and audio.
The G-sensor feature on the Street Guardian SG9663DC automatically locks files and restricts overwriting. This is a great safety feature that I am fortunate enough not to have needed yet, but it does give me peace of mind that those critical files will not be accidently overwritten by the continuous loop recording. I have, on a couple of occasions, manually protected some footage with the push of the emergency button because I had incidentally captured important evidence for a nearby car accident. This was very easy to do and retrieve. I would love to see a future version of the Street Guardian SG9663DC use with Bluetooth so in this type of situation I could have quickly and effectively transferred those files to the person involved in the incident right there and then via our mobile phones. I know this is a well-used feature on the Garmin 65w.
Another great inclusion in the Street Guardian SG9663DC is the GPS logging. This means that all footage is recorded with GPS data including your speed and coordinates. This information is important, so the reliability of this feature is critical. I have been really pleased with the accuracy of the GPS information provided to me on all of my footage.
In the last six months, the camera has proven to be incredibly reliable. I haven’t experienced any drop-outs, freezing, visual or audio issues like I have on my past, cheaper dash cam. It goes to show, you get what you pay for in terms of quality and reliability.
Our verdict
The Street Guardian SG9663DC is a good all-rounder dash cam. It’s by no means cheap, but it also doesn’t skimp on quality and reliability which is essentially what you need in a dash cam. What I have been most pleased to learn is that if you do run into any troubles with the Street Guardian SG9663DC dash cam, the customer service support provided is flawless and incredibly responsive. This gives me assurance for the future that I will be able to get support, no matter how big or small the problem is. For a high-quality, durable and reliable product, you can’t go wrong here. The dual, full HD cameras will capture all of the critical information you need in the event of an insurance claim or police report.
