Here is our review of the Vantrue Pilot 2 Thermal Dash Cam.
Turn your daily commute into a fully monitored, night-vision-equipped drive with the Vantrue Pilot 2, a 4-channel dash cam built for drivers who want more than just a rear-view recording of their last fender bender. Vantrue is pitching this as the world’s first thermal imaging dash cam to combine true multi-channel footage with AI-powered safety alerts, and after digging into the spec sheet, it’s clear this isn’t just another dash cam with a gimmick bolted on.
The Pilot 2 records from up to three angles at once (front, cabin, and rear) at a maximum combined resolution of 1440P + 1080P + 1440P, all at 30FPS, and then adds a fourth thermal lens on top that can pick out a pedestrian, cyclist, or deer at up to 330ft using infrared heat signatures rather than light. That last part matters more than it sounds. Normal night vision needs your headlights to actually reach whatever’s up ahead; thermal imaging doesn’t care whether it’s pitch black, foggy, or the road is choked with smoke, since it’s reading heat rather than light.
Features
- Thermal camera module – a 12μm WLP high-performance Vanadium Oxide uncooled infrared detector with a resolution of 1024×768, rated IP67 for waterproofing and built to flag pedestrians, animals, and obstructed visibility that a normal lens would miss entirely
- Front + cabin + rear cameras – Sony IMX675 5MP sensor up front, Sony IMX662 2MP in the cabin, F1.8 aperture, and a 158°+165°+160° combined field of view, so blind spots are hard to come by
- AI-powered safety alerts – front collision detection, pedestrian detection, animal detection, and thermal-specific detection all run in the background without you having to lift a finger
- 6.25″ IPS touchscreen display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto built in, plus AR Display support for overlaying navigation and alerts onto the road ahead
- 24/7 parking mode backed by G-sensor impact detection and a super-capacitor instead of a battery, which holds up far better in a hot car than lithium-ion does
- GPS module with automatic timing and mileage statistics, handy if you ever need to prove exactly where you were and when
- WiFi 6 (2.4G/5G) and Bluetooth for pulling footage straight to your phone through the Vantrue app, no SD card juggling required
- Voice control in five languages, microSD support up to a generous 1TB, and PlatePix license-plate-capture support for when you need a clean read on the car in front of you
Specifications
What’s in the Box?
A Closer Look
Final Thoughts
Vantrue sells the Pilot 2 in three configurations, and it’s worth paying attention to which one you’re actually buying. The P2 Full System is the one to go for if you want the complete package: front, cabin, and rear cameras plus the thermal lens, the 6.25″ display unit, all the mounting hardware, and the cabling to tie it together. Drop down to the P2 Thermal System or the P2 Dashcam System and you lose either the standard multi-channel setup or the thermal module, so double-check the listing before you check out. Whichever version you pick, installation is DIY-friendly and Vantrue says it’s designed to adapt to various vehicles without much fuss.
Unboxing the Full System, the first thing you notice is how much thought has gone into keeping the setup tidy. Everything routes through Type-C, from the front and rear cameras to the thermal module itself, which means one connector standard to remember instead of three different proprietary plugs. The display unit itself feels like the centrepiece rather than an afterthought, with a screen bright and sharp enough to actually read CarPlay directions on rather than just glance at for a recording status light.
Setting up the Pilot 2 is easy – the hardest part is tucking all the cables neatly inside your vehicle, but Vantrue includes tools in the box to help you do just that.
Where the Pilot 2 really sets itself apart is in how it handles the thermal feed alongside the regular footage. Rather than treating thermal as a novelty add-on, Vantrue has built the AI detection around it, so pedestrian and animal alerts are pulling from heat data as well as the visible-light cameras. Driving at night down an unlit country road, that’s the difference between spotting a deer at the edge of your headlights and getting a heads-up well before it’s anywhere near your bumper. Don’t expect it to replace good driving habits, obviously, but it’s a genuinely useful extra layer rather than a marketing bullet point.
The parking mode is worth a mention too. Swapping the usual battery for a super-capacitor is a smart move, since it means the buffer that powers parking mode recording isn’t sitting in a hot car degrading the way a lithium cell would. Combined with G-sensor impact detection, it’s there working quietly in the background whether you’re at the shops or parked outside your house overnight.
The Vantrue Pilot 2 P2 Full System is a genuinely ambitious dash cam, and it mostly earns that ambition. Between the 1440P+1080P+1440P multi-channel recording, the thermal lens rated to spot a heat signature 330ft out, CarPlay and Android Auto baked right into the display, and a parking mode built around hardware that actually suits the job, this is aimed squarely at drivers who see a dash cam as a proper piece of safety kit rather than a box that just happens to be filming. It’s not a cheap purchase, and the tiered package system means it’s worth reading the fine print on exactly what you’re getting before you buy. But for commuters, rideshare drivers, or anyone who spends a lot of time driving after dark, the thermal camera alone makes a strong case for stepping up from a standard dash cam.
The Vantrue Pilot 2 (P2 Full System) is available now direct from Vantrue, currently listed at £699.99 (down from £899.99), with the Thermal System and Dashcam System packages priced separately for anyone who doesn’t need the full setup.
