Cobra CDR 855 BT

The CDR 855 BT is a tiny dashboard camera from Cobra. It only offers Full HD video resolution, not the Super HD that is increasingly common. But it has a few other tricks potentially up its sleeve, and can double as an action camera. With the increasingly crowded dashboard camera market, does Cobra have enough to stand out from the crowd? Sadly, it turns out not, as most of the promised extra features failed to work during my tests.

The bundled windscreen mount is pretty standard, and as usual is designed to dangle the dashcam down from the top of your windscreen. A spacer screws into the mount, and the CDR 855 BT then slides onto this firmly. It’s not quite a quick release, but it isn’t too painful to get in and out if you want to take the camera away from the car when unattended.
I had a few issues getting the Cobra CDR 855 BT to stay attached to the windscreen on one of my test vehicles, however. After about the fourth attempt it seemed secure, but the suction cup is quite small and I’ve had similar issues with the Xiaomi Yi Car WiFi DVR, which also has a small cup. A more effective suction mount would have been an improvement for both these products.

you don't get a power adapter that will allow you to plug in your sat-nav as well, but at least the cable and plug are separate, with a standard USB connection between the two. There are two USB cables in the box – a long one for your car, and a shorter one for when you want to hook the device up to your computer to download footage. The long one only supplies power, and won't work for data.

Key Features

2Mpixel sensor

Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 maximum resolution

2-inch LCD display

GPS via Bluetooth smartphone connection

G sensor

Manufacturer: Cobra

Review Price: £114.56