BlackVue DR750X-2CH Truck Plus vs. Samsara CM32 Dash Cam Review

Established in 2015, Samsara is an American company that develops connected operations platforms for tracking fleet vehicles. The startup's product line includes video-based safety programs, vehicle telematics, apps & driver workflows, equipment monitoring, site visibility, data & integrations and hardware. Under this segment are AI enabled dash cams, where the Samsara CM32 Cloud Dash Cam belongs.

One of the fleet vehicle surveillance systems we want to put into a test is the Samsara CM32. Aside from recording the vehicles footage during a drive, the Samsara CM32 dash cam is built to automatically upload the clips to the Samsara Cloud through the VG-series vehicle gateway - which eliminates the need for manually retrieving memory cards from vehicles or downloading footage from a DVR.

Through this, operators can instantly access recent and historical captures from any web browser, and can easily dismiss or flag events for follow-up.

A huge help in managing the drivers, the CM32 analyzes their behavior and road conditions in real-time, providing unprecedented visibility into leading causes of preventable accidents.

Using artificial intelligence on the edge, the CM32 can instantly detect events, such as distracted driving and rolling through a stop sign. This also provides live scene analysis and a built-in speaker for driver coaching.

For efficient communication, the Samsara CM32 also has an inward-facing audio speaker that provides real-time feedback to promote safe behavior. Drivers who are speeding, engaged in dangerous driving, or not wearing a seat belt will receive voice-based safety warnings.

With the Samsara CM32, harsh braking, acceleration, turning and crashes are automatically detected by built-in accelerometers. Unfortunately, this is the only security recording feature that the CM32 has. They don't offer parking mode for 24/7 vehicle protection.

Promising coverage in and out of the vehicle, this 1080p dash camera records full HD @ 30 frames per second video on its front camera and an in-cab Infrared LED for unlit night time situations. The front also has a 121° field of view, while the 720p in-cab camera offers a 177° wide angle to capture the video footage of what's happening inside the vehicle.

Samsara claims that their dashcam installation takes about ten minutes as there's no need to hardwire, and the Samsara Cloud dashboard enables users to access dual camera footage without training or IT expertise.

BlackVue is a reputable name in the dash cam and car surveillance scene. From passenger cars, to commercial vehicles, BlackVue has a solid dash cam carefully designed to deliver for all types of driving demands. Specially designed for trucks, BlackVue introduced the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus.

Maximizing this dash cam's capabilities for fleet, BlackVue engineered the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus with BlackVue Over the Cloud. This is a suite of innovative connected features that unlocks the true power of your DR750X Truck Plus and remotely connects you with your vehicle which is very useful for the fleet.

With this connectivity, you have an instant companion that can watch over your car, inform you immediately of incidents such as impacts through Push Notifications to your Apple or Android phone. That saves you time, and manpower as well.

If you want to check on your drivers’ location and activity, you just have to connect to your DR750X Truck Plus dash camera anytime, from anywhere, and check on your vehicle with Remote Live View.

Recently, BlackVue also added the New Event Map feature in its cloud. Similar to Samsara's harsh braking recording feature, the Event Map overlays Event (Impact, Hard Braking, etc.) statistics and playable videos on a map.

Similar to Samsara's Voice Guidance, the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus dash camera features two-way communication for both the fleet manager and driver. You can talk with your driver from your smartphone, and your driver can speak while keeping hands on the wheel.

With the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus, you can actually monitor progress and access location data, GPS logs and Driving Reports courtesy of the dash cam’s real time Live Tracking feature. Moreover, you can also play recorded video clips remotely and back-up important ones to the Cloud or your phone. Want to share it with your team? Your video recording can even be broadcasted Live on Facebook and YouTube!

With an upgraded Full HD Sony STARVIS image sensor, the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus dual dash cam records excellent video quality for fleet at a wide 139° view angle at a higher 60 frames per second to give you the smoothest video quality under any light. With twice the number of frames per second, motion blur is greatly reduced, giving you important license plate detail even in fast-moving objects.

The external rear camera has a 120° angle of view and 2.1MP CMOS sensor augmented by 6 IR LEDs. The luminosity sensor detects ambient brightness, activating automatically the IR lights for clarity in total darkness.

BlackVue understands the role of commercial vehicles for the fleet - it’s to stay on the go, whatever the weather conditions and setting may be. Because of this, they built this dashboard camera with a rugged metal waterproof casing to increase resistance. The external rear camera is built to withstand most weather conditions as well. This model also comes with a 15m high-quality waterproof coaxial cable, long enough for trucks, trailers, and most large vehicles.

Unlike the Samsara CM32 which doesn’t have 24/7 parking monitoring, this front and rear dash cam guards your fleet vehicles even when they are unattended. It’s not just an ordinary parking mode - it also offers buffered recording that includes the few seconds before and after the triggered event, so you get the complete picture of an incident.

The DR750X-2CH Plus comes with the BlackVue Hardwiring Kit so you can connect the dash cam to your car's fuse panel and your BlackVue will go into Parking Mode when you leave your vehicle, without the need for additional accessories. Of course, for extended recording times we still strongly recommend using the BlackVue Power Magic Ultra Battery (B-130X) or the BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8 Battery Pack.

Here’s another reason why you would love the BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus.

With ultra fast dual-band built-in Wi-Fi & GPS, you can access and download your footage to your phone at blazing speed. You can also get location data right through your desktop or smartphone app viewer, all at the touch of a button.

What’s even more exciting is that you can connect to the free BlackVue Over the Cloud account via a third-party wireless WiFi hotspot of the dedicated LTE Connectivity Module (CM100LTE) to enjoy great features. All you need is a nano SIM card - it is compatible with SIM cards from AT&T, T-Mobile, Telus, Rogers and Bell, including their MVNOs.

In this review, we understood the advantages of having a cloud dash cam for your fleet. The Samsara CM32’s Cloud provides decent features like the Auto Upload, Live Scene Analysis, Voice Guidance and Harsh Braking Recording functions. Compared to standard dash cams, we think that these functions are decent enough to help your fleet management duties.

However, we don’t want you to settle for something that’s just decent. Your business is valuable, and so is your manpower - and we think that the BlackVue DR750X-2CH Plus makes the best option for you.

Side by side with the CM32, the Cloud features of this BlackVue DR750X 2-CH Truck Plus are more innovative. All the offerings of the Samsara’s Cloud are also present in the Truck Plus. However, it is important to note that the BlackVue provides much needed vehicle-and-driver protection as well, such as parking mode. Moreover, aside from it being feature-packed, the BlackVue DR750X-2CH Truck Plus is meticulously built for harsh weather conditions.

With all the features we mentioned, you might think that BlackVue is more pricey than the CM32 - when in fact, it's not. The exact price for a system like the CM32 will vary based on the size of your fleet and the length of your commitment, and it starts at $624 per year for the base price.

So in terms of reliability and value for money, we can say that BlackVue will bring a bigger return for your fleet dash cam investment.