Dash cams have become essential accessories for car owners especially with the rise of erratic behaviour on our roads such as escalated road rage situations and unexplainable vandalism. They provide an unbiased account of the events that occur, eradicating any doubts that may exist in the event you receive some bad 'car-ma'.

And with the advancement of technology, dash cams now offer much more than just basic video recording. Some, like the one you see here, come with Wi-Fi connectivity, a built-in battery, a handy snapshot button, emergency recording, head light reminder, and driver fatigue alert.

You would imagine, then, that one with such bells and whistles would easily cost upwards of $300. But you're wrong. With the DrivePro 130, Transcend is arming one of its entry-level models with a lot more, for a lot less.

As clear as day

Equipped with a high-sensitivity Sony image sensor, the DrivePro 130 is capable of recording full-HD (1920 x 1080P) videos at 30FPS.

Additionally, with built-in Wide Dynamic Range technology, it also allows you to capture finer details, such as number plates, even under challenging lighting conditions. You can even adjust exposure values. At the same time, it is also able to record videos in portions, and you can decide whether each one is one, three or five minutes long.

There is also the option to take time-lapse videos to capture evidence of your car being scratched while you're asleep, with a shot being taken every one, two or four seconds.

Enabling time-lapse video recording removes the need to view mindless hours of incident-free footage. A built-in Li-Polymer battery ensures uninterrupted power to the device. Videos will continue to be recorded and stored in the event of an accident or when the engine is off.

Want to snap a picture of an interesting car you see on the roads? The DrivePro 130 can do that too, thanks to a handy snapshot button located at the bottom right of its 2.4-inch colour screen that allows you to take photos while still recording.

But that's just the tip of its technological iceberg…

However, as mentioned above, the DrivePro 130's capabilities go way beyond that. Like the more expensive DrivePro 230, it has head light reminder and driver fatigue alert functions, which are handy for older cars that don't have auto head lights.

The latter is rather self-explanatory. Like a little assistant, it reminds you to get some rest after driving for a pre-determined amount of time. And when bad 'car-ma' does strike, there is a red 'emergency' button on the side of the device that ensures the currently recording segment isn't overwritten when the microSD card runs out of memory.

Speaking of microSD, you won't have to pull this one out

More importantly, it's Wi-Fi enabled, meaning the playback or download of footage on your smartphone can be done remotely. Simply download the DrivePro app, available on both Android and iOS devices, and you'll never have to fumble with plucking the tiny card out and leaving fingerprints all over your windscreen.

And to get more out of the DrivePro 130, download the Transcend DrivePro Toolbox software on your computer. This allows for video playback, file sorting, screenshots, as well as plotting driving paths for dash cams. Best of all, the Transcend DrivePro 130 costs only $199 and all DrivePro models come with two-year limited warranties. For more information on the Transcend DrivePro 130, head over to the Transcend website.