Papago! GoSafe 520 Dashcam – Tech Review

“How do you defend yourself in the case of an accident? How can you make sure you have the necessary proof to protect your family from other’s irresponsible acts? It may sound harsh, but crazier things happen every single day.”

Papago! GoSafe 520 Dashcam – Tech Review

I was provided this product by Papago! at no cost, for the purpose of reviewing and sharing my thoughts with you.

Dashcams have become hugely popular in todays media-centric world, and even though their primary use is to record valuable video proof in the case of a traffic accident, they can also be put to other fun uses. But in order to do that, you’ll need a versatile and high quality dashcam.

I recently had the opportunity to check out one of Papago!’s advanced dashcams, and I was blown away by the level of performance of such a small and sleek camera. First of all, Papago! is one of the leading names in GPS software and hardware in the world, and has been so since 2001. Papago!’s mission is to create user friendly products that feature safety as the key component, and that’s what lead them to innovate the dashcam industry.

The Product

This highly advanced GoSafe 520 was designed not only to record incredible IMAX quality footage, but also to be user-friendly, compact, and durable.

At first sight the packaging is high quality and all the components are neatly wrapped and protected inside the box. Once opened you’ll notice the main camera unit, a suction-cup style mount, a mini-usb charging chord with a cigarette style plug, and an owner’s manual/quick start guide.

Installing the dashcam is literally a piece of cake, as all you have to do is fixate the mount on your windshield, and plug in the charger to your car’s cigarette plug. Routing the charging chord through the headliner sounds more difficult than it really is, although I’m sure this could vary by car. I did so on my 2012 Honda Civic, as well as one of our test cars—a 2016 Mazda CX-3, and once you learn how to flex the headliner it’s super easy.

The Performance

At first I was taken back by all the different functions outlined on the owner’s manual, but once the dashcam powered on and I ventured into the settings, I realized it was no different than most digital cameras. Simply head to the settings menu and you can easily configure the GoSafe 520’s options.

Within ten minutes of mounting it I was on the road with a fully operating dashcam recording everything happening before me. And given the fact it was a snowy and kind of reckless day to be driving, I felt extra-safe knowing I had video backup. Just in case…

The GoSafe 520 features Ambarella’s latest A7L chip, which can record in 2k and up to 21:9 ultra-wide ratio, so it covers literally as much field as a human eye can, if not more. It also stands apart from the rest with functions like multi-level exposure, which automatically adjusts itself to record outstandingly in dark or bright conditions, a built in G-Sensor which automatically saves and locks the file in the case of a collision, that way the file cannot be overwritten or deleted by accident.

But by far my favorite is the Stop & Go Alert, in which the GoSafe 520 actually recognizes when you’re at a red light (standstill for 10 seconds) and then audibly alerts you when the car in front of you starts to move again. Perfect for when you’re checking your smartphone at a red light and the light turns green on you!

Check out our footage!

The Verdict

In the end, this dashcam has been my companion primarily for safety, but given the large amount of vehicles we review for our website and others, I can also see myself recording some really cool scenery on rural drives, and even some exciting footage at track-day events, etc. Ultimately, the Papago! GoSafe 520 is as much dashcam as an average driver like you I and I would ever need. It’s easy to use, it looks good, and it does a heck of a job at recording quality footage, what else could you possibly need? (Besides your own memory card)

Buy a Papago 520 dashcam here!