Best Dashcam for the BYD Sealion 8 Super Hybrid

You have just brought home your new BYD Sealion 8 Super Hybrid, the big three-row family SUV you have been waiting on, someone has clipped it in a car park, and you have gone looking for the footage. Depending on when your car was updated, you might actually have some. That is new, and it changed in 2026. What you will not have is anything from the times you were driving. If you are after the best BYD Sealion 8 dashcam, whether you have the Dynamic FWD, the AWD or the Premium AWD, you are in exactly the right place, and the first part of this guide is the bit nobody else has updated yet.

The Sealion 8 is a seriously good bit of kit, and we are big fans. We sell, support and spec cameras for new BYDs every week, and I have spent more late nights than I care to admit logged into the paid AASRA service portal, reading BYD's own wiring diagrams. So when it comes to the Sealion 8's electrics, consider me your go-to nerd.

Does the BYD Sealion 8 have a dashcam or Sentry Mode? (Updated August 2026)

Two different questions, and as of 2026 they have two different answers.

Sentry Mode: owners say yes. A Sealion 8 owner got in touch in August 2026 to tell us their car has a working Sentry Mode, recording from the cameras around the car while it is parked and switched off. That makes the Sealion 8 the first BYD we know of in Australia to have it, and it is a genuinely good thing.

A dash cam: no. The same owner confirmed what we already knew. There is no dash cam function on the Sealion 8. The car records nothing while you are driving it. That camera-shaped housing near the mirror is still empty.

If that sounds like a strange combination, it is not. BYD's May 2026 over-the-air update upgraded Sentry Mode across the range, adding cloud upload of high-risk clips, viewing through the BYD App, USB export and Wi-Fi Direct to your phone. The same release notes list "omnidirectional driving recorders" separately, going to a different set of cars. BYD builds these as two features, not one, and the Sealion 8 has landed on the parked-car side of that line. We go through where the rest of the range sits in our full guide to Sentry Mode across the BYD range.

What we cannot tell you. BYD Australia's 2026 Sealion 8 Owner's Handbook runs to 260 pages and never mentions Sentry Mode, a sentinel mode, a dash cam or a driving recorder. BYD Australia does not publish a public OTA changelog either. So we cannot tell you which trims or build dates have it, how long clips are kept, or whether the resolution gets you a number plate. Go and look through your settings, and if you find it, send us a screenshot. We will update this page and credit you.

So where does that leave you?

Better off than last year, and still with a gap you can drive a truck through.

Sentry Mode covers the car park. Useful, and we are glad it is there. But think about the footage people actually end up needing. It is the nose-to-tail on the freeway where the other driver's version of events changes by the time they ring their insurer. It is the merge. It is the tailgater on the school run. The Sealion 8 records none of that, because Sentry Mode only runs when the car is parked and there is no driving recorder to switch on.

There is a second thing worth thinking about. Sentry Mode footage lives in BYD's system, on BYD's retention rules, and you get at it through BYD's app. A dash cam card is yours. When an insurer wants a clip the same day, you connect over Wi-Fi and send it in about a minute.

So the pitch has genuinely changed. It used to be "your Sealion 8 sees nothing." Now it is "your Sealion 8 has the car park covered, and nothing at all covered while you are driving." That is a much smaller gap, and it is still the half that matters most.

The 13.8Ah catch that decides your whole setup

Here is the part that shapes everything below, so stick with me. A dashcam needs power while the car is switched off to guard it in a car park. That power comes from a very small 12V battery, not the big drive battery that moves the car. Think of the 12V as the phone in your pocket. Small, and easy to flatten.

In a normal petrol SUV this size, that 12V battery is a big esky, usually 50 or even 60Ah (amp hours, a simple measure of how much charge it holds). In every modern BYD, the Sealion 8 included, it is only 13.8Ah. That is a shot glass next to a bucket. BYD keeps it tiny to save weight, and it is fine for unlocking and locking the doors, but it means how you power a parking camera matters more than the camera you pick.

So two things follow. First, a low-power dashcam is essential, because a thirsty camera can flatten that 13.8Ah battery overnight. Second, if you want the full parking suite, the motion detection and buffered impact recording that owners are really chasing, you want a dedicated battery pack so the camera runs on its own power, not the car's.

The best dashcam for the BYD Sealion 8: our two favourites

We get plenty of enquiries on the VIOFO A229 series, and it is a superb camera that is perfect when paired with a dedicated battery pack, given the Sealion 8's own 12V pack is only 13.8Ah. Alongside it, we have been recommending the VIOFO A329S with the HK6 hardwire kit, because of its clever low-power parking mode. You can see the numbers for yourself in our A329S and HK6 power-draw test.

Where the BP100 battery pack fits now

Either camera is at its happiest with a VIOFO BP100 battery pack, and the reason has shifted slightly.

It used to be that the BP100 was the only way to get any parked-car protection on a BYD at all. On a Sealion 8 with Sentry Mode, you already have a version of that. What the BP100 buys you now is a second, independent record of the same event, at dash cam resolution, on a card you own, with buffered impact recording that captures the seconds before the hit, and none of it leaning on the car's tiny 12V battery.

If your Sealion 8 has Sentry Mode and you are happy with it for car parks, a camera without a battery pack is a perfectly reasonable call. You are buying it for the driving, which is where the real gap is. If you want belt and braces, or you would rather not depend on a manufacturer feature that is not in the handbook and could change with the next update, add the BP100.

Here is the honest breakdown of what happens without one. The A229, without a battery pack, will get minimal parking mode, if any, because the Sealion 8's small 12V pack simply cannot feed it for long. The A329S is the exception. Even without the battery, it still gets a proper low-power parking mode, thankfully, but it runs in "wake after impact" only, which is exactly how it posts such good numbers in the power-draw test linked above. It sleeps until something knocks the car, then wakes to record.

There is no wrong choice here. Both are phenomenal cameras, and both cover you beautifully. The only real question is how much parking protection you want on top of what the car now does itself, and whether you add the battery pack to unlock the full suite.

Michael's pick

Full disclosure, I am a co-owner here and a BYD tragic. I am even saving my cents and dollars for a BYD Shark. If I had to choose today, I would go a custom pack including the VIOFO A329S 3-CH, front, rear and telephoto (read our full review here), paired with the BP100 battery pack, to get the best of every feature going: motion sensing, buffered impact recording, and that sweet 4K at 60fps.

Fitting it without a flat

Whichever way you go, the install is where that 13.8Ah battery bites people. A dashcam wired to constant power with standard cut offs (or worse yet, no cut-off) can flatten a Sealion 8 overnight. The fix is a proper hard-wire with a correctly set low-voltage cut-off, a setting that stops the camera drawing power before the battery gets too low to start the car. The HK6 kit handles this for the A329S, and it wants setting conservatively on every BYD, and our EV dashcam battery guide can walk you through too.

No accessory fuse in the cabin? Our BYD T-Harness sorts it

Every fuse in the Sealion 8's cabin fuse box is constant power. There is no accessory (ACC) fuse, which is the one that switches on and off with the car, and that switched feed is how a dash cam or battery pack knows whether you are driving or parked. Without it, parking mode never works properly.

The usual workaround is running a wire through the firewall to the fuse box under the bonnet and picking up an ACC circuit there. It works, but it is slow and fiddly, even for an experienced installer. The other shortcut people reach for is cutting into a factory loom to find a switched wire, and plenty of people in the trade will tell you that is a big no-no on a near-new car.

So we made our own fix. The BYD Add-an-Ignition T-Harness plugs in behind the Sealion 8's 12V socket, between the factory connectors, and hands your camera or battery pack a proper switched ignition feed. Nothing gets cut, spliced or fuse-tapped, so the loom stays exactly as BYD built it, and because the switched feed is right there in the cabin you skip the trip through the firewall altogether. Once the camera has a real ACC signal, it drops into parking mode when you switch off and goes back to normal recording when you start up again.

It works with battery packs too. Pair it with a VIOFO BP60, or the bigger VIOFO BP100 if you want the longest parking time, and the pack gets the ignition signal it needs to charge while you drive and take over once you park. That keeps the Sealion 8's small 12V battery out of the job while the car is parked.

BUY IF: you want to try a DIY hardwire on your Sealion 8 without cutting a single wire, or you are an installer who would rather not go through the firewall on every BYD that rolls into the bay.

SKIP IF: you only want the camera recording while you drive. The 12V plug cable that comes with your camera does that job, and you do not need the harness.

It is still an in-dash job. The harness connects behind the 12V socket, so some trim has to come off, and a plastic trim removal tool is all you need for it. Our T-Harness setup guide walks you through the fit, and if pulling panels is not your thing, find a local installer and show them the harness.

The quick version

Your Sealion 8 now has the car park half sorted, if your car has picked up Sentry Mode, and nothing at all covering you while you drive. That second half is the one that wins arguments with insurers, so give the car eyes to match. Both the VIOFO A329S with the HK6 and the VIOFO A229 series are brilliant picks. Add a BP100 battery pack to either one and you get motion and buffered impact recording on a card you own, as a second set of eyes on the car park too, without ever troubling that tiny 13.8Ah battery. Prefer to keep it simple? The A329S alone still gives you solid wake-after-impact parking mode. There is no wrong answer.

BYD Sealion 8 dashcam FAQs

Does the BYD Sealion 8 have a factory dashcam?

No. The Australian BYD Sealion 8 Super Hybrid does not come with a built-in dashcam in any trim, and that camera-shaped housing near the mirror is empty. It does now appear to have a parked-car Sentry Mode, which is a different feature and does not record while you are driving. For usable proof from the road you need an aftermarket camera.

Does the BYD Sealion 8 have Sentry Mode?

Owners say yes, as of August 2026, and that makes it the first BYD in Australia we know of with a working one. It records from the cameras around the car while it is parked. Two caveats worth having: it does not record while you are driving, and BYD Australia's own owner's handbook does not document the feature, so treat it as owner-reported and check your own settings. For the driving half you still need a dash cam, and a VIOFO A329S or A229 with a BP100 battery pack also gives you buffered impact recording on a card you own.

Will a dashcam drain the BYD Sealion 8 battery?

Not when it is set up properly. The Sealion 8 uses a small 13.8Ah 12V battery, so we spec a low-power camera with a low-voltage cut-off, and add a BP100 battery pack for full motion and buffered impact recording. Our guide on whether a dashcam drains your EV or hybrid battery covers the settings.

What is the best dashcam for the BYD Sealion 8?

Both the VIOFO A329S with the HK6 hardwire kit and the VIOFO A229 series are our favourites, and both are at their best with a BP100 battery pack. If you want every feature, our own Michael runs the A329S 3-CH with telephoto and a BP100.

More BYD guides

• Will a dashcam drain my EV or hybrid battery? (BYD, MG, Hyundai)
• Sentry Mode across the BYD range: which cars actually have it
• Best dashcam for the BYD Sealion 7
• VIOFO A329S review: 4K 60fps and the 3-channel benchmark
• Dash cam battery pack vs power bank
• BYD Add-an-Ignition T-Harness setup guide

Questions about your Sealion 8, or keen to talk BYD electrics late into the night? That is my happy place. Reach out to Michael or Harrison any time and we will get you sorted.

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