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. There is none. The Sealion 8 has no built-in camera saving proof, just an empty housing near the mirror. 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.

The Sealion 8 is a seriously good bit of kit, and we are big fans. We sell, support and fit cameras to 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?

No. The Australian Sealion 8 Super Hybrid has no factory dashcam and no working Sentry Mode style guard that saves usable proof. That camera-shaped housing near the mirror fools a lot of new owners. It is empty. We break the whole thing down in our BYD Sentry Mode myth guide, and the Sealion 8 is no different.

For a big family SUV that spends its life in car parks, on the school run and loaded up for road trips, that is exactly where you want a camera watching your back. A dashcam turns "someone hit us and drove off" into a clear number plate for your insurer.

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.

The BP100 is what unlocks BYD "Sentry Mode"

Either camera is at its happiest with a VIOFO BP100 battery pack. It is the BP100 that enables the "Sentry Mode" style guarding BYD owners are chasing, which is motion detection and impact detection while you are away, without leaning on the car's tiny 12V battery.

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 our testing. 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, 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, we set it conservatively on every BYD, and our EV dashcam battery guide can walk you through too.

The quick version

Your Sealion 8 is a cracker, so give it 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 unlock the motion and buffered impact recording that gives you real "Sentry Mode" style cover, 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. That camera-shaped housing near the mirror is empty, so you need an aftermarket camera to capture usable proof.

Does the BYD Sealion 8 have Sentry Mode?

No, not from the factory. The closest thing is a VIOFO A329S or A229 paired with a BP100 battery pack, which gives you motion detection and buffered impact recording while parked, the guarding BYD owners are really after, without draining the small 12V battery.

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 fit 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

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.