70mai M500 dashcam evaluation: Svelte and reasonably priced

There are many great dashcams on the market, however not all of them are fairly as compact and cleverly designed because the 70mai M500. It’s a neat variation on the dashcam theme, in that it has been designed as a landscape-oriented unit that’s slim sufficient to take a seat alongside the highest of your windshield and never get in the way in which. That’s excellent news, particularly should you drive one thing like a sports activities automobile that may have a reasonably restricted view out the entrance. Equally, it’s good to have it tucked out of the way in which, even when your windshield is generously-sized.

I’ve tried some spectacular rival choices over the previous few months, together with the likes of the dear Nextbase iQ and the Rove R3 fashions. The large distinction with the 70mai M500 is that it is competitively priced, however nonetheless manages to pack in loads of high quality options and features. Certain, there’s no rear display screen, nevertheless it’s straightforward to get by with out one simply so long as you make full use of the supporting 70mai app, which is superb.

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70mai M500

The M500 is a kind of nice bargain-basement fashions the place the specs are method higher than anticipated given the value level. It’s bought all of the necessities, together with high quality video. The slimline design works like a deal with, particularly for automobiles with smaller windshields. The actual fact it is lacking a rear display screen shouldn’t be sufficient to place anybody off shopping for from it.

Variety of Cameras

One

Entrance Digital camera Decision

5-megapixel, 1,944p

Subject of View

170-degree

Model

70mai

Professionals

• Straightforward set up and setup course of
• Slender form works nice on small windshields
• Glorious smartphone integration

Cons

• No rear display screen because of the slimline design
• Connectivity might be often patchy
• Hardwiring wanted for added options to work

Worth, availability, and specs

The M500 is on the market now. Amazon presently has it priced at $109.99 within the US and £89.99 within the UK. I feel that’s nice worth contemplating the unit is properly designed, effectively put collectively and packs in loads of options.

What I appreciated in regards to the 70mai M500 dashcam

Surprisingly potent

Contemplating it sits on the decrease finish of the market when it comes to worth, the M500 provides numerous efficiency. There’s the 2.7K Extremely HD recording capability, which, due to the M500’s 5-megapixel sensor, means 2,592 x 1,944p footage that I discovered greater than useable in most conditions. This consists of capturing license plates and highway signal particulars. The opposite bonus with the M500 is its skill to seize a 170-degree standpoint. That’s spectacular too.

I used to be additionally equally impressed by the nighttime capturing high quality of the sensor and lens mixture, with some glorious HDR properties enabling me to get high-quality footage in less-than-ideal eventualities. That included wet days when cloud cowl actually takes the sting off recording. There are different options I like, too, such because the built-in GPS for capturing real-time journey information — together with date, time and velocity. Plus, there is a raft of supplementary options like parking surveillance. You will must hardwire the digicam into your automobile for the latter to work, although.

What I did not like about 70mai M500 dashcam

Not fairly as straightforward because it seems

Whereas the M500 has loads going for it, I did discover a couple of issues that have been much less straightforward to reside with. First up, there’s no rear display screen, which I’ve encountered loads of instances earlier than. The difficulty is I’ve additionally skilled sufficient dashcams to see the true advantage of having the ability to perform setup and likewise preview footage on-screen, within the automobile. Granted, it took me no time in any respect to obtain and set up 70mai’s cell app, which does work effectively, however the lack of a display screen might put some off.

The opposite difficulty — which affects most dashcams, to be sincere — is that the parking surveillance options require me to hardwire the dashcam into my automobile to work. I’d want a package to do that, which 70mai sells individually at additional value. The largest draw back to doing that is that it doesn’t enable me to maneuver my dashcam from car to car as and once I must. Anybody searching for a completely mounted dashcam although, will discover that it’s value doing due to the additional performance that comes with it.

Do you have to purchase 70mai M500?

Total, the 70mai M500 dashcam is a superb little bundle, with slimline dimensions making it very interesting. There’s an absence of rear display screen and the necessity for hardwiring in an effort to achieve the good thing about all its options and features. Nonetheless, it represents glorious worth for cash, comes with voice management and has an app that lets me simply handle all of controls and photographs. It’s a really respectable bundle.

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70mai M500

Variety of Cameras

One

Entrance Digital camera Decision

5-megapixel, 1,944p

Subject of View

170-degree

Model

70mai