I purchased this dash cam Friday night after an aggressive driver almost ran me off the road with an aggressive lane change. It arrived Sunday afternoon and was installed shortly there after. Install was a breeze I just routed the cord down the weather striping as indicated in the manual. Monday (today) I am on my way home and am side swiped by a driver in a turn only lane crossing into mine so they could go straight. We pull over and they immediately begin to tell me how I was in a different lane and was suppose to turn etc., I told them I disagreed, but would just send in the footage to the insurance company. Once they saw the camera they began to agree with my side of the story and we exchanged information. With out this camera I'm not sure the outcome would've been any different, but I am glad I have the footage since no witnesses stopped.
I'm giving it a five star based on the value = video quality for the price. I recently pulled the SD Card to examine the videos it was taking. With a 64GB card it does about three days of commute back, or about three hours. The wide angle is great for capturing any activity from the side. The actual quality night/day is sufficient for it's use. License plates for cars immediately ahead are legible. Great little bit of added security for the price.
I had this for two weeks now and it works great. I'm in California and camera doesn't get too hot, but it is fall. Image is good enough for me. Plates can be hit or miss depending on lighting and speed. I think the night footage is pretty exceptional. I feel this camera is pretty good for the price.
My husband, a long-haul truck driver has long since said he needed a decent dash cam. He got this for Christmas and has really enjoyed showing off the videos that he has saved while on the road. The wifi capabilities makes it easy to send a quick video to show our kids where he is at. The video quality is rather exceptional for the cost.
Just purchased one of these and mounted it successfully in my car. Including routing the cable installation time was about half an hour. As soon as the ignition was turned on the camera powered up. So far so good. At this point I had a clear image of my garage door. Attempting to do the settings - time, date, mic on/off, etc - it was almost impossible to do with the camera mounted. Not a problem - just push on the little tab to release the camera from the mount. Not so easy. There is a big nut that retains the rotatable ball in the mount and the snap tab clearly interferes when pushed. I struggled for a couple of minutes with no success and finally had to unscrew the nut all the way and pull the ball out of the socket which is quite a tug. When I finally was able to get the mount to release from the camera it immediately dropped into a completely inaccessible opening next to the seat belt between the seats. Now I have no mount. Big problem. I've left a message with their support but haven't heard back yet. Do I return to Amazon - haven't decided yet. Clearly the mounting tab is a poor design and although I haven't had a chance to use the camera while driving it doesn't seem to match the rest of the design. If you buy one of these my suggestion is to set all the settings before you mount it - easy to do with any cell phone charger. One other thing - the instruction manual, although written and diagrammed well and in clear English could use some additional information.
Feature Product
- The ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) - the most advanced and optimized visual recognition algorithms ensure safe driving by providing real time Lane Departure
- Emergency recording feature - Enabled by G-sensor technology, the camera automatically saves footage in the events leading up to a collision and immediately after
- High Definition Image and First-class Night vision - 1920x1080p 60fps high speed video recording captures fast moving scenes and creates high resolution images in high speed.
- Features 165 ultra wide-angle to reduce blind spots and obtain full 3 lane coverage. F1.8 apertures (the largest in the industry) and 3.0mx3.0m high sensitivity image sensors guarantee excellent night vision
- Built - in 2.7" TFT LCD widescreen and intuitive YI Dash Cam App - The interface features large buttons and user-friendly icons for quick recognition and intuitive operation
Description
Driver Assistance System ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems)
Brings you up to date and has optimized detection algorithms. Drive safer thanks to lane departure warnings in real time.
G-sensor Technology
The camera's emergency detection automatically records events when a collision is detected using G-sensor technology.
165° Wide-Angle Lens
Full coverage of three lanes. The powerful F1.8 aperture combined with an extremely powerful 3.0μm x 3.0μm image sensor guarantees excellent pictures even at night.
High Definition and First Class Night Vision
HD and first-class night vision. 1920x1080p at 60 fps captures fast-moving scenes and creates high-resolution images at high speeds. At 30 fps, a resolution of 2304 x 1296p Ultra HD is possible. Note: A microSD Class 10 card with 8 - 64 GB and higher is required (sold separately).
Built-in 2.7" TFT LCD Widescreen
Using the built-in screen or the YI Dash Cam app, for Android and iOS, makes the operation simple. Large buttons and user-friendly icons allow quick and intuitive navigation through the menus and settings.
I spent a lot of time comparing YouTube reviews, and this camera was consistently a top performer, especially at night (shows details in the shadows). It's no GoPro, but it's way better than its $48 price would suggest. And unlike some users, I've had great luck with the WiFi and iPhone app for settings/browse/downloading. I love the WiFi access!
PROS:
- Cheap/affordable, yet still a decent dash camera. 60fps at 1080 is impressive for $48.
- Superior low-light shadow detail (vs. nearly every other dashcam at any price. Better than my eyes!).
- Good daytime performance (dynamic range; maintains highlights).
- easy to use (auto-on/off. Set it and forget it.).
- Wifi! I think the iPhone app works great for live view, cam settings and browsing/trimming and downloading clips (others people have mixed reviews).
- fast start-up time (about 4 seconds. I've heard some cams take 30-seconds)
- did I mention it's cheap?! I could buy a 2nd one for rear-view and still be under $100 total! Wow.
- can be used as an "action camera" with 10- to 20-minute battery life. :-)
CONS:
- gray color case and "tall" shape is conspicuous (I wrapped it in black paper).
- shadow detail is fantastic, BUT the night-time highlights tend to lose detail (too bright. Needs a HDR feature).
- low-ish resolution (1080) and very wide angle (160°) means it won't capture license plates very well.
- short battery life when unplugged (but still better than capacitor cams).
- no parking mode (it would be great if they simply had an adjustable shut-off timer for 5 or 10 minutes, ...or a longer, low-power parking mode for 1 frames-per-sec or something).
- no suction cup mount (but I bought a separate $6 mirror-clamp mount, which I like).
- other users report not handling high summer heat or fridged winter temps (haven't test mine to extremes yet).
- stupid driving-assistance mode is hated by everybody. Just turn it off.
I bought two of these for my work vehicle, one for the front and one for the back. With a camera this inexpensive, this is easily affordable. I found it depressing that this camera didn't come with a suction cup mount, requiring me to buy two separately.
These have been working great. You can rename the wireless network on each camera and the app will list all cameras available to connect to when they're up and running.
Quality has been great. Obviously, this camera isn't meant to very hot climates. Don't cover up the silver, and mount out of direct sunlight if possible. If you leave it in your hot car dashboard, you're asking for failure. This is well documented in all of the major reviews for the product throughout the web, and its own instruction manual.
I'm curious why people would complain about this being obvious. It just makes it more hilarious when someone tries to tailgate you, then they notice the camera pointed right at their face. They back right off. I laugh every time. My vehicle is fairly secure, and I'm honestly not worried about anyone stealing these on me. They're cheap too, so if one breaks or is lost, I'm not too upset.
I wish you could turn off the g shock sensor completely. Unfortunately you have to go into the app and delete those files manually.
Overall, great inexpensive camera. I think more people should have dash cams!
=== UPDATE (20180507) ===
I was able to completely revive the camera! I visited the Yi Support site and downloaded the "First Aid" firmware(?), loaded it to my SD card and powered the camera and hit the reset button on the side with a paperclip. I immediately saw a yellow LED flickering, indicating card reading activity. Then suddenly my screen came alive for the first time in a month and I was able to set up the camera as if brand new. Now it is back in the car where it belongs.
These cameras offer excellent image quality for the money. Great entry level dash cam. They generally work as a dash cam should... you shouldn't have to do much of anything, and generally forget about it. However, I find that it is good practice to format the SD card every month or so.
I find that I *do* get a rattling noise on my camera video, but I hear no rattling at all from the actual camera while driving. I've seen Youtube videos demonstrating this issue as well, but it's definitely not a deal breaker by any means.
=== Original Review ===
Completely stopped working after about 4 months. This is the 3rd one I've purchased (one for each car) because they are generally okay, but this one just completely quit. When the power cable is plugged in, there is a red light on the back of the camera. No buttons do anything. I've tried holding down the power button for a minute or more to reset or something. It did nothing. I removed the SD card and reformatted it on my PC. That made no difference either. It's just dead.
Now I have to go find another brand and probably spend a lot more.
Have been using this for a while. Full time use completely filled 64GB memory in about 3.5 days at moderate mileage(km), probably about 200.-300 km driving. Image resolution at maximum at 30 fps. It has many features for the price. Adjustable sensitivity for lane detection. A little hard to understand.how to use the features as the instructions are very basic. Takes time to try it out. Overall a very good value.
Update May 2018
This is an excellent gadget! I am updating from 4 to 5 stars because I contacted the seller to see about obtaining a replacement for a lost mount. The response was incredible! Within a few days, the seller had sent me a replacement mount, no charge, no questions asked! Outstanding!
This thing saved my tail. I bought it and less than 2 weeks later someone runs into me while in my commercial truck. I show him the footage, he admits fault, then 3 weeks later I get a call from an insurance investigator because apparently he's trying to blame me anyway. (Real stand up guy, aren't they all in an accident?). I uploaded the file to a private youtube video, since the file size is too large to email, and sent the link to the insurance company. That immediately took care of that, probably saved my job! The file size for 60FPS 1080p is around 350MB for each 3 minute clip, which is a fixed duration; cannot be changed. 3 minutes is a good number, however.
On scene I was able to immediately download the video to my phone, ridiculously conveniently and easily. The local PD doesn't do reports on non-injury accidents so no ticket was issued, no report filed - it would just be my word against his to the insurance companies.
Using in my work truck, it very seldomly starts recording an urgent video on its own due to the very bumpy ride. I was worried about the sensor being too sensitive, and it's not, but I do wish there was a way to disable the GForce sensor aspect of it.
Battery life is about 10-15 minutes. Not that you need to take it out of the car with the download feature, if you have a smartphone with you.
The only problem I have with it is.. I can't drive without it now. I feel so vulnerable if I forget to put it in my vehicle lol..
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