The Best Dash Cam You’ve Never Heard Of

I’VE OFTEN LIKENED USING A GOOD dash cam in your car to having a good insurance policy. You hope you never need to use it. But if things do go sideways, you’ll be glad you invested in one.

Dash cams used to be great for capturing evidence of an accident, to aid in insurance claims or help fend off fines or even just for a good story at the bar. These days though, with the cases of road rage and trumped-up hit-and-run charges, a dashcam isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity.

So, when my 2017-issue Garmin dash cam showed signs of croaking after too many hours on the road, my research (and some failed experiments along the way) led me to the 70mai A810 dual dash cam (R19,999, Amazon.in). Now, you may not have heard of Shenzhen-based 70mai, but it’s part of the Xiaomi ecosystem brands and rather popular in the dash cam segment. The A810 is 70mai’s top-shelf offering, with a 4K front-facing camera that excels under all lighting conditions and a ton of connectivity and features you didn’t know you’d need but will soon grow to love.

Straight out of the box, you get a 150-degree field-of-view (FOV) front camera that takes full 3840×2160 (4K UHD) video via a Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 sensor, and a 130-degree FOV rear camera that shoots 1080p video, plus a 16-foot cable that connects the two. Both attach to the windshields using semi-permanent sticky mounts.

The design is functional, but 70mai keeps things compact, with the front camera housing a 4K sensor and a crisp 640×360, 3-inch non-touch display. You’ll need to add a microSD card, 32GB to 256GB, as there isn’t one in the box. Setup is easy via the app, and with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, you get in-app live view, access to saved videos and all the settings—far easier than fidgeting with the on-camera menus.

Yet, as with any dash cam that lives and dies by its video output, the key reason to pick up the A810 is its stellar footage quality. Pick from 4K at 25fps or lower the resolution for 60fps—I preferred 4K for the extra detail, especially when identifying registration plates. Footage is bright and clear with lots of detail and accurate colours, and the camera adjusts quickly to changing light—underpasses, headlights, you name it. The Starvis 2 sensor helps with excellent low-light clarity and contrast. The rear camera, in contrast, is less impressive with only full-HD output that’s slightly overexposed, but it can read plates up close in daylight. Night captures are similar—front camera is strong, rear less so in colour and contrast.

The A810 packs in some nice-to-have driver aids such as lane-departure and forward- collision warnings, and an intelligent motion sensing mode which detects movement with ill intent around the car.

Alternatives:

You can consider the 70Mai A510 dual channel dash cam (R13,999), or the Hero Qubo dashcam (R12,990) with slightly lower 3K resolution for a little less, or the Viofo A229 Pro Plus 3 channel (3 cameras, R40,199) if you want to splurge. Like the A810, all three have the excellent Starvis 2 sensor.