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Ever since the Johor bicycle case, having a dash cam has become as crucial as having airbags in the car. In the case of an unfortunate accident, it can provide you with much needed crucial evidence to save you the stressful “he said, she said” situation. A little investment for lesser potential headaches.
Some modern-day cars these days come with a dash cam equipped as a standard fitment, but for older cars like mine, I had to get a dash cam separately. I have never used a dash cam in all my years of driving. This is my first.
First of all, all dash cams are not created equal. There are dash cams from all ends of the spectrum. The price also ranges from a couple of hundred ringgits to the thousands. For me, the most important features that I looked for in a dash cam are image quality, especially night vision, ease of installation and connectivity to my devices.
In the end, after tons of research, I decided to get the 70mai Dash Cam M500. I got mine at a shop in Subang Jaya called Sicurez Automative Solution Sdn Bhd. It’s slightly more expensive than on Shopee, but that’s the premium you need to pay for in-person service.
70mai Dash Cam M500
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ Slick and simple design ✓ Easy to setup and configure through their native app. ✓ Excellent still photo and video quality – 170° wide angle view. ✓ Built-in GPS and GLONASS with route-tracking. ✓ Voice control. | ✖ 24 hour parking surveillance feature requires hard-wire connection, which is sold separately. ✖ Built-in storage cannot be upgraded later. ✖ Tire pressure monitor sensors are sold separately. ✖ No rear camera. |
| General Specifications: – 1944P Super High Resolution with 170°FOV – Expanded ADAS – Built-in GPS + Glonass – Smart Voice Control – eMMC Built-in Storage (32/64GB/128GB) – Loop Recording & Evidence Protection – In-car Guardian for 24/7 Protection* *Requires hard wirekit |
In the box, it comes with the 70mai Dash Cam M500, power cord, dual USB car charger, bracket, two electrostatic stickers, a wiring crowbar, two adhesive stickers and the user manual. It comes with one year warranty.
Why I like the 70mai Dash Cam M500?
✓ Slick and simple design
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 has a very slick and simple design. It just 106 mm in length, making it small and pocket-sized.
It also comes with a mounting bracket with a sticky-back. The sticky-back is the surface you’re supposed to mount on your windshield. The mounting bracket itself also acts like a dock for the 70mai Dash Cam M500. This also means you can freely remove it and take it without completely uninstalling it from your car.
On one end of the dash cam is the power button, with the other end consisting of a USB-C port for powering the dash cam. By default, you can plug and play into your vehicle’s 12V cigarette lighter port for power.
✓ Easy to setup and configure through their native app
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 has its own native app, called 70mai. It is available to download for free on Apple Store or Google Play store. With their app, you can adjust a wide range of settings and configurations. Their app is actually quite intuitive despite low Apple Store reviews. It has only 1.9 stars with 315 ratings given on Apple Store.
Upon registering an account with them, the app will quickly guide you through the setup process. The process is actually pretty straight forward, and you’ll be done in a matter of minutes. The access between the camera and smartphone should be quick, without any sort of lag or frustration.
I had connection issues with the first unit I got, but the shop immediately replaced it with a new unit, and it worked seamlessly.
✓ Excellent still photo and video quality – 170 degree field of view
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 boasts an impressive 170 degree field of view. It has wide angle capabilities is much better than most dash cams in the market. It also boasts a new sensor that can record at up to a resolution of 2592x1944p, or 2.5 times clearer than your regular 1080p HD video.
However, from the pictures, you’d notice a slight amount of fish-eye effect because of this curved angle. During the day time, photo quality is superb.
Even at night, both the still image and video quality is clear enough that you still can see the number plate of the cars in front of you.
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 uses HDR to capture night vision in full colour.
✓ Built-in GPS and GLONASS with route-tracking
This has to be the coolest feature of 70mai Dash Cam M500. It has GPS and GLONASS incorporated in the device itself. This means that there’s a chip that communicates with both GPS and GLONASS satellites.
| Fun fact: GLONASS is a Russian space-based satellite navigation system operating as part of a radionavigation-satellite service. |
With this, your video and photos include real-time data such as speed, time and coordinates. This information is particularly useful in the event of an accident, because you will be able to pinpoint the precise location of the incident.
✓ Voice control
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 also has a built-in microphone. You can control a wide range of functionalities by using just your voice.
Audible commands such as “take a photo” or “shoot a video” are easy to execute. The camera will listen for your voice and act accordingly based on your commands.
| The 70mai Dash Cam M500 has 6 voice commands: – Take a photo – Shoot a video – Enable sound recording – Disable sound recording – Open hotspot – Close hotspot *Note: When the dash cam is connected to the 70mai app, voice command is not supported. |
What I wished the 70mai Dash Cam M500 did better at?
✖ 24 hour parking surveillance feature requires hard-wire connection, which is sold separately
The 70mai Dash Cam M500 also has a 24 hour parking surveillance feature. However, to enjoy that feature, you have to hard-wire the dash cam to the car’s battery. It connects directly to your car’s battery and keeps the dash cam running at an extremely low power.
When the dash cam detects impact, movement or motion, the built in sensor automatically triggers a recording. This is perfect for those who frequently park in public spaces.
The dash cam also intelligently captures time-lapses as well. Hours of surveillance footage is uniquely compressed into minute-long time lapses so that you can quickly scan and monitor any crucial events that may need your attention.
The only downside is that the hard-wire kit is sold separately.
✖ Built-in storage cannot be upgraded later
By default, when you purchase the 70mai Dash Cam M500, you are given the option to choose from 32GB / 64GB / 128GB memory size. Do note that the storage is built into the unit, meaning that you cannot swap-out storage or upgrade to a larger capacity at a later date.
The plus side is that instead of an SD card, the dash cam has a built-in eMMC storage. This avoids corrupted data by ensuring fast data read and write speeds, removing a key dash cam maintenance headache. The dash cam also utilises a loop recording feature – meaning that it will automatically record over the oldest files first. Hence, you also need not worry about full video/photo storage.
✖ Tire pressure monitor sensors are sold separately
Like the hard-wire kit, tire pressure monitor sensors are sold separately. I didn’t get these sensors though. If you use 70mai’s tire valve caps with the 70mai Dash Cam M500, it can communicate with the dash cam. It will report whenever you have a flat tire or if your tire pressure falls beneath a set level.
It a smart feature that is nice to have.
Verdict
As you can see, the 70mai Dash Cam M500 has a lot of good features. The image quality has exceed my expectations, especially the night shots. The smartphone integration also is pretty seamless. So far I have had a good experience with it.
Do you need to get it from a physical shop? It depends, on whether you want someone to help you install the hard-wire, otherwise, it’s pretty much just plug-and-play. It costed me a total of RM624 to get it installed at the shop in Subang.
Get yours today at Shopee / Lazada Malaysia!
If you are worried about getting a counterfeit product, you can purchase it off 70mai’s Official Shopee Store from Shopee Mall. Shopee says every product on its Shopee Mall is 100% authentic allowing users to shop with peace of mind from their favourite brands.
Alternatively, you can get it slightly cheaper from the other resellers. This shop gives you the option to buy the hardwire kit straightaway. Otherwise, you may purchase it from the official store at RM65 apiece.
Alternatively, you may get it on Lazada at this shop.
