buying information Archives

Posted on June 14, 2023September 18, 2023 by Kelvin Viller

5 Reasons To Upgrade Your Dash Cam

DVR camera on the windshield of the car close up

If you already own a dash cam, you’re likely familiar with its fantastic features that enhance driver safety. However, what you may not know is that your current dash cam could be outdated, with newer models offering better features that make it easier to share footage with loved ones, provide evidence to insurance companies or the police, and more.

Here are five reasons why it’s the perfect time to upgrade your current dash cam:

Enhanced Resolution

Like any video camera, dash cams record using specific video sizes, and higher pixel numbers indicate better video and image quality. Older dash cams may record in 480p or 720p, which is considerably lower than the capabilities of newer models. By upgrading to a higher resolution camera, such as 1080p, 1440p, or 4K, you’ll enjoy sharp, crisp images that won’t suffer from display issues. This ensures that the footage retains important details, such as license plates or faces, even when objects are far from the camera.

Improved Night-Time Recording

Driving at night can be more dangerous due to reduced natural light. While most dash cams offer low-light features to record in the dark, older cameras may produce grainy and barely visible footage that’s of little use to authorities or insurance providers. Investing in a dash cam with enhanced low-light recording capabilities allows you to capture more details in videos, even when driving on unlit roads. Brands like BlackVue, Nextbase, and Garmin offer excellent options with light sensor technology or Sony STARVIS image sensor technology for unrivalled night-time video recording.

Wi-Fi and Better Connectivity

Modern dash cams come equipped with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing you to effortlessly view footage on your smartphone or computer and transfer videos without removing the SD card from the dash cam. Some models, like those from BlackVue, take connectivity to the next level with the BlackVue Cloud. This suite of app-driven Live services enables users to remotely connect to their dash cams, check their cars, play video clips, back up data, monitor live journey progress, and access real-time location data.

Parking Mode and Hardwiring

If your current dash cam is older, it probably lacks a parking mode feature, meaning it won’t record when the engine is off due to power constraints. Newer dash cams typically include parking modes with features like impact detection and motion detection. This ensures continuous recording even when you’re away from your vehicle, providing peace of mind in capturing any unexpected incidents. To optimize the dash cam’s parking mode and ensure constant coverage, consider having it hardwired into your car. Hardwiring prevents the dash cam’s battery from draining and eliminates messy wires, freeing up your 12V connector for charging other devices.

Front and Rear Cameras for Expanded Viewing Angles

Leading dash cam brands now offer options for both front and rear cameras. Installing a dual-camera system provides a full 360-degree view (depending on the model), ensuring you never miss what’s happening ahead, beside, or behind you. BlackVue offers several models that include front and rear cameras as standard, making them an excellent choice for comprehensive coverage. Nextbase also offers rear cameras that can be combined with their front cameras, providing a broader perspective of the road. With these options, you’ll capture every important moment.

Posted on July 15, 2021January 24, 2023 by Eric Rogers

Replay XD 1080 Mini Review

Being a daily cycle commuter, I had been wanting to review the Replay XD 1080 for some time and so was especially pleased when the new Replay XD 1080 Mini was released and I managed to get my hands on one. Smaller and lighter than it’s predecessor, it manages to cram the same performance into it’s tough aluminium housing.

Key Features

Full HD quality video (1920 x 1080) at 30fps.
120° wide angle lens with a 5MP CMOS sensor.
Tough aluminium body.
Waterproof to 3m.
Vibration feedback for easy control while wearing a helmet.
A range of adhesive mounts.
MicroSD cards up to 32GB. 4GB card supplied.

When people think of cameras for their bicycles or motorbikes, many consider the costly GoPro range, but for me, the asthetics of the Replay means it’s much more suited to the job. The Replay XD 1080 Mini’s barrel design – which has helped this type of camera to become known as a bullet camera – means that it’s much more aerodynamic and compact than the GoPro, especially when it’s waterproof housing and mounts are taken into consideration.

The first thing you notice about the Replay XD 1080 Mini is it’s exceptional quality. From the camera itself and it’s array of mounts, right through to the instruction booklet, stickers and packaging, the entire bundle is very impressive. Within the smart perspex outer packaging, Replay have included a fabric ‘ballistic’ case to store everything in when not being used and another smaller microfibre sleeve to protect the camera itself. Some Replay stickers complete a very neat package indeed.

The camera is very well put together and the fact that it’s waterproof to three metres without the need for an additional housing means that it remains neat and compact when in use. With double o-ring threads at either end of the camera protecting the lens at the front and the memory card slot, switches and power connectors at the rear, the camera will be more than weatherproof for use outdoors in rainy conditions.

The mounts are well constructed and very sturdy. While the LowBoy mount simply the camera in one, fixed position, the HeimLock mount offers the ability to move the camera slightly, by using a quick release mechanism. Both of these mounts allow the camera to be twisted throughout 360° to be positioned as required and small lines around the camera help with alignment.

Once clipped into any of the SnapTrays provided, the mounts become very sturdy indeed. Three of these SnapTrays are included, and the Flat, Tripod and Curved SnapTrays are each designed for for a slightly different purpose. I used the Curved SnapTray on my cycle helmet and it stuck well, thanks to the 3M adhesive used. I would say that I was slightly concerned that the mount wouldn’t adhere to my helmet well, as the adhesive pad would have to sit across a vent hole. However, it has remained stuck very well and I have no concerns as to it falling off. On a motorbike helmet, where it would have a much better contact, it would stick extremely well.

The camera only has two external buttons with which to control the camera which are also waterproof to prevent moisture getting inside. The simplistic control system works exceptionally well and makes it easy to control the Replay XD 1080 Mini without having to look at it. The two raised buttons either turn the camera on/off or start/stop recording and can be felt easily through gloves. While the camera has small LCDs that tell you what the camera is currently doing, each button press in also accompanied with a vibration alert which can be felt through your helmet to ensure you know that you’re recording. By adjusting the cameras settings, it can be made to start recording with the touch of just one button, but more on that later.

At the front, the impact-resistant polycarbonate lens offers a 120 degree field-of-view, enabling the Replay XD 1080 Mini to capture significant detail without the image distorting due to a wide angle fish-eye lens. This lends itself well to the purpose of capturing footage in the case of an incident on the road as all aspects of the image will be clear. Recording at either 1080p at 30 frames-per-second, or 720p at 60 frames-per-second the video quality is excellent. A simple switch, hidden behind the rear bezel, changes between these two main recording options but others are available via an ‘advanced’ set up solution.

With this, it’s possible to alter many technical aspects of the Replay XD 1080 Mini, to tailor it exactly to your specific needs. While it’s not the most intuitive process, by manually altering a text file found on your memory card, you can tweak features such as exposure, sharpness and contrast, as well as various recording functions. In my case, I activated loop recording and one touch recording, so that it started to record automatically as soon as I turned it on. This meant that during my daily commute, I simply turned the camera on as I started my journey and it would start recording, recording over the oldest footage when the 4GB memory card (supplied) was full. This took around 40 minutes, and I wanted to retain slightly more footage than that so I eventually upgraded to a larger card.

With about a two hour battery life, the Replay XD 1080 Mini offers enough recording time for many journeys, but it’s not going to last for a full day’s cycle ride by any means. With this in mind, there are a range of power accessories available, from three and six hour battery packs to hardwire kits. These open the door to many different applications for cyclists and motorcyclists and all offer the same high level of build quality throughout. Other accessories include a ReView monitor to view footage while out and about and a mountain of mounting options for almost every conceivable eventuality.

Overall, the Replay XD 1080 Mini is a great camera, either for the daily commuter, or for the more ‘extreme’ user. I found that when I had the camera mounted on my helmet the constant movement suited the 720p setting better, due to the higher frame rate, and produced a smoother picture. I also experimented with the WindBreaker stickers that came in the package and found that they do an effective job of cutting out wind noise, especially if travelling at high speeds.

I feel confident that in the case of any incident I will have a detailed record of the events leading up to it which I can refer to if necessary. The footage quality is good enough to capture vehicle registrations and other details, even at speed, and by mounting the camera on my helmet it meant it was almost always focussed on danger areas. For more recreational activities, such as snowboarding, I look forward to experimenting with the many other mounting options.

Replay XD 1080 Mini Videos

Unboxing Video

Posted on July 15, 2021January 24, 2023 by Eric Rogers

Mi-Witness HD Dashcam Review

Given its multi-award winning status, we were excited to receive the Mi-Witness HD for review recently. In recent times this popular dashcam has been awarded a lofty 5-star rating by the Sunday Times and scooped ‘Product of the Year’ at the Vehicle Electronics Professional awards, so we’re were especially keen to see how it performed.

Key Features

Full HD quality video (1280 x 720) at 30fps.
120° wide angle lens with a 2MP CMOS sensor.
GPS maps for speed and location tracking.
G-shock sensor to detect sudden and severe movement.
Parking mode for protection when parked.
Photo mode.
Wifi enabled to connect to a mobile app (via optional Wifi dongle).
Adjustable adhesive windscreen mount.
MicroSD cards up to 32GB. 8GB card supplied.

Combine all that with our fondness for front and rear dashcam set-ups and we were delighted to receive the Mi-Witness Driver Special bundle to take a look at. As well as the main Mi-Witness HD camera unit, this package also includes a neat little rear camera along with some other goodies including a wifi dongle, a hardwire kit and a smart little protective case.

Upon opening the package, we were pleasantly pleased with the main, front-facing camera. Largely black, to help it remain inconspicuous when installed, it finds a good balance between simplicity and functionality. With just one main button on the left-hand edge (looking from a drivers point-of-view), which also acts as a light so you can tell how the camera is working, the camera doesn’t invite interaction, and nor should it. The Mi-Witness is designed to be set-up, installed and forgotten about unless absolutely necessary.

Elsewhere on the camera, there are two small indicator lights that tell you if the camera has power and whether the GPS signal has locked in. Just above these is a USB port hidden beneath a sturdy rubber cover which is where the wifi dongle is attached. By offering wifi functionality as an optional extra, the Mi-Witness HD becomes a package that can be tailored to an individuals needs. The USB slot will apparently also be used for other functions in the future which may offer even more customisation options.

Around the camera are ventilation holes to let heat escape and on the right-hand end, there are two sockets for the power cable and the rear-camera cable to plugged into, along with a slot for the Micro SD card, again covered by a rubber guard, to stop and unwanted dirt getting in. Overall, the camera feels like it’s built with quality in mind.

Installation was a breeze with just two cables to worry about. The first was the power cable which I could easily run along a well-worn route in my car due to installing cameras quite frequently. However, the cable is easily tucked behind trim and under carpets so an expert-looking installation is easily achieved in any car. The second, longer cable, connects the front and rear cameras so needs to run the full length of the car. Yet again, this was easily hidden, apart from a small connector a metre or so away from the rear camera which needed some creative thinking! However, this connector could also be useful should the rear camera need to be disconnected, without having to remove the whole wiring system.

Both cameras stick to their respective windscreens with adhesive pads and held firmly in place. Each allows for up and down adjustments so it’s important to align them straight in the first place. This is one of the benefits of the Mi-Witness’s smartphone app. By plugging in the wifi dongle, the camera can connect to your iOS or Android device and stream live images via the free apps that are available to download. While this particular benefit may only be useful during installation, the apps also allow you to manage the cameras settings and view your recorded footage. This can be very useful if you’re involved in an accident and wish to review the footage at the scene.

Upon turning the camera on, it burst into life with a cheery voice message and a flash of red light from the main button. At night I found this light to be a bit too bright as it flashes while recording but it can be turned off. From then on the camera would record faultlessly each time, switching between the normal ‘continuous’ mode and it’s ‘parking’ mode as required. It would also detect ‘events’ using it’s internal g-sensor and store these video files away for safe keeping.

One unique feature to the Mi-Witness is that you can allocate space on the memory card for use with each particular type of video file that the camera can record; normal, event, parking and manual, which are videos that you trigger yourself by pressing the button on the camera if you spot an incident in front of you. While this feature might be slightly too advanced for every user, it does mean you can adjust the way that the camera stores data, allowing you to put heavier emphasis on capturing specific types of videos. Leave your car parked for long periods? Then increase the amount of parking files that it can hold before overwriting itself. Don’t feel the need to manually record? Then reduce this portion to give space to the other videos.

Footage can be viewed on the Mi-Viewer software, which I think is one of the better pieces of dashcam software that I’ve used. It’s well designed and very intuitive, but I do use a lot of these programs so maybe I’m just more used to them! All of the relevant information is laid out in a way that makes it easy to see and a range of icons let you navigate through the various tools available to you. I particularly like the ‘zoom’ tool which lets you hover your mouse pointer over a particular area of your video and you see a smaller zoomed in picture, helping you to make out finer detail, such as number plates. It’s also easy to view the footage from the rear camera, either on it’s own, or alongside the front camera video in a slightly smaller window.

The Mi-Witness HD records in 720p, which isn’t the highest specification available in a dashcam, but it still delivers good image quality. The footage portrays a clear view of the activity around you and, while the finer detail isn’t always easy to make out, it would enable you to establish the cause of any incidents you were involved in. In the age of ultra high-definition, it’s easy to forget the purpose of dashcams and get obsessed with being able to see every tiny detail, rather than just being able to establish a timeline of events leading up to an accident, which the Mi-Witness enables you to do.

So, in summary, it’s easy to see why the Mi-Witness HD has received such recognition in recent times. With excellent build quality and a host of accessories available for it, the Mi-Witness HD is an outstanding choice, whatever your specific dashcam requirements are. Mi-Witness are engaged with their customers via their online forum and, along with the community of users that they’ve built up, offer a level of support that other manufacturers would do well to emulate. While the camera’s image quality has room for improvement in comparison with some other dashcams, it is a highly capable unit.

Mi-Witness HD Videos

Unboxing Video