Yi Mirror Dash Cam Review - In the car 4 eyes are better 2
How many times have you been involuntary witnesses or directly involved in a car accident in which your car, of which you are still paying the installments, has suffered considerable damage but unfortunately the various technical appraisals and the insurances involved have not rightly compensated maybe even guilt contest. To this example and to many others the solution could be that of equip your vehicle with a dash camand if you are looking for ease of use, good quality and cheap price then the answer is certainly Yi Mirror Dash Cam, a rearview mirror with integrated dash cam that you can find at the store Amazon Italia and that today we present you in our full review.
SEE THE UNBOXING OF OUR GADGET FOR ROAD SAFETY
The packaging of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam is presented in the classic white hardcover to which Xiaomi and its sub brands have accustomed us, showing on the upper part the well detailed photo of the product while on the back we find a sticker with the main technical characteristics. Inside, in addition to our smart mirror we find the multilingual user manual including Italian, warranty sheet of the producer, two silicone tabs soft to anchor the dash cam to the original mirror of our car, car charger with 12-24V input and 5V / 2.1A output, mini USB power cable (length 3,5 meters), biadhesive for the rear room, 2 screws for anchoring the rear chamber, module rear cam dash with proprietary connection (cable length 45 cm) and finally dash cam rear power cord with 3.5mm jack input (cable length 6 meters + 1,5 meters red cable to be connected to reverse light).
PREFACE REGULATIONS IN FORCE AND LEGALITY OF THE PRODUCT
I want to do one before leaving with the real review clarification on the legislation, yet poco clear, about these devices to support road safety, such as dash cams. First of all I want to tell you that the Yi Mirror Dash Cam is completely legal, as the legislation does not prohibit the use of video recording equipment on board the vehicle but what is limited is the diffusion of the videos / photos acquired due to privacy. In fact, if we do not publicly disseminate videos / photos or obscure sensitive data collected, such as plates and faces of people, then we are not in danger of breaking privacy nobody's. It should be noted, however, that it is at the discretion of the possible judge to decide whether or not to acquire the video of the incident as evidence. In addition to this, a further problem could arise from the fact that the screen integrated into the Yi Mirror Dash Cam could be seen as an element of disturbance to the driver's driving, but this in reality is definitely an easily deterred obstacle since our dash cam allows you to record even when the display is off and therefore, to all intents and purposes, our technological gadget proves to be a common rear-view mirror that does not obscure the view but accentuates it, since in general the reflected surface is wider than that offered by the original rear-view mirror of the car. Finally add that ours Yi Mirror Dash Cam enjoys CE marking therefore a product that complies with the safety requirements of the European Community directives or regulations.
Without this premise we start by analyzing the aesthetics of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam, whose rearview mirror size 315 mm (length) x 80 mm (height) x 17,4 mm (depth) but let's go up to 35,8 mm of depth relative to the protrusion of the frontal chamber. The mirror has a excellent reflective power and it is definitely better than the one provided by the standard mirror of my car, because the surface seems to be treated with a sort of blackout film (tending to green), to be similar to the one applied in car windshields, which does not create disturbances in direct sunlight on the mirror.
For all purposes, Yi Mirror Dash Cam looks like a common rear-view mirror except for the company logo placed centrally on the lower side, while on the lower profile we find the On / off button. On the back made of well-made plastic are placed the various components that make our mirror smart, that is one speaker for audio playback recorded in the videos as well as the beeps that recall the functions. We find a small hole for the microphone, and the camera used as a dash cam that is adjustable by 360 degrees. Under the top profile, in a sort of notch, we find a small hole to reset the device, the input for the micro SD card (recommended 10 class, minimum 8 GB maximum 64 GB), the mini USB input for front dash cam power cord and AUX input for rear dash cam power cord.
But it does not end here as always on the back we find a kind of ventilation grid for electronic components, two bearings that will serve to preserve from any scratches the original rearview mirror of our car but also 4 retractable plastic bandages that once they are out of their seats they fold 90 degrees and in combination with the two silicone tabs contained in the package allow the anchorage of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam. Assembly that is really easy and firm. Too bad that the company has not thought to take advantage of the built-in speaker and microphone as a kind of speakerphone to be combined with the smartphone.
But the peculiarity of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam is to offer a rear cam dash module, thus allowing complete monitoring for both standard incidents and rear-end collisions. The form looks like a sort of cube (22 x 22 x 22 mm) anchored to a metal butterfly which will then be attached to the outside of the vehicle, but you can also insert the rear dash cam inside. Also if you connect the red wire of the power cable to the reverse light, each time you reverse your car with the Yi Mirror Dash Cam display, the rear camera view will be automatically projected, really useful function in urban parking lots.
The rear cam dash is IP67 certified, therefore waterproof, e guaranteed with temperatures ranging from -10 ° C to + 60 ° C. We have a unit HD optics from 1 megapixel with the possibility of video recording with 1280 x 720 resolution to 30 fps in H.264 MOV format and viewing angle FOV to 120 degrees. However, we can decide to insert the rear dash cam inside the vehicle using it as a kind of TAXI CAM, ie a camera that frames the driver in order to have a test in case of an accident on our correct behavior for example to show that we were not distracted with the smartphone. It should be noted that the recording made by the rear dash cam is "mirrored" compared to reality, which does not prove to be a big problem, but we hope that a firmware update will solve the problem.
But in these cases what matters most is the front dash cam that in the case of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam is a unit FHD optics from 2 megapixel, opening ffinal match. with the possibility of video recording with 1920 resolution x 1080 30 fps in H.264 MOV format and viewing angle FOV to 138 degrees, which also integrates a IR filter for night vision. Depending on the capacity of the inserted SD card we can record up to 8 hours of video (64 GB card) with only front view or 6 hours of video if we also use the rear camera.
Video quality depends heavily on fps, and therefore a higher value allows greater fluidity and details. It should be noted and remembered that the rooms offered by the Yi Mirror Dash Cam have no cinematic purpose but to record the reality that surrounds us so as to have a material evidence in the event of an accident. Indeed the quality it is definitely not the strong point, but above all this it is inversely proportional to the speed of travel of the vehicle. In fact, on the motorway, where we will have a higher speed, the quality or better the details caught seem to decrease while in the city, considering the maximum limit of 50 Km / h, the details increase decidedly to discrete levels. In fact, statistically, accidents and use of the car are mainly carried out in urban areas. In any case, although the quality apparently could not convince, in fact this proved to be better than competing products belonging to the same price range, as in post production we can isolate the details related to plates etc .. Merit also of the Built-in ISP Dual Core processor with support to WDR function (Wide Dynamic Range: function that provides the best image clarity in difficult light situations), r3D noise reduction ed accelerometer to 3 axes which comes into play during an incident by automatically activating the emergency recording protecting the movie from future overwriting. The night yield is a little less convincing, although Yi Mirror Dash Cam is still a useful and valid tool in case of revenge for traffic accidents.
One aspect that makes the Yi Mirror Dash Cam special compared to similar products on the market is lintegration of a display in the mirror. A screen by 4,3 inch touch screen of IPS type with 800 x 480 pixel resolution through which we can have a clear vision of what our dash cams are recording. Excellent vision at night or when the direct brightness of the sun is not at its maximum splendor. But when the sun hits the rearview mirror directly, in this case we really struggle to read the contents of the display, but this it is not considered a defect as theoretically we should never interact with it if not for the general settings of our dash cam. Indeed every time we give power to the Yi Mirror Dash Cam this will automatically start recording looped videos, while at the end of the power supply the video in progress will be saved and from the display we will see a countdown from 10 to 0 with relative driving report in the case of journeys of more than 5 minutes. We can turn on the display at any time using the button below the lower profile or simply by tapping on it. Well a nice comfort for women, who do not have to give up the make-up in the car.
From the main screen in the upper part we have the information about date, time, recording time, WiFi signal strength, microphone icon for on / off audio and battery charging icon, even if the latter only serves to understand if our smart mirror is receiving power since the integrated battery is only buffer, ie it will allow you to save the video in progress in case of sudden disconnection of the current.
At the bottom of the display we find 5 icons: the first is related to the activation of the emergency registration, ie you can immediately save a video (adding 10 seconds of shooting to the video in progress) even if we are not directly involved in an accident or because the collision sensor did not work. We find the icon related to visual switch dash cams, going from front to back, or having a combined view of the two cameras. We can then stop the video in progress and then resume registration, we can asee the video album recorded on micro SD card and finally access the settings of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam.
The settings menu is completely in Italian and this aspect should not be underestimated, at least in products of Xiaomi origin and in this case Yi. From here we can set the video recording quality (1920 × 1080 / 1280 × 720 / 640 × 480 to 30 fps), decide if enable or disable audio recording, turn on / off the WIFi module (802.11n), format the micro SD card, set the sensitivity of the collision detection (low / medium / high), set date / time, decide how long to turn off the display (1 / 3 / 5 / 10 minutes or always active), decide the length of the recorded video (1 / 3 minutes), activate / deactivate the system start / stop and beep sound, change the language, set the screen backlight level (3 levels), enable / disable the driving ratio. Every two hours of driving continues the Yi Mirror Dash Cam will alert us with an acoustic signal, to be switched off manually, as we could be tired, thus safeguarding us and the passengers. We can finally restore the factory settings and access the general information of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam.
You may wonder what a WiFi module is for on a dash cam? Well, in support of the Yi Mirror Dash Cam we have the smartphone app for both Android and iOS devices, which will allow us not only to review the main settings of the dash cam but also of delete the YI watermark from the videos but also of take advantage of the smartphone display for watching recorded videos and downloading them to our phone, but also for direct viewing, in the event that visibility under the direct sunlight of the integrated display in the rearview mirror is compromised. Also we could also take pictures if we wanted to capture a sunset during one of our trips.
PROJECTED IMPACT
In conclusion, our Yi Mirror Dash Cam is decidedly less innovative and less smart than the solution proposed directly by Xiaomi, which, however, in Italy is illegal and unusable because of the Chinese language only and perhaps a GPS module would not have failed, but Regardless, a dash cam is always recommended as an equipment for your car and the solution offered by Yi is not far behind. But what drives me to recommend it compared to similar models or from the same price range is certainly the general product quality of the product, the possibility of having one back room to be exploited also as an aid in city parking lots, but also the reliability that lies behind the Yi brand and a good application to all the managed in the Italian language and in this case with the support and warranty provided by Amazon Italy. Beware of offers that are often repeated and that bring the final price to about 55 euro so do not hesitate and run to buy it to protect yourself in case of an accident.
Nice review. Could I know which legislation you refer to? I would like to buy it but I read on some Amazon reviews that the police have ordered to remove it because it is not compliant and at risk of a fine. At least if they were to contest my use I could quote the legislation or show it and not run into any fines
As soon as it was installed, it asked me to update the firmware, but I noticed that the current one is USA and the one it asks me to install is CHINA. What do you recommend to do? I wouldn't want to end up with all the menus in Chinese ...