Xiaomi Dash Cam Review: A Stylish and Safe Dash Camera for your Car

A dash camera has now become a need during day-to-day driving for all of us. It offers a lot of advantages for all drivers – safety, tracking, and anti-theft are just some aspects that a dash camera provides. There have been many companies who entered into the foray of offering dash cameras, and, Xiaomi of course, also entered the dashcam party. Check out this Xiaomi dash cam review.

Xiaomi has been known the world over to offer stylish, reliable, and feature-packed products to the consumer market. Will the Xiaomi Yi Dash Cam live up to the brand promise? Or should you consider other alternatives? We try to see what the Xiaomi Yi Dash Cam offers and gauge its worthiness for your car.

External Form Factor – not stunning, but elegant and beautiful

The Xiaomi YI looks stiff at first glance compared to many of the other devices we’ve already tested. The style with pronounced edges is slightly boxy, rather than smooth rounded ones. Another thing about the YI is the conspicuous bold text around the lens, meaning it’s not very discreet.

Looking at the dashcam itself, it looks bland and has no personality to it. That is perfect for us as we prefer low-key dash cams. The body is made of plastic, which feels sturdy and delicate. This has a matte finish that effectively repels fingerprints and is tiny enough to conceal behind your rearview mirror.

The Yi Dash Cam comes in a clean box, and inside, you can find the dashcam, manuals, and accessories that include a car charger, a micro USB cable, and a 3M adhesive mount (not seen in the picture as we already had it in the vehicle).

Installation and Set-up – straightforward as can be

The product is so easy to set up. The camera has preset with some default settings that are sufficient enough to start. What you need is to mount the camera, attach the source of power, and it is ready for recording. If you like to adjust the settings, you will dig through the screen’s menu options, which is very intuitive enough. For example, there are different choices; you can adjust the frame rate for the recording. Lower frame rate creates jittery videos, but it is easier to handle the file sizes. You can keep recording for longer periods without the need to constantly flush the memory card.

Installation is also easy; a 3 M adhesive brace, charging cables, and power adapter are available. Quick, none can take care of the entire installation without the need for an expert or a professional.

Features – Everything that you are looking for and some extra touches

Optics

The camera has a 165-degree field of view, which is a reasonable selling point of this lens, given the price range that it has entered the market at. The fairly wide angle of view means that the left A-pillar of the vehicle to the right A-pillar is hidden, looking through the front windshield. This extended view through the windscreen means that you are capturing just about all that appears through the viewfinder. The lens has a quick aperture of f/2.0. For better low-light photography, a larger aperture is especially nice.

Recording and Imaging

The Xiaomi YI Dashcam records clean, transparent videos with excellent clarity with full HD (1920 x 1080p) capability. Thirty fps is the frame rate of the videos, ensuring smooth playback when you need to do a slow-motion example of an incident that has been transferred (not included) to the external storage. However, you may choose not to record in full HD. However, because of the lower resolution of the recordings, this would not be recommended, it would be less likely to be admissible as proof.

Display

The Xiaomi YI Dashcam has a widescreen display with a 2.7 “TFT LCD, which is about the average and standard size for this price range. The standard of the show is light, crisp, and simple, not pixelated, and more than adequate for watching live streams or menu options. The entire camera can be programmed and controlled using the intuitive icons that adorn the device interface.

Driver Assistance

This camera comes with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). It is a state-of-the-art visual recognition technology that can identify when you move from a lane, thereby alerting you well in advance of a possible collision. The difference between a life saved and lives lost in a real-world situation can be assessed in a few seconds. This is one feature widely introduced on some of the market’s most sophisticated and high-end cars, usually with a premium price tag. Now the hardware is integrated for a fraction of the cost on your dashcam.

Built-in G-Sensor

The Yi Dash Cam has a G-sensor built-in 3-axis emergency recording feature that operates in emergencies. In the event of a crash, the EMR feature will automatically trigger, save the video, and preserve it due to lack of memory or loop recording, so it will not be deleted. If the dashcam encounters a sudden shift in gravity, the memory lock is activated. The memory lock function ensures no overwriting of the file.

Performance – a solid workhorse Dash Camera

It is well-built, has a good quality camera, and has additional functions that any car owner would appreciate.

Don’t find it to be on the same level as smartphones when it comes to picture quality. The footages are oversharpened but particularly in bright conditions that have pleasant colors and contrast. This is nice enough for sharing documents and social media purposes.

Pro’s

•  Value for money
• ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) built-in
•  Wide field of view at 165 degrees

Con’s

• No built-in Storage
• SD card not included

Pricing – it’s affordability is unmatched while offering tremendous value!

This dash camera won’t break the bank. It offers good value for money as well as all the necessary features in a dash camera. With the added safety features, this product will pour in the value. You can currently buy one for less than $66.75 at Amazon.

Conclusion

The YI Smart Dash Camera is a bestseller with lots of good reviews from Amazon. The Smart Dash Cam can easily be found at about $50, making it a fairly inexpensive dashcam. Also, with an extra cost of the SD card, the YI Smart Dash Camera stays within the sub-$100 range—not bad for a full HD view of the road ahead at 165°.

The real selling point for the YI Smart Dash Camera, though, is its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) feature. ADAS uses your camera to provide real-time warnings when you are driving. When you start wandering off your lane, it will be detected by ADAS and an audible alert issued. Similarly, if you come too close to the vehicle in front of you, ADAS will sense you and warn you, helping you prevent a collision.

New vehicles may have built-in ADAS-like technology, but if you’re driving an older vehicle, the YI Smart Dash Camera offers an easy way to beef up the safety technology of your vehicle while enjoying a dash cam’s functionality.