70mai 4K M800 (unboxing & impressions) (Sony Starvis 2 IMX678/IMX662, Wi-Fi 4/GPS, Novatek NT98529, 4K front + 1080p rear, HDR both channels)

Augustus

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It's the tail-end of 2025 and we are back again with the latest of 70mai's releases, the 4K M800. After the stellar releases earlier this year of both the 4K T800 and 4K Omni, the M800 can be considered the younger brother to those dashcam models. This is a two-channel (screen-less!) configuration release with the tried-and-true 4K Starvis 2 IMX678 (F1.8 aperture) for the front sensor, and the 1080p Starvis 2 IMX662 (F1.55) aperture bringing up the rear (RC14 designation, same as the 4K Omni). As there is no option of 4K60fps recording on offer here, the chipset takes a step back to the Novatek NT98529 as opposed to the NT98530 in it's older siblings. Also interestingly, we have no microSD memory expansion but the addition of 128GB eMMC internal storage. The fields of view are 140 degrees for the front camera, and 130 degrees for the rear camera. The main unit's physical dimensions are 108x37.5x27.5mm, and there is no supercapacitor but a 500mAh battery on-board. The angle of adjustment for the rear camera is a full 360 degrees, and for the up/down of the main unit's mounting bracket is ~225 degrees.

Turning to the box contents, we have a muted dark colour palette (grey, black and white) along with some nice highlights of orange this time around. Upon opening the box we are greeted with the main front camera unit, and a smaller contained compartment to the side which houses the rear camera unit. Immediately below is an envelope containing instruction manuals, spare electrostatic and adhesive mount stickers for both the front and rear cameras. Under the first envelope is an additional compartment which contains: black plastic pry tool, 12V cigarette lighter (with additional USB-A port), respective power cabling for the front/rear units, and mounting bracket for the dashcam itself.

First impressions are positive of the 4K M800, with it's glossy front-end and underlying cross-pattern. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but considering the dashcam is going to spend most of it's life in a vehicle without being handled - this will be a non-issue. The cross-pattern also extends to the ventilation grilles, which are contained on both the topside and bottom-side of the unit in abundance - fantastic for heat dissipation. Adorning the left side of the main unit is a power button with green indicator light, with a small reset hole next to this. A similar-sized hole for the microphone is contained on the right side of the unit.

Features from other 70mai models also make a welcome return here. Buffered emergency parking mode, Lumi Vision for parking mode to brighten very dimly-lit scenarios, time-lapse recording and battery voltage monitoring all make a return, along with support for their existing 4G parking surveillance kits, UP04/UP05.

Installation of the 4K M800 was a relatively straightforward affair, with the mounting bracket not posing any problems. Included firmware version is v1.0.37ww with a build date of September 5, 2025.

Would like to extend my gratitude to 70mai once again for giving me the opportunity to road-test their best of the best. And as always, a special thank-you to my trusty 70mai companion MaiX for accompanying my hands-on photos of the 4K M800. Stay tuned for my findings and review, coming soon here on DashCamTalk.




Some close-up photos of the 70mai 4K M800 dashcam:

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Power Consumption and eMMC storage testing for the 70mai 4K M800:

The 70mai 4K M800 uses the existing MiDrive CC01 cigarette lighter power adapter, which has been used on previous 70mai models. However, it has lower power draw requirements than the newer MiDrive CC02 used on other 70mai models. Power consumption hovers around the mark, with operating temperatures.

The 4K M800 has eMMC 5.1 specification storage on-board, with no option for microSD memory card expansion. The variant I received for testing has 128GB of internal storage, and is formatted in the FAT32 file system. When applying the Format setting in the dashcam settings page in the APP, the M800 verbally announces: "Formatting built-in memory". Upon completion of formatting (a mere few seconds later), "Formatting successful" is announced.

When testing the in-built eMMC storage of the dashcam, the copy speeds obtained where at an average of ~18.73MB/s over USB 2.0 interface. Do note that only USB-C to USB-A connections are permitted, not USB-C to USB-C. While not mind-blowing, this is still decent performance for USB transfers of video files to a PC.

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Ring Indicator Light and Power Button Functions for 70mai 4K M800:

The 4K M800 has a ring indicator light around it's power button (much like it's brother, the 4K T800), which is located on the left-hand side of the main unit. Blinking blue comes on when the unit is powering on, during initial setup and during formatting of the internal eMMC memory. Solid blue is displayed when accessing the photo/video album using the APP, and when connected to PC via USB. Whilst blinking green indicates emergency video is being recorded, and solid green means the dashcam is recording video. There is also red, but this will only turn on when there is a recording/system failure.

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The power button also functions as follows:

- tap to turn on/off Wi-Fi hotspot
- press four times in quick succession to format the internal storage
- press and hold to turn the main unit on/off
- double-press to turn on/off the demisting mode
 
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Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) for the 70mai 4K M800:

Contained below are screenshots for the setup process for the 70mai 4K M800. There were some additional prompts in the APP itself letting the user know that there are voice prompts available to operate the dashcam (as the M800 is screen-less). Example voice prompts during the setup process are: "Please connect your app to activate the dashcam" and "Click the power button to authorise".

Upon connecting the APP to the 70mai 4K M800, there were no firmware updates prompted to be installed. The initial loaded version is 1.0.37ww, and I expect there to once again be a raft of firmware updates to both smooth and improve the M800.

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A curated selection of screenshots from the 70mai APP itself. As you can see, there are quite a lot of options available to the end user of the 4K M800. Much like I have already covered in my previous 70mai 4K Omni and 70mai 4K T800 reviews, I have only tried to include the major settings in these screenshots. A pretty great job by 70mai as usual in including a wide breadth of settings in their products.

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Bitrate Values, Wi-Fi transfer speeds and Resolution Settings for the 70mai 4K M800:



Front camera (recorded in 2160p HEVC 30fps HDR): 30.9 Mb/s
Rear camera (recorded in 1080p HEVC 30fps HDR): 8.19Mb/s
(all recorded in two-channel configuration at maximum resolution settings)
Audio: AAC format recorded at 64kb/s at 16kHz resolution


Wi-Fi transfer speeds (using Wi-Fi 4 on the 5GHz band): 10.43MB/s, where file size for one-minute 4K clip is ~265MB. Sadly, due to the development timeframe of the M800, it was unable to incorporate WiFi 6 - perhaps something for a successor.


Video resolution settings: Connecting the rear RC14 camera to the main 4K M800 unit makes no difference in terms of video resolution settings being available.
 
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Looks very interesting. There is a massive market for a quality 4K camera that provides the basics for recording driving.

I see they used the words De-Misting and Anti-Flicker in their app. 70Mai may want to change those to words more familiar to Western users.

Overall, this looks to be a very interesting review. šŸ‘
 
Looks very interesting. There is a massive market for a quality 4K camera that provides the basics for recording driving.

I see they used the words De-Misting and Anti-Flicker in their app. 70Mai may want to change those to words more familiar to Western users.

Overall, this looks to be a very interesting review. šŸ‘
Agreed, this isn't their barest bones 4K solution (think that would be awarded to the recent A800SE), but it is the youngest sibling in the 4K Starvis 2 lineup. Where folks don't have a need for a screen and just want an unobtrusive two-channel solution.

Maybe the De-Misting option description will change in future, I don't recall seeing it in the X800 or T800 so it may get an expanded explanation and it's own option screen. I agree though, what exactly does it do again? lol

Early days but looking forward to seeing what this little beast can bring to the table.
 
Voice Prompts of the 70mai 4K M800:

As the M800 is a screen-less dashcam, the backbone of it's operation involves announcing voice prompts. Fortunately, the M800 does a fantastic job at serving it's purpose. From the initial setup in the APP to powering on, video recording and APP operation, voice prompts are announced regularly. For example, when viewing footage in the APP, there are two prompts: "Enter the album and pause the recording", and "Exit the album and start the recording".

It's thoughtful touches and attention to detail like this, that show the care and effort that 70mai has put into the design of this screen-less dashcam.
 
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There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:



The latest version is now 3.13.0 (revised changelog below) and brings the following improvements:

- Support for new device A810S, T800E, M310 Plus 2K
- Added GPS time synchronisation UI for A500S
- Fixed an issue where some A800SE overseas users might encounter video RS merge failures when saving videos to local albums
- Fixed an issue where time-lapse videos from the 2500 series might not display footage from the extended camera in the album
- Fixed a rare crash issue in the local album video list
- Improved connection stability and resolved certain connection anomalies
- Corrected translation inconsistencies in some interface languages
- Fixed other known bugs and optimised overall performance
 
Heat Testing: 70mai 4K M800 + 70mai UP04 4G Hardwire Kit

The 70mai 4K M800 on show here is recording at its highest native resolution of 4K, 30 frames per second in two-channel configuration. Please keep in mind that this is a tough test as this dashcam is exposed to operating conditions that stresses it to its limits. Firmware version: 1.0.37ww. Tested with it's respective stock power supply.

In all instances, the ambient car cabin temperatures (with air-conditioning set to lowest setting without car driver/passengers feeling hot) is 31.3 degrees Celsius. 70mai 4K M800 installed to left of rear-view mirror




1st December 2025:

Scenario: parked in stationary car mid-afternoon for approximately 30 minutes directly facing sun
Exhibited behaviour: 70mai 4K M800 did not shut-down

Outside stated weather bureau temperature: 38.2 degrees Celsius
Dashboard recorded temperature: 54.2 degrees Celsius

70mai 4K M800 (left side of camera at multi-function button): 66.4 degrees Celsius
70mai 4K M800 (underside of camera on ventilation grilles): 71.2 degrees Celsius

UP04 (directly at nano-SIM card slot location): 53.4 degrees Celsius
UP04 (underside of unit at 70mai logo location): 52.6 degrees Celsius



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There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:



The latest version is now 3.14.0 and brings the following improvements:

- Support for new device T400
- Support for message filtering and deletion in the Message Centre and Alert Centre
- Support for device model search when adding a device
- The minimum supported version of the app has been adjusted to Android 7.0
- Fixed some translation issues
- Fixed other known issues
 
... the chipset takes a step back to the Novatek NT98529 as opposed to the NT98530 in it's older siblings...
Actually, the M800 isn’t a 2025 dashcam. It was released in the China market as early as early 2024, well before its domestic siblings - the X800 and the A810 Plus (the local-market version of the T800). Interestingly, its global version only appeared after the younger X800 and T800 models. This timing may explain some of your other observations.
 
Actually, the M800 isn’t a 2025 dashcam. It was released in the China market as early as early 2024, well before its domestic siblings - the X800 and the A810 Plus (the local-market version of the T800). Interestingly, its global version only appeared after the younger X800 and T800 models. This timing may explain some of your other observations.
I know that, I posted replies and looked up the information all the way back in 2024. I am referring to M800 being 2025 as a global variant release, not the China release.

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There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:



The latest version is now 3.15.0 and brings the following improvements:

- Support for new device M310 Plus 4K and N500
- Redesign and optimisation of the device pages for some models
- Fixed some translation issues
- Fixed other known issues


Pretty cool to see the redesign come too, functionally it's the same but a much cleaner layout.


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There has been a firmware update for the 70mai 4K M800, taking it from version 1.0.37.ww to 1.1.43.ww

Changelog:
- added an indicator light switch within the collision detection settings
- fixed other known issues


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There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:



The latest version is now 4.00.0 and brings the following improvements:

- added Help Center feature
- support for new devices A800SE SpeedEye and A810 Lite
- continued redesign and optimisation of device pages
- relocated the entry for the "Me" section
- added guidance prompts when adding multiple dashcams (when the number of devices increases from one to two)
- fixed an issue where added devices did not display on the page for some phone models
- fixed some translation issues
- fixed other known issues
 
There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:



The latest version is now 4.0.1 and brings the following improvements:

- redesigned and optimised device pages for some models
- added display of the server the user is located on
- added entry for customer service contact information
- fixed other known issues
 
There has been a firmware update for the 70mai 4G Hardwire Kit UP04, taking it from version 1.3.64.ww to 1.4.80.ww

Changelog:
- fixed intermittent connection failure issue
- fixed other known issues

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