70mai T800 3CH 4K Front / 4K Rear / 1080p Cabin Dash Camera - Testing / Review - RCG

rcg530

rcg530

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70mai, BlackVue, Thinkware, Vantrue, Vueroid, VIOFO
Today, I received my 70mai T800 3-channel dash camera, 70mai 512 GB MicroSD Card, and the UP05 4G LTE hardwire kit. I'll start my testing in the next couple of days.

I was able to get the T800 added to the 70mai app and upgrade the firmware from 1.0.115ww to 1.0.118ww.

Unboxing pics revised on 12-June-2025.

[Click on thumbnails to see full size image]
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Continued in the next post.
 
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More unboxing pics - added 12-June-2025

[Click on thumbnails to see full size image]
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Initial Power Consumption Test Results - Firmware v1.0.118ww

I ran my tests with the 4K T800 configured as a 3-channel setup [Front+Rear+Cabin]. I configured sentinel mode to record video for all three channels as well. I wanted to push the power consumption to its highest level so my sentinel mode time estimates would show the "worst case" situation. The first tests were with a UP03 hardwire kit powering the 4K T800 3-channel dash camera. The second tests were with a UP05 4G LTE hardwire kit powering the 4K T800 3-channel dash camera. Overall, using the UP05 4G LTE hardwire kit raised the power consumption levels about 85 to 90 mA @ 12.6V or about 1.1W over the UP03 power consumption levels.

UP03 power consumption results
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UP05 4G LTE power consumption results
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I like the full with mount.
Also that rear camera cable, it look as if it could suspend my substantial fat old ass with no effort.
 
I started testing power consumption for the T800. Firmware 1.0.118ww.

I enabled only the collision detection sentinel mode with just the front camera recording when an event was detected. When the T800 first enters collision detection sentinel mode, it's consuming about 350 mA @ 12.6V. It continues to consume that amount of power until the first detected impact event. While the T800 is recording the 30-second front camera video, the power draw drops to about 260 mA @ 12.6V. When the T800 returns to waiting for an impact event, the power draw is much lower than it was before the impact event at 193 mA @ 12.6V. The elevated power draw appears to occur only during the first "waiting for impact event" time period. The 2nd through Nth "waiting for impact event" time periods result in a much lower power draw. I've reported that behavior to 70mai.

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The second bizarre situation is the speed reported in the video status line was observed to be in the 68 MPH to almost 100 MPH with the T800 sitting on my desk. I sent 70mai screenshots and video file examples.

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rcg530 said:
When the T800 first enters collision detection sentinel mode, it's consuming about 350 mA @ 12.6V.
Click to expand...
I did exactly the same thing.
  • Firmware 1.1.18ww
  • 12.6 V
  • Hardwire Kit UP03
  • The cabin camera is disabled
  • Parking recording is enabled for the front camera only.
The result: Immediately consumption is about 195mA
Take a look at the video:

Try resetting to factory settings, switching to parking mode, and waiting for a longer time until the current consumption returns to normal. If your consumption is at 350mA, that's a lot, even while recording in the parking lot.
And by the way, have you noticed the slowness of the settings menu and the twitching on the recording? I had such a problem, maybe it affects the consumption in the parking lot.
 
I noticed today, parking with a fully charged 70mai power bank yesterday afternoon / evening, it had run out already today.
There seem to be a big power draw or a high cut off even if set to the lowest setting for cut off ( 11.8 V )
 
lisabon_Q3 said:
I did exactly the same thing.
  • Firmware 1.1.18ww
  • 12.6 V
  • Hardwire Kit UP03
  • The cabin camera is disabled
  • Parking recording is enabled for the front camera only.
The result: Immediately consumption is about 195mA
Take a look at the video:

Try resetting to factory settings, switching to parking mode, and waiting for a longer time until the current consumption returns to normal. If your consumption is at 350mA, that's a lot, even while recording in the parking lot.
And by the way, have you noticed the slowness of the settings menu and the twitching on the recording? I had such a problem, maybe it affects the consumption in the parking lot.
Click to expand...
I'll try defaulting the settings again, but it did not make any difference the first time I tried it. I have all three cameras enabled for normal recording mode. I only have the front camera enabled for sentinel mode. I only have collision detection sentinel mode enabled. Right after turning off the "ACC+" power to the UP03 and T800 switches to sentinel mode, the power consumption is over 400 mA. After a minute or so the power consumption floats down to the 350 mA range and remains in the range for as long as I let it remain in that state [max test time so far was 4-minutes]. When I cause a collision event, the power consumption drops while it's recording the 30-second video. After the video is finished and it returns to waiting for another impact event, the power consumption drops further to the 190 mA range. Just the first entry collision detection sentinel mode while it's waiting for an impact event has the super high power consumption.

I don't know if the issue involves the other odd behavior I observed where the T800 say it's traveling at speeds from 68 to almost 100 MPH with it stationary on my desk and it has a GPS signal lock. I have to do more testing on that issue.
 
I ran a collision detection sentinel mode test after defaulting the T800 settings and formatting the microSD card. The only sentinel mode enabled was collision detection and the only camera recording during sentinel mode was the front camera. The rear camera was connected to the front camera. A UP03 is providing power to this T800.

Screenshots of the various configuration steps:

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The power consumption, after turning off the "ACC" power at 16:29:00, did not change for a 10-minute period. The amp draw ranged from 343 mA to 355 mA @ 12.6V. This elevated power draw only occurs while the T800 is waiting for the first impact event after entering collision detection sentinel mode.

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The first impact event occurred at 16:39:30 and within a few seconds the power draw dropped to the 260 mA range. When the first impact event recording finished at 16:40:02 the power draw dropped to 193 mA.

A second impact event occurred at 16:41:00. The power draw increased for 30 seconds while it was recording. The power draw dropped to 193 mA again after the recording was finished.

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@rcg530
There seems to be a difference in our experiments. I didn't have the rear camera connected, as it was already installed in the car and the wire was safely hidden.
I'm sure the problem is with the rear camera and it won't turn off when switching to parking mode. Try to turn it off and you will see that the consumption will be about 193 mA at once.
 
lisabon_Q3 said:
@rcg530
There seems to be a difference in our experiments. I didn't have the rear camera connected, as it was already installed in the car and the wire was safely hidden.
I'm sure the problem is with the rear camera and it won't turn off when switching to parking mode. Try to turn it off and you will see that the consumption will be about 193 mA at once.
Click to expand...
I ran a test with the rear camera not connected. It does enter collision detection sentinel mode waiting for an impact event with a power consumption level of 193 mA.

The fact that the rear camera being connected causes the power draw levels I observed is still a bug that should be fixed by 70mai. It just happened to be the first sentinel mode power consumption test I tried.
 
I updated post #3 with my initial power consumption test results for the 4K T800.
 
I have my T800 3-channel installed in one of my cars. I'll start gathering some footage today.

I received confirmation that 70mai is changing the double-sided adhesive pad color from the light grey to black.

The T800 dash cameras sent to reviewers still had the grey adhesive pads, but the production units will have the black adhesive pads. The black adhesive pads will start showing up in future batches of the X800/M800.

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rcg530 said:
I have my T800 3-channel installed in one of my cars. I'll start gathering some footage today.

I received confirmation that 70mai is changing the double-sided adhesive pad color from the light grey to black.

The T800 dash cameras sent to reviewers still had the grey adhesive pads, but the production units will have the black adhesive pads. The black adhesive pads will start showing up in future batches of the X800/M800.

View attachment 81618
Click to expand...
Yes gradual transition they said. Should already been in production batches, as they confirmed this a couple of months ago
 
Yeah...that grey is quite visible, sort of an eyesore to be honest. But, the end of the camera unit itself has that silver coloured plastic. Though that does look better than the grey adhesive pad.
 
Today, I was driving to/from a lunch meeting with the 70mai T800, VIOFO A329S and Redtiger F77 dash cameras in my car. This was a shakedown run for this set of cameras installed in their current positions in this car. This car's windshield has a noticeable curve within a small distance offset from the center of the windshield. I adjusted the 70mai T800 front camera placement on the windshield after I arrived home. I lifted the right side of the T800 front camera a bit. Since the T800's interior camera is part of the front camera, that limits where I can place the camera without blocking the interior camera's view of the passenger compartment and so it does not block my line of sight while driving.

The A329S was writing the front/rear video into a multiplexed video file. That is why I blurred out the side of the screenshot that did not apply to that front/rear example. The 70mai T800 and Redtiger F77 do not have an OEM CPL filter available for the front camera.

Because the T800 3CH video resolution options all have HDR enabled, I made sure to enable HDR for all dash cameras in the car. More day and night driving will be done over the next couple of weeks.

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Looking forward to your review, but T800 is difficult to compare with 329, it is even inferior to 329's younger brother 229
 
haiou_f said:
Looking forward to your review, but T800 is difficult to compare with 329, it is even inferior to 329's younger brother 229
Click to expand...
Interesting. I was looking at both the 329o decide which to purchase. Being they both have the same sensor, I was leaning towards the cheaper T800. Thoughts?
 
haiou_f said:
Looking forward to your review, but T800 is difficult to compare with 329, it is even inferior to 329's younger brother 229
Click to expand...
rcg530 said:
Today, I was driving to/from a lunch meeting with the 70mai T800, VIOFO A329S and Redtiger F77 dash cameras in my car. This was a shakedown run for this set of cameras installed in their current positions in this car. This car's windshield has a noticeable curve within a small distance offset from the center of the windshield. I adjusted the 70mai T800 front camera placement on the windshield after I arrived home. I lifted the right side of the T800 front camera a bit. Since the T800's interior camera is part of the front camera, that limits where I can place the camera without blocking the interior camera's view of the passenger compartment and so it does not block my line of sight while driving.

The A329S was writing the front/rear video into a multiplexed video file. That is why I blurred out the side of the screenshot that did not apply to that front/rear example. The 70mai T800 and Redtiger F77 do not have an OEM CPL filter available for the front camera.

Because the T800 3CH video resolution options all have HDR enabled, I made sure to enable HDR for all dash cameras in the car. More day and night driving will be done over the next couple of weeks.

View attachment 81672

View attachment 81673
Click to expand...
Happy you did this quick comparison. I am trying to decide between the t800 at that 279 price point or the Viofo 329S. Can you give feedback owning all 3. I have a Viofo 229 in my car now. Thank you
 
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