T800 3CH Test & Review PP

[Chuck McCoy]

Unfortunately, and with a heavy heart this will be my first, and last post about the 70mai T800.
I’ve been waiting 2-3 years to get my hands on a 70mai dash cam for test & review.

2023-2024 I would get email invitations every few months to try out the latest camera from 70mai.
Every time after digging into the specifications it was always a pass for me.
Usually due to lithium batteries instead of super capacitors, or a "weird" aspect ratio 4:3, or some other reason.

Q4 2024 70mai sent me the specifications for T800 3CH, and everything looked great.
This would be their first flagship 3CH with a super capacitor so I was fully on board.
70mai invited me to their 2025 event at CES Las Vegas January 9, 2025 to unveil their new models for the year.

I had a wonderful opportunity to meet with Co-founders, Hugh & Will, and their top software engineer Oliver.
We had many productive conversations about dash cams, market trends, after sale tech support & customer service, etc.
Mainly why 70mai is such a popular, and good selling brand in almost every country on the globe, except for USA, and what we can do to fix that.

Yesterday, after waiting 8 Months (since January 9, 2025) I finally received my fully finished / retail version with serial number, (same as sold to customer) test units.
I download the 70mai APP to my iPhone for the very first time.
I was dismayed to learn this camera cannot be use without providing an email address, and password.

In my opinion this is an unacceptable / intrusive / unnecessary burden on the customer.
I do not support any dash cam with email address / password requirements.
Changing settings, and downloading video clips should have no “barriers” of any kind.
My two biggest reasons are;

1.) What if you want to download a video clip immediately after an incident to show a police officer / first responder?
What if the driver forgot his cellphone?
What if the driver tries to use a passenger’s cellphone, but forgot his password?
What if the driver is unconscious?

2.) How many times have you “volunteered” your email address, and within 24 hours you start receiving junk mail / phishing scams?

I emailed my 70mai Representative, and requested a pre-paid shipping label to return all items, and she complied.
Going forward I hope 70mai offers an alternative to using their cameras without any restrictions.
-Chuck

 

[kamkar]

I cant recall initial setup, but E-mail ASO are they not just for the smart ( 4G ) part of the " deal "
It for sure should be possible to run any not connected / not yet connected dashcam without such things.

I dont get very much spam on my primary mail which is now a live mail but date back to the Hotmail days, actually that mail is older than the time i have been on the internet so older than 1998 or so.
If i get one spam a day if it is a busy day.
Also filtering out family and one friend, i get 1 - 2 calls or TXT messages on the phone a week.'

It is actually illegal to unwarranted contacting me as i am on the so called Robinson Crusoe list, googling me by name or maybe my un listed phone number if you are one of the 10 people that have it, will it will bring you 0.
EDIT: i dont think the RC listing cover the digital realm though, but if you snail mail me, phone me, or come knocking on my door, there will be hell to pay.
I get so little mail that if it was not for a few internet buys being able to slide in there, i would easy be able to just empty my mail box once a year.

I was NOT able to leave kickstarter in a normal way as their leave page did not work for me, so have been getting some mails from them / other related Crowd funding places, i have now banned like 10-20 different mails and no longer get mail in that regard.


I am active working on being able to be forgotten like the EU have instigated in response to companies like google - Facebook ASO, but i want to be forgotten by the Danish government which have HUGE files on me, on everything from my birth weight to,,,,, well i dont really know but probably frighting.

I want all that data to be deleted,,,,, NOW
They can keep my Slave number ( SSN ) and of course the fact i am certified to operate various vehicles in public, and are allowed to own and operate two silencers for my shooting hobby.
And of course i am entitled to a pension.
But everything else they have,,,,,, delete - delete - delete.

PS: i am actually not SUPER secretive about my e-mail address, and i do not have a collection of tin foil hats even if i have often been accused of that.

 

[rcg530]

I understand you point of view. I agree 70mai could rework the login requirement of the app into the portion of the app when interacting with the cloud feature set.

 

[Julian23]

Your concern is definitely understandable.
A login that would only be required when using cloud or remote features would be better.
Since I use these anyways, I didn't mind.
It's a great overall unit that does many things right.

 

[Augustus]

Unfortunately I have to disagree. This is 2025 and many everyday functions like insurance, tech products , require a login. Sure, there are data breaches these days with a lot of institutions but having been the subject of some of them, most if not all do the right thing. The number of affected people is so minute in the grand scheme of things. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

If you're not comfortable with sharing your everyday email address, then you can setup a burner email address just for the dashcam. I don't think something like this should exclude an opportunity to reviews the strengths and weaknesses of a dashcam.

 

[lufa6977]

Some good points here, I understand well the feelings about security, etc. @Augustus makes a good point, though. I think you should test the camera, use a throw-away email account. I have around 7 of them and use them specifically for this purpose. I suppose you can still find them on Google, Yahoo, and other providers. Mail.com comes to mind as a free option that works great.

But, if you really don't want to test it, send it to me. I will take a look at it. Heck, DM me and I will send you the money for shipping.

 

[Augustus]

Some good points here, I understand well the feelings about security, etc. @Augustus makes a good point, though. I think you should test the camera, use a throw-away email account. I have around 7 of them and use them specifically for this purpose. I suppose you can still find them on Google, Yahoo, and other providers. Mail.com comes to mind as a free option that works great.

But, if you really don't want to test it, send it to me. I will take a look at it. Heck, DM me and I will send you the money for shipping.

Agreed, there's always options. Lufa is eager and does a great job , so that's an option 🙂

 

[Oliver_70mai]

Hello, Chuck. This is Oliver from 70mai. We apologize for the inability to cancel email account. There are many reasons behind this. The primary reason is that our dashcams sell millions of units annually in dozens of countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. We have partnered with distributors in different regions, and they determine the terminal pricing in each region. Pricing in some countries or regions is lower than in others. Seven or eight years ago, we discovered that many low-priced products from mainland China or Southeast Asia were being resold to other regions through unofficial channels, causing losses to distributors in many regions. Therefore, dual identification of account and device DID is a key way to reduce product misuse. Secondly, we attach great importance to user privacy and information security. If you do not opt in to receive marketing information when logging in, you will not receive our marketing information.

 

[Oliver_70mai]

We very much hope that you can experience this product and give us your valuable comments, evaluating its advantages and disadvantages. We entered the North American market relatively late, but we value everyone's feedback and suggestions and will respond and rectify as quickly as possible🙏

 

[LateralNW]

We have partnered with distributors in different regions, and they determine the terminal pricing in each region. Pricing in some countries or regions is lower than in others.

It's good to see you on Dashcamtalk. Thank you for sharing why 70mai do it that way.
With the way the world is these days it makes sense to avoid supplying personal information.

I have some questions based on your answer.

How does the email help in preventing product undercutting the distributors? The email isn't location specific unless the app is leaching other data from the phone?

Does this mean that 70mai region-blocks their products?

Could this be why some people have difficulty getting their devices to work, for example, LTE MODEM's that fail even though the same network works fine on another one?

Do you maintain a database of all LTE modems where permission must be granted before they will function?
Do you maintain a database of all Dashcams where permission must be granted before they will function?

It’s interesting that 70mai has enough margin on their products to give distributors the flexibility to set their own prices.
I guess for me the obvious question is why not just sell the product at the same price worldwide? (Excluding tariffs etc.)
That way no one can undercut the distributor in that region. Seems like a sensible idea to me, but I am not a distributor or reseller.

 

[Oliver_70mai]

It's good to see you on Dashcamtalk. Thank you for sharing why 70mai do it that way.
With the way the world is these days it makes sense to avoid supplying personal information.

I have some questions based on your answer.

How does the email help in preventing product undercutting the distributors? The email isn't location specific unless the app is leaching other data from the phone?

Does this mean that 70mai region-blocks their products?

Could this be why some people have difficulty getting their devices to work, for example, LTE MODEM's that fail even though the same network works fine on another one?

Do you maintain a database of all LTE modems where permission must be granted before they will function?
Do you maintain a database of all Dashcams where permission must be granted before they will function?

It’s interesting that 70mai has enough margin on their products to give distributors the flexibility to set their own prices.
I guess for me the obvious question is why not just sell the product at the same price worldwide? (Excluding tariffs etc.)
That way no one can undercut the distributor in that region. Seems like a sensible idea to me, but I am not a distributor or reseller.

Hi, we currently restrict products from mainland China and overseas. The mainland China app and the overseas app are two different servers. If a user uses the overseas app and logs in to their email address and binds their device, the DID will be uploaded to the cloud. The cloud will judge whether the device is an overseas version. If the device is not an overseas version, restrictions will be imposed (unable to update the firmware). We are currently unable to restrict cross-selling between different overseas regions. The price difference between different overseas regions is not too large, but the price difference between China and overseas is relatively large (the domestic market in China is too competitive, Apple phones have to resort to discounts and low prices to compete in China).
It is difficult for us to achieve marketing and sales in dozens of countries, so we have different agents in different regions. The prices we give them are actually similar, but we cannot ask them to set a certain price.

 

[LateralNW]

Oliver thank you for the reply.

The mainland China app and the overseas app are two different servers.

Understandable.

We are currently unable to restrict cross-selling between different overseas regions.

If I understand correctly the email doesn't prevent the distributors in different regions being undercut. What's in the DID that makes hardware control possible?

 

[Oliver_70mai]

Oliver thank you for the reply.



Understandable.



If I understand correctly the email doesn't prevent the distributors in different regions being undercut. What's in the DID that makes hardware control possible?

When our products leave the factory, we record which DIDs are shipped overseas and which are sold domestically. If a DID marked for domestic sales is activated on the overseas version of the app, the software will automatically stop using it. This is how we distinguish DIDs and identify the app version. If you're using the Chinese version of the app, you can still use this dashcam normally.