What to buy between: Blueskysea B1W - 70mai Mini - Garmin Mini

MB84

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I'm looking for a discrete basic dashcam without a screen and I've narrowed it down to the Blueskysea B1W - 70mai Mini - Garmin Mini and need some help to make a decision which one should I get?

I don't want a GPS and this will only be used as insurance in case something goes bad I will not be uploading videos on youtube etc...I just need something basic reliable discrete and out of the way, basically set up and forget about it...
 
you be wise not to forget any dashcam, unless you want to join the many that come in here and first post " so i put a dashcam in my car 2 years ago, and i just had a accident and it have not recorded it"
you should look over your recordings every few months, just to see that your drive sessions start and end in reasonable places, i focus on firs and last videos in drive sessions + some randon clips, and it take me 5 - 10 minutes to look over a full 128 GB memory card.
 
70mai Mini uses a lithium battery, which will result in a short lifetime, so not recommended.
Garmin Mini is known for overheating, not sure how much of an issue it really is, but there are plenty of reports of it.

B1W doesn't really have any issues, very reliable and well liked.

The Garmin and B1W use the same image sensor, but the B1W is known for recording a lot of detail for its specification so is probably the winner on image quality between the two. The 70mai Mini uses a different sensor, not sure if it is better image quality or not, but it wont be enough of an improvement to override the battery issue.

None of these are going to read number plates in the dark, or even at dusk unless everything is stopped, too much motion blur. If you do a lot of driving at night then consider something less basic like the Viofo A119 V3.
 
Yes most of my driving will be at night... I'll look into the Viofo then.... should I get the CPL filter also?
 
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should I get the CPL filter also?
Depends on your car, it can be almost essential or not really needed. I always use one, but it does reduce the night performance a bit, if I was normally driving at night then I would probably not use it.

No current dashcam will read all plates at night, but the A119 is one of the best, and much better than the B1W around dusk, especially with the HDR firmware that is currently in beta test. The B1W will still show what happened perfectly well, but it is far less likely to catch a plate in a hit and run.
 
The Viofo A119v3 is £99 on amazon but I can get the Garmin 56 for £112 .....would the Garmin be a better choice?
 
No, another one with a battery and short lifetime!
 
B1W. The IMX323 sensor doesn't give the most details but it's decent and probably does better at night than anything else in the low-priced cam class. Very reliable and very discreet. The A119V3 will do considerably better and is great for it's higher price. In your climate you can probably get 2+ years from the 70mai before the battery needs replacing, maybe another year or so from the Garmin (better quality). If you're near-starvation the 70mai is otherwise pretty good and darn cheap, but by the time you buy the Garmin you can have the V3 instead.

Hard to beat the B1W for a good budget-level cam. It's the one I'd go for.

Phil
 
In your climate you can probably get 2+ years from the 70mai before the battery needs replacing
Depends on where the car gets parked, if it spends much time facing south into the sun on summer days then you may only get a few months from a battery, if you always park underground then you may get 5 years, if you live in Manchester and almost never see the sun then... There seems to be huge variation even within the UK.
 
Thank you to everyone who participated in the thread, I think I will probably get the A119 V3 considering most of my driving will be at night.

Thanks for the help and answers!
 
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