70mai Dash Cam Omni review: A unique design delivers quality where it counts

Price When Reviewed

$199.99

Best Prices Today: 70mai X200 sprint cam

I don’t need to saddle the 70mai Dash Cam Omni with the adjective cute, although the onboard and app graphics animations push that aesthetic considerably. (If you’re aware of the film Wall-E, you’re aware of the vibe.) Clever and distinctive are much better phrases to explain the unit with its motorized, rotatable digital camera.

More than that, the Omni is an efficient sprint cam that takes detailed video from any course you level it at—day or evening.

Note that each one photos are exhibiting the Omni resting its mount. Normally, the mount’s flat finish could be caught to your windshield with the digital camera physique hanging down.

70mai Dash Cam Omni design and options

The Omni seems very very like a really giant tablet or capsule. The backside third of the ellipsoid is occupied by the 1080p, 60fps digital camera, which rotates 360 levels. It’s not a 360 diploma view; you employ the app to level the 140 diploma field-of-view digital camera in any course.

You’d use the app as a result of the digital camera is motorized. In reality, once you first boot, it’ll orient itself to the ahead place. There are warnings to not rotate the digital camera by hand, lest you break it, however I didn’t see them till after I had already tried utilizing my paws. I used to be light and the digital camera nonetheless functioned, however I’d persist with the app for this.

It’s odd that you need to rotate the digital camera clockwise (with the digital camera finish pointed down) to cowl areas to the rear—there’s a cease at across the 270 diploma mark once you rotate counter-clockwise.

The Dash Cam Omni contains a 1.2-inch show, which is sweet for seeing giant textual content, however the show’s curved plastic overlaying can create some delicate glare and distortion—one of many downsides of a capsule design. It generally is a tad problematic as the driving force will likely be sitting off-center and should lean over to get an excellent view.

There’s one other doubtlessly adverse side to the Omni, relying in your automotive and the place you park it: The mount, whereas being a intelligent, hinged affair (assume Pacman’s mouth), is affixed to your windshield with a semi-permanent adhesive and may’t be simply faraway from the windshield, or faraway from the digital camera itself.

Parking right here in San Francisco on the road, with a convertible, no much less, makes leaving a touch cam within the automotive tantamount to yelling “Steal this!” on the prime of your lungs. If you park underneath safer circumstances, it’s a non-issue.

Connecting the telephone app with the digital camera through Wi-Fi is required to make use of and configure the digital camera. That in itself is okay, however I completely don’t like having to enroll with the corporate and register the digital camera earlier than it’ll report.

I do it for the sake of you readers (and since it’s my job), however alone, this can be a non-starter. I requested the corporate about telemetry and so they assured me that no information is being gathered. The response appeared honest, and certainly it could not be a straightforward deal to seize video information, which is comparatively huge.

Still, once I purchase one thing, I don’t need to be compelled on-line earlier than utilizing it.

The app, as talked about gives entry to all settings, earlier movies, and a dwell view. You may additionally offload video by merely attaching the unit through it’s Type-C connector to a pc. That’s an excellent factor because the 128GB of reminiscence is inside eMMC, not on detachable SD playing cards.

Other options are parking mode with movement detection and time-lapse captures.

70mai Dash Cam Omni captures

The Omni’s 1080p video may be very colourful and detailed. In reality, it compares fairly properly on this regard with many 1440p or 2160p sprint cams. Sometimes there was shimmer and moire when the Omni’s video was performed again. Though noticeable, the artifacts weren’t significantly distracting. Given the aim of a touch cam, we’ll go for element each time.

We additionally like that the GPS information is watermarked. And sure, I by no means modified Km/H to MPH

Detail is retained in evening captures, as is the colour. Headlight flare is dealt with properly, although a clear windshield would’ve proven that off to raised impact. Hey, I dwell in a metropolis. Schmutz occurs. Note that missing infrared, Omni inside evening captures would require you to show in your cabin lighting for greatest outcomes.

There’s a 300mAh battery on board the Dash Cam Omni which permits it to seize occasions after a doable energy failure. Admittedly, sudden energy loss isn’t frequent, but it surely’s good to know you’re lined if it does happen.

The Dash Cam Omni takes very colourful, extremely detailed video day and evening. It’s additionally proof of the top quality you may wring from 1080p captures. You don’t need to throw 4 occasions the space-wasting pixels on the job.

Is the 70mai Dash Cam Omni value it?

Though the mount makes this digital camera a poor match for my parked-on-city-streets convertible, I fairly just like the Dash Cam Omni. It’s distinctive and fascinating, but it surely’s additionally greater than a novelty, because it takes detailed captures day and evening. The built-in GPS and simple setup simply sweeten the deal.

If you’re on the lookout for one thing efficient that’s additionally off the overwhelmed path, by all means, this cutie is a contender. My largest grievance is the register-before-use challenge, which I discover intrusive.