A dashboard camera, or dashcam, has become an almost essential item in cars, especially when it comes to car insurance claims.
The Mio MiVue 792 Wi-Fi Pro bundle (picture) comes with a Wi-Fi front camera (MiVue 792), a rear camera (MiVue A30) and the Smart Box Cable, which connects to the car battery to provide continuous power to the cameras. It cuts off power to the cameras if it detects the car battery is in danger of being drained.
The MiVue 792 Wi-Fi Pro is similar to its predecessor, the MiVue 698, that was reviewed last year. I liked the MiVue 698, but quibbled about its lack of Wi-Fi capability. The microSD card had to be taken out of the dashcam to transfer footages. In doing that, a few seconds of footage would be lost. With the MiVue 792, real-time video recording can continue during video transfers as the transfer is done via Wi-Fi.
The other major upgrade is the use of Sony's Starvis image sensor that is said to have near-infrared sensitivity for enhanced night video footage. The rear dashcam has a bigger aperture (f/1.8) compared with that of the MiVue 698 (f/2.0). It has a new Sony image sensor too.
The MiVue 792's 2.7-inch display takes up very little of the windscreen space. It is not a touchscreen, but navigating the menu is a breeze using the buttons.
The dashcam has GPS tracking, so one will know for sure where a collision has taken place.
The front camera records full high-definition (HD) videos (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) at 60 frames per second (fps), while the rear camera records full HD videos at 30fps. Both front and rear cameras have lenses that are made of glass. Thus, they provide better image quality than dashcams with lenses that are made of plastic.
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TECH SPECS
PRICE: $488 (includes MiVue 792 Wi-Fi Pro front camera, A30 rear camera and Smart Box Cable)
LENS: 140-degree (front camera) and 140-degree wide angle (rear camera)
DISPLAY: 2.7 inches (front camera)
CONNECTIVITY: Wi-Fi
MEMORY: microSD card slot
WEIGHT: 102g (front camera) and 48.5g (rear camera)
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RATING
FEATURES: 4/5
DESIGN: 4/5
PERFORMANCE: 4/5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 5/5
OVERALL: 4/5
The MiVue 792 records a new video clip every three minutes, with each three-minute full-HD clips taking up 371MB of space. Clips are automatically overwritten, in chronological order, when the microSD card in the dashcam fills up. I recommend using a microSD card that is at least 32GB in size, for added assurance.
Transferring videos from the MiVue 792 to the smartphone is easy using the MiVue app (available for Android and iOS) via Wi-Fi. It takes five minutes 20 seconds to transfer a three-minute clip to my iPhone X.
Comparing the video footage of the MiVue 792 and MiVue 698, I find the night videos of the former to be sharper and have finer details.
The MiVue 792 has a parking mode that uses motion sensor to save and lock "event" recordings to protect them from being overwritten. It will alert the driver to these "events" when the car is being started up.
•Verdict: The Mio MiVue 792 Wi-Fi Pro bundle is an affordable dashcam bundle that has everything one needs, such as great night video quality and ease of transfer via Wi-Fi.
