Xiaomi Yi Dash Cam Review – The Best Budget Dashboard Camera?

It’s never been easy to buy a dash cam since most of the cameras come from unknown manufacturers, so quality and durability are huge concerns.

When I tested the VIOFO A118C, I thought that was a great budget option. However, now we have a much sleeker product for almost the same price. Let’s check out the Xiaomi Yi dash cam.

Unboxing

Design & Features

Unlike other dash cams at the low price range, the Xiaomi Yi has an attractive minimal design. The whole exterior is made of plastic but it has a very solid build. We have a microSD card slot on the left side while the power button and microUSB port are located on top.

It is easy to install on my car with the included adhesive mount. There is no suction cup mount, so you should be careful when attaching the dash cam to your windshield. The adhesive tape is pretty strong, so it’s not easy to remove it afterward. An advantage is that we have a very clean setup, so the dash cam doesn’t block my eyesight like other products. However, there are some notable disadvantages as well.

An advantage is that we have a very clean setup, so the dash cam doesn’t block my eyesight like other products. Besides, the display is turned off during usage, so it saves a lot of energy and doesn’t cause any distraction. The 2.7″ display is large enough when you need to view the footages.

The dash cam is equipped with a 240mAh battery. The battery capacity is pretty small, so you should use the USB car adapter all the time.

There are some notable disadvantages as well. The whole interface is in Chinese and there is no option to change the language to English. Therefore, I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the settings and test features like ADAS (advanced driver assistant system) or Wi-Fi.

Video Quality

The camera features a 165-degree wide-angle lens, so the view is a lot wider as compared to the VIOFO A118C. It supports full-HD recording at 60fps, however, the image quality is not really an improvement. I still can see a lot of grains even on a bright sunny day. On the plus side, the image is very well auto-exposed, so I can see everything clearly under any lighting condition. You can check out some sample videos below.

Conclusion

Pros

• Low price
• Beautiful design
• Good video quality

Cons

• No English

Overall, the Xiaomi Yi Dash Cam is a great investment if you could live with the Chinese language. It’s impossible to find such a well-built dash cam at the low price range.

Buy Xiaomi Yi Dash Cam on GearBest