Today, I’ll be reviewing an affordable 1080p dashcam from Yi. The company that has been making security home cameras and also action cameras. They recently released a compact version of their dashcam that they have been selling for a while. This is the Yi compact dashcam and it is a 1080p full HD dash camera with a 2.7 LCD screen, has a 130 degree wide angle lens. You can use an 8-64 GB micro SD card to record the videos to. It has Wifi so that you can use your smart phone to connect to it and view and download video footage.
I also have their Ultra Dash camera which I already had for a while but haven’t uploaded my review yet. Anyways, this dash camera is pretty affordable and is currently 40 dollars and I got this one for $36 bucks with their promotional discount. So, I think it is a pretty good deal especially for a 1080p resolution dash camera.
I’ll give you all a history and actually it is one of the contributing factors why I started buying security cameras. Last November of 2016, I was driving in the parking lot of Walgreens and I was following an F350 when he suddenly stopped and started backing up to park which a lot of truck drivers do. I started to honk my horn but it was too late. Everything was fine. He agreed that he wasn’t looking and ackowledged his fault and I got a copy of his driver’s license and insurance card. To make the long story short, it took almost 2 months for him to give a statement to his insurance company. I have no witnesses and police were not involved because it was a private property. Now, if I had a dash cam at that time and if everything was recorded, I’m pretty sure he would have responded much earlier to get the claim resolved.
This incident got me to purchase a dash cam which I also reviewed..I’ll include that video link in the description down below. I eventually upgraded to a Viofo brand and also was checking out Yi’s Ultra Dash camera both of which are 2.7k resolution. I’ll be uploading my reviews on them pretty soon. But for now, let’s check out the Yi compact smart dash cam.
So, let’s open up the box….
We have the camera front and center….
It has a 2.7 inch screen..
We have the buttons here on the bottom…
A micro SD card slot on the side. You can put 8-64 GB.
On the front is the lens which has a 130 degree FOV and a 2.0 aperture.
On the other side is the power supply slot – a micro USB and also the reset button.
Yi Compact Dash Cam – amzn.to/2FjvOKd
My first dash cam review – youtu.be/jWZUrYFLwBM
Dash Cams that I currently have that I need to review:
Yi Ultra Dash Cam – amzn.to/2methbi
Viofo A119 V2 Dash Cam – amzn.to/2CKWAJO
High Endurance Micro SD cards:
Silicon Power High Endurance – amzn.to/2FkLlcD
Trascend – amzn.to/2CMThSg
Sandisk – amzn.to/2FlF40b
On top are vents and the slot for the windshield mount.
On the bottom, there are vents also.
On the bottom part of the lens is the mic.
Let’s see what else is inside the box.
We have the manual and other paperwork.
Then, we have the USB power cable which is 11 1/2 feet and is basically a micro USB plug to the camera and a USB male to be plugged in a USB charger.
We have the USB car charger which is 5 volts.
Lastly, we have the windshield mount..which is a 3M sticky mount..no suction cups…so you will not be able to move this dash cam from car to car… I guess with the price, you can purchase another one if you have another car.
To mount it,you just need to put it on the top and slide the mount towards the center to lock it in place. It is adjustable so that it can be installed in different angled windshields.
You can unscrew the mount so that you can adjust the tilt and just need to tighten it when ever you find the best angle.
You can remove the mount attachment from the camera by pushing this tab and sliding the mount out…you need to put some elbow grease on it and I think it will be harder to remove if it is already mounted in the windshield.
Now, let’s plug it in…
No SD card yet but I’ll show you the settings…
First is the video quality and it is now set to record at 1080p at 30 frames per second. You can use the 2 middle buttons to scroll left or right, click the settings button again to change the setting…
Next is the loop duration, you can change from 1 or 3 minutes..
going back to resolution, there are only 2 options..1080p or 720p both at 30 fps.
Then, we have audio..on or off…
G sensor sensitivity..this will automatically record and save footage when the car is hit or you hit something…low, medium and high options.
LCD screen if how long you want it on..1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or always on…
Then LCD brightness..low, medium and high
WiFi… on or off… this dash cam you can access wirelessly from your smart phone using Wifi…you don’t have to have internet..I’ll show you later on how to do it.
Format SD card…
Factory reset…
Set Date and Time…
Which we will set the correct one…which might take a while here using the arrow buttons…
Then we have the sounds when powering on or off.. I want it on so that I know that the camera is working and recording..
The we have the button sounds..on or off whenever you push the buttons…
We have the driving report… which shows whenever you turn off your car..it will show acceleration, brakes and driving time…
Language…
Lastly About…it shows the WiFi network the camera generates and the passcode.
That’s it on the settings…
Let’s put in the micro SD card…I would highly recommend guys for dash cams to use a high endurance and heat resistant cards…we try to minimize SD card failure because of heat inside the car and also the multiple recordings that the cards go through…I don’t think this dash cam has it..but there should be an audible alert whenever there is SD card failure and it is not recording…I have that issue with my first dash cam… come to find out that it wasn’t recording when it gets too hot inside the car..I was just using a regular micro SD card then…I’ll link on the description down below on what micro SD card I use and hasn’t given me any issues yet.
First, we need to format the card…click ok then ok again…
Now, you will see that it starts recording..
Now the RED button here is for emergency recording… when you push it, it will start to record and save the video in a different folder for 10 seconds and also save the past 15 seconds of footage before you pressed the button. This will make sure the footage is saved and will not be recorded over.
When you press the album button it will show the recorded footage and also the protected footage which will be marked with a red camera icon. You will see that is saved a total of 26 seconds of footage..15 secs before you pressed the button and 10 seconds thereafter + or – 1 second.
The same thing with the G sensor.. when hard braking or when your car is hit, the G sensor will automatically activate saving the footage on the emergency folder.
This compact dashcam only comes with a 3M sticky mount and doesn’t have a suction mount. During the testing, I’ll be borrowing the suction mount of my Yi ultra dash cam which is the bigger brother.. BTW, I’ll be reviewing this also and will upload the video soon…
Now, we will install this to my windshield…I’ll be putting it behind my rearview mirror at this time and as you can see here, I also have the Viofo wedge type dash cam which I’ll be uploading a review too pretty soon…
Lock it in place and tighten the screws whenever I set it in position. Eventually, I’ll be installing it a bit higher and out of the way whenever I use the 3M mount.
Also, the USB cable is designed to be placed up on your headliner and across the windshield for a cleaner install. I have a video of it when I installed my first dashcam about a year ago…I’ll include the link in the description down below if you want to check it out…
For now, the USB cable will just hang from the camera toward the cigarette lighter plug where we are going to plug in our charger and then the USB cable.
When you turn on your car, the camera will turn on and start recording.
Now, it is time to check out some video footage…
First, daytime video in the highway…video quality is pretty good. There is one thing I noticed though that the audio becomes choppy or it just cuts on and off and it is not wind noise either and it only happens when the car is moving…So, I actually have to get another camera just to make sure and it does the same thing even on the replacement camera…This might be an issue which I haven’t seen mentioned a lot in the Amazon reviews of this camera. When the car is slowing down or in park, audio is pretty good…
Night footage is ok…anything that has a light though like business signs gets washed out. You can see and identify the cars in front of you though without any problems. Depending on how dirty your windshield is like mine…then you will see some glare from the windshield.
There is also occasional instances when there is too much glare or it is on a certain angle that the camera will not able to read the license plates.
Compare it to the Viofo which is normally a 2k camera but I set it to 1080p at 60 frames per second. It might be on how the camera is installed where the Yi dashcam is lower than the Viofo and the glare from the headlight reflection goes back to the Yi camera. Installing the Yi a little bit higher will probably resolve this issue.
On this video clip, you will see and notice how the Yi adapts to the surrounding lighting…It does a pretty good job at night and you will get a better footage if there is some ambient lighting like from the strip mall in the footage.
Lastly, I’ll show you how to access the footage in the camera using the camera’s WiFi. You have to download the Yi Dash cam app and register for an account. I already did on mine so to access the camera, you need to add it to the app. Click the menu on the upper left corner, click my device..I already have the ultra dashcam in here so I’ll click “add device” at the bottom, choose your camera…the Yi compact dash cam, make sure the camera is on..click next step…make sure the WiFi is on…which you will see on the screen the WiFi icon…choose Wifi to go to your phones WiFi settings..
Select the Yi Car Cam and enter the password which can be found on the WiFi settings on the dash cam..and I also think is universal..1 thru 9 then 0. Then click join.
Now, you are connected.
You will see the live view from the camera…click on the album and you will find the recorded videos…you can choose a video…which you can view from your phone You will also be able to delete or download it to your phone. The footage will then be saved to your photo album on your phone.
Overall, the Yi compact dashcam is an affordable 1080p camera that has pretty good daytime video quality and has a decent night time video quality. My only issue is the audio which gets choppy when the car is moving. I don’t know if this is a design issue or I just got 2 cameras that have bad audio. Most of you might not want to turn on the audio anyways because of state laws or regulations.. I like the WiFi access which you can easily share a video without having to remove the micro SD card from the camera. A suction mount option is also nice to have.