Verdict from Digital Camera World

If you're looking for a front and rear dash cam at a reasonable price, the 70mai A510 is a suitable choice. For this price, you get many additional functions, along with excellent video quality from the front camera. Although the rear camera may seem like an added gimmick, it's still better than nothing—even if the video quality is much inferior to the front camera. Consider the rear camera as an extra bonus, especially when the A510 kit costs about the same as a typical dash cam with only a front camera.

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Overall summary

The 70mai Dash Cam A510 is a dual-channel dash cam system with both a front and rear camera. The front camera records video at a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, which is significantly higher than Full HD (1920 x 1080) but not quite 4K (3840 x 2160), while the rear camera records at 1080P Full HD. This camera set comes with a 64GB microSD card for built-in video recording. It can also connect to your smartphone for control via the 70mai app, allowing you to adjust settings, view live video, and play back recordings. The most notable aspect of the A510 is that you get all these functions at a price where, until recently, you might have only been able to purchase a front-only dash cam.

Feature

At the heart of the A510's front camera is the Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 sensor, specifically designed for CCTV and dash cameras, focusing on high light sensitivity and minimizing image noise.

According to Sony, the STARVIS 2 sensor "achieves light sensitivity superior to the human eye, with excellent noise reduction capabilities, accurately reproducing colors and textures of objects that are difficult to see in the dark, thereby significantly enhancing performance in low-light conditions."

Additionally, the sensor can record HDR video, which is especially useful when driving in bright sunlight or at night. Combined with its 2592 x 1944 pixel resolution, the A510's front camera should deliver satisfactory recording quality (at least on paper).

The rear camera does not use the same sensor, supporting only Full HD 1080P resolution. As you will see in the next section, this specification clearly impacts the actual video quality of the rear camera.

Additional Features (with Hardwire Kit compatibility)

If you purchase an additional Hardwire Kit, the A510 camera can operate in 24-hour intelligent parking surveillance mode. This means the camera will detect collisions or impacts even when the engine is off and you are not with the vehicle. When an event occurs, the system automatically records a 30-second video of the detected incident and can immediately notify your phone via the 70mai application, as the hardwire kit supports 4G. Additionally, this kit also supports real-time monitoring of the vehicle's surroundings on demand. You can view around the vehicle via your mobile phone whenever you wish.

Build and Handling

The A510's front camera feels sturdy and well-built. Its square shape allows for a suitably sized rear LCD screen for image viewing. The camera lens is housed in a cylindrical barrel that protrudes from the side and can rotate up and down to adjust the camera angle to suit the road ahead. This compensates for the varying windshield angles in different cars, similar to typical dashcams. Both the front and rear A510 cameras are installed using double-sided adhesive tape, with an anti-static clear sticker, which helps secure them firmly to the glass.

The A510's rear camera is significantly lighter than the front camera, almost feeling "hollow." However, this is likely because it only contains a sensor and a lens within its plastic casing. All primary processing and electrical circuitry are located in the front camera, which is the core of the system.

Performance

Manufacturers can pack many extra features into a dash cam, but the most important thing is the video quality from the camera itself – because ultimately, that’s what matters most to insurance companies when determining fault in an accident.

In daytime lighting conditions, the image quality from the A510’s front camera is excellent. When set to its maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, recorded videos are sharp and small details are clear. Reading license plates of cars directly in front of the camera is easy, but license plates of cars driving by on the opposite side of the road become harder to read. This is a common issue with many cameras, as rapid motion, combined with video frame interlacing and digital compression, causes moving text at the edges of the video frame to blur. The camera's automatic exposure settings are accurate and reliable, and I was pleased with the dynamic range that the STARVIS 2 image sensor could capture.

The potential downside of this high-resolution recording is the video file size: every 1 minute of video uses 172MB of card space, so a 1-hour drive will consume approximately 10GB of storage. Don't forget that the rear camera records simultaneously and uses additional storage, though not as much as the front camera (61MB/minute). This means the included 64GB microSD card will fill up quickly. It's recommended to upgrade to a 256GB card if you drive frequently and want to keep more than a few days' worth of video clips before the camera automatically overwrites older footage.

Fortunately, the front camera performs much better at night, as it has a higher resolution and significantly better dynamic range. License plates can still be read, though it's slightly more difficult than during the day, it still allows for immediate identification of details of oncoming vehicles before a nighttime accident occurs.

We did not install the additional hardwire kit provided, as it requires further modifications to the car's electrical system and fuses, which I was not comfortable doing on my own vehicle.

Conclusion

Dashcams should now be considered a vital part of driving safety. If you are ever involved in an accident, being able to prove with video evidence that you were not at fault can be huge. I don’t say this just because I work with cameras, but because my car was just rear-ended and ended up being a total write-off for the insurance company. If my car had been equipped with front and rear dashcams, it would have been able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was not the one at fault. And it's thanks to dashcams like the 70mai A510 that we can say dashcams are "truly essential."

The A510's affordable price becomes negligible when compared to other driving expenses – such as fuel, insurance, etc. But you still get both front and rear cameras with many additional features. I am impressed with the performance of the A510's front camera – the video quality during the day and night is excellent considering the price. I have been using this camera in my daily car for over 2 months now, and it has worked flawlessly.

While the rear camera is considered just an "add-on feature," its video quality is significantly inferior to the front camera, but it's still better than having no camera at all. If you think you need the best video quality from a rear camera, you will need to spend more to buy a higher-quality product.

Overall, the 70mai A510 is a very worthwhile dashcam and suitable if you want a front and rear camera at an affordable price.