Mio MiVue 518 Full 1080P HD 2.4" GPS Dash Cam Accident Recorder Dashboard Camera

I’ve had this dash cam for about 5 weeks now and have to give it 5 stars. Installation was pretty simple, the cam works straight out of the box, once you’ve inserted a micro sd card, which is not supplied with the camera. The mounting suction bracket is sturdy and the suction hasn’t failed since fitting, I’d have liked the bracket to be angled more toward the screen so I could get the cam right behind the rear view mirror, but that’s not a major issue. The charger cable is long enough in my Corsa to run from behind the rear view mirror under the ceiling trim above the screen, down behind the door column trim and back across to the cigar lighter. However, I made a less obtrusive connection using a Female Cigar Lighter Socket Plug Connector VORCOOL Waterproof 12V Car Motorcycle Boat Female Cigarette Lighter Socket and an Add a Circuit Fuse Tap, Add-A-Circuit Fuse Holder - Standard 20amp which are now hidden behind my glove box, there are a couple of YouTube vids that show how to do this. The quality of the video is smooth and very good, both day and night, with a good depth of field and a wide angle which covers the full width of a normal road, pavements and side junctions. The bespoke software is also very good, I like the ability to follow the route on a map and to select files from a calender view, although you can view the vids on any media player if you don’t want to run the software. All in all, for me a great piece of tech, which is well worth the money.

I have since edited this review but I have left this as a first impression with the initial problems. Just in case someone has decided it doesn't work on their Windows10 system and is about to send it back! "Doesn't work in Windows 10 without downloading extra video codecs. It seems that mivue manager also doesn't work in XP, even though the box states system requirements Windows XP or later. The camera itself just works once it has a memory card and it is plugged in to a power source. There are settings for formatting the memory card, metric or imperial distance and the like. I had planned to mount it on a dashboard portable mount but it can only be stuck to the windscreen due to the way the supplied suction mount is made. I have a heated windscreen so am not entirely comfortable sticking a piece of plastic on it. I have it set to blank the screen after 1 minute so one needs faith that it is still recording. I've learned the amber and green lights mean it is recording and charging, The camera itself does not show in Windows 10 explorer. I had to use an usb microsd adapter. Then I could see the video files in mivue manager. Playing them needed a codec pack installed. I found one on Majorgeeks.com, Standard codecs for Windows 10/8.1/7/ ..Take care though as the downloaded installer tried to install some unwanted 'extras'. Viewing the footage I found it was also recording while I was parked in the supermarket. An hour uses about 6gb of memory so a 32gb card can be filled quickly just by driving somewhere for an hour and a half, parking for a couple of hours, drive home. I've already ordered a second 32gb card. Video seems sharp and clear. I can make out the reg. of that naughty BMW that rocketed past three of us in a 50mph zone and cut in before the three lanes became two! If mivue manager was working properly I could have 'shamed' him on Youtube! I can only give this three because the software support is poor and it can't be mounted on the dash. The camera itself seems very good but the rest of the deal not so. It would probably have scored more if I hadn't done the Windows 10 'upgrade'." EDIT It now works in Win10! Plugging it in produces the familiar windows noise when a new drive is connected. I see the memory card drive in explorer. Even the mivue software links to Facebook and YouTube work. Yesterday nothing happened when clicking on them. I can only assume that something updated overnight! I left my laptop plugged in and switched on overnight so I'm guessing windows has downloaded the camera drivers and installed them. Still only 4 stars because I had to download the video codecs myself and can only mount it on windscreen. We had frost again this morning so I was afraid to stick it on when the heated screen was needed.

Excellent quality product. Records in HD so you can read the number plate of the Muppet that cut you up, and good sound recording too to re-live all those curse words you use to tell him what his Mother does for a living as you try to avoid the ditch he's pushing you into! A 32gb card captures a whole days Muppetry, with an automatic protection facility on any file captured while excessive G-force is detected, or when you have manually tagged a file to keep, with a simple press of the appropriate button on the front of the unit. The manufacturer states that the card must be a class 6 or higher, But I'm using a class 4 SanDisk card with no problems as yet. The software works well, and is easy to use. With geo-tagging so you have a record on Google Maps of the position of your vehicle at any time during the recording. Handy when you can't remember the name of a street, or you want to verify the speed limit on a given stretch of road, you can go to street view directly from the map in the manager to check out road signs etc. All in all I am very pleased with the Mio MiVue 518. To see the results from this camera, check out my Youtube channel. https://youtu.be/ZCKNlTX4ay0?list=LLMv4Xz6v1fSP3WRz2Wz3ndw

Having undertaken some research on the Mivue 518 I was confident that it would perform well. However, soon after first using it the mount started to detach from the screen, taking the camera with it. This was highly distracting when driving. After several attempts to clean both the mount and the screen it still failed to stay on for very long. The mount was even incapable of remaining on the screen after the camera had been removed. Having contacted the seller I was invited to return the mount. This I did 11 days ago, but despite contacting Car Camera Electronics it has not been replaced, as they say that they cannot issue a replacement until the faulty one arrives. So I am left with a perfectly good camera that I cannot use because they won't do the sensible thing and issue a replacement mount. Not at all impressed with their unhelpful attitude, which is unfortunate when the camera itself appears to be very good on the few occasions I have been able to use it.

Have now bought three of these, the images and video are very good quality even at night. In these days of "crash for cash" I don't believe anyone should be without this brilliant piece of kit but don't be fooled into buying cheaper dashcams which don't have GPS incorporated as this one proves where you were and how fast you were travelling. This is great value for money, great protection against scammers and could save your insurance deductible and protect your no claims bonus. ### UPDATE ### Just purchased another for my son who was caught out by (let's just say) foreigners in a crash for cash in his van. It cost him a £600 deductible. A clear road at less than 30mph in single line road works, driver in front stopped dead for absolutely no reason so there was nowhere to swerve without danger, there were of course no witnesses and the scammer claimed for all sorts of spurious injuries etc. If he had had one of these at the time the scam would have been clear and he would have saved his NCB and his £600!

Software down load was simple from MIO website , you may need additional video software (Codec ,I think ) to run the video I am using recommended memory card , although it did work on an old card albeit with jittery play back , now with a class 6 card , smooth playback , with google maps GPS data alongside The display also as, well as GPS data , speed , position etc , also has an accelerometer This is best dash cam I have had , out of 4 or 5 previous , including the last one which cut out just as I witnessed an accident , and was unable to help with video evidence .

AVOID. I’ve owned this dash cash for a while now, always thought it was pretty decent, good size, easy to use. However a few nights ago I was involved in a large crash (which will probably see the end of my car, 4 of my 6 airbags were deployed), the cam was thrown off the windscreen. I was horrified to find that the footage from that day was corrupted, I am unable to view it on both the camera or when exstracted from the card onto my computer. The one time I actually needed this camera it has hugely let me down. Luckily my insurance company are currently processing my claim as “non fault” on my side, but if it gets constested I’ll have no footage to back me up. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.

This dashcam is quite intuitive to use. The menu system is clear and easy to follow. I bought this one from Amazon as reconditioned, and I discovered that the windscreen mounting clamp was incomplete. Someone had obviously broken it, and returned the complete package to Amazon. I'm sure Amazon would have refunded it, but I've already got one of these in my wife's car, my daughter's car, and my parents' car - and as they are now discontinued, this was the only way I could get one that is identical for my car. I've had to modify the clamp to make up for the missing/damaged piece, but it the dashcam itself works fine. The picture quality is very good. The same model in my daughter's car has already saved her no-claims bonus, and proved that a collision was the other driver's fault. So that dashcam has already paid for itself and this one! They record sound inside the vehicle, which can be quite useful. Anyone in the car can just speak a few words to describe an incident, perhaps calling out the licence plate of an offending vehicle and it will be available later on the recording. The sound recording feature can be easily turned off. The dashcam records consecutive 3 or 5 minute video clips in an endless loop on the micro SD card, automatically recording over the oldest clip each time. If the dashcam detects a bump (selectable sensitivity), it automatically saves that clip in a read-only directory of the micro SD card, so it never gets deleted - until you manually reformat the card. You can also press a button on the front of the dashcam to permanently record the current clip, even when there has been no bump. The dashcam stores a GPS code with the video file (and encoded in each frame) so that you can review the journey, with a live map view, using the free MiVue Manager software. In summary, a very handy, easy-to-use device that could save a lot of money and arguments.