The DASH CAM is really a good thing. In addition to restoring the scene of the accident, it can also let the people who touch the porcelain show their true colors. Now there are so many new drivers on the road, it's a bit uneasy to lack it. There are also a variety of DASH CAM in the market. How to choose a satisfactory DASH CAM? A single recorder with a small screen, a rearview mirror recorder with a large screen, and a WIFI recorder without a screen. Personally, I prefer a WIFI recorder without a screen. It is small, unobstructed, and easy to install. It is basically non-destructive, occupies no space, and has better concealment.  

Today, we are evaluating a non screen WIFI recorder, the staring shooting mini3, which is characterized by its small size, built-in 16GB eMMC storage, and OV 05A10 image sensor. It can achieve 1600P high-definition video recording, supporting a dedicated APP, Bluetooth remote control, etc. It can use WiFi to interconnect smart phone terminals and recorders, and can interact online and share the scenery along the way in real time, The price is 599 yuan. What's the actual performance? Let's experience it together.

Unpacking

The package of the mini3 is very simple. The main color of the mini3 is pure black. The gold plated mini3 product model in the middle of the front of the box plays a good match. It is low-key and fashionable. It gives a clean feeling on the whole.  

The back of the box is printed with the basic information of the recorder and its main selling points, such as 1600P high-definition video recording, wireless Bluetooth remote control, 500W pixel CMOS sensor, F1.8 lens aperture, APP social sharing, gravity sensing, WiFi connection, etc.  

The upper and lower clamping structure of the packaging box can be used to open the packaging box for instructions, which are also black background+gold logo, and printed with the product concept of "witness together, share together". Below the instructions are the tachograph and product accessories, which are stacked neatly and embedded in the box groove respectively, and are relatively firm.  

Unpack family photo. The packing list includes staring at the mini3 host * 1, USB data cable * 1, 3.5M vehicle power cable * 1, base * 1, Bluetooth remote control * 1, vehicle charger * 1, crowbar * 1, 3M adhesive backing * 1, manual * 1 and warranty card * 1.  

Unpacking details

  Appearance and details

In terms of appearance, the biggest highlight of staring at the mini3 DASH CAM is the "lipstick" shape and the split design. At the same time, it is also the first product of staring at the split design of the host and base. It can be seen from the body interface that the recorder itself has a charging interface and can be used independently. What is the purpose of designing a separate base independently?  

After careful observation, it can be found that the host and the base are connected through a 3.5mm headphone plug, which is basically a concentric shaft design, that is, the host can rotate 360 degrees without power failure without unplugging the base. Personally, this is also the main purpose of the split design.  

The traditional recorder can only take pictures of the road conditions in front of the car. At most, it can adjust the downward viewing angle from left to right. It is almost impossible to take pictures of the situation inside the car, while the staring shooting mini3 can directly rotate the body. It has unique advantages for family self driving travel and online live broadcast, and is more playable.  

Moreover, the detachable design of the host can be directly removed when getting off the vehicle. With the USB transmission interface and USB data cable, it can be directly connected to the computer. The 16GB built-in eMMC storage temporarily serves as a USB flash disk, which also works well, plug and play. Moreover, the 5V 2A input is quite common. Most mobile power/power bank should have no problem with power supply. The compact size makes it convenient to take photos and record videos temporarily when traveling.  

The body of the mini3 is about 32mm in diameter and 94mm in length, which is relatively slim among similar products. The unique metal shield process inside the body speeds up heat dissipation while bringing elegant texture. The overall body of the mini3 is starry black color matching, which is pure and profound. The fine paint process brings silky and delicate feel.  

The machine body is meticulously made, no slot is found, and no obvious gap is found. The machine body is formed in one piece, simple but not simple. The overall integrity is good. The uniform black tone is matched with white characters as embellishment. The color contrast design is more eye-catching, and the overall industrial design is worthy of recognition.  

There are two holes on the side of the fuselage, namely, MIC hole and RESET hole.  

The RESET hole is not very convenient to operate. It needs a toothpick like tool to poke chrysanthemums, but fortunately it is not available in general. There is also a hidden indicator light that can only be seen when power is on.  

Let's take a look at the camera of the fuselage.  

This DASH CAM uses one of OmniVision's flagship CMOS image sensors, 500W physical pixels, and can achieve 1600P high-definition video recording. Although the image sensor of OmniVision is not as famous as Sony, its technical strength is no problem. After all, it is an old CMOS manufacturer, and the earliest BSI technology comes from it.  

The lens part adopts six sets of full HD glass lenses and one infrared filter. The official parameters are 140 ° wide angle and F1.8 large aperture.  

The bottom of the fuselage is mainly the fuselage nameplate and power interface. 5V 2A input is common, and 16GB built-in capacity is basically enough.

The top of the fuselage is a chrysanthemum shaped horn hole.  

experience

In terms of installation, the staring and shooting mini3 uses microUSB interface. At present, vehicle mounted recorders are common. The manufacturer provides cigarette lighter car charger and 3.5m long cable. No matter what kind of car, this length is more than enough.  

At the same time, the cigarette lighter car charger provided by the manufacturer is equipped with two USB interfaces, one is output 1A, and the other is output 2.1A. While connecting the mini3, the other interface can charge the mobile phone, which solves the problem of tight interface after inserting the recorder.  

Generally, the recorder will be installed in the middle of the front gear. Personally, it is recommended to install the recorder in the middle of the front gear. In particular, the mini3 is very small. After installation, the whole recorder is basically hidden behind the rear-view mirror. It is really small, does not occupy space, and will not block the line of sight.  

Let's talk about the wiring problem. The power supply of the cigarette lighter is relatively simple. From the left ceiling wire, it winds into the A pillar, enters the central control, and finally to the cigarette lighter, you can do it yourself. It is basically non-destructive wiring, but the disadvantage is that it is not beautiful. No matter how hidden, the position where the cigarette lighter is inserted will expose the wire. Virgos generally do not like this wiring.  

In combination with personal car conditions and the installation position of the recorder, the plan given by the individual is to take power from the ceiling lamp without breaking the line, and ACC is powered on, turned off and powered off, and the cables are very well hidden, which is perfect. Of course, this requires a 12V to 5V step-down line, which can be directly modified with a cigarette lighter without any trouble.  

After the mini3 was installed, it was not a small embarrassment when it was powered on for live shooting. The staring mini3 supports 360 degree rotation shooting, but my installation position is behind the rearview mirror. After the recorder turns around, it can only take the rearview mirror, and can't take pictures of the situation in the car at all. If you want to take a picture of the car, you need to stagger the installation position from the rearview mirror to the driver's side, which I don't like...

·APP settings

Although the body of the non screen tachograph is simple, it is impossible to view the video playback without a screen. Generally, it is viewed by connecting to the mobile phone APP through WIFI. The staring and shooting mini3 is also equipped with a dedicated APP, which can download the staring and shooting APP client by scanning the QR code in the manual. The basic configuration, community interaction, video playback and other functions of the real-time recorder, At the same time, pictures and videos can be downloaded directly through WIFI without consuming mobile traffic.  

The main page is divided into four sections, namely On the Road, Recorder, Album, and Personal Settings. On the road, you can watch all kinds of accident videos. At the same time, you can upload local pictures and videos and participate in the real-time interaction of netizens, effectively expanding the online social elements of the recorder. It is worth noting that in addition to directly uploading the pictures and videos to the peering community, you can also share the value of WeChat and the circle of friends with one click, and expose the wonderful clips of the journey. This is a good function.  

The connection between the mini3 and the APP is very simple. The connection can be completed by pressing one button according to the wizard. There is no need to connect to WIFI and enter passwords. After entering the recorder, the preview screen is divided into upper and lower parts. The upper part is the real-time preview screen, which can be displayed in a large horizontal window. The lower part is the local picture of the recorder, which can be downloaded directly by clicking.  

The horizontal screen preview screen directly enters the SR mode. SR (Sense Reality) is the latest black technology of staring at the camera. Based on the built-in high-precision gyroscope sensor, it records the vehicle's steering, braking gradient, acceleration, deceleration and other data, and restores them to the preview screen through algorithms. I have to say, I feel full of technology.  

After the recorder is connected, various settings can be made for the recorder. In addition to the information of the conventional recorder, the quality of the captured image, and whether it is recorded or not, advanced settings such as remote control pairing, image deformity correction, time watermark, parking monitoring, and collision sensitivity can also be made. Personally, image deformity correction is more practical, After all, the installation position of each car is different.  

Voice selection and shooting image quality settings. The default image quality is 2K+(1600P). 16GB storage can record about two and a half hours of video.  

After parking, you can select normal video recording and time-lapse video recording.  

It is convenient to view the usage of storage space through APP.  

You can download commonly used offline maps when there is a network.  

Browse the internal pictures and video files of the recorder through APP, and the response is very smooth. The difference between the built-in eMMC and the external SD is quite large.  

When looking back, you can click the download button to download it to your mobile phone, or you can capture video clips to download them, which is convenient for online sharing to the community or the circle of friends.  

Use guidance and troubleshooting.  

·Remote control capture

The staring and shooting mini3 is equipped with a third-generation wireless camera button as standard, which is connected via Bluetooth control. It can take a picture with one button and record a short video of 5 seconds and 10 seconds before and after capturing. The actual pairing speed is very fast, which is almost continuous, and there is no delay. For this kind of non screen recorder, there is a Bluetooth remote control that is really convenient. In case of emergency or interesting road conditions, you can directly snap with one button. Photos and short videos can be synchronized with WiFi to your mobile phone at any time. From then on, you can record the beautiful scenery and emergencies along the way with your heart, and you can also directly share pictures or clips to social networks such as WeChat, Weibo and "On the Road" communities, It saves the embarrassment of parking to search and screen a lot of video records.  

In other words, this remote control is of good workmanship. It is small and delicate. It feels comfortable to press and gives clear feedback. With its own 3M adhesive backing, it can be conveniently applied to the surface of the steering wheel. When taking photos, your hands do not have to leave the steering wheel, so that travel safety comes first.  

·Photo test

The staring and shooting mini3, equipped with Huawei Hisense's flagship dual core Cortex A17+Cortex A7 processor and a 500W pixel OV CMOS sensor, can achieve 1600P high-definition video recording. How about the actual image quality? Let's take a look at some screenshots in different scenarios.  

Day, morning.

The samples captured by remote control during driving are true in color and good in color transition according to the overall quality of the image. However, if you look carefully at the edge of the high-rise building, there will still be a green edge and a purple edge. This is the common fault of image sensors, as well as some mobile phone sensors. The clarity is also good. You can see the license plate number of the vehicle in front of you, but the license plate farther away is a little reluctant. The other is the 140 degree wide-angle lens. The image has obvious spherical distortion. The distortion correction of the open system should be improved.  

Turn on image distortion correction, and like looks much better than the previous one. Moreover, through the built-in image browsing and editing gadget of APP, you can add movie blockbuster templates for images, and you can also DIY subtitles. If you are not good at foreign languages and want to have a strong writing style, you can only write in Chinese, and the system will automatically translate into English, Chinese and English subtitles~  

In the evening, the sun is setting.

In the evening sky, the blue and sunset glow blend together, and there is a dreamy purple, which is breathtaking. Is there any?  

Night, still shooting.

The light at night is not as good as that in the daytime. In order to clearly show the license plate, the manufacturer will generally raise the ISO in the algorithm, but the noise will obviously become more. However, from the night image of mini3, the WDR wide dynamic double exposure technology has good noise control, and its sharpness is enhanced. It can also be photographed at night, and the overall effect is satisfactory.  

At night, take photos on the way.

The jelly effect is obvious, of course, there is no way to avoid it. The license plate can be seen clearly within the range of the headlights.  

·Video test

100% screenshots of the live video, and the resolution of 2560 * 1600160P HD recording is no problem, but the actual FPS is only 30 frames, which is a pity.  

The videos downloaded through the APP can be browsed with SR special effects full of science and technology. Although it is not very useful, it is still very popular to attract friends.

From the perspective of actual experience, the addition of SR special effects to video can only generate 30s short video at present, and background music can be added and background sound can be removed.   

Video+SR effect.

However, there is a cost to increase the SR effect. The source file resolution captured by mini3 is 2560 * 1600, but the video format exported by SR is only 1920X1080. Moreover, the video compression is more severe, and the video quality is greatly reduced.  

OPPO R9s actually exports 30S video at a very fast speed, less than a minute. Thanks to the high-speed transmission of eMMC, it is estimated that the time will double if you change to SD card.

summary

When the mini3 was first installed in the car, its small body was hidden behind the rear-view mirror, and its existence was only noticed when it was remotely grasped. After half a month of actual use, my overall feeling was that the performance was stable, the nighttime picture quality was significantly improved, the remote capture was very convenient, 360 ° flip&SR was not lack of technology, and at the same time, The mini3 has built-in eMMC5.1 storage, which eliminates the shortcomings of SD card incompatibility and slow reading and writing speed. It can be said that it is a hot configuration in the recorder industry, which is worthy of recognition.  

But the 16GB space can only store two and a half hours of video content, and does not support expansion. It is just enough for smart users. Users with larger capacity needs can only express regret. The other is that although the SR function is almost full, frankly speaking, it does not play any auxiliary role in real-time driving ADAS、 It is believed that the integration combined with voice broadcast will greatly help the driving safety, and at the same time give users a better experience. Finally, although the price of 599 is slightly expensive, there is always some cost involved in tasting the latest black technology, which is suitable for scientific and technological people pursuing new things.

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