70mai Dash Cam M500 Review

Having dash cam footage during an accident or capturing what happens to your car in a parking lot can save you a lot of time and headaches. Picking the perfect dash cam, though, isn’t always easy. The 70mai Dash Cam M500 is designed to make it easier to record your travels and monitor your car in parking lots. I recently had the opportunity take this dash cam for a test drive to test out its features.

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by 70mai. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence even when a post is sponsored.

Overview of Features

The 70mai Dash Cam M500 packs a lot of features into a small package. Unlike most dash cams that require a microSD card, this one has 64 GB of eMMC built-in storage. Not only does this type of storage usually last longer than your average SD card, but you don’t have to worry about a card being damaged and losing your footage.

Capture all the important details, like license plate numbers, with 170-degree field of view and 2592 x 1944 HD resolution. The HDR imaging with F2.0 aperture helps pull in more light for clearer night recording.

A built-in G-sensor detects any collision when parked and immediately starts recording. With 24-hour monitoring, you’ll always know what happened. Plus, the dash cam has car battery protection to prevent draining your battery. When you turn the camera back on, you’ll hear a voice alert about emergency recordings. This does require the Hardwire Kit, which is sold separately but included for my review.

Time lapse recording condenses footage to reduce storage needs. Instead of real-time footage, 30 minutes is condensed into just one minute. If you’re using this when parked, car battery protection is still enabled.

All videos include trip data, which is more accurate than ever, thanks to both GPS and GLONASS satellites. Data includes the time, mph & km/h, and coordinates.

The dash cam also helps keep you safer while driving with ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems). Receive alerts for possible pedestrian collisions, front collisions, moving traffic, and lane departure.

There are voice controls so that you’re not messing with the 70mai app or the dash cam while driving. For instance, take a picture while driving simply by saying “Take a photo.”

The M500 is capable of monitoring tire pressure via Bluetooth with the Tire Pressure Monitoring kit, which is sold separately. I didn’t receive this kit, so I won’t review that feature.

The device is designed to last for at least two years and can withstand extreme temperatures between -4 degrees F and 176 degrees F.

Easily download and check footage at any time by connecting to the 70mai app on your phone. The built-in Wi-Fi on the dash cam connects to your phone, letting you change settings and access footage on the camera.

In the Box

The 70mai Dash Cam M500 ships with everything necessary to install and start recording, including:

• Dash cam
• Dash cam mount
• Cable
• 2 electrostatic stickers and adhesive pieces
• Pry bar for installing cabling
• Instruction manual
• Hardwire Kit (usually sold separately)

I was impressed to see two sets of stickers and adhesives. This lets you transfer to another vehicle if needed without buying another installation kit.

The instruction manual steps you through the installation and how to use the app without needing to download a separate manual online, which is what many devices do nowadays.

Getting Started

The first step is to download the free 70mai app. Once I created an account, I had to connect the dash cam to my car and slid the camera into the mount. Arrows on both the 70mai Dash Cam M500 and the mount make it easy to line it up correctly.

After cleaning an area on my windshield, I applied the electrostatic sticker and peeled the adhesive off the mount. A dotted outline on the electrostatic sticker makes lining up the mount to the windshield super easy. Once stuck together, the mount doesn’t move at all. If you’re careful, you can remove the electrostatic sticker and reapply it if you realize it’s crooked after installation.

I connected the power cable and plugged it into my car’s power port. The camera immediately asked to be paired with the app.

I followed the instructions in the app and manual but ran into an issue. The camera’s Wi-Fi took 5 to 10 minutes to show up on my phone for me to connect. This was an issue throughout my review. I had to power off the dash cam and turn it back on, then turn the Wi-Fi off and back on before it would show up on my phone, so be patient when waiting for the 70mai network to appear. It can take up to 10 minutes in my experience.

Once connected, the dash cam was added to the app with no problems. You can adjust numerous settings, such as collision sensitivity, turn parking surveillance off/on, adjust voice control, turn on voice recording, and much more.

I did install the Hardwire Kit, which takes a little while to get all the cabling run through the car, but it is definitely worth it to monitor for parking lot collisions.

Using the 70mai Dash Cam M500

There’s no distracting screen when using this dash cam, which is nice. A green indicator light lets you know the camera is recording. While driving, I tested a few of the voice commands (they only work while in motion). I had no issues with the dash cam recognizing my voice and doing the appropriate action. You can check out the available voice commands from within the app.

After driving around for a while, I used the app to check my video and photos. All were crystal clear. I was surprised to see zero glare when driving into the sun, which happens often with other dash cams I’ve used. The app was incredibly easy to use to scroll through footage, and with time lapse turned on, I could view hours of footage in just minutes.

At night, I could still see the footage clearly, without any blurring or graininess. This would make any possible night collisions much easier to see on the camera.

When I turned on ADAS, I did get voice alerts if traffic in front of my was moving when I was sitting still, which is great if you’re distracted and don’t notice the red light turn green.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the 70mai Dash Cam M500 is an impressive dash cam that fully delivers on its feature set. Footage is clear both day and night. Having built-in storage eliminates the need to buy separate SD cards.

The only downsides are that you’ll need to buy the Hardwire Kit and Tire Pressure Monitoring Kit separately to get all the benefits the dash cam offers, and it’s not easy to connect to the camera’s Wi-Fi network. Even without the kits, though, it’s still highly useful for monitoring your daily drive.

You can try the 70mai Dash Cam M500 yourself for just $109.99 for the 64 GB model. A 32 GB is available for $99.99 and a 128 GB model for just $129.99.