QUOTE(tender @ Jun 24 2019, 10:19 PM)
Hi, no disrespect to anyone here. I see a lot of people worrying about the Malaysian heat and all. Worrying about lithium battery dying in the heat and go for other brands with supercapacitor before anything happens is a good consideration, but not a priority. It should not be the deciding factor. My friends Xiaoyi dashcams are still working after 1-2 years. The built-in battery is probably there for parking mode. Even if the battery fails, the settings will still be saved in the Rom, like your cellphones won't need to be reset every time the battery goes to 0%. With a dead or weak battery, the dashcam may still run on the car power source. It will very likely not be the battery that brick your dashcam, the microSD, software, circuits may fail sooner. looking at the photo of the Xiaomi 70MAI PRO battery, it is very unlikely that a bulky cylindrical cell battery will explode. Thinner and more compact batteries (note7) have the likelihood of shorting and exploding. I always get fat power banks with connected cylindrical cells for that reason.
The more important factor to consider is the camera lens, software (firmware whatever) and built quality. Having tested Xiaomi products, mi-bands, phones, Roborock, wifi CCTV camera, I kinda trust its frequent software updates and build quality. Sony xxx is a good lens. Better go for brands like Xiaomi and Papago, or even Xiaoyi which was ditched by Xiaomi a few years back rather than little known brands like mini0906. my Xiaoyi CCTV camera is still alive after 3.5 years. I know little about dashcams, mini0906 is probably a famous brand in the dashcam world but just do a search in Amazon and you can see it's rather notorious. with lots of bricked units right after the warranty period.
I would definitely go for Xiaomi 70MAI PRO rather than other no-name brands, be it supercapacitor, double camera, whatever, Amazon reviews show far too many mini0906 lasted for less than 6 months, not a good sign. I am tempted to go for GPS tracking, rear cam, double cams, reverse cam, music players, ADAS, GPS navigation, and all the goodies too. But just think what do you really need in a dash cam? Just a good front cam, at about 120-degree angle for optimum clarity.
Having said that, am really tempted to try out mini0906 for all its goodies.
If your friend's Yi dashcam doesn't shut down immediately after engine off then the battery is still good. My previous Yi dashcam lasted 2+ years, till the unit immediately off itself when I off the engine.
Battery which can't hold a charge anymore can't save the last video file and the settings. Saw a lot of dashcams which uses battery have these issues. Bloated batteries and Leaking was also common. Only a few cases of the battery exploding.
If you didn't know, Xiaomi actually gets other manufacturers for their products, hence Xiaomi Yi (Yi actually ditched Mi cause Yi wanted to be independent from Mi), 70Mai, Roborock, Amazfit (Mi band is by Amazfit), etc... So Xiaomi doesn't manufacture any of the products they sell with their brand on it.
Also, Yi dashcam doesn't have parking mode function.
Mini dashcams all these while has problems since the early days with the mini08xx series. Today still the same. So if you asked me to choose Mi or Mini, I would go for the Mi more.
I agree that not all will want the fancy parking mode or GPS or ADAS or wifi, etc. Yes you are also right, the most important is the lens and the Sony sensor used but using a super capacitor or a battery should be put into considerations unless you want to change dashcams every other year then it's fine.
This post has been edited by blurjoey: Jun 24 2019, 11:19 PM