Verdict
If the Miofive S1 Ultra looks like a bargain , that ’s because it is . It would be competitively priced for a 4 K dash River Cam , but it ’s much more so cave in that this bundle combines front and rearward 4 kibibyte photographic camera . There ’s more to this sprint cam than its attention - grabbing specification . It produces splendid video quality – particularly from the front camera – and do well across a wide of the mark scope of status . It ’s also quite amply featured , including speed camera warnings , and even some AI - powered driver economic aid . You might necessitate to buy a large MicroSD card and a hard - wiring kit to get the most from it , but even without them this is a superb dash Cam River for the money .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The S1 Ultra dash cam is the newfangled range - topper from the Hong Kong - establish road rubber brand Miofive . It ’s competitively priced , with impressive specifications that include 4 grand video transcription front and rear . Other highlights of the Miofive S1 Ultra admit AI driving prompts and speed camera warnings , kick in it the voltage to assist prevent incidents on the route , not just record them when they happen .
I ’m interested to see how the S1 Ultra compares to another of Miofive ’s 4 K elan camera ; the4 K UHD style cam , which I reviewed positively in June 2023 .
While that camera impressed me with its note value , good characteristic and strong video recording quality , I felt it was limited by its repair storage , and lack of upgradability .
It seems Miofive was mind , as the S1 Ultra is an betterment in every area . Aside from its rearward television camera , it come with a 64 GB MicroSD card , meaning both that you could upgrade its storage , and that you ’re not limited to viewing and saving videos on the Miofive app . fourth dimension to fit the S1 Ultra to my machine and see how it execute in practice .
Design and Features
The Miofive S1 Ultra looks very much like a compact camera that mounts to your windshield . It ’s supply with four electrostatic stickers , which are much well-off to get rid of and reposition than bolt Cam River that sting directly onto the underside of the glass . In vernacular with most dash cams , it ’s hard to tuck it behind the rear view mirror on a modern car , where the sensor binnacle tends to get in the elbow room . Still , I was capable to get it into a middling unobtrusive position on the passenger side .
It ’s promiscuous to correct this camera ’s mount to point it directly at the centre of the route . There ’s a thumbwheel for tightening its up / down flexible joint , but you ’ll demand a small cross - head gadget driver if you need to tighten the left-hand / right adjustment . Once fitted , you may quickly slide the backing from the part that sticks to the windscreen if you need to remove the camera . It ’s easy to re - primed .
The 4 special K rear camera has a fastball shape , and is easy enough to place in the centre top of your rear window .
However , the cable linking it to the front cam is thick than the norm , which could make it more of a challenge to tuck behind the railway car ’s headlining . Below I ’m liken it ( right ) to the equivalent cable on theViofo A139 Pro Dashcam(left ) , which true has a depressed resolution rearward camera .
This dash cam comes with a cigarette lighter - style power connector . While this is the quick and easiest way to wire it up , you ’ll need to pay for a hardwiring kit ( £ 29.99 ) to use the metre - lapse or parking manner , which are design to monitor your car while it ’s neglected . One other affair to note is that the supply elevator car socket adaptor has only a single USB port – I favour ones with a spare that you may use , for example to burden your earphone .
Power up the Miofive S1 Ultra and you ’ll find it has a reasonably big color filmdom , which is great for helping you get the locating of each camera right hand . It ’s not a touchscreen , however , and I found the menu a little clumsy at first . The same button used to select the sub - menus is subsequently used to return to the main carte du jour . Master this and the tv camera is easy enough to configure .
By nonremittal it will notify you of upcoming fastness cameras , enjoin you when the car forward is moving off , correct you if you ’re driving too harshly , or warn you when you might be tired .
you’re able to move around off any of these alerting , but you ca n’t block the camera ’s gay determination to greet you , and assure you that ‘ Miofive continues to dish ’ when its projection screen powers down . The only way to silence it is to fully bend off the speaker , which also mutes the AI alerts .
Miofive ’s app gives you slightly more convenient accession to this photographic camera ’s options .
It also sacrifice you a live view , and lets you review recordings . While the app ’s generally loose to use , it does n’t have a timeline feature , so you need to sieve through a full day ’s recordings to recover the time you ’re interested in . I also had problem applying a firmware update , which failed to download on two separate Android phones . Ultimately I had to borrow my cooperator ’s iPhone , on which it worked first time .
If you ’re buying the Miofive S1 Ultra , it ’s important to note that while it defaults to 4 kelvin front - facing video , the rear camera will fool 2 K footage unless you tell it otherwise .
Both digest up to 3,840×2,160 solution , but while the main camera shoots 30 frame per 2nd ( fps ) , the rear does 25fps . This leads me to another important percentage point . It ’s good that there ’s a MicroSD card in the box , but shooting 4 thousand TV front and rear eats up 400 MB of storage per minute . The supply 64 GB posting will be full in just over two and a one-half hours of driving , at which point the camera will start overwrite anything that happened before .
Although the Miofive S1 Ultra is quite well specified , it does n’t have a cabin photographic camera , so it ’s not ideal for the taxi or ride - share market place . And unlike very high - ending hyphen Cam it does n’t have a cellular modem , so it ca n’t alert you if something pass to your elevator car while you ’re not in it . If you ’re interested in that , count theNextbase iQinstead .
Performance and Video Quality
I ’m not a immense sports fan of number one wood assist characteristic on dash Cam River , which tend to work less well than the equivalents build up into a modern car . Having suppose that , the Miofive S1 Ultra performed quite well . If you have a heavy good foot you might take account its speed and dealings tripping camera admonition , which sound regardless of how you ’re actually driving . As with most dash Cam , I find that this one was over - sensitive to protrusion , with urban center speed hump and chuckhole often triggering protected exigency transcription . This did n’t pass off once I ’d turned the sensitivity down .
As a somewhat easy driver , I was pleased this camera did n’t chide me for any rough movement . Conversely , it was almost literally impossible to annul the ‘ keep up with front ’ warning when a vehicle ahead moved off – even if I start moving first . While this feature might be useful if you tend to daydream in traffic , it quickly drive me mad . I did n’t hear from the number one wood attention feature , which is simply based on how long you ’ve been tug without a break – it does n’t form an opinion free-base on your existent behaviour .
The Miofive S1 Ultra utterly nail the basics . It produced highly right front - facing video recording across all the conditions during my examination : gloomy fall sun , cloudy daytime , rain , and dark urban center streets . I was struck by the keenness of single frames from each picture , even in failing brightness . notice the lack of blurring on the low lines in the halt - chassis below , shot at 65 miles per hour in threatening refinement in low evening light .
I was also very impressed with the Nox footage . This camera handle to resolve highly needlelike and fat images in the city . Notably , it could capture some details even from very poorly lit regions , such as the gaps between streetlights on pavement . Here I ’m comparing the Miofive S1 Ultra ( right ) to theRoad Angel Halo Ultra(left ) , another 4 K dash cam .
Some reviewers have criticised the S1 Ultra for over - sharpen telecasting footage , and this was evident in some consideration – such as in subtly artificial - looking details in the brilliantly lit trees in the dead reckoning below . This was slightly improved by a subsequent firmware update . While over - sharpening is n’t ideal for outright video caliber , it does n’t prevent this panache camera from capturing everything go on on the route .
fanny - facing dash cams are seldom as adept as their front - facing master units , but this is one of the best I ’ve seen . At its default 2 M resolution , rearward footage was a petty mild and could be blurry in dispirited light – the still below was the rearward opinion at the time of the above motorway still - frame .
thing improved further at 4 K , with the rear camera grabbing decent video in most lighting shape . While it could n’t knead miracles at Nox , under street lighting it still do to capture a secure amount of detail from the road , and the dingy paving on either side .
The front photographic camera ’s sharpness meant it was broadly easy to read number plates from any cars expire in the same direction , even right at the extremes of the lens ’ 140 level thought . It was tough to show oncoming plates on degraded roads with a eminent closing hurrying , but this was still one of the honorable dash cams I ’ve tested in that regard .
While it was possible to read many numeral plate in my night time force around the engine block ( for example , on the avant-garde at the right wing , below ) this is always dependent on your luck with ambient firing . Number plates reflect your headlights ( as find on the white car on the left ) , causing them to dampen out on any dash television camera . Certainly I could identify the make , model and colour of most motorcar .
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Should you buy it?
The Miofive S1 Ultra captures very sharp and elaborated television front and rearward . It ’s infallible by day , and one of the better dah River Cam I ’ve tested at nighttime .
This camera does n’t have a cellular connection , so it ca n’t admonish you of trouble when it ’s park . If you need that , you ’ll have to give more .
Final Thoughts
As a received dash River Cam contrive to memorialise what happen while you ’re driving , the Miofive S1 Ultra is excellent . Its front and rearward television camera are among the upright I ’ve test , producing crisp simulacrum and legible details .
The main unit of measurement ’s interface is fiddly to employ , and it ’s a touch annoying that there ’s no consecrated button to protect a transcription , and that the app does n’t have a convenient timeline view of register clip . I also discover that the AI features and driver warning signal testify to be more pestering that useful for me .
If I were buying the Miofive S1 Ultra , I ’d surely want to get a bigger memory card to cover long motorway trips . I ’d also consider paying the £ 30 to get Miofive ’s hardwiring kit , which enable parking auspices . However , even without these , this is a great - value 4 K dash River Cam . If you want something even cheaper , or the pick of a 4 gibibyte joining , check out the guide to thebest bolt River Cam .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every elan Cam River we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We use standard tests to compare features in good order . We ’ll always severalize you what we retrieve . We never , ever , accept money to look back a ware .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
The first station to start is check the connector between your front and rear cameras – make certain the cable has n’t been amply or partially pulled out . If that ’s OK , it ’s deserving format the MicroSD card or , if that does n’t help , try a new one . Just make certain you buy a wag that ’s design for the in high spirits bandwidth of a threefold 4 K dash cam .
Yes . Most dash cams come with plain adhesive tablet , allowing you to move them once without needing to buy spare sticky inkpad . The Miofive S1 Ultra also comes with electrostatic stickers , hit it gentle to dislodge more than once .
Full Specs
