Hands-on review: Miofive Dash Cam Dual

We tested and reviewed the initial dash cam offering from Chinese-owned brand Miofive last year, the eponymous Miofive 4K.

It’s a very good system, with excellent clarity and quality to the captured front-facing footage thanks to its use of a 4K UHD Sony IMX 415 sensor and its ‘Starvis Night Vision’ technology. At the time, we noted that it was a shame that there wasn’t also a front and rear two-camera version available, an idea which would undoubtedly appeal to a lot of drivers.

From our lips to Miofive’s ears. Here it is: the Miofive Dash Cam Dual. The same rectangular-body 4K UHD front-facing camera (capable of a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160px @30fps), complemented by the addition of a smaller, rounded-body 2K QHD rear-facing camera (capable of a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440px @30fps) for what Miofive calls “bumper-to-bumper coverage”.

With the addition of a second camera, the internal storage of this Dual system has consequently been doubled from the original single-camera system’s 64Gb capacity to the Dual’s 128Gb. The Miofive is set up to record continuously in a loop. With 4K videos eating up approximately 200Mb for every minute of footage, and now with two cameras on the go, doubling the capacity was crucial. Any time you need to save a specific section of footage, you can take manual control of the dashcam, press the emergency button, and that video will be locked and protected from being overwritten on the next loop cycle.

The industrial design of both cameras remains crisply modernist, the two camera shapes complementing each other nicely, while their black finish helps keep them relatively unobtrusive in any vehicle’s interior. The front cam has the same 2.2-inch IPS display, with no screen on the rear cam. The view from both can be seen in the Miofive app, either live in the car or remotely from another location entirely.

All the technical data of the front-facing camera is retained here with the Dual system, with the same Sony Starvis sensor resulting in the same superb-quality 4K UHD footage from the front-facing camera, with its 140° field of view and F1.8 lens. There’s no denying the quality of the images – very helpful in any legal discussion – whether they are captured in bright or low-light conditions. Night and day, the Miofive camera keeps its ultra-precise eye on the road.

Now this same focus, albeit at 2K quality, is available from the rear-facing companion cam. Not that there’s anything disappointing about the 2K footage: whether you set it up to record the interior of the vehicle and its occupants or have it further back to capture the action on the road behind you, the video quality is very good. With both cams running simultaneously, you’ve got practically every angle covered all around your vehicle.

Assisting you in this is the incorporated G-shock sensor, which features a built-in six-gyroscopic sensor to detect bumps and impacts. Whenever the G-shock sensor is activated in this way, it immediately triggers the recording of a one-minute video, which you can then use for police and insurance purposes.

The natural extension of this G-shock sensor’s watching brief is to hardwire the camera system, for the full 24/7 monitoring and protection. The hardwire kit is an optional extra, although it is reasonably inexpensive. Once installed, the parking function can then be activated either directly on the dash cam or via the Miofive app. The G-shock sensors will then trigger a recording if it detects any sudden or dramatic movement to the vehicle in your absence.

Other features of the Dual system, as with the original dash cam, are the built-in GPS for reasonably precise location data; 5GHz Wi-Fi, for fast transfer of photos and video footage from the cam to your phone; the same super-capacitor battery technology, designed to perform better than Li-on batteries across a wider range of extreme temperatures, and an AI algorithm to alert the driver to sudden braking or turns and updates on traffic conditions. These voice announcements have proved to be a love it/hate it feature with users. You can turn them off, although not selectively; you either have everything or you disable all of the cam’s audio alerts.

You can even use the dash cam like a digital camera to take photos of activity in front of the vehicle, with still and time-lapse options. It is a very good camera, after all, so why not, eh? Photos can be very quickly transferred to your phone using 5G and instantly shared to social media or other destinations. The Miofive app saves content in a familiar album view layout, where you can store all your saved footage and photos, as well as the captured data on driving routes and a driving report, which can almost amount to a review of your overall driving performance. Sobering.

The Miofive Dual is a great dash cam system. It’s not exactly cheap, but that’s because 4K UHD comes at a price, as well as this being a two-camera system. Do you need 4K UHD dash cam footage? That’s up to you. We’ve suggested before that it may be overkill in a dash cam, but on the other hand footage used as evidence can never be too clear when it comes to any legal argument.

The Miofive Dual system is easy to use, it captures excellent footage, covers practically every angle and aspect of your vehicle, has a few neat and welcome bonus features up its minimalist sleeve, plus it looks good, too. That’s a compelling proposition. If you want hi-res eyes, front and back, on the road ahead of you, the Miofive Dual is up there with the best of them.

Miofive Dual Dash Cam

£249