1080p dashcam, 2.4in 480x234 display
The MiVue 518 is the only sub-£100 dashcam we've seen to date that offers Full HD recording. You’ll have to supply your own memory card to store that high-definition footage, though, as the 518 only comes with the bare essentials: the dashcam, the suction cup, the charger and a printed manual. There’s not even a USB cable to help you transfer footage, so you'll need to provide your own Mini USB lead.
Unlike its sub-£100 rivals from RAC and Nextbase, the MiVue 518 does come with software to help you manage those recordings; it's not in the box, but you can download the MiVue Manager application from the company’s website. We found the MiVue software to be the pick of the bunch, even beating the applications supplied with the premium cameras. A month-view calendar in the top-right corner of the software lets you quickly flick to recordings from the relevant day, and the videos can be quickly filtered down so that you can list only accident recordings, for example, saving you from wading through dozens of clips. The car’s location is tracked on a Google Map in the bottom of the screen, and sensors reveal the direction of impact in an accident. You can even use the software to quickly upload videos to a YouTube account, which could be handy for sending evidence to insurance companies or the police.
Daytime footage
The MiVue 518's video is decent enough. It doesn’t quite hit the super-smooth heights of the Roadhawk DC-2 or the GoPro's footage, and there’s some notable distortion in the bottom of the frame when the car’s moving at speed, but the video is still plenty good enough for you to make out the number plates of adjacent cars on the motorway. Night-time footage is grainier, but still gives plenty of
Night-time footage
Night-time footage is grainier, but still gives plenty of detail, and there’s none of the problems with over-exposure of details such as number plates that mars the after-dark footage on some other models. We also really like the way Mio embeds the device name, speed and GPS co-ordinates into the video file itself, so that you don’t have to install the accompanying software if you don’t want to.
The camera itself is thoughtfully designed. It’s small, so won’t prove to be too much of an obstruction to your view. The device has four buttons at the foot of the screen, and the function of those buttons changes depending on which menu screen you’re accessing at the time, which makes the device simple to operate.
The LCD display can be set to black out in as little as ten seconds after the recording starts, which means the device shouldn’t become a distraction to the driver, although we wish this screen standby mode was implemented by default, rather than being tucked away in the System settings.
The MiVue 518 has collision sensors that protect recordings from being overwritten if it detects the car has suffered a sudden impact, although both MiVue devices were the only ones to be frequently triggered by going over speed bumps on their default settings. Thankfully, you can alter the sensitivity of the sensors to reduce the risk of false positives.
Overall, we’re highly impressed by the Mio MiVue 518. It doesn’t have the greatest video quality in the world, but is by far the best budget dashcam we've tested and doesn’t have any serious shortcomings. It wins a Best Buy award.