Mini 0803 - The Miniature Car Dash Cam with a screen 

IMPORTANT UPDATE (Overheating issues) - OCTOBER 2014 I've received a number of reports from people who live in hotter countries that have experienced overheating and failures with the 0803. Due to the short time that I test any one camera, and the lower temperature where I live, I didn't have any issues myself but I would now recommend you avoid the 0803 if you live in a hot country.

Just in case anyone has turned off the annotations. The blocking that is visible in the trees section of the video is an artefact created during the youtube re-encoding process and isn't visible on the original clips - which are downloadable from my website goo.gl/QYMmSW (the file name of this particular clip is Trees).

I've been using this model for over 6 months and I DO NOT recommend you buy one. My first one kept randomly turning off and on and the replacement was ok for a few weeks and then started doing the same thing. Even with different SD cards and mains power supplies it keeps turning off. Also when you press the save button you must press it twice. The first press turns the screen on (if its set to turn off) and the second press saves the minute before, during and after the button was pressed. BUT it does not change the filename it changes the file attributes which has to be added to windows explorer by right clicking on the columns, choosing More.. and check the Attributes box. Then you'll find all the saved clips with the attributes RA (some of my saved clips didn't save). Might invest in a Garmin 10 instead...

@LucasLand(who's youtube account can't receive any replies to his comments). If you want to manually lock a file when the camera is recording - you can press the down arrow.

I just bought one of these for my car. I used your review of the original mini 0801 to make the purchase for my new truck in December. 6 months later, my new truck was rear ended. it has been a nightmare getting it fixed, dealing with the insurance companies and body shops (yes, plural...) but the video is invaluable, even though it didn't capture and the actual collision. The camera performed its duty perfectly, Thank you Techmoan!

Over the past 5 months or so, I tried out 4 other dash cams...and NOTHING even came close to the quality and price and this awesome cam. This product is simply OUTSTANDING...I am just an average Joe consumer and have no hidden agenda here. I bought it through Amazon and I highly recommend this product. Dave Lee, Canada.

someone probably already commented on this, but the ev-value determines wether you want a lighter or darker image throughout the recording. 0 is not auto, it's simply the cameras default exposure. thanks for all these videos. makes us not having to buy them all.

Translation of the factory clip - "Wang, when is our tea break?"

The GPS data is embedded in the video files, so the files in the separate gps folder might not be needed depending on what software is used to view.

I was only vaguely curious about a dash cam. But after watching your video, I am now quite interested and definitely know MUCH more how these thingy's set-up/work then before. Thank you much for this video.

Translates to "he's ordered another one of these Dashcams..." ;-)

Like the way the dash looked like a red rainbow in the windows reflection...Nice quality video and the seamless way the clips connected is a big plus.

I just wanted to say thanks to Techmoan. I purchased the Mini 0803 after many reviews and forum browsing and it has been working flawlessly. I mounted it just under the rear view mirror on my 1 series and it is hardly noticeable at all. Removing it is just a matter of sliding it in and out of the GPS holder and it is extremely easy. Thanks again!

Excellent camera. We have a mobius in the wifes car and due to the mount size of the mobius I haven't been running with a camera in my mini. This fits nicely above the mirror and isn't easily noticeable from outside the car. Thank you for the review!

I have one if these. It's brilliant, simple, and easy to use. I haven't had a single problem with it yet, and I've been using it daily for four months.

one question about this dashcam. are you able to save 1 specific file, by just pushng a button, in case of a crash, or something unusual on the road, that you can easily see that back once you connect the camera to your computer?

I just picked up this camera (0803) and it's awesome compared to the generic one i've been using. I love the GPS function and the mapping, it even shows directing & speed. Thanks for the review, i'll be posting one of my own soon.

Excellent metaphor/demonstration to illustrate the loop over feature at 2:32.

The translation is..."they will never notice the nuclear waste in these!"

Just got one of these, for a friend who liked my 0801, the footage, especially in low light is a lot better, I will be sticking with my 0801 for now until it gives me reason to replace it. I replaced the sticky pad with a black version, up behind the mirror it is virtually invisible, so I leave mine fitted. Great review as always, I got my mate to look at all your dashcam reviews, before buying :)

Dang! This is one of the best reviews of ANYTHING that I have ever seen. Thank you so much.

I got a new one. So much more advanced since this video was made. Very good at night time. Holds a lot of memory on the SD card, and has WIFI transfer to phone and live view option with phone.

I have one of these dash-cams. It's the only one I've ever owned, so I can't give a comparison. I can however say that I've found it to be a very good camera. It's simple to use, easy to install, and captures great quality images. I think you'll struggle to find anything else this good for such a low price.

Great analogy showing how the recording mechanism works.

AE Meter mode switched to spot could be the solution for you not to film the hood of the car as Automatic Exposure would then evaluate the correct exposure from a spot not the whole center part of the image so there would be no hood-filming-cheat needed ... but - THANKS FOR YOUR REVIEWS!!! They give a deep insight and they make the choice of the dashcam a lot easier and more probably I will get what I am looking for (and not a black cat in a black box).

I have one of the older 0801 model cameras, but noticed that you glossed over the G setting on the menus, it's what I consider to be one of the most important features of the device. If the camera detects a sudden G-force above what you selected in the menu, then the file it is recording at the time is marked as read-only so it can't be accidentally overwritten. Which means, that if you are in an accident, the evidence will not be overwritten even if the car's ignition is left switched on, or you forget to switch off the cam due to the shock of the accident.

I know that this is a review of the 0803, but the new version of the 0801 has some advantages over the 0803 car DVR. 1. The latest evolution of the 0801, such as the Dash Flash® Dash Cam Pro™ (www.dash-flash.com), is higher resolution and better low-light capability than the first versions. 2. The 0801 costs less. 3. People have reported overheating and failures of the 0803. Police and Fire Store, LLC, makers and distributors of the Dash Cam Pro™ are in Phoenix, Arizona, where summer temps can reach 115 F. and the temps inside parked cars can reach 165 F. They did extensive beta testing of the Dash Cam Pro™ and experienced NO heat failures. Thank you, Technoman, for your excellent reports on these cameras.

It drives my crazy that you drive on the wrong side of the road. I'm just waiting for a head on. Thanks

Great review, as always! Small correction: amount of twisting is 90 deg, not 45 as you mentioned (unless what you mean was plus and minus 45).

A day get just a bit better when i see a new video from you, another great one !

No problem here in hot - humid South Florida. BUT here's what I did over 8 months ago: I painted the unit white. It reflects the sun and stays cool. Highly recommended. Ofcourse don't get paint in sensitive areas.

And that's how a review is supposed to be done Wish you could review every products lol thanks

I have had the 0803 up and running in Florida for 6 months - no problems.

I got this cam per recommendation from a Camaro club member here in the Indianapolis area and it gets hot here in the summer and I can say I've had no issues with mine. It's worked every time and I've even thought about removing it from the windshield on hot summer, humid days and forgot to do so and came back and it still came on as soon as the car started and worked fine. I'm not sure what heating issues people are having and the referral person on this hasn't told me of any issues he might be having either and we're pretty close. I think the only thing I would really like to do with this unit is hard wire it into my fuse box on the side of my dash to a location that comes on with the ignition. Thus far, I'm really enjoying this unit and the only draw back is my music speaker being just below it's mounting which tends to leave me with some undesirable music acoustics but probably if I turn it down a bit It'll be fine.

I live in the USA, I guess in summer I would have to be careful but so far this cam looks really good. Price is not bad either. Nice full featured review as always. Thanks.

Thank you for this review. I have been looking for a good dash cam for a little while, your review convinced me to spend a little more for better quality. My 0803 arrives in a few days... Thanks again.

Thanks Techmoan, your reviews are brilliant. I just got one of these (0803) cameras and so far its excellent!

As a new learner driver, this is handy to know that certain insurance companies offer a discount on your premiums for having a dashboard cam installed. :)

:30 thank you for the suggestion of asking my auto insurance company if I too can get a discount for having one mounted in my car as well. I bought the original 0801 upon your previous video, and I thank you for that.

Thank you for the video. Just purchased one. The quality of the video is excellent, I love it! Atl, GA.

Any dash cam that's got a battery built in (internal) will fail sooner or later. My cam worked for less than a year than became very glitchy. Month later it stopped charging and died. My new camera Vico Marcus 4 does not have a battery. It works when the car is on. It records full hd at 1080p at 60fps and that's a great quality video for a dash cam. It never overheated in hot California weather and works every time. Unlike other dash cam black boxes this cam's software can be updated with a new version if available. Very pleased with it.

G'day Mat. Great review as always. I think you've been 'video bombed'. :P Around 18:30, in the top left hand corner of the screen there appears to be a small insect crawling across your monitor. Cheer, b. :)

I just purchased this dashcam, since our needs seem to be similar, and can't wait to actually get it mounted. I've been waiting for 1080p/30 with all these features for some time... I would have liked a camera with night vision pointing inside the car as well, just in case of a traffic stop, but this will do for now. (Police here like to illegally search vehicles during a traffic stop and later say you gave consent when you didn't.)

Great video I purchased a 0801 last year after that review and have been happy so far with it, it installed very neatly into my car and provides good footage although the improved night time footage of the 0803 seems like an advantage. Are the mounts in particular the gps mount interchangeable between the 0801 and 0803.

thanks for a very thorough review. This is my first dashcam and I managed to figure most of it out but appreciate your explanation of the menus and features. 1 thing not considered: Mount/Camera orientation. Canada/USA is left hand drive, so had the mount and camera be flipped, it would make installing on the passenger side cleaner.

I'm imagining a setup where the camera is hidden and control box and SD card are kept at another location (console, glovebox). Maybe even have a second camera (or more) connected to the same control box. Like a home security system but in a car. Is there an integrated "dash" cam system on the market?

An Android phone would pull the data from the internal memory without needing to unclip the camera from its mount if a 99p adaptor is used to hook up to the standard USB lead. I always carry such an adaptor to get music from anything whenever without needing to use a PC to transfer the data, and it makes sharing full HD movies much faster than any wireless method I've found yet.

great videos, just bought a G1W as an "impulse purchase" - wish I had seen your videos first.. something strangely soothing about hearing you review them lol.. nice work.. might look into a 0803 unless you have made some newer review of a better one.. going to check the rest of your videos now..

Absolutely EXCELLENT videos mate! Very very informative and very well presented! There is nothing more irritating than when someone tries to talk about something that they have no clue about! Very well done!

McLaren MP4-12C at the 14:35 mark

Thank you for you excellent quality reviews! You explain everything really clearly and go in depth without being boring! Thanks!

Thank you for your videos. I have been following since you reviewed the 0801. After seeing this review I used your eBay link and bought one for each vehicle. I just finished installing the last of the three last night. I hardwired them into the vehicles' wiring under the dash for a stealthy install. My only gripe thus far is the G-sensor sensitivity, we have a lot of speed bumps in South Africa and at 3.5G it retains almost all of them, got it at 4.5G now, I'll go see later if it's better. Thanks again.

For all those that have bought previously an 803 dash cam. If you haven’t found out already, when you connect the dash cam to an iMac pc, iPhoto will automatically load the camera and once you import the video; it’ll play it Superb

I love this video, the presenter is very clear and descriptive, I have just bought the 0805 and I love it, thanks for sharing this video, I have it in my favourites so I can keep looking at it. Where abouts in England did you film the footage, it's nice seeing the country side. I was in born in Bolton, would love to see that now.

Techmoan hey do you have any comments about the reported issues with the poor quality of the mounting unit and the connection being unreliable between it and the main camera? I was considering getting one of these but I'm concerned it's not going to last very long.

Nice review. I'll be replacing my current basic DVR DashCam with one of the GPS enabled versions of this. Good to see some roads I'm familiar with too, round Wigan, Haydock and Ashton

Having not read all of the previous comments I'd like to point out that a full quarter turn is 90 degrees and not the 45 you state. Thanks. A Pedant. ;-)

Excellent independent reviews, and very professionally made. Thanks for making and sharing.

We did extensive testing on the Mobius and the 0801 before deciding to base our new Dash Cam Pro™ on the Ambarella A2260 CPU. We believe the resolution is excellent and the features are superior.

Great review. I do have a question, but it's not about the reviewed device. I'd like to ask how you did the side-by-side videos of the 0801 and 0803. I'd like to do something similar. Cheers!

Thanks very much for the review, very helpful. Just FYI at 4:35 its 90 degrees not 45 :-)

4:14 just take off the protective coating then stick your thumb on the screen... D-Oh!

Are there any camera similar to this which uses a G-sensor to turn on and off? Because I bought on from a local automotive store, but I haven't come across one online. The one I have needs a constant power supply even when the car is off. And it comes on via a g sensor automatically, this also means it will record if there is impact with the car whilst parked.

Can you imprint the GPS speed onto the video itself along with time date stamp?

Bought one of these for the wife's car and like yourself, I use a MAC, not a PC. First thing I noticed was that the GPS module and current firmware (FW20141101 v.1.0) allows me to display the speed of the vehicle within the camera recording. The downside is that although it shows it as MPH, it's actually reporting it as KPH. With Dashcam Viewer, all the modules show 70MPH, while the on-screen display shows it as 110MPH. According to Earthshine Software, it's not a problem with Dashcam Viewer and E_Prance suggest I use their PC software. Ever feel you're between a rock and a hard place?

Hi, now that the leaves are dropping, could you possibly do another test, driving past trees with bare branches? It's this that most severely tests the encoding. There is blocking in your trees clip which I downloaded - I'd be interested to see how much worse this gets with bare trees. My dash cam is 15mbs VBR and blocking is more of an issue this time of year, the 0803 is 15mbs CBR @ 1080p, though I don't think VBR and CBR make a difference - that's just to save space on the card. I still don't think 15mbs is enough for North Eurepean Countries and other countries that have a lot of roadside trees and shrubs.

Just so everyone knows I took mine apart yesterday and the internal memory is just a microSD card in an internal socket, it is not a chip soldered on. So conceivably if you are not afraid of taking it apart you can buy one without the internal memory and add your own card.

Enjoyed that, it's getting better and better.

My mini 0803 is still running fine after 10 months never had any problems with it not even over heating. But in England it don't get that hot anyway.

my concern about this camera is the reliability. the company does not even seem to have a dedicated website in the UK. they only seem to have a amazon website listing.

There is no Mini 0806 review?

So much detail my head hurts!!! Great review

Thanks for the review. I am looking for a dash cam that handles lights and dash reflections very well. I bought the GW1 that you reviewed a while back. Love it, except that lights bleed all over during the night and my dash is reflected over half of the screen. You went over a filter on the Marcus 3. I think its best to save my money and see what comes out next year.

so better than the SJ4000 ? is it just because of the smaller mount ?

The clip going past CGI in Haydock, that was my replacement van on the side of the road after just having been hit by a car turning into the next road. Didn't have a dash cam at the time but fortunately driver admitted fault straight away.

Weh heh! Just bought mine3 days ago( thanks Amazon) and it's here already! Bonus or what!!

Great video, I went to your website and downloaded some replays and yes they are much better than youtube can show, as you said it is because of the way youtube converts or handles the uploads. By the way I downloaded the motorway clip and played it back through Registrator Viewer, it is great that you get to see all the features from speed, direction and how far you have travelled. You have just incriminated yourself from the motorway clip, here we see you speeding upto 81MPH on a 70MPH road!!! you naughty man! lol. Going to buy 1 of these thanks to your video and links, keep the vids coming I always enjoy them but never really make a comment.

Just a note. I've taken the camera off of it's windshield mount 6 times and the camera fits back in very loosely. I do not recommend taking the camera out of the mount on the windshield at all. After the second time putting the camera back, I noticed it was already a little bit loose.

The camera is great, when it works. Mine often gets overheated and goes into a loop that can only be interrupted when the internal battery is fully discharged. Then it comes back and works normally for a few more days. Another point worth fixing is the lose attachment of the camera to the GPS receiver. I am hoping that the manufacturer releases a firmware update to make the operating system more stable.

I thought this might be a low cost alternative to the GoPro, but holy fuck. It costs over $100. For that price I can get a GoPro Hero for a few bucks more and it records great audio and is great in extreme heat and cold. Why buy a product so limited?

Hello! I do believe that the black mash at the top of your car screen actually is there to protect the adhesive at the bace of your rear view mirror from the suns ultriviolet radiation! In other words, somone who wants a permanent installation should probably put the bace of the camera on this mash :-)

Have you ever had a micro SD card lock up? I own this model and I found that after a year or so of owning it the SD card wouldn't allow me to modify its contents. The camera was unable to record and I wasn't able to delete any of the files from the card or reformat it. I was able to save the clips I wanted on the computer, but it was extremely slow during the transfer. I put a new SD card in and still works perfect. Thank you for your reviews.

I've got one for US$90 and installed in my car. Thanks for the excellent review. Mine came with a hard-wire kit, so I have wired it to the fuse box. Question how do I stitch the clips together? How do I play the clips at higher speed and record it for RU-vid upload?

14:35 is that Bamford in Rochdale? Looks remarkably familiar. Obviously seem Costco many times....

I just bought this camera. I love it.

what do you do if an event occurs and you want to make sure you save that incident and not have it looped over, if you still continue to drive on for a while?

Just had an 0803 delivered but with a dodgy mount affecting the charging, I suspect the wrong model was boxed up at source. If bought from them Eprance will send out the correct one. Worth checking before dismissing the camera as rubbish.

Thank you for all your reviews!

I see there is a 0806 that has been released with some of the issues you have pointed out being addressed. Are you planing or have you done a review on it yet? If so I would be interested on your take of it and if its worth buying...

Mat did you notice any vibration on the mount with this one? I had the 0801 (bought on your recommendation!) and I noticed a lot of vibration on rough roads. It was caused by a small gap where the camera and mount didn't sit entirely flush. a small bit of blue tac sorted it out, it didn't do my OCD any good mind! I can't seem to see any difference to the mount on the 0803 in your review?

Thanks for another great review! Did you talk about gaps between videos? When one clip is full and the next starts recording? If you did I missed it, but if you didn't, could you give me something on that? I've been using a GS1000 (one of the no-name ones where you had to pay attention to the menu color or something), but found that the video quality kind of got worse over time. While it was clear and sharp in the beginning, it got really griddy and blocky by now. I think I'm gonna try turning it a bit downwards like you showed with this one, maybe that helps, maybe it's just a focus issue.

Thanks for your review. I bought an 0801 from E-Prance (Amazon vendor) for about $90 USD; it lasted about 7 months (May until December 2014), then died. I sent to China for repair which cost about $30 (would have been about $17 without tracking ability). They demanded I even pay the postage to ship it back to me, at which point I refused. They relented, but it's been several weeks and I'm still waiting. I would not buy this type of camera unless you can get it from a local vendor; do not buy it from a China vendor directly, or you may be stuck with a dead cam after a few months that costs more to ship than it is worth. If the 0803 has improved in quality, fine, but I would avoid. Better to buy a G1W, also reviewed by Techmoan, for $30 U.S. and it will work well enough. I bought one and it is working well except for one glitch-- it sometimes does a factory reset and loses the date/time. Techmoan, I would love it if you could discover a high quality dash cam that has decent firmware and will last more than a few months. I would rather have something reliable than something inexpensive, because in the long run you get exactly what you pay for!

That electronic noise may be do to your SD card. Something similar was happening with my GoPro and when I replaced the SD card the sound went away. Try a decent quality SD card to see if it helps.

does it support 64 gb micro sd?

Another great review. Keep em' coming they are very informative and entertaining. Cheers Kym

Have you ever had any issues with the mini 803 (or others) malfunctioning after the car has sat in the sun for an extended period of time and the car’s interior has gotten very hot? My dash cam manual says its working temp is 0 to 65C. It malfunctioned once and I’m fairly sure it was temperature related. I live in California and it can get in the triple digits here in the summer. I hate having to wait until my dash cam cools down before turning it on. Defeats the whole purpose of having one in the first place if you can’t use it right from the start.

I think she says 'first'

Thanks so much for the work you've put in. Your video was very well made and really gave me an idea of what to expect from dash cams since I am just now beginning to look into it. I am doing research on a camera that I can use in park mode in addition to while driving. I live in NYC and in the past week I have had two separate occasions where I come to find my car damaged while parked overnight. I am aware that running the camera with the car turned off would require hard-wiring if I wanted it to run overnight. My main question is what are the motion detect capabilities of this camera? How long does it record after it detects motion? The motion detect/ parking mode seems to be an important part of reviewing a camera for many people and I am surprised to see that it was skipped. If you did check before changing cameras, could you please provide some info on the motion detect? Thanks so much!

What is the voltage and amp output of the charger that comes with this? I ask because I could connect up the USB lead from my Parrot Asteroid Smart, this means when the car is started, the head unit comes on, the USB port gets power and the DVR starts recording. Also because I have an E46 and the 12v lighter socket is always powered so I can't use the auto power on feature via that!