Mio MiVue 688 Dash Cam Video Review

Decent quality, but annoying safety features

by Greg Hook
Tech Review

Mio MiVue 688 Dash Cam Video Review
MSRP: £159.99

What is the Mio MiVue 688?

Most of us have probably heard about the crash for cash scams and many of us have been involved in a car accident. Regardless of how honest people are facts can often be forgotten or twisted in the aftermath of an accident and blame apportioned incorrectly. In these situations and many others the Dash Cam is now an essential gadget to have in the car.

With most offering an easy to setup camera that records in at least Full HD it allows you to be protected should the worst happen or even if you just want to record the awful driving we see daily and then post it to YouTube. With Full HD cameras starting from under £50 you can add one to your vehicle for very little outlay. Some of the more expensive offerings also include GPS, safety camera warnings and even 4K recording.

We recently reviewed Mio’s MiVue 658 WiFi and found it to perform very well across the board and here for our next review we have their similarly priced MiVue 688. This loses the WiFi, touchscreen and extreme HD recording of the 658, but gains a safety alert system including front collision and lane departure warnings. Read on and watch our video review as we give the MiVue 688 a thorough workout.

Specifications

Detailed Specifications:
  • Camera: Sony Optic Sensor with F1.8 lens
  • Recording: Full HD (1920 x 1080P) 30FPS
  • Capacity: Micro SD Card up to 128GB capacity
  • Recording Modes: Continuous Recording, Incident Recording, Manual Recording
  • Road Safety Warning System: Safety Camera, Lane Departure, Front Collision
  • Sensor: 3-Axis G-Sensor
  • GPS: Embedded GPS
Mio MiVue 688

Dashcam Viewer Software

Available as a free download is the MiVue Manager software. Whilst not essential as you can playback the recorded videos using traditional software, via the MiVue Manager you get access to additional information such as speed, direction, co-ordinates and G-force level for example.

Unfortunately no USB cable is provided out of the box, but it does use a fairly common Mini USB connection so hopefully you might have one available. There is also an easy to use calendar display of the recorded videos along with a simple one-click method of uploading direct to YouTube and Facebook along with options to take a screenshot and print from the video.
Mio MiVue 688

Conclusion

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Lifetime updated safety camera warnings
  • Full HD @ 30FPS recording

Cons

  • Annoying safety features
  • No SD card supplied
  • No USB cable supplied

Mio MiVue 688 Dash Cam Video Review

The Mio MiVue 688 is priced at £150 and offers a lot for the money, on paper at least. With Full HD recording, GPS tracking, safety camera warnings, parking mode and a comprehensive driver safety system including lane departure and front collision warnings along with driver fatigue alerts and even a reminder to turn your lights on.

In practice, we found the 688 to be very easy to set up, provide good quality recordings and the safety camera warning system (with lifetime updates included) was a particular highlight. Unfortunately, the driver safety system was far more annoying than it ever was useful. An hour’s drive on a motorway with lots of overtaking and changing speeds became a non-stop beeping and voice warning session which at the end almost forced us to throw it out of the window.

Plus, as with our review of the Thinkware F770, if you have a car with a front heated windscreen you may find it difficult or even impossible to get a valid GPS signal, which as you would imagine causes the safety camera alerts to be turned off, but also turns off the driver safety system too, which in this case wasn’t a bad thing!

The 688 is a good camera and does offer some good features, but with the annoying driver safety system and it being priced on par with the MiVue 658, we know which one we would rather choose!

Scores

Build Quality

.
.
8

Ease of Use

.
.
8

Features

.
.
8

Video Image Quality

.
.
8

Value for Money

.
.
.
7

Verdict

.
.
.
7
7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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