MIO MiVue 786 WiFi review: A premium dash cam with high-end specs

Dash cams have grown in popularity in the last few years, and drivers are becoming more critical about their hardware specs and features. Recently, we had the opportunity to use and test one of the latest high-end dash cams manufactured by MIO, the MiVue 786 WiFi. It is an elegant dash cam that can record videos in 1080p, transmit them over WiFi and even broadcast them on Facebook if you want. Here is our review for this device:

MIO MiVue 786 WiFi: Who is it good for?

The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi is a good dash cam for drivers who:

• Want a car camera that records videos in Full HD 1080p resolution, with good image quality both in daylight and during the night
• Need to get notified about safety cameras while driving
• Desire a dash cam with WiFi and Facebook broadcasting features
• Want a well-built and good-looking dash cam, and are ready to spend more

Pros and cons

There are many good things to say about the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi:

• It has an elegant design and a solid build quality
• Records videos at 140 degrees angles, in Full HD 1080p resolution
• It has a touch screen
• Its Sony video sensor offers good image quality during day but also in low light, during the night
• It can alert you about safety cameras on the road, and can also display your driving speed
• It has a WiFi chip and together with the MiVue Pro app for Android and iOS, lets you transfer video footage to your smartphone or tablet, and even broadcast live on Facebook
• It also offers useful safety features such as a Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS), a Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) and a Fatigue Alert (FA)

As negatives, there are just two things we can point out:

• The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam is more expensive than other dash cams
• The default package should have bundled a microSD card and an USB to mini USB cable.

Verdict

The MIO MiVue 786 dash cam is the best of its type that we have used until now. It costs quite a lot of money, but it makes up for it with its high-end specs and top-notch features. It has a touchscreen, it has WiFi and GPS, it can broadcast on Facebook, and bundles quite a few safety features. Not to mention how good it looks! If you want all that, and you have the money to purchase it, you will not regret your choice. MIO MiVue 786 is an excellent dash cam!

Unboxing the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam

The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam comes in a glossy box that looks good. The primary colors used are black and orange, just like on most MIO devices. Both on the front and on the sides of the package, you can see pictures of the dash cam from various angles. On the back and the bottom of the box, you can find information about the main features and the specifications of the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam. As a first impression, this device looks elegant and modern. Inside the package, you have the dash cam, a suction mount, the car lighter power charger, a quick start guide, the warranty documents and a 20% discount for any MIO device, if you register your dash cam. The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam arrives in a premium looking box, with all the accessories you would expect. Our first impression when looking at the dash cam was that of a premium device that is both elegant and well-made.

Hardware specifications

The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam is not large, but it is also not small. It has a height of 2.07 inches (52.5 mm), a width of 3.46 in (87.8 mm), and a depth of 1.26 in (31.9 mm). Although it is not a heavy device, it is slightly heavier than other similar dash cams, weighing 3.53 ounces (100 grams). Just like most dash cams, the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi stays on your car's windshield with the help of a rotating mount with a suction cup on its end. To get its power from your car, the dash cam uses a mini USB charger that connects to the car lighter port. At 140 inches (355 centimeters), the cable is long enough to let you place the camera anywhere on your windscreen. The dash cam uses a Sony 2 MegaPixel IMX 323 video sensor that provides a Full HD recording resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. It has an aperture of f/1.8 and a wide lens viewing angle of 140 degrees. The videos are recorded in .MP4 format using the H.264 codec, and also include audio. To see what the dash cam records and also to configure its settings, the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam offers a 2.7-inch touchscreen. It also includes a Wi-Fi chip, GPS, 3-axis G-sensor, and a battery with a capacity of 240 mAh. There is no internal memory storage available, but you can add a microSD card with a maximum capacity of 128GB. It is worth noting that, unfortunately, there is no micro SD card bundled in the standard package, and you have to purchase it separately. If you want to check all the official features and specs, you should visit this webpage: MIO MiVue 786 WiFi. The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi has features that rank it high in the world of car dash cameras. Its specifications sound good on paper and should provide a premium experience.

Using the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam while driving

The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash camera is made of plastic, but it is a high-quality plastic that looks and feels robust. The camera has a wide rectangular form, if you look at its screen, and a trapezoidal shape if you look at it sideways. On the side where the lens is found, you can see the MIO logo on top of a grid-like pattern, while the fairly large lens is surrounded by an orange accent. Just take a look at the picture below, and you see how good it looks. The only physical button on the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam is found on the right side. It is also the only other thing that is orange on the dash cam. 🙂 If you press on it, the dash cam starts an emergency recording. Close to the emergency recording button, there is also the micro SD card slot. On the other side, you can find the mini USB port and also an AV jack, which you can use if you want to watch what the dash cam records on a bigger screen. MIO MiVue 786 WiFi is a dash cam with a wide screen, but it does not have a big height. So, if you position it close to your rearview mirror, it cannot impair your view on the road. That is a good thing for your safety. The windshield mount is solid and keeps the dash cam securely attached, although it is fairly easy to take the MiVue 786 WiFi out of the mount when you are not using it. That is a good thing. On the positive side of things, we have to mention the fact that the cable is quite long. You can place it on the car's windscreen top side, down the passenger A-pillar (the one that holds the windshield in place), on the car floor and, in the end, plug it in the cigarette lighter port. When it is connected to the car 12 Volts power port, the dash cam starts automatically when you start the car. You do not have to manually start recording each time you go on the road. A few moments after it starts, the dash cam switches to black and, instead of showing the road ahead, which can be a bit distracting, displays the date and time, and the current speed. We found that configuring the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi is an easy task: the menus are simple, and the touchscreen is responsive. MIO MiVue 786 WiFi records video in 1080p Full HD resolution and the quality of the footage is high both during the day and the night. The dash cam supports WDR (Wide Dynamic Range), and that means that day videos look really, really good. Here is a sample video: The video sensor is also capable of filming good quality videos in low light. As you can see in the video below, the number plates of other cars on the road can be identified, even when during the night. One of the most important things that make this dash cam different from others is the fact that it sports a GPS chip and a WiFi one. It uses its GPS to record the speed with which your car is moving and also to notify you about safety cameras. It is a good thing to have, especially if you tend to go faster than the speed limit. The WiFi chip is interesting. The dash cam uses it to connect to your iPhone, iPad or Android device, through an app called MiVue Pro, and lets you do these three things:

• Watch the video that is being recorded by the dash cam, live, on your smartphone or tablet;
• Transfer video footage from the dash cam to your smartphone or tablet;
• Broadcast live on Facebook.

We tested these features on an iPhone SE and a Motorola Nexus 6. Watching the videos and broadcasting them on Facebook worked well on both platforms. However, although transferring videos from the dash cam to our smartphones went well and without issues, the download times were long. Here's why: the dash cam records videos with a length of 3 minutes by default and such a video file is between 350 and 400 MB in size. Downloading one 3 minute video to your smartphone using WiFi takes about 8 minutes. The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi also comes with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS): Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Fatigue Alert (FA) and Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS). These can be useful features to have, especially if you are driving long hours on highways. On the national roads on which we drove when testing this dash cam, we found that the Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS) is a bit too sensitive for our liking. It popped up a bit too often saying that we are too close to the car in front of ours, so we preferred to disable this feature. It is also worth noting that, in an emergency, if the 3-axis G-Sensor detects sudden changes in motion, the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam starts an automatic recording on its own. This is a feature that is good to have in case of an accident. Fortunately, we did not get to test it. 🙂 The MIO Mivue 786 WiFi is a dash cam that has a lot to offer. We like its design, its robustness and hardware performance. It is hard not to like it: it comes with a touchscreen, a WiFi chip and a GPS sensor, advanced driving safety features, and the ability to live broadcast on Facebook. That is what we call a high-tech dash cam.

The software available for the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam

The easiest and fastest way to transfer videos from the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam to a computer is to plug the microSD card into a card reader. However, you can also use a USB to mini USB cable to connect the dash cam directly to your computer. Then, you can either use a file manager such as File Explorer or MIO's own MiVue Manager tool. If you choose to use this one, for each of the videos recorded, you can also see details such as the date when they were recorded, the speed, direction, altitude, latitude and longitude of you car, as well as the angle from which your car was hit if you were in an accident. MiVue Manager can also be used to share videos on Facebook or YouTube if you want. We enjoyed using MiVue Manager for browsing the videos recorded with the dash cam, even if it feels rather simple.

What is your opinion about the MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam?

The MIO MiVue 786 WiFi dash cam is a high-end product with good looks and has plenty of interesting features to offer. We loved using it, and we are sure that anyone who buys it will do too. Do you agree with us, or do think otherwise? Do not forget that you can share your opinions in the comments section below.