Podofo A1 Mini Dashcam Review

We all know how impotent it is to have a dashcam in your car but what if you don’t have a big budget for it? Tell you the truth I’m not a big fan of cheap dashcams because as we all know, you get what you pay for.
If you’re looking for an excellent dashcam with lots of high-end features, Podofo A1 Mini is not for you.

I have been using the Podofo A1 Mini dashcam for a couple of years until I had my first car accident and then I realized the impotence of having a dashcam in my vehicle. The footage from the dashcam gave a clear picture of who’s guilty and who not, but to be honest, the video quality was quite poor.
The main reason was it was night time and low lightning so you can’t really blame only the dashcam, many high ends dashcams suffer when it comes to dark time video with low lighting. But what can you expect of a 20$ dashcam?

What’s in the Box?

• Podofo A1 Car DVR Camera
• Car charger for DVRs
• USB cable
• Windshield Bracket
• User Manual
• Retail Box

Design and features

The design of the Podofo A1 Mini is nothing special and you have 2 color options, blue and black.
The Camera is build of plastic and you can really feel the low quality when you hold it with your hands.
On the right side of the camera, you have 3 connection ports: USB, HDMI, and an AV port. The backside of the camera you will see a 2.4 inch LCD screen with 5 bottoms that offer different functionality.

On the left side, you will see a Micro SD slot, power ON/OFF button and the menu button. The windshield mount connects to the upper side of the camera that is why the dashcam will be below the mount.
With the help of the windshield mount, you can rotate the camera 360 and film

Setup

Setup was quite easy, all you need to do is find the right spot to place it on your windshield, plug the USB cable to your power source and your good to go. If you want to hide it behind your rear mirror, I will have to let you down, because of its structure you won’t be able to.

Performance

The video quality during the day was fine and I didn’t expect it to be amazing. Cars and landmarks were visible in perfect weather conditions.

In the dark, the video suffers and it’s not as good as the but still decent as long as there is light from headlights or streetlights. It does have night vision ( at least they say it has) but I don’t really notice it and expect it to shot great quality video at night but overall it’s a good camera for the price   

Specifications

• 1920 x 1080 p FULL HD resolution
• 140 degree A + grade high – resolution wide Angle lens
• 2.4-inch high-resolution LCD
• Can watch while shooting
• Night vision function
• Support HDMI full HD video transmission
• Support TF memory card up to 32 GB
• Cycle recording
• Motion detection function
• G – sensor function
• Supports: English, Russian, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese

My Opinion

After using for more than 2 years I have mixed feelings because I didn’t really understand the importance of a dashcam and I was ok with it. Now that I understand a lot more then I did before and know the verity of dashcam the market is offering, I would definitely pick something else.
One thing that was quite annoying, in the summertime as temps were +20, the dashcam often fell from the windshield Bracket. The only positive thing about it, it didn’t break after many falls.
Who is it for? If you’re looking for a very cheap budget dashcam and you
don’t have much to spend on, this dashcam is the right pick.
One thing you need to understand, don’t expect it to have features of high-end dashcams, but hey you get what you pay for.
Podofo A1 Mini is basically a very cheap dashcam that will record videos at a “decent quality” in the day time. It has more than 10773 orders on Aliexpress with highly positive reviews so it’s a very popular dashcam.
If you’re looking for other dashcams with better video quality you can check out my reviews of the 70mai pro or the IRoad X9.

Price: $18+
Podofo A1 Mini CAN be purchased from :
Aliexpress