DDPai Mini5: An elegant take on the dash cam

This classy dash cam is easy to set up, has its own internal memory, and is just generally a grade above your garden-variety dash cam.

- JON JACOBI

The $160 DDPai Mini5 (fave.co/402bczl) is one of the more elegant front dash cams I've experienced. It's of the display less (and largely buttonless) variety, but with the phone connectivity, most users will barely miss the display or the buttons. It also opts for internal memory and computer connectivity over TF cards.

DESIGN

The Mini5 is a flattened cylinder approximately 4.15 inches long, 1.45 inches deep, and a hair less than an inch thick. The 140-degree field-of-view, 4K UHD camera is by far the most prominent feature on the main body. The only other notable physical features are an emergency save button on the left and a Type-C port on the right, plus an activity light on the back (green means the camera is active).

The mount is a self-adhesive (semipermanent) cage that the camera itself slides into. You attach the Type-A to Type-C USB power cable (an aux adapter is included) after the camera is in place and it helps keep the camera from slipping out-not that that's a likely scenario: The fit is very snug. The Mini5 and mount both have a substantial feel. Many dash cams feel cheap; this one doesn't.

As mentioned, the Mini5 features integrated eMMC memory-64GB of it, to be exact. That's a fair amount; however, the math might be considered a tad concerning. With the video captures taking approximately 234MB per minute at 3840x2160 (222MB for a full-res file and 12MB for a smaller file used for display and so on), you'll write the full capacity of the card in less than 5 hours.