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Navman Mivue698 Dual Camera dashcam review

Navman has been in the sat-nav and car tech game for a long time, and the Mivue698 dual camera is its latest dash cam. We hook it up and test it out.

What it is

A dual-camera dashcam with some safety features. It is not a reversing camera or rear-vision system, it’s just there to record what you’re doing with your car… or what others are doing to it!

This is the main unit, the forward-facing dashcam.

How it works

The front cam attaches to your windscreen via a suction mount, and is powered by a single 12v socket. The rear camera attaches to the rear window via double-sided tape, and is connected via a split cable from the main camera so it doesn’t need another power source.

What it looks like in operation. The screen is too small to be used when driving, but is useful for replaying footage. The picture-in-picture is the rear dashcam – it’s not a rear vision or reverse camera. It is handy that the speed is displayed.

You’ll need a MicroSD card (not included), and we recommend a 128Gb unit for around $60 which should give you a couple of day’s worth of recording, if not more.

The cameras start recording when you turn the ignition and takes only a couple of seconds to get going. There is a picture-in-picture for the rear camera. Both cameras are 1080p high-def with wide-angle lenses.

Navman say the system has “ADAS safety features”. The term ADAS means Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which is a generic term to cover electronic active safety features. In the case of the Navman these are: safety camera alerts, headlight alert, event recording, collision warning, lane departure warning and driver fatigue.

There is also a parking mode where the cam starts recording if the car is hit, and of course all recordings are done with GPS for location and speed.  If the device detects an accident it will save a video and prevent it being overwritten by accident, and you can also use the device to take still photos.

Key specifications

  • Screen: 2.7″ colour (non-touch, use buttons)
  • Cards: MicroSD to 128Gb
  • Camera resolution: both front and rear optional full 1080p HD.
  • Main camera size: 46 x 86 x 29mm
  • Warranty: 1 year

What we like

The unit was simple and easy to install, with minimal fuss.  There is plenty of wire length to get the two cameras exactly where you want them

The Navman also just worked out of the box, something that can’t be said for cheap no-name products. It never failed, or had any glitches. The interface is easy to use, the manual is useful but basic, and there’s a good support website. Image quality is acceptable too, not GoPro quality but more than good enough for a dashcam. It is fairly easy to remove the unit from the car and plug in to a computer via a USB socket, or remove the SD card and access the media that way.

Rear cam installed on a test Toyota 86. Only the white double-sided tape is visible, and that could be covered up so it’s a very unobtrusive installation.

Not so good

A big problem is that the best place for the dashcam is the passenger side of the rear vision mirror so it doesn’t obscure vision, which means the driver can’t really see it or operate it. However, all the ADAS safety warnings are given by voice but, unfortunately the speaker is small and tinny so you don’t really hear it if the music is up or you’re driving a loud car.

The safety systems are also prone to false positives. Generally, the safety tech in the dashcam is nowhere near as good as the same systems you find built-in to cars so don’t buy this (or other devices) expecting to get good safety features like lane departure warning, headlight warnings and driver fatigue. I tried to make them work but eventually just switched the lot off.

As usual with these units, the extra features are a bit of a gimmick. 

No, there is no speed camera down this street, and if there was then we’d be ok at this speed.

Bottom line

A decent quality dashcam unit which does the basics of recording but don’t buy it for the extra features.

RRP $429

https://www.navman.com.au/products/dashcams/mivue698-dual-camera

Looking for an offroad-focused satnav unit? Check out our review of the Navman Driveduo SUV on 4×4.practicalmotoring.com.au.


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Terry Davidson
Terry Davidson
6 years ago

I’m sure you meant to write REAR view mirror and not WING mirror but was surprised that the mistake was repeated twice in the picture captions!

Robert Pepper
6 years ago
Reply to  Terry Davidson

Sorry, fixed. Twice because it was a copy-paste error.

Robert Pepper

Robert Pepper