The Best Budget Dual Channel Dashcam! DDPAI Mola N3 Pro Unboxing & Review

[@samcox9133]

I bought one of the DDPAI cameras based off of your previous review. You can simply unplug it from your car, take it inside and plug it in to your computer via USB and it comes up as a portable drive to copy the files off of.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Didn't know that, thanks!

[@robwoof3662]

Based on this review, I bought one of these with a hardwire kit. Easy install, and it’s working well. Thanks for the review!

[@ryziehester675]

Finally your back

[@paulsz6194]

A good, comprehensive overview of the DDpai camera. Makes future choices easier now! 👍

[@harvo351]

Great to see you !! Just about to upgrade the daily, had just been thinking about cameras . . . Brilliant timing !! Thank you !!

[@peterm7485]

Amazon finally had the hardwire kit available bought 2 and arrived yesterday. Will put them in tomorrow

[@johnwalters6025]

I went for a Gator dash cam due to being cheaper then Blackvue. I went for a compact cylinder gator cam, and the casing for the front facing camera has warped and partly meted from QLD sun. I wasn't happy when I noticed that but the camera still works surprisingly

[@AdamAus85]

Woot, got the last hardwire kit (as of Monday morning). Cheers for the review, see how this unit goes in my dad's car.

[@craigkeogh9570]

Good to see you Sean, miss your car videos 😢 hows the magna going ?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Hopefully on the way back but we'll see 🙈

[@ausernameidk]

@@MotoringBoxTV The first time I'm excited to see a Mitsubishi Magna, beside laughing at all the smoke they blow ; )

[@Beer_Dad1975]

@@ausernameidk It's not a Mitsi if it's not smoking! 😀

[@Mannhael]

Been meaning to get a dashcam for a while but haven’t had the time to look into it. Thanks to your comprehensive review I’ll give this one a go 👍. Also, absolutely hearing you about the QLD heat, humidity not helping 🥵

[@anthonywarthold]

Good review mate. My 2016 Blackvue dual channel is still going strong 💪🏻

[@s3tTz]

Suggestion for a short term fix: cut off a small portion of the rear window tint for the camera?

[@the_real_superstickman]

I was thinking the same thing, as soon as he mentioned it

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I started peeling off a section but there was still a layer of sticky residue stuck hard to the glass... so I decided to leave it alone.

[@john_barnett]

@@MotoringBoxTV Razor blade and some isopropyl alcohol will fix that

[@Beer_Dad1975]

Great review and good to see you back again! I bought a Mini 3 a couple of years ago based on your review for it and no regrets. Hate to be "that guy" in the comments but just a small bit of advice - best to not brake check tailgaters - most of the time they are totally oblivious to what they are doing wrong and worst case you will just piss them off, they'll think you are in the wrong and it will make them even more aggressive. Best to just drive smoothly & predictably until you can let them pass safely. Lessons learned from being an old b*stard who's been driving too many years 🙂

[@gigel99324]

You WOULD be in the wrong

[@Beer_Dad1975]

@@gigel99324 Yeah agree somewhat, technically they are following too close to stop in time - but also technically if you brake check them, you are driving in an unsafe manner, so I suspect if there was an accident, you'd possibly be found responsible, even though the law says the following driver must be able to stop in time. Anyway, best not to find out and just remain chill.

[@gigel99324]

@@Beer_Dad1975 if you get hit from behind, in my country the law says the guy in the rear is responsible. But the law also says you aren't allowed to brake without a reason... Someone driving too close to you - how the hell do you quantify and establish that from the driver's seat - is no reason to smash your brakes willy nilly. Most of the roads here are one lane (b roads), you need to tailgate slow drivers until there's a (short) window to pass them as you get traffic coming from the other way. Otherwise someone will get in between the two of you and you'll never be able to overtake.

[@michaelagi3777]

Morning mate, and thanks for the awesome review. I just ordered one.

[@MrButtonpresser]

A good review. I just checked it out on Amazon, very nice unit for a low price.

[@Youssefdxb2011]

why no distance indicator as advertised? i.e. integrated UI

[@knight2425]

Great video mate, not wrong it’s a great buy for that price so I ordered one and will see how it goes.

[@denisk3064]

Great video, bought the cam but the hard wiring kit is out of stock 😔, anything else you’d recommend

[@pierreinthavong181]

Nice dashcam preview!😊

[@gigel99324]

Hi. Thanks for the review. Is there any way of marking footage? Some older models had a button for "emergency footage".

[@LouCooper]

Any luck finding someone to paint the Magna mate?

[@bongleton]

keep it up mate

[@Big_Yin]

Had a dual DDpai set up from 2017 but they didn't like the aussie sun, probably different now though 🤔

[@MotoringBoxTV]

What model? Just curious as I've owned 4 different models over the past 5 or 6 years.

[@Big_Yin]

@MotoringBoxTV m6 plus was the first one then I got the mini for the rear

[@Big_Yin]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYCzo4x4jKh0j8Usi=gM6g90hMb8Ls_JPM

[@gigel99324]

M6+ was brilliant, wonder why they don't make magnetic mounted cams with a record button anymore

[@the_real_superstickman]

I'll need to remember this for when I'm asked about cameras. Have an iroad 2 channel in the Mrs car, and the cam quality is only average, and I hate the app with a passion. So slow to connect. Can't do it at home either because my phone is too smart and keeps not wanting to use that connection as it's got no internet, when my home WiFi with internet is right there. I have a feeling that part might still be an issue but the camera quality and price are good.

[@DDPAI_Global]

wow thanks mate, awesome video edit btw ;-)

[@qbmac2306]

I did a permanent wiring fix for my A129 dual dash cam in my BA Falcon and if I don't start and use the car within 3 days, the battery is completely flat. No settings within the dash cam seems to fix it, so just a word of warning I guess. Depends on the model of cam too.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Yep, luckily in the app there's a setting for voltage cut off. I have it set to stop recording when the battery reaches 12.4v, which is roughly half charged.

[@DarthAwar]

Use an OBD2 power system and ensure that voltage limit is set to at least 12v if not 12.4v in Dashcam Settings as by default its set too about 11v roughly

[@TradieTrev]

There's nothing stopping anyone to obtain your wifi's location as you spin around town. We can use this info to target where a vehicle is garage. You need to turn off wifi on your dash cams as it makes you a target, but even the expensive dash cams don't understand this fault.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I don't really see how. The wifi strength is a lot weaker than a router, so you'd have to be parked right beside the vehicle to see it. Plus the camera isn't connecting to any other network which is accessible via the internet, so how is somebody going to know where the cam/car is unless they're sitting right beside it?

[@Big_Yin]

What? If you manage somehow to connect to a dashcam wifi, you won't connect to internet. I don't think you know how this works 🤡

[@MotoringBoxTV]

@@Big_Yin sorry in no place in your original comment did you mention actually connecting to the cam. Obviously changing wifi name and setting a strong password is recommended.

[@Big_Yin]

@@MotoringBoxTV I was replying to the other guy

[@TradieTrev]

@@Big_Yin It's about GPS tracking 🤡australasiantransportresearchforum.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2013_abbott-jard_shah_bhaskar.pdf

[@teefatony274]

I have a dashcam in my car and am interested in updating to a dashcam like this. Can I use the existing wiring and just swap the cameras and it just maybe, that the camera connections are/could be different.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I guess it depends on what camera you have, but I would bank on having to install the new wiring.

[@teefatony274]

@@MotoringBoxTV Thank you for your quick reply.

[@WellPlayedGamer]

Back cam got random lines and camera's timestamp changes to 1970 automatically after some days.

[@DJSickey]

Can you use this as parking cam ? Im pretty new driver, and I could use a rear parking cam... But since it doesnt have its own display, i guess I'm bound to have my phone attached somewhere as well to be able to see the footage ? Or I can connect it to double din pioneer MVH-AV270BT multimedia which I have, and watch it there ?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

@@DJSickey in theory you could, it's just not the most convenient option due to having to open the app, wait for it to connect, then switch to the rear cam view. You'd want to aim the rear cam downwards too, which makes it near useless for recording incidents.

[@markkouros6628]

Will they mount into a Ed Fairmont fuse box under dash

[@Bigcountry_littlelegs]

Great job mate

[@TheRealMrCods]

Good review Sean. I use a different brand I'm happy with in all my cars 👍

[@mikeluxford]

Looking to grab one of these based on your recommendation - but 2 quick questions: 1) it looks like it's USB C, that's correct right? My car has a USB C port already hardwired by the mirror... 2) do you have to wire in the rear camera or will it work happily enough with just the front set up?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

It runs USB-C yes. The cam should work fine without the rear camera connected. The rear cam plugs in via a single cable which is pretty easy to run behind the roof lining if you decide to add it in later.

[@jektorio21]

Is memory card are definitely needed ? And how big the gb is the limit ?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Required yes, I believe up to 512GB

[@shanecameron7869]

Do you need to buy the hardware kit separately?

[@andrewwoitowitz8242]

How is the camera going currently, looking at getting one.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Yeah awesome. The parking monitoring even captured someone who attempted to break into the car.

[@Coffee_Boss]

When i click on the Amazon link it says its $149? What did i do wrong?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

As mentioned there's a $30 off coupon when you're on the Amazon listing.

[@Coffee_Boss]

​@MotoringBoxTV That's strange it only shows me the $30 coupon on the $109 version listed under the link in your video as the "new model" no coupons showing for one in the video sadly 😢I don't think the $109 model comes with the 2nd camera.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Hmm, same! I will check and get back to you.

[@Coffee_Boss]

@MotoringBoxTV thank you! Looks like an amazing bit of kit and if can get it $30 that's even better!!

[@gregwilson9035]

Hi Sean, which size capacity SD card did you use? The Amazon link states it can handle a 512gb card, but that seems to be at odds with the DDPAI website, which says 128gb max. The Amazon link has some FAQ’s at the very bottom whereby they state that the 128gb is a misprint? I’m confused and don’t want to fork out for a 512gb if I can’t use it.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I don't have a spare card above 128gb to test, but a lot of the info I could find said 128gb max.

[@gregwilson9035]

@@MotoringBoxTV thanks Sean. I’m gonna run with 128gb. Seems like that might give enough time anyway.

[@journeyman6752]

Subbed. Aussie car channel. I was actually looking at the N1 but your review of this shows the N3 is a great choice for only a bit extra money. The hardwire cable is currently out of stock. Is the cable for the rear camera long enough to work in a Toyota Hi Ace van?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Should be long enough mate. I don't have the length measurement of it, but on the Territory there was at least a metre spare at the end.

[@archie2266]

Happy Australia day all

[@peterm7485]

I bought 2 of these cams but no hardwire kit available. I just placed the base onto the windscreen without using the plastic sheet on the windscreen will it cause any issues without it ?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I am not sure what plastic sheet you mean, usually you just peel the double sided tape and stick it on!

[@peterm7485]

It’s the electrostatic sticker it sticks to the windscreen and then you stick the sticky pad on the camera base onto it , like this if you want to move the camera you just lift it off and the sticky pad stays on the electric static sheet and reattach the sheet back onto the windscreen.

[@NickGhale]

How do you turn off the shutdown sound on this thing? When turning off the engine

[@MotoringBoxTV]

There's a setting called 'volume' for that 👍

[@NickGhale]

@@MotoringBoxTV will turning that off prevent any kind of important messages from going through? Concerned about that

[@canalha352]

On my Android cell phone, when I access the device's Wi-Fi network, it says connected without Internet... it accesses the camera but without GPS... and when I access Wi-Fi, it blocks the Internet signal and I can't receive messages or access anything... what could it be?

[@rakhmatluqman]

It is normal, because you access the dashcam directly wifi-to-wifi, similar like you connect your device via bluetooth. Your smartphone cannot tell if you are connect to wifi router or wifi device, if it is connected to wifi, the default internet source is wifi.

[@davidforbes7972]

Overall which is your favourite ddapi

[@pungredx]

How do you access the GPS location data?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I've not tried, but once when I was downloading video clips from it, I did note there was a "GPS" folder with a bunch of files in it. At least 1 file per video.

[@gregwilson9035]

Anyone else having issues with this dash cam draining the battery? I’ve been into the App and have the voltage cut out set to ‘High’ ie 12.5V. However it drains both my batteries (Landcruiser 200 has 2 x 12V start batteries in parallel) in less than 2 days. I have the VCC (yellow wire constant voltage) into the Hazard Light fuse and the ACC (red switched 12V) into the Radio fuse. The dash cam just doesn’t turn off, even though the setting in the App is asking it to.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Strange. I would set the parking mode to 'Dormancy' and see if that improves it.

[@gregwilson9035]

@@MotoringBoxTV yep i,ve just done that. So with that setting it should ‘sleep’ when the vehicle is turned off unless there is an event like vehicle being hit. Seems that it has turned off now after a few mins.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Probably a silly question but did you confirm the radio fuse you used isn't powered when the engine is off? If confirmed I am not sure what what you can do there.

[@gregwilson9035]

@@MotoringBoxTV Hi Sean, turns out that is not a silly question. After much probing i was sometimes able to see 12.5V flash up on the multimeter. So i think you’re right. That was the problem. I metered the cig lighter and could clearly see that lose voltage when vehicle was turned off. So i’ve swapped the ACC wire to cig lighter. I’ll see how that goes but pretty certain that the cause was the dummy who installed it (me) 🤣

[@canalha352]

Is it possibilidade to set to Record vídeos every 3 or 5 minuts or it records only long vídeos?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

When driving it records constantly, splitting the files into 1-minute videos. Parking mode is similar but depends on your settings (constantly, time lapse or off)

[@canalha352]

@@MotoringBoxTVthanks ... one more Thing.. how do I set up for 1 min vídeos?

[@canalha352]

@@MotoringBoxTV ok ... When I turn off the car, how long does it record without auxiliary power?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

It turns off immediately, unless you install it with the hardwire kit. The 1-min file thing is just set up by default, and it's not something you can change. Pretty much every dashcam on the market saves files off in the same way.

[@Blanchy10]

With the hardwire kit, is it fused? Looks like it plugs into the fuse box but no fuse. Also hoe easy is the app for an old fart?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Yes the hardwire kit is fused. I show the app later in the video and it's pretty easy to use 👌

[@johnanderiessen5863]

Hi motoring box I tried the link in the description to buy the camera ! And sends me to Amazon ,but with a different camera would you be kind enough to send the link to me please

[@MotoringBoxTV]

I just tested the link and it was the same camera...

[@Rustywing46]

Your link to Amazon has the price at $149.99 not $119.99.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

There should be a $30 off coupon right under the price. There was when I checked anyway.

[@tivoenator]

I think you linked to the wrong product. Amazon says there’s an updated model, and when you click that one it is cheaper.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

They've fixed it now. Link is correct.

[@mj_aussie_coaster_travels8310]

Sneaky use of font there, ddpai manages to look like the GoPro logo at first glance. Are these 12v only or 12/24v?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

The hardwire kit says 12V-24V and it steps it down to 5V for the camera, so it sounds like it'll work on both.

[@mj_aussie_coaster_travels8310]

@@MotoringBoxTVexcellent, il look into this for our bus.

[@DiegoMuniz-lb9ey]

please answer me, the app continues functional in 2024?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Yes, still working perfectly

[@__Jonathan]

Can it record while the car is parked ?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Yep there's a setting for that, so long as you get the hardwire kit too.

[@jasonll8694]

Does it conflict with apple car play?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

No conflicts with Android Auto, so I'd assume Apple Carplay devices would be fine too.

[@sushinskiy]

Can I record video on my smartphone through a wall (via WiFi) infinitely until the smartphone's memory card runs out?

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Not really, whenever you hit record there's a maximum recording time (2-minutes I think) before the recording ends. You can hit record again immediately, but yes, it won't just keep going indefinitely.

[@sushinskiy]

​@@MotoringBoxTVThank you! I will clarify my question. My task is that if the camera is stolen from the car, the video from the camera remains with me. Can the camera record this incident immediately remotely, say, through the Wi-Fi, on a smartphone that is in the house next to the car?

[@CherilynStubbolo-p8h]

Murazik Green

[@john_barnett]

USB-C on a dashcam! What a novel idea!

[@MotoringBoxTV]

We really are living in the 21st century.

[@bartnettle]

Good review! Hope the coupon works soon. where would the voucher be? cheers

[@MotoringBoxTV]

The coupon is back and you should see it just below the price. The coupon is $20 now but they've lowered the price, so it's even cheaper overall now.

[@bartnettle]

Thank you, got two for both vehicles, cheers

[@aitp]

Turn your speed off on the camera. If you happen to be going a little over the limit and some other idiot does something wrong, it may cause issues if it proves you were going over the limit, regardless of amount.

[@MotoringBoxTV]

Thought has crossed my mind.

[@user-bp5py6bh3g]

Honestly I wouldn't go less then 2K60FPS in 2024

[@MotoringBoxTV]

60fps is nice, just roughly doubles the data rate and halves the recording length.

[@maxliu285]

W

[@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt]

😀

[@A.R.C.77]

🐠🤘

[@SteveMack]