MIVUE M820D MOTOR BIKE

I WAS ASKED A WHILE ago why don’t they make a dash cam solely for motorcycles? Enter navman.

Navman have been renowned for their navigational devices for over 20 years and have built a solid reputation for their quality and reliability. In recent years with the growing use of navigational devices incorporated in cars and trucks as well as apps on your smartphone, Navman have shifted their focus on developing dash cams.

With the increase of vehicles on the highways, peoples’ frustration in traffic queues during the week and weekends these days an emphasis has developed to record your trips to use as evidence just in case something happens. It gives that peace of mind while riding, as well as security when being parked, and of course this can affect your insurance premiums.

The MiVue M820D Motorbike is specifically designed for motorcycles. The unit comes with 2 cameras - front and rear, the main module, GPS Control box, power leads and a 64GB Micro SD card to capture your video.

Speaking to Elvis Tran, the Product manager from Navman, a considerable amount of time had been spent developing the MiVue M820D to ensure it is compatible and easy to install on pretty much every motorcycle and scooter. The furniture is designed to be small and unobtrusive. The cables supplied are of enough length and durability to be hidden under fairings and routed so minimum cable is exposed. An extra lead is provided in the kit to extend a camera cable if required. Of course, it is preferred to move the main module to make things fit. This prevents you from trying to hide excess cable on the frame or under the seat.

The MiVue M820D Motorbike enables continuous capturing of your ride in HDR as well as Event capture and Trip Lapse capturing. These are all recorded in 1-, 2- or 3-minute intervals depending on your preferred setting. The automatic optical sensors provide surprisingly clear quality images both day and night and the cameras’ stabilization omits any camera shake that I thought would be evident on a motorcycle mounted camera. Continuous recording automatically activates a few seconds after starting your motorbike – for those that are forgetful. The handlebar controller, by a press of a button, allows you to toggle from continuous to Event capturing if you want to quickly record something on the road ahead. It also cuts in automatically when the G-sensor recognizes high speeds, sharp turns or a collision. They think of everything.

The Trip lapse recording – an option that is activated allows you to condense a long ride to a roughly eight-minute video. This allows you to share a clip without having five minutes of wheels going around following dotted lines on one stretch of road. Some enjoy long stretches of dotted lines, but it can be very boring. Continuous recording still goes ahead while Trip Lapse recording is activated. The Park Mode is activated/ deactivated in the system settings. The device will sit idle monitoring the surroundings and will start capturing images when it detects sudden movements or vibrations. This is a handy security feature when parked in congested bike parking in the city or parked in a dubious location when on a long road trip. To prevent a flat battery, placing the device in Smart Mode will deactivate the Parking Mode if it detects the battery fall below 12.4V. The MiVuePro App constantly monitors your battery voltage which allows you to monitor which helps if you have any power issues.

The built-in GPS also tags your route and records your location, speed and direction you are traveling. This can be downloaded and stored for future reference if you can’t remember where you were on a particular ride or where that ruin was that you wanted to revisit and get those afternoon photographs.

The MiVue M820D Motorbike comes with all the bells and whistles. It beeps when applications are activated and will also beep and ring when you are approaching redlight cameras and alert you if you are travelling more than the speed limit. The lights on the controller will also indicate what mode you are working in.

The instruction manual gives a good rundown of the meaning of the controller lights. I did get caught out with the switch 1 light constantly in a slow blinking instead of a steady glow as per the instruction manual – This was due to the “Trip Lapse” function accidently being activated while I was setting up. No big issue and easily rectified.

Above & below: The Navman MiVue M820D controller.

The installation of the MiVue M820D Motorbike is straight forward, and the installation manual is easy to follow. All cables are colour coded and labeled. Depending on your motorcycle, you may have a spare accessory cable located under the seat and use a multimeter to determine the positive wire to the plug. The devices’ power leads do not come with plugs or eyelets to connect to the battery terminals, so you may need to stop off at an auto parts dealer or Jaycar to get some connectors.

It may take a little experimentation to get the camera mounting locations to their best positions. The cameras give 140-degree field of view which covers the whole road and the surrounds. The instructions recommend a central horizon. (Speak to a photographer and that will vary). The live view option with assist you with the camera placement and alignment. Try to have the motorcycle on a center stand when mounting. Take care with the placement of the wiring loom so it isn’t near hot surfaces, rubbing on any movable parts or getting damaged when remounting the fairings and seat.

All the data is collected and stored in the SD card and placed in the appropriate folders that can then be downloaded via the MiVuePro app on your smartphone. Connectivity to your smartphone is via the Navman MiVuePro app for free and can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. It is compatible with iOS 9.0 (and above) and Android 5.0 (and above). Updates to the software are downloadable.

When downloading the files, keep the engine running so you don’t drain the motorcycle’s battery. Motorcycle batteries are smaller than car batteries so are quicker to drain when lights and other equipment are active.

Is it worth investing in a Navman Dash Cam for your motorcycle? When you consider that many cars have dash cams mounted for the same reason of peace of mind to cover yourself in the advent of an accident, and the security of monitoring the welfare of your motorcycle when parked, the short answer is “yes”. The added advantages of recording your rides and complimenting the captured footage with still shots to share with friends, yes, once again, well worth the investment.

I can’t wait to ride this into an electrical storm to film lightning strikes! Amm