I am reviewing the “Karsuite M9 12″ Mirror Dash Cam 2560x1440P Backup Camera with GPS Touch Screen Front and Rear View Dual Lens Full HD WDR Night Vision, G-Sensor”.
Before I continue with my review, you get the mirror dash cam, the rubber banding to wrap around your rear view mirror, a 128 GB SD card, an SD card reader, cigarette lighter for power, the GPS, the rear view camera and a few 3M cable holders.
The first step is to insert the SD card into the unit and then put the rubber banding. Start with the bottom and then attach the top around your rear view mirror.
Go ahead and put the cigarette lighter to power the unit and test it out. Set the time and date.
The next step is attaching the GPS and then the rear view camera.
I have this on a Toyota Prius-C, so I wasn’t sure how this will work. For the most part, for the rear view camera, the instructions say to put on top of the license plate area, but my car won’t allow for it because of the latch. But for my vehicle, behind the rear seat is a base on top of the ceiling area for the seatbelt and I attached the rear camera to that base via the 3M tape that came with the unit.
I then have the cabling running through the sides, easily covered by the floor mats. While some can go under the rail areas (a plastic tool to push the cables in are included).
While the cables could not all be hidden under the rails, I now have them held by the 3M tape on the right side of my windshield, running to the bottom right under the rubber seal and running under the passenger floormat. So, for the most part, while it’s not the most professional looking, the majority of the wires are hidden.
When you start your car, the mirror dash cam starts recording. And it records audio, so if you play your music and love to sing in your car, it’ll record that too.
While driving, the time/date and GPS (speed is recorded).
Once you get home, you can eject the SD card, put it in the SD card reader and plug it in your PC or Mac and it’s easily read, you can find the files for the front camera, rear camera, emergency and screen capture photos if you had done that.
There is GX Player software offered by the company for download. When installed, it will show the video and the GPS of the map location to the right. So, that’s cool that feature is available.
The files are .mp4 and I have it set at 2K, so it saves 1 minute, 80mb files.
But probably one of the major selling points of this Karsuite rear view mirror 2 camera unit is the fact that it features STARVIS (by Sony) technology, which allows much better viewing/recording during the night and the fact that the camera offers a higher resolution than most cameras.
In addition, it also features 170 degree Ultra Wide Angle lens.
UPDATE 2023: There is one thing I’ve started to notice since I have gotten this camera is the adhesion between the back and front of the camera. If you live in high heat areas, there is a chance that the front/rear may detached. I am right now resorting to super glue. The first one, held in 2021-2022, but I had to use another super glue and as an added protection for 2023, put a velcro strap, just in case (tried a rubberband, but our California heat immediately made the rubber band brittle). It’s important for me to say that I don’t think this is just the Karsuite model, but California heat is dangerous to a lot of plastics/units.
But overall, this Karsuite M9 mirror dash cam works wonderfully well. Just remember that it takes some time to get used to. So definitely try to get used to it and not watch the mirror cam all that much, keep your eyes on the road, on your driver/passenger side mirrors and if you want to turn off the mirror cam briefly, there is a button underneath that you can push and it becomes a rear view mirror. Press it again and the camera comes back on.
But overall, this turned out pretty cool! And I was thrilled to get it to work for my vehicle.
