Review: Marbella MX6 HD Digital Recorder

Review: Marbella MX6 HD Digital Recorder

Several years ago, I was the victim of an unfortunate accident. A reckless driver side-swiped my parked car while he was overtaking on a narrow road.

As I had no proof my vehicle was stationary when the accident occurred, I lost the no-claims discount on my insurance premium.

This is less likely to happen these days, with more motorists owning video cameras they use to capture incidents on the road. They could be a life-saver, providing crucial evidence to prove your case in a collision.

One device to consider is Marbella's MX6 video recorder. The lightweight gadget captures video in high-definition resolution and can even record any sound in your car in the event of a break-in.

The device's operating system looks rudimentary but works as promised. You can navigate the menu using the directional buttons, but selecting an item using the record button - instead of a dedicated select button - is not intuitive.

When plugged into a car charger, the MX6 begins recording automatically.

A key feature of the MX6 is the built-in sensor that uses a motion detection algorithm to sense movements in the event of a break-in, though there is really nothing that can stop a thief from taking the camera.

It also has a G-Sensor that detects and locks the recorded video files once it senses impact to the car.

Those files will not be overwritten even when the device is configured to record over previous footage once the memory card is full.

To maximise storage space in the memory card, you can set the video quality to a lower resolution, but that also means reduced clarity of clips.

At HD resolutions of 1,080p and 720p, video clips taken with the MX6 are sharp and vibrant. Licence plate numbers of vehicles up to two car lengths in front of you are clearly visible in the footage. The camera's wide angle lens captures images up to an angle of 120 degrees - enough to cover the width of the windscreen.

The MX6 takes incredibly detailed images at night. Although I was driving after dark on a brightly lit highway, the videos appeared to have been taken at dusk. Road signs, markings and the vehicles in front of my car were all captured clearly.

A reliable car video camera that captures vivid, high-quality images.

aarontan@sph.com.sg

TECH SPECS

Price: $189

Image sensor: 12-megapixel CMOS

Display: 2.7 inches, TFT LCD

Still image resolution: Up to 2,592 x 1,944 pixels

Video resolution: Up to 1,920 x 1,080 pixels

Storage: micro-SDHC or microSD card (up to 32GB)

Connectivity: USB 2.0, AV output

Weight: 55g

RATING

Features: 8/10

Design: 8/10

Performance: 8/10

Value for money: 8/10

Battery life: 8/10

Overall: 8/10


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