Chapter-2 of my XEV 9S experience journal , the dashcam decision, the memory card trap, and why your car already has half the features you’d pay extra for
In the first blog, i talked about selecting the PPF on my Mahindra XEV 9S, now this post is about dashcam.
I wanted a dashcam from day one. Indian roads are unpredictable, insurance claims need evidence, and road rage incidents are increasingly common. The question wasn’t whether to get one , it was which one.
After extensive research, the shortlist came down to two: the 70mai A510 HDR 3K Dual Channel and the Qubo Dashcam Pro 3K Dual (2026 Edition). Both use the same Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 sensor. Both record at 3K 1944p front + 1080p rear. Both have GPS and Wi-Fi. Both cost roughly under ₹13,000.
On paper, these two are nearly identical. In practice, one is clearly better for the XEV 9S. Here’s why.
The Spec Comparison
Let me lay this out plainly. Identical sensor, identical resolution, identical field of view (140°), similar price point. So what’s actually different?
Power source , the dealbreaker: The 70mai A510 uses a lithium-ion battery. The Qubo Pro 3K uses a super capacitor rated from -20°C to 85°C.
This matters enormously in India. Your car sits in direct sun for hours. Cabin temperatures routinely exceed 60°C in summer. A lithium-ion battery in that environment degrades faster, has a higher failure risk, and in the worst case can be a safety concern. One Amazon reviewer of the 70mai A810 (same li-ion approach) specifically reported the dashcam stopping during a highway drive due to overheating.
A super capacitor doesn’t have these problems. It handles extreme temperatures without degradation, has a much longer operational lifespan, and doesn’t carry thermal runaway risk. For any car parked outdoors in Indian conditions, this isn’t a nice-to-have , it’s a requirement.
Screen size: Qubo: 3.2-inch LCD. 70mai A510: 2.0-inch IPS LCD. That’s a 60% larger display on the Qubo for checking footage on the spot. Not critical, but meaningful when you need to quickly review an incident at the roadside.
Storage support: Qubo supports up to 1TB microSD cards. The 70mai A510 maxes out at 256GB. At 3K recording, footage eats about 480MB per 3 minutes , roughly 9.6GB per hour. On a 256GB card, you get about 25-26 hours before loop recording starts overwriting. On a 512GB card (which only Qubo supports), you get about 50 hours. More buffer means less chance of critical footage being overwritten before you download it.
ADAS , and why it doesn’t matter on the XEV 9S: The 70mai A510 includes ADAS , lane departure warning, front collision warning, and moving traffic alerts. The Qubo Pro 3K does not.
The Mahindra XEV 9S comes with Level 2+ ADAS from the factory. Adaptive cruise control, lane centering, blind-spot monitoring, emergency steering assist , all powered by 5 radars, 12 sensors, and a forward camera. The car’s ADAS is powered by proper automotive-grade sensors and computing. A dashcam’s ADAS runs off a single 140° camera with basic algorithms.
The XEV 9S’s factory ADAS makes the A510’s ADAS completely redundant. You’re paying for a feature your car already does better. The Qubo skips this feature and doesn’t charge you for it. That’s the right trade-off.
Night vision algorithms: The 70mai A510 has a triple algorithm stack: HDR + Night Owl Vision + MaiColor Vivid+. The Qubo has NightPulse Vision. On paper, 70mai’s software processing is more sophisticated. In practice, both use the same IMX675 sensor, so the hardware-level light capture is identical. The software differences matter at the margins , extremely dark rural roads, heavy rain at night , but for typical urban and highway driving, both produce usable footage.
Brand and after-sales: Qubo is made by Hero Electronix, part of the Hero Group , an Indian company with direct Indian support. You can WhatsApp them at +91 8766205724 for queries. They offer authorized installation partners for doorstep service across India.
70mai is a Xiaomi ecosystem company (Chinese). In India, they’re distributed by NEXDIGITRON, a third-party partner based in Pune with a single service centre. Good distributor, but it’s still an additional layer between you and the manufacturer.
For warranty claims, returns, and service, the Qubo path is more direct.
Why I Chose Qubo
India first, India only. The Hero Group is an Indian company. The Qubo support is direct , no intermediaries. The product is designed with Indian conditions in mind (firmware optimized for Indian driving conditions, as they explicitly state). The super capacitor is built for Indian heat. The warranty and service experience is handled by an Indian company with Indian infrastructure. Although there will be components sourced from China , which i don’t know about but i made peace with this.
The 70mai A510 is a good product. But for an Indian buyer buying an Indian car and dealing with Indian roads, weather, and service networks, the Qubo makes more practical sense.
Price-wise, the Qubo came in slightly cheaper at ~₹11,000 compared to the A510 at ~₹13,099 on NEXDIGITRON. Marginal difference, but it didn’t hurt.
The Memory Card , Don’t Get This Wrong
The Qubo does not come with a memory card. You must buy one separately, and you must buy the right one. This is not a place to cheap out or experiment.
Dashcams write continuously in a loop. That’s far more demanding on a memory card than your phone taking occasional photos. A cheap card will fail within weeks , corrupted footage, silent recording failures, or the card dying entirely. When you need that footage for an insurance claim or a police report, a failed card means you have nothing.
Recommended cards (per Qubo’s official guidance): Samsung EVO Plus, Strontium Nitro A1, or Western Digital WD Purple QD101. These are endurance-rated cards designed for continuous write operations.
The card I bought: Samsung EVO Plus 512GB. I got it from Zepto at roughly half the Amazon price , one of those flash deals where the pricing algorithm works in your favour. If you see a Samsung EVO Plus at a good price on Zepto, Blinkit, or any quick commerce platform, grab it. The same card on Amazon was nearly double.
Why 512GB and not 256GB? At 3K recording, 256GB gives you about 25-26 hours of footage retention. That’s roughly 12-13 days of a 2-hour daily commute. A 512GB card doubles that to about 50 hours , nearly a month of commute footage before the oldest recordings start getting overwritten. If something happens on a Monday and you don’t check until the following week, 256GB might have already overwritten the evidence. 512GB gives you a much more comfortable buffer.
Why not 64GB or 128GB? A 64GB card fills up in 6-7 hours of driving. That’s about 3 days of commuting before overwrite begins. Critical footage can be lost within a couple of days. A 128GB card is better at ~12 hours, but still tight. The price difference between 128GB and 256GB is around ₹800 , not worth the reduced safety margin.
One critical setup step: When you insert the card for the first time, format it inside the dashcam (through the settings menu or the Qubo Pro App), not on your computer. This ensures the card uses the correct file system and block size optimized for continuous video recording.
Can you use cloud storage instead? No. The Qubo Pro 3K doesn’t support cloud uploads. Its Wi-Fi is a local hotspot for connecting your phone to the camera via the Qubo Pro App , it doesn’t connect to the internet. You can manually download clips to your phone via the app and then upload to whatever cloud service you use, but there’s no automatic cloud backup. The only Qubo model with internet connectivity is the Qubo 4G Live, which is a single-channel 2K camera , a significant downgrade.
Installation Notes for the XEV 9S
A few things specific to the XEV 9S that I figured out during my research:
The XEV 9S has 12V cigarette right side at the trunk. For a clean, hidden wire installation, route the cable from trunk 12V port. The entire cable run is hidden behind the soft trim , no visible wires anywhere.
Mount the dashcam behind or beside the rearview mirror, as high as possible on the windshield. The XEV 9S has a tall, steeply raked windshield , a compact dashcam tucked behind the mirror housing disappears from the driver’s line of sight within a day. Don’t mount it below the FASTag , that’s mid-windshield and directly in your vision.
Using the OEM USB-C ports for their intended purpose (powering a device) does not void your warranty. No wires are spliced, no fuses are tapped, no panels are permanently modified. If you ever need to take the car for service, unplug the dashcam in 10 seconds and put it in the glove box.
The Final Bill
- Qubo Dashcam Pro 3K Dual (2026 Edition): ~₹11,000
- Samsung EVO Plus 512GB microSD card: ~₹4415 (Zepto deal , Amazon price was nearly double)
- Installation charges : ₹700 (3rd party)
Total: ~₹16,115
For under ₹16,000, you get a dual-channel, STARVIS 2, super-capacitor dashcam with GPS, 512GB of recording buffer, and a completely clean installation with no visible wires. That’s hard to beat.