Better on paper than in real life, but records great sound quality
This is a pretty average dash-cam that looks better on paper than it performs in real-life. I've owned a few dash-cameras now (5, due to various failures and upgrades) and I have a good idea of what I think is useful and what isn't on a dashcam.
If you're new to dash cams, they record video while you drive to give you a reliable witness in the event of an accident. They start recording as soon as you power them up and record segments of video of specific durations. In the case of this camera you can choose 1, 3, or 5 minutes duration for each recorded segment. The camera records in a loop like a security camera, so when the memory card is full, the camera starts overwriting the earliest recordings. In the event of an accident, or you see something you wish to preserve, there is a lock button, which tells the camera not to record over the segment it is recording.
Features:
It has a good few interesting sounding features, some of which are no use.
First up is the ability to connect it to your phone, to review live footage and also review earlier recordings.
There's a giant screen which is lovely, but useless after you first set the camera up and the novelty wears off. I never look at my dash-cam screen, apartt from checking it's on and recording.
Next is the ability to add a rear camera, which is great. However the rear camera is £70, which is expensive.
There's also a GPS module you can add, which at £30 is fair enough. I'd rather see it built-in, and some of the other features dropped. There's also a driver fatigue warning beep. I know not why. There's a crash detector, which is standard on these cameras, as well as motion detection, which can be useful for guarding your car when it's parked.
There is also the ability to add exposure compensation, which can be handy or confusing, depending on whether you know your +EV2 from your elbow or not. I think it's better to just make it work well on automatic exposure, but there are instances where some adjustement is very useful. You can enable/disable the microphone too.
There is no forward-facing light on this dash-cam, which I'm happy about.
Build quality and construction
It seems quite nicely made from quality materials, but I don't think it's been made by people who have much experience with dash cameras. There's a window sucker mount, with a pretty sturdy connector which is adjustable for tilt and rotation and works pretty well, I have to say, I'd rather have a more secure mount in my car, such as the one on my Aukey DR02 D, which I used to compare this Philips with, but the mount for this Philips is a very good example of its type.
Operation
It's fairly easy to set up, and time date and settings are all easy to enter.
The WiFi connection relies on an app being installed on your phone. It is just a gimmick as far as I'm concerned. It works if you can keep it connected to your phone via the WiFi, but I found this a bit hit and miss.
When I am driving, I do not need live footage of my dash came from my phone, and after an accident, there's no assurance I'll be able to use my phone/dashcam.
Because connection was so unreliable (Samsung Note8), I can't see me using this at all. But I have to wonder why the dashcam needs a 2.7" screen if Philips be;ieve users can simply review footage on their phone? Why not either make all settings via your phone and do away with the need for a big screen, or just don't bother with the phone connection.
It takes about 16 seconds to establish a connection, which seems a long time to me, especially as it loses connection if your screen goes off. (As my phone does after 15 seconds if I don't touch the screen.) You'll also need power supplied to your dash-cam (not unreasonably) to allow you to communicate with it. Taking the memory card out is a lot less aggro, as far as I'm concerned.
Video performance is okay, but nothing special. I'm pleased to say the mounting is solid enough, and doesn't allow the camera to vibrate, which is great. Audio quality is excellent, better than my DR02 D.
Like so many dash cameras, the "LOCK" button is far too discrete, and I would like to be able top tell which button it was without having to know which button to press, or look. I've solved this problem on the camera I use in my car, with a little blob of hot glue, which means I can feel which button I need to press to lock a recorded segment. Probably a warranty-voiding modification, so probably not something to try at home, folks.
Conclusion
A side-by-side comparison of a frame from my Aukey and the Philips (see pics above) shows the Philips to not quite match the detail returned by the Aukey DR02 D. While the Philips boasts a very wide view, it actually seems too wide to me, and I prefer the Aukey, which is plenty wide enough. (The shadow on the right hand of the Philips screen is my Aukey). Given that the Aukey DR02 D comes supplied with a rear camera, for the same money as the Philips which comes without one, I can't recommend the Philips ADR820 when there are better dash-cams for the same money, and dash-cams just as good (sound quality aside) available for less.
This is very much a "me-too!" dash-cam from Philips, which adds nothing new and doesn't out-perform other dash-cams. Philips need to up their game if they want to compete against the likes of Aukey.
Nothing Special (Except 2 Camera Support)
The unit is quite large with the screen and could almost be a compact handheld camera and thus is not very discreet.
As it has no GPS by default I bought the optional GPS mount to add that feature (even with that the date and time has to be set manually "flinstones, meet the flinstones".
Also of course you will need a microsd card and for reliability pick one best suited for continuous use (cost a little more but should last longer).
I used a SanDisk SDSDQQ-032G-G46A High Endurance Video Monitoring microSD Card - 32 GB
The mount is not as rigid as I would like but seems on normal roads to stop the camera wobbling.
All the video recorded has the word "PHILIPS" recorded into it centre top of image (just what you need) and the normal status line at the bottom with the model number and the date and time in American format (no option for dd/mm/yy) which is also pretty poor for a European company.
The video recording quality is nothing special and no better than that produced by my old one which retails at a lower price with GPS integrated (and had lane and speed warnings).
It does however support a rear camera but requires a cable from that to the main unit which is far from elegant and on a hatchback even more of a problem.
I almost forgot. When I was first testing it if powered up for more than a couple of hours the audio recording would turn form being pretty good to a increasing level of crackling to a point when that is all you could hear.
If left powered off it would recover and work again.
Perhaps a one off or sign of a cheap design / problems with heat (in December).
More review here.
No comments:
Post a Comment