USDashCamera
Well-Known Member
Hey guys, so another accessory company has jumped into the dash cam market, this time Anker. I personally love anker products so I was excited when I saw they released a dash cam and bought it myself so this was not provided for review. I bought it here from Amazon.
I think there are gonna be a lot of negative opinions on this cam around here, but actually like it for several reasons even if it won't be my most recommended cheap camera necessarily. I like that it is a wedge design, and it feels very high quality.
It uses a Novatek NT96658 chipset, and a Sony IMX323 sensor. It provides decent quality footage, but comparing it to the A119/S or several others it doesn't seem as crisp. But it's not the worst out there either. whether or not you are going to want to choose this over the A119/S is really gonna come down to if you trust anker enough as a brand, and if you want the g sensor based parking mode.
So the big draw for most people here will likely be the 470 mAh battery it has. No super cap in this cam. The reason is this is how it runs its parking mode. You don't need to hardwire it to use its parking mode, and can supposedly according to Anker record 30 clips (each about 30 seconds long) on battery power from impacts. I think I recall some cams used a g sensor based parking "guard" mode but I was never able to test them and from what I read they still required hardwiring and an additional accessory (mini 0806 I believe?). So this one out of the box has this interesting g sensor based parking mode, which could be ideal for people who want a parking mode but motion detection like on the A119 would not work since in busy areas the motion detection just results in continuous recording. I have had instances where my work parking lot was so busy that I had to turn off motion detection on my blackvue and only use g sensor parking, other wise it would record non stop all day long from cars constantly driving by.
But the main drawback with this mode is from my testing it takes about 7 seconds from impact (which isnt any worse than some motion sensor based parking modes if tested the last year), to recording. If someone backs into you there is a good chance they will still be on cam before they drive off as they react to their mistake (unless they truly book it out of there quickly). But for one you need to back into a parking spot always unless you are using this as a rear cam, and two will this be admissible evidence? I am a bit worried that since it doesn't capture the actual impact, if it doesn't capture them driving away and moving your car, they could still deny it. I think if you had to go to court over something like this, it would come down to whether or not the judge believes it is good enough evidence based on their understanding of how these cams work. This is for sure where a buffered parking mode is much better.
One other drawback I didn't like too much, is the touch buttons. It looks nice, very sleek, but it may annoy people who want to hit the emergency button but their is no tactile feedback of physical buttons.
In regards to the battery though, Anker claims it can run in temperatures as high as 149 degrees F. If these cameras start dying from hot summer heat at a high rate I am interested to see how Anker handles the RMA services because it offers a 1 year warranty. When I bought a 5 port USB hub from Amazon, and one of the ports stopped working, I emailed them and they asked if I did the trouble shooting, I said yes, and they sent a new one without asking for the old one back. So worst case scenario I do think Anker will do good on any problems, but that may bite them in the ass if it does end up being a big issue and then they might change their design or warranty. But on the flipside, many people have used battery based dash cams with no problem either. It could just mean these cam's batteries die after a few years tho, outside of the warranty period.
Basically my conclusion is, for the price of $100 an A119/S is a better buy if you just want better video quality. But the parking mode could appeal to SOME people, and anker has been a trust worthy brand from my experience.
Check out the video below:
Update 9/5/2017:
As I feared and what many people were expecting, there have been many people with issues from overheating. I did also receive an email about the recall and they are sending out new ones. I have been very busy the last few weeks with my day job and also moving so I haven't had much time to get around to it but I do plan on RMAing my unit.
They claim the new one has been reworked so the battery does not get as hot.... if that prevents the issues is yet to be seen. Of course many people will argue a super cap is always the better option.
I live in Minnesota so I don't have as hot temperatures as man people in the south so its hard for me to make claims for people in hot climates but anyone who lives in hot climates should beware if they plan to use the parking mode feature, or even if they just park in the sun for long periods of time.
I think there are gonna be a lot of negative opinions on this cam around here, but actually like it for several reasons even if it won't be my most recommended cheap camera necessarily. I like that it is a wedge design, and it feels very high quality.
It uses a Novatek NT96658 chipset, and a Sony IMX323 sensor. It provides decent quality footage, but comparing it to the A119/S or several others it doesn't seem as crisp. But it's not the worst out there either. whether or not you are going to want to choose this over the A119/S is really gonna come down to if you trust anker enough as a brand, and if you want the g sensor based parking mode.
So the big draw for most people here will likely be the 470 mAh battery it has. No super cap in this cam. The reason is this is how it runs its parking mode. You don't need to hardwire it to use its parking mode, and can supposedly according to Anker record 30 clips (each about 30 seconds long) on battery power from impacts. I think I recall some cams used a g sensor based parking "guard" mode but I was never able to test them and from what I read they still required hardwiring and an additional accessory (mini 0806 I believe?). So this one out of the box has this interesting g sensor based parking mode, which could be ideal for people who want a parking mode but motion detection like on the A119 would not work since in busy areas the motion detection just results in continuous recording. I have had instances where my work parking lot was so busy that I had to turn off motion detection on my blackvue and only use g sensor parking, other wise it would record non stop all day long from cars constantly driving by.
But the main drawback with this mode is from my testing it takes about 7 seconds from impact (which isnt any worse than some motion sensor based parking modes if tested the last year), to recording. If someone backs into you there is a good chance they will still be on cam before they drive off as they react to their mistake (unless they truly book it out of there quickly). But for one you need to back into a parking spot always unless you are using this as a rear cam, and two will this be admissible evidence? I am a bit worried that since it doesn't capture the actual impact, if it doesn't capture them driving away and moving your car, they could still deny it. I think if you had to go to court over something like this, it would come down to whether or not the judge believes it is good enough evidence based on their understanding of how these cams work. This is for sure where a buffered parking mode is much better.
One other drawback I didn't like too much, is the touch buttons. It looks nice, very sleek, but it may annoy people who want to hit the emergency button but their is no tactile feedback of physical buttons.
In regards to the battery though, Anker claims it can run in temperatures as high as 149 degrees F. If these cameras start dying from hot summer heat at a high rate I am interested to see how Anker handles the RMA services because it offers a 1 year warranty. When I bought a 5 port USB hub from Amazon, and one of the ports stopped working, I emailed them and they asked if I did the trouble shooting, I said yes, and they sent a new one without asking for the old one back. So worst case scenario I do think Anker will do good on any problems, but that may bite them in the ass if it does end up being a big issue and then they might change their design or warranty. But on the flipside, many people have used battery based dash cams with no problem either. It could just mean these cam's batteries die after a few years tho, outside of the warranty period.
Basically my conclusion is, for the price of $100 an A119/S is a better buy if you just want better video quality. But the parking mode could appeal to SOME people, and anker has been a trust worthy brand from my experience.
Check out the video below:
Update 9/5/2017:
As I feared and what many people were expecting, there have been many people with issues from overheating. I did also receive an email about the recall and they are sending out new ones. I have been very busy the last few weeks with my day job and also moving so I haven't had much time to get around to it but I do plan on RMAing my unit.
They claim the new one has been reworked so the battery does not get as hot.... if that prevents the issues is yet to be seen. Of course many people will argue a super cap is always the better option.
I live in Minnesota so I don't have as hot temperatures as man people in the south so its hard for me to make claims for people in hot climates but anyone who lives in hot climates should beware if they plan to use the parking mode feature, or even if they just park in the sun for long periods of time.
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