Is this Kenwood DRV-A700W any good?

[TakeMyCash]

I was looking for alternatives to the Viofo A129 Plus Duo when I came across this dashcam from Kenwood:

https://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/car/accessories/cameras/DRV-A700W/?view=

This seems to have alot of what I'm looking for. It has:
- QHD front, 1080p rear
- Super Capacitor (according to the EU site here)
- Hardwire kit and polarized lens included
- Parking mode, G Sensor and GPS
- Quick release magnetic mount (which is something I really want)

The front + rear cam is available in some places for about £120, which is quite alot cheaper than the A129 Plus duo which is around £165 here in the UK.

What I can't tell is what sensor this uses (it mentioned 3.7 megapixel CMOS), and also if it has any car battery condition monitoring in built for parking mode (or if it would require an external battery voltage monitor that cuts off when the car battery voltage goes below the set figure).

Does anyone know answers to these or have experience of the camera? Also is Kenwood good for dash cams in terms of reliability etc? I searched this forum but there's pretty much nothing of this dash cam, surprised for what is a relatively well known car electronics brand.

The only review I could find on youtube was this in a foreign language and no subtitles so not sure what he is saying, but the images look good:

 

[SawMaster]

I haven't seen much on them but as best I can recall Kenwood is not one I'd consider, complaints ranging from totally dead to intermittent operation and bad audio recording. Mediocre is the word that comes to mind when I think of their dashcams.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

Yeah i think again here we see a brand name slapped on a generic product, and probably one made with the max profit in mind VS best durability and image quality.

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't know if consumer level Kenwood dash cams are worthy of purchasing but they are not just a generic product with the Kenwood name slapped on. They are the still the original Kenwood brand. They make quite a range of fairly high end products including audio equipment, speakers, navigation, communications, multimedia, telematics, and marine / motorsports electronics.

As for dash cams they have a very full line of consumer dash cams and hardwire/extension kits as well as a series of telematics enabled dash cams for professional fleet management. If they are selling telematics enabled dash cams and related services they would need to be reliable. They also offer marine/motorsports products including an interesting motorcycle dash cam and a unique helmet mount motorcycle Bluetooth communications headset with a built-in 4K dash cam. They also offer their own KENWOOD MOTORSPORTS CAM Viewer App.

 

[Just_Want_a_Decent_Cam]

Just had the misfortune of having one of these installed back in April. It's crap. Intermittent recording and terrible customer service. Set it at the most sensitive setting to get it to work at all and now I get 50 videos a night of my garage. Does it work while the car is on the road? Sometimes, but only when it feels like it. Maybe I should try to get a new front camera. Kenwood told me to send them the receipts, etc., and I tried for two weeks to do this, but their email isn't working right and everything bounces. Yes, a big techy company like Kenwood can't get its email straightened out. So they had me send the email to some employee's personal address. Uh-oh, I can't detach the rear camera, do they need that? (All the action is in the front camera, and I'm just trying to locate the problem.) Employee one tells me that, yes, it's imperative that I return to the installer an hour away, have them detach the undetachable rear camera and send them the whole package. Hm. Call back. Employee two says no, they just need the front camera. Right. So now I'm shopping for a new camera. Any suggestions?

 

[Dashmellow]

Just had the misfortune of having one of these installed back in April. It's crap. Intermittent recording and terrible customer service. Set it at the most sensitive setting to get it to work at all and now I get 50 videos a night of my garage. Does it work while the car is on the road? Sometimes, but only when it feels like it. Maybe I should try to get a new front camera. Kenwood told me to send them the receipts, etc., and I tried for two weeks to do this, but their email isn't working right and everything bounces. Yes, a big techy company like Kenwood can't get its email straightened out. So they had me send the email to some employee's personal address. Uh-oh, I can't detach the rear camera, do they need that? (All the action is in the front camera, and I'm just trying to locate the problem.) Employee one tells me that, yes, it's imperative that I return to the installer an hour away, have them detach the undetachable rear camera and send them the whole package. Hm. Call back. Employee two says no, they just need the front camera. Right. So now I'm shopping for a new camera. Any suggestions?

I don't know if consumer level Kenwood dash cams are worthy of purchasing

Thanks for resolving the question. If the name brand camera sucks and the customer service sucks, then stay away.

 

[TakeMyCash]

Just had the misfortune of having one of these installed back in April. It's crap. Intermittent recording and terrible customer service. Set it at the most sensitive setting to get it to work at all and now I get 50 videos a night of my garage. Does it work while the car is on the road? Sometimes, but only when it feels like it. Maybe I should try to get a new front camera. Kenwood told me to send them the receipts, etc., and I tried for two weeks to do this, but their email isn't working right and everything bounces. Yes, a big techy company like Kenwood can't get its email straightened out. So they had me send the email to some employee's personal address. Uh-oh, I can't detach the rear camera, do they need that? (All the action is in the front camera, and I'm just trying to locate the problem.) Employee one tells me that, yes, it's imperative that I return to the installer an hour away, have them detach the undetachable rear camera and send them the whole package. Hm. Call back. Employee two says no, they just need the front camera. Right. So now I'm shopping for a new camera. Any suggestions?

Thanks alot for sharing your experience, have seen a couple of reviews dotted around the internet saying the unit is unreliable, so will definitely avoid.