Techmoan Review of Aukey DR02 D

[russ331]

He likes it enough for it to be his preferred choice in his own car.

 

[Gazwould]

Bang for buck , grey adhesive pads !

 

[Dashmellow]

He likes it enough for it to be his preferred choice in his own car.

We've heard that before from 'ole Techmoan with the Innovv K1 and the DDPai M6+. Of course, those didn't work out quite so well in the long run. Techmoan does good work but over time I've come to the conclusion that his primary motive is affiliate link sales. There was a time when he was about the only person doing dash cam reviews and he performed a very valuable service as a "hobbyist" reviewer but that's no longer the case. Now it's clearly all about click revenues. Endorsing a product for profits is a business model. The fact that he now asks for donations via Patreon as if he is some sort of charity case needing financial assistance is also something I find especially disheartening along with his highly promotional, link saturated Wikipedia page. Someone who can regularly and repeatedly generate hundreds of thousands or even millions of views on YouTube and has a very popular personal web site brimming with affiliate links doesn't need charity. Sadly, I'm no longer the fan I once was.

As for the Aukey DR02 D, I can only offer my own thoughts. I purchased the single camera DR-02 when Amazon offered it a very tempting price as a "Lightning Deal". It's a nice entry level camera for the money with many positive things going for it. In the end though I gave it away because it had a serious issue with motion blur compared with just about every other camera I own or have had experience with. It would manifest motion blur in situations where you might not expect it such as a car slowly driving by when parked at a shopping center or even a pedestrian just walking past. Techmoan's video from the DR02 D looks pretty good in that respect, so perhaps Aukey has addressed the motion blur issue but this is something I suggest that potential buyers consider before making the leap. The white 3M VHB tape was a deal breaker too as far as I'm concerned. (apparently they now changed it to grey which is still unacceptable.) I find Techmoan's minimization of the white/grey mounting tape in his wholehearty recommendation of this camera to be suspect and this kind of thing is part and parcel with my current view of his product reviews. As a long time dash cam reviewer he knows better and is well aware that stealth is a primary concern to a great many buyers. At least he makes note of the issue.

 

[DashcamDPR]

off-topic alert!

I'm noticing more and more people asking for "donations" from patreon or elsewhere, it annoys me. As far as I'm concerned it's begging, if someone has enough money for the equipment to make and upload videos to youtube, they either take it on as a job which may or may not fail, or go get a different kind of job. It genuinely offends me when they ask for money, especially when a lot of these youtubers actually have jobs as well. If things are so bad that they have to ask for money, they should stop living beyond their means

I tend to watch techmoans dashcam vids anyway since he lives close by, it's always nice to see familiar places on other people's vids!

 

[Matt_V939]

We've heard that before from 'ole Techmoan with the Innovv K1 and the DDPai M6+. Of course, those didn't work out quite so well in the long run. Techmoan does good work but over time I've come to the conclusion that his primary motive is affiliate link sales. ....

Well, not easy to predict how well a device will behave in the long run.

About patreon it has a lot to do with youtube's monetization/demonetization policy changes.
I do not know if many people will like to support (with patreon) for a long time multiple youtube channels...

 

[DashcamDPR]

Well, not easy to predict how well a device will behave in the long run.

About patreon it has a lot to do with youtube's monetization/demonetization policy changes.
I do not know if many people will like to support (with patreon) for a long time multiple youtube channels...

Exactly, I heard youtube had chopped ad revenue by half, which obviously sucks for people who's primary/only income is youtube, but it should be down to the user to do something about how they earn their money. If a family run business on the high street finds their takings are 50% down, they don't send staff out onto the street to ask passers-by to give them money (even if they wouldn't ever shop there), they either restructure how their business makes money, or they fail and (hopefully) take on a new venture or change career, forgive me if I sound harsh but that's literally how life works.

I always wanted to run my own business and after 9 years of trying, failed. I changed my choice of path and got myself a regular job (not some high flying career) and I'm doing perfectly well, without begging for handouts

 

[Dashmellow]

Keep in mind that Techmoan has a popular product review web site brimming with affiliate links. He would be making good money on those affiliate links even if he got zero revenue from YouTube. He features 12 separate affiliate links for his DR-02 review alone as he takes the opportunity to slip a memory card endorsement in with the review.

 

[Matt_V939]

Well, I think people are way too ready to jump with harsh judgements (and there might be a bit of envy there too..)
You get everything for free, nobody FORCES you to use affiliate links or watch ads and pay patreon.

I do not really care about the claims of Honest/non honest reviews, if there is an affiliated link or not, patreon begging and other stuff

Over the years I have a rough idea how reviewers works and I enjoy the shows they put together.
I reckong though you need a LOT of time to put together those reviews and edit videos: Techmoan does a VERY professional job on that.

 

[Dashmellow]

Well, I think people are way too ready to jump with harsh judgements (and there might be a bit of envy there too..)
You get everything for free, nobody FORCES you to use affiliate links or watch ads and pay patreon.

I do not really care about the claims of Honest/non honest reviews, if there is an affiliated link or not, patreon begging and other stuff

Over the years I have a rough idea how reviewers works and I enjoy the shows they put together.
I reckong though you need a LOT of time to put together those reviews and edit videos: Techmoan does a VERY professional job on that.

Techmoan works hard on his videos and produces slick reviews and some people may buy from the affiliate links and some won't but that's not the point. The question becomes whether endorsements and reviews are fully objective and trustworthy when the reviewer convinces people to go out and buy the product.

To my mind, when a well known reviewer says "This dash cam is SO good that I'm installing it in my personal vehicle" it becomes suspect, especially if the reviewer is collecting affilate revenues and has a history of endorsing products that he later abandons in favor of a new favorite product that ends up in his car.

 

[russ331]

I doubt that Techmoan's 603,000 YouTube subscribers could care less about opinions expressed here over his competence or integrity.

Sales of this dashcam will undoubtedly enjoy a worldwide surge on the strength of Techmoan's recommendation. The Aukey brand is increasingly well known & respected, the price is right, the 2 year warranty is welcome, the form factor is good, video & audio quality is decent.

Anyone seeking a well-priced dual channel dashcam would be silly not to shortlist it.

 

[kamkar]

Look like a good deal for 100 UK Dollars, but that have been the case with a great many cameras, and often time will tell different.
But lets see, if anything we should see the fallout in here.

 

[Dashmellow]

I doubt that Techmoan's 603,000 YouTube subscribers could care less about opinions expressed here over his competence or integrity.

Sales of this dashcam will undoubtedly enjoy a worldwide surge on the strength of Techmoan's recommendation. The Aukey brand is increasingly well known & respected, the price is right, the 2 year warranty is welcome, the form factor is good, video & audio quality is decent.

Anyone seeking a well-priced dual channel dashcam would be silly not to shortlist it.

It's hardly worth discussing whether Techmoan gives a hoot about anyone's opinion. Are you suggesting we shouldn't express ours because of that?

"Sales of this dashcam will undoubtedly enjoy a worldwide surge on the strength of Techmoan's recommendation.". Yes, that's exactly my point! Perhaps we should all donate to his Patreon account?

As for the Aukey dash cam, I agreed with you and said the same things myself here on DCT......until I actually went out and bought one whereupon I took it out of service rather quickly because of it's disappointing performance. Every aspect of the camera was excellent including the price, warranty and customer service. The exception was the motion blur issue which was unacceptable. As I said above, hopefully that has been addressed.

 

[DashcamDPR]

I reckong though you need a LOT of time to put together those reviews and edit videos: Techmoan does a VERY professional job on that.

He does, and I really like his videos, and if the affiliate links pay his wages then that's because he's "doing it right", but setting up patreon to ask people for money in my opinion is begging, and it offends me, since he isn't destitute, but as you say, we're not forced to pay, and I don't!

 

[Harsh]

I really like his videos too, seen quite a bit of his audio and other tech videos, very informative. "Super capacitor"!, love the accent.

With his dash cam videos though, he tends to drop the ball. Had the rear camera cable plugged in the wrong way around during the review and then also in the car. Also it's a class 10 card, not "class 3", don't expect him to confuse it with U3.

Basically one doesn't expect such rookie mistakes if he's looking to make money off affiliate links and asking for donations.

 

[Dashmellow]

He does, and I really like his videos, and if the affiliate links pay his wages then that's because he's "doing it right", but setting up patreon to ask people for money in my opinion is begging, and it offends me, since he isn't destitute, but as you say, we're not forced to pay, and I don't!

I agree. Patreon was originally supposed to be all about supporting creative people and starving artist types whose work you liked but it's evolved into a sort of profit monster that many people are exploiting, There's even a graphic floating around about people who are bringing in incomes of tens of thousands of dollars a year who don't actually do anything.

As for Techmoan, he works hard and creates entertaining, often useful content but he's running a highly successful, increasingly complex business enterprise with numerous online outlets. Not only that but he states that he has a full time career and does all this on the side. He doesn't need charity.

Let me be clear. I think Techmoan has every right to do what he does and I admire him in many ways but when someone reviews products and makes a profit from the sales of the products he promotes I take such biased endorsements with a large grain of salt. His review site is a business. When someone runs a successful, sales affiliate fueled review site business cranking out dozens of revenue generating YouTube videos watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers AND who markets a line of expensive swag merchandise, I question why they feel the need to request donations of $4000.00 per month from Patreon. - (currently at $3,779 per month!!) He claims to need these donations to "tidy up" his studio. As he puts it, "Look, this really isn't worth $4000 - the only reason it has been priced so highly is because there's a load of tidying up needed before I can show the 'studio' and hopefully this would give me time to get it done............".

I guess it doesn't hurt to ask for four grand a month because you just might get it. I sure wish I could convince random people to send me $3,779 per month for just doing what I do for a living anyway.

One should keep these things in mind when Techmoan (or anyone for that matter) endorses a product. (or requests Patreon donations)

Techmoan merchandise

 

[Dashmellow]

I really like his videos too, seen quite a bit of his audio and other tech videos too, very informative. "Super capacitor"!, love the accent.

With his dash cam videos though, he tends to drop the ball. Had the rear camera cable plugged in the wrong way around during the review and then also in the car. Also it's a class 10 card, not "class 3", don't expect him to confuse it with U3.

Basically one doesn't expect such rookie mistakes if he's looking to make money off affiliate links and asking for donations.

I know just what you mean. Sometimes I cringe watching some of the stuff he does with cameras or the things he dismisses or glosses over. One small example is how he had no clue about the time lapse mode on the DR-02, assuming no one would have any need for such a thing and dismisses the feature without considering how the feature is actually used, why it is there (such as when parked) or the small amount of data it writes to a memory card .

 

[Gazwould]

Matt does great reviews , sometimes he gives the odd bit of wrong info like on the DDPai M6+ when he said 'enable e-dog' was the date and time overlay at the bottom , instead it's a GPS speed camera locator and probably just for China anyway ?

 

[jokiin]

Yes E-dog is the red light and speed camera info, can work anywhere, if you have the required database it uses

I think reviews are typically seen as recommendations but I think what he does leans more towards product demonstrations, it's an overview of the product, more of an idea of what to expect

 

[Matt_V939]

I think people are pretending waay to much about integrity and no bias.
Recommendations does not mean a product is perfect or the best of the world or that anybody have to choose it, anyway is a PERSONAL choice. As long as you do not intentionally hide defects, you might like a product even if it has flows which, for other people, might be unacceptable but not for you.

On the patreon "begging" thing I don't know. I have been tempted to support some channel but so far I did not do for anyone. The biggest difference btw youtube monetization and patreon, according to different youtubers, is the unstability and unpredictability of youtube ones, might be good one month and 0 the following one.
And you are at the mercy of their policy sudden change.

 

[jokiin]

in round numbers if you get a million views on a video within about two weeks from it going live you'll get about USD $1500 for the month from YouTube ad revenue, for the amount of videos they produce and the views they average many are probably doing better out of Patreon