Hey, it’s Andrew with Car Cam Central
and this is the full review of the $50 USD ROAV A1
We're excited as you get WiFi, good video quality
excellent build quality, and worldwide
warranty help for not much money
It also has as an innovative parking mode that is
simple and requires no additional installation
Overall, its the best of our three cheap cameras
but there are a few things to consider
For one, the A1 is less reliable in hot weather
because it has a lithium-ion battery
Two, while Anker’s 12-month warranty is nice
others have a longer warranty period
As well while the 1080P video is good
you can get noticeably better quality
if you spend a bit more
At this point you might say
woah, that’s a lot to consider
Well that’s because we want you to know what else
is on the market to make a better buying decision
There are two other cheap picks
and two budget upgrades you should consider
We’ll talk more about the differences later
and of course, we keep things simple
As a disclaimer,
we did not get paid or sponsored for this review
we bought all cameras mentioned ourselves
at full retail price
With that out of the way,
let's get into it
[Intro Music]
Aukey’s ROAV A1 was launched in January 2018
It’s a rectangular camera that films at 1080P
with a large 2.4” LCD on the back
Installed, the unit’s black appearance
makes it easy to be overlooked by pedestrians
When pressed it feels solid all around
When you add in subtle details
like the raised hatch patterns,
well-fitted curved surfaces,
the A1 looks and feels like a premium camera
It’s a stark difference versus our previous picks
the A118C, G1W
and our upcoming review on the Aukey DRA1
which looks bad and feels flimsy by comparison
Going back to the ROAV A1
it’s video hardware is excellent for $50
It’s a well-known combination that produces
good video quality during the day
It has decent sharpness, dynamic range
and the exposure responds well to rapidly changing
situations like those at dusk or going under bridges
While higher resolution cameras like the Viofo A119
are noticeably sharper
the A1 still picks up details like moving license plates
which is essential in hit and run incidents
At night it does better
You’ll have good clarity under low light
because of the Sony Exmor sensor
When compared to cameras with better hardware
the difference is less noticeable
You still can’t read license plates of fast-moving
vehicles at night even with the best hardware available
The biggest change is the cost of good hardware
dropping from $200 down to $50 at the budget level
The microphone quality is average
it’ll still pick up conversations and other sounds
which is all you need
The A1 officially supports up to 128GB microSD cards
That’s over 21 hours of recording
at the best 1080P resolution
As all memory cards wear down over time
when saving videos
you want to buy an endurance card
which lasts longer than the standard consumer card
Later, watch our full review which explains why cards
like the Samsung Pro Endurance are better
In 2019 we found cheap cameras can now have
good, multi-country warranty service without
sacrificing much in features and performance
In the past you had to choose one or the other
After much research and testing
we’re left with our three cheap picks
The A1 in my opinion is the best of three
but it has some limitations
It’s not as heat resistant as the other two cameras
as it uses lithium ion batteries
It’s not as cheap
and doesn’t come with the
24-month warranty of the Aukey DRA1
It’s also not as compact and stealthy as the B1W
What you pick depends on your
location and preferences
It’ll take too long to explain so we’ll make a full
comparison video in the future that we’ll link in the
description along with any updates on the ROAV A1
Getting back to the review
when you first get the camera
it comes nicely packaged
unlike many other experiences we’ve had
Opening it
the A1 is secured and not floating around
It also comes with useful accessories
like a separate charger and cable
not the combined unit found in many cheap cameras
that take up your entire outlet
I was surprised to find an adhesive and suction mount
as the manual says only a suction mount is included
That’s nice as the adhesive is more secure
while the suction mount gives you portability
if you want to use the A1 in rental vehicles
Be aware of the cheaper A0 model
It looks the same as the A1 but has different hardware
and the video quality looks worse
Looking at internal photos
the A0 has a different sensor
and significant changes to the PCB
The manual lists a different lens
and no mention of its sensor or chipset
Overall, we suggest you stick with the A1
Moving onto setup
the camera works well out of the box
but it helps to change a few settings
While you can do it on the camera
which we found to be easy to navigate,
setting up the ROAV app
on your android or apple smartphone is easier
The app walks you nicely through the process
Myself and many others in online reviews reported
an easy experience connecting
on both iOS and Android devices
Once connected the time and date
are automatically synced with your phone
From here you have access to your saved videos
In downloading files to my phone
I found the speed was about average
a 3-minute file transferred in about 2 minutes
You can also stream them which was quick and never stuttered
Anker did a great job making this simple
The rest of the app is easy to navigate
including the settings section
This is where you can turn on
an easy and useful parking mode
called "Driving Collision Detection"
When activated
the ROAV will keep its G-Force sensor on
when shutting down
After detecting an impact
the camera will turn on after 6 seconds
and record for 30
hopefully catching the driver or object
who touched your vehicle
It’s not foolproof as it won’t capture the impact
but it’s certainly better than nothing
and requires no extra installation to work
Anker is one of the few major manufacturers
to offer this parking feature
and is found throughout their line
including the Anker C1 which we previously tested
The C1 also uses a battery to power its parking mode
but just like the A1 it can be a liability
as all lithium-based batteries are sensitive to hot weather
and can swell causing the unit to stop working
In early C1 models
some users had a bulging battery that
popped out the LCD screen
Fortunately, Anker is known for their great customer
support and quickly replaced all damaged units
and updated the design to prevent the screen from popping out
If there is a problem
Anker ROAV has offices in
Europe, Asia, and North America
You have a local phone number to call
and no overseas shipping for warranty
This level of service is rare for cheap dash cams
and is one big reason we recommend Anker
as well as Aukey which has an even longer 24-month warranty
Looking at installation
it’s the same as most dash cams on the market
You don’t need any tools, you just plug and play
Most people will finish in 10 minutes
The experience using the unit day to day
is fairly good overall
From ignition it starts up fast enough at 8 seconds
You won't be waiting to leave
If there are problems starting
it does an OK job informing you with
a persistent warning message
but lacks an audible beep
which is found on our upgrade pick the Viofo A119
That means you can miss that your camera isn’t
working but at least the A1 successfully detected all
issues preventing it from running
The ROAV A1 replaces our former Yi Dash Cam Pick
The major issue was the Yi’s recorded video
would be blurry in warmer weather
That’s not acceptable in 2019
If you're interested in the A1
we’ll put links to buy this camera in the description
along with any updates
You’ll also want to see our guide on microSD cards
regardless of what camera you purchase
to improve reliability
With that
that’s the end of this review
subscribe for more as we push out one to two more reviews
leading up to our updated summary video
of the best cheap and budget dash cams
Our facebook is where we post updates and behind the scenes info
Thanks for watching and see you soon Safe driving