Hey
It's Andrew with Car Cam Central
and we’re reviewing the $35 USD Aukey DRA1
It’s the cheapest camera we’re recommending
so it’s great for those on a tight budget
For the price I’m amazed
the DRA1 has decent video quality
a solid 24-month warranty
and heat resistant capacitors
This also makes it
a good choice for drivers in hot environments
But,
there is a big drawback with the DRA1
and you should consider our other camera
picks as well
Let’s talk about it
[Intro Jingle]
Aukey’s DRA1 was launched in November 2018
It’s a black, rectangular camera
with a large 2.4” LCD on the back
The camera is small and isn’t easily noticed,
that’s good if you’re worried about theft
There is a front-facing LED
which blinks when recording
I think it draws unnecessary attention
and can be turned off in the menu
The camera’s plastic looks cheap,
feels light,
but is actually quite sturdy when squeezed or pressed
The DRA1 is the simplest dash cam you can buy
it has the bare basics of loop recording
and auto starts when the ignition is turned on
but no other functionality like WiFi
GPS
or a proper parking mode
It does start somewhat slow at 16 seconds
so you may end up waiting before leaving
Where Aukey gets it right is its unique
combination of features at $35:
First off the DRA1 uses capacitors,
not lithium-based batteries
to safely shut off the camera when it loses power
Capacitors are more heat resistant,
reliable
and rare in cameras under $50
since they cost more than batteries
which can swell and damage the camera
The DRA1 also has decent video quality
Recording at 1080P
it’s good during the day and ok at night
Lastly, the A1 has worldwide availability
and a 2-year warranty with fast customer service
If your camera is damaged,
Aukey can ship you a replacement unit
without needing the broken unit returned
While that’s not guaranteed,
any return shipping is often at Aukey's expense
At this point you're probably thinking
this sounds a lot like a sponsored video
It’s not
We don’t get paid to make this review
and we bought all cameras mentioned
at full retail price
We just like Aukey’s customer service
and we’re happy to point out competitors
like Anker ROAV and Street Guardian
that we think do a great job too
Back to the review
I think Aukey’s DRA1 is a good choice
for three types of users:
The first is for drivers in hot climates
but can’t get a premium heat-resistant camera
like those from Street Guardian
The second, if you need a portable camera
for travel that you can damage or lose
Lastly is if you want the cheapest camera
and still get something decent
Otherwise,
if you’re not in those three categories
you should get another camera
due to the not-great video quality of the DRA1
It also has bad error notifications
which means it's hard to notice if your camera
is not recording
as any failure messages
say from a damaged memory card disappear quickly
There's also no audible beep
so you have to look at the camera
when it's starting up
see and understand the message to take action
These notifications matter as
ALL microSD cards fail over time
as saving videos damages the memory cells
We’ve seen too many stories of drivers
only noticing after an accident
that their camera isn’t working
In 2019 we exclude any camera with this problem
but the $35 Aukey is special
unlike the two
more expensive Aukey cameras we tested
with the same notification problem
Ranting over
lets look at video quality which despite being
surprisingly good for the price
still falls behind all the other cameras we're recommending
The main reason is an inferior lens
and sensor compared to our other picks
During the day it’s reasonably sharp
you’ll pickup license plates of moving vehicles
with good dynamic range meaning it can
resolve well lit and darker objects in the same frame
When compared against our two other cheap picks
which use the better Sony Exmor sensor and faster F/1.8 lens
the DRA1 is less sharp
Zooming in, license plates are a bit blurrier
but it’s not a big difference until you look at
night quality where we quickly noticed the
video footage is much less clear compared
to the other cheap cameras we’ve tested
You lose details
and its harder to read signs and license plates
In better lit situations at night
the camera does better but it still doesn’t
compare to any of our other camera picks
Listening to the microphone
I found it a bit quiet
but otherwise had no problems picking up
conversations and other noises
The A1 officially
supports up to 128GB microSD cards
That’s over 21 hours of recording
at the best 1080P resolution
So, to give you a more complete picture
lets talk about other dash cam picks
We did a lot of research for this review
and in this price range, most cameras suck
They have poor hardware and often
non-existent customer service if your camera
has problems
There are a few popular cameras
from Apeman and 70Mai
that we looked at closely
They offer some value but ultimately
fell behind in areas we felt important
versus the other picks we already have
Looking at our other budget recommendations
they all have proper error notifications
that let you know if your camera has problems
The ROAV A1 is a good starting point for
many drivers
it has great functionality
only lacking heat-resistance
as it uses lithium-ion batteries
I just bought the new and promising
$65 Yi Nightscape
It's somewhat similar to the ROAV A1
except it uses capacitors not batteries
There’s also the leap to the $90 Viofo A119V2
which has much better video quality
parking mode
and error notifications
The new V3 with upgraded hardware
should have even better quality
We’ll be reviewing the Nightscape and V3 next
As well you can see with such better options
the DRA1 is really a more niche pick
as you’ll give up a lot in functionality
See the description for links when released
along with any updates on the DRA1
from changing prices
firmware updates or new camera releases
Back to the review
looking at the DRA1's accessories
we were surprised you get
both a 3M adhesive and suction mount
You normally get only one
The 3M mount is more secure
but the suction mount is great
if you need to move the camera around
Unfortunately
you will get a combined power adapter
and cable
not separate units
as you’ll find in our other two cheap picks
Using the camera is easy including the menu
There’s a few things I would change
Audio recording is off by default
you may want to turn it on
depending on your preferences and local laws
Change the frequency to
60HZ for North Americans
to reduce flickering lights
Screen saver to 1 minute
Detect LED to off if you don’t want the front light blinking
Lastly, I would set the format recording [Should be Format WARNING - Boooo]
to 15 or 30 days to force you to format the microsd card
and check if the camera is actually working
So hopefully we made it easier to understand
the DRA1 but if you’re still confused there will
be an in-depth summary video of our cheap
and mid-range picks soon
That’ll be listed in the description
along with links on where to get the Aukey DRA1 if you decided its for you
It’s easier than searching yourself on Amazon
as entering “DRA1” comes up with zero results
use the phrase “Aukey Dash Cam” instead
I would also watch our guide on microSD
cards regardless of what camera you purchase
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Thanks for watching and see you soon
Safe driving