The benefits for having recorded video footage of a bump is self evident. As technology advanced, small cameras with high quality video recording facilities appeared on the market to meet the needs of everyday law abiding citizens.
I found it quite difficult to know what features to look for, apart from the obvious - that it should record! There is so much choice, differing prices and some unknown brands mixed in as well, and it soon becomes a bit of a nightmare finding the right dash cam for you.
Say hello to the Philips ADR810 Dash Cam
Philips is a well know electronic giant and has been around longer than I have been alive - so that's a good start. Throw in the solid, reliable reputation and we now have a very good start.
The Philips ADR810 is quite light which surprised me and weighs in at just 83g. It seems well-made and I didn't think it feels "tacky" at all. It felt "industrial" like it has a job to do and it was here to do it without minimal fuss.
What the Philips ADR810 offers
The notable features include full HD recordings at 30 fps (frames per second), a super wide angle 156 degree lens - so that it can see much more of the road in front and at the sides.
There is a swivel mount with an adhesive pad so once you have attached it to the windscreen, you can remove the camera and the mount still stays in place the next time you want to use it. There is also a handy spare in case you have a little accident.
A lead is included with a mini USB at one end and a cigarette socket plug on the other and its quite long, roughly 4 metres so you can hide it around areas in the car to make the installation look neat and tidy.
The ADR810 has an on/off switch, HDMI out and a micro SD slot. I was disappointed that a micro SD card is not included which delays the process of getting started unless you have a spare one in the house. They are not expensive but it just seems like penny-pinching, and for a big company like Philips it should have been included to enhance the customer experience. The Philips Dash Cam will support any size from 8GB to 32GB.
The Philips ADR810 offers continuous recording by overwriting older data. This is why a higher capacity card will be beneficial as you can store more data before it is overwritten. To put this into perspective, a 16GB micro SD card can hold approximately 200 minutes of HD video.
The 2.7" LCD screen is bright and easy to read and has and up/down arrows and an OK button which you use with the on-screen instructions. There is also and easy capture button in an emergency. When you press this, the ADR810 will include the previous 30 seconds and protect it. You can do the same thing by pressing the small button on the cigarette socket plug which is much more easier and natural in my opinion.
Emergency Recording
The most important feature is that the ADR810 can record details of an accident through a "G-sensor". It's to do with forces, so if your vehicle abruptly stops or is involved in a crash then the Dash cam will pick up the resulting force of the crash and records the incident. The sensitivity can be adjusted too so you can increase/lower it depending on your driving manner and false alarms. The end result is that the footage will be time-stamped and you can also view it at the scene to see exactly what happened.
The Philips Dash Cam also records your journey times and provide both visual and audible alerts to remind you to take a break when you've been driving too long and may be tiring.
Cons
As the ADR810 has no internal battery, it won't work if the engine is switched off.
Although it stores the date/time/settings for up to 5 days, it will lose this data if you come back to it after this time during which it was not used, so you will have to do it all over again.
The audio quality is not very good although this isn't a deal breaker for a video recording device, it is something to be aware of.
There is no GPS facility but I feel that if this was included, the price will have been increased to reflect this.
Summary
In summary, the Philips ADR810 Dash Cam is small and unobtrusive. It is extremely easy to use with simple controls. Most of the settings are set by default, but can be tweaked to personalise it just for you. The video quality is very very good even in low light which is just astounding for the price point (even more so when you shop around and get the best price).
Quirky Queen Verdict:
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