Audew 1080P Dashcam Review with Samples
My Black Box Dashcam stopped saving recordings to the memory card a few months back, so I’ve been passively looking for a replacement. Audew offered to send me one of their dashcams, so I figured I would give it a shot. This particular model, D102, is a 1080P dashcam and has all the usual features that you would expect including automatic power-on when the car is started, looped recordings, a G-Sensor to lock a recording when sudden braking or an impact occurs, date & time stamping, and the option to have your license plate stamped on the video. This model has an additional feature called “Parking Mode” where the dashcam records video if a vibration or movement is detected while the vehicle is parked. As I stated in my previous dashcam review, I don’t want a GPS on my dashcam, and at this price you won’t find one here. My only concern with this dash cam was that they do not have a capacitor model, which are supposed to work better for hot climates like Florida, where this is being tested. They claim that their dashcam is good for temperatures as low as -10C (14F) all the way up to 60C (140F), so for the most part that will be fine. We’ll see how well that goes when it gets back in the 90s outside here.
Product Link: Amazon US | Amazon Global | Audew
As with the rest of Audew’s products, the packaging is solid. Included in the box is the dashcam, a windshield suction cup mount, a nearly 12 foot long USB A to micro-B cable with a right-angled microUSB tip, a standard cigarette socket USB power adapter (5V 1A), a manual, & a feedback card. The dashcam has an unassuming look to it that shouldn’t raise any eyebrows while driving and has the option in the menu to disable the screen after a selected period of time. I was pleasantly surprised that the mounting socket on the dashcam was a perfect fit with the rear view mirror mount that I still had installed from my original unit. Nonetheless, I still tested the included mount, which works without issue.
After mounting the Dashcam, I went into the menu to put in the settings I wanted and set the date & time. This was significantly easier than the Black Box that I had previously, which had a number of quirky issues. The buttons are located on the front and actually make sense: Menu, Up, Down, and Select. Since the model has an internal battery, I haven’t had to worry about having to enter in the date & time every few days like the old one. Once everything was configured the way I wanted, I popped a 32GB microSD card in and started driving.
With the Dashcam mounted in my car and the micro SD card installed, I was all set. I’ve had it in my car for the past few weeks while driving around and haven’t run into any issues. I will report down the line if the Florida heat is too much for the internal battery on this, but so far it’s been great.
Video Quality
Inside the manual and on the website for this dashcam, they mention that it uses a Sony IMX323 CMOS Sensor, which is supposed to have good low-light performance and solid video quality. To me, the video quality is very similar to the Black Box I bought before. The automatic exposure setting works well, license plates are visible from a reasonable distance, and the field of view is more than what the driver and passenger can see while staring forward. The Audew Dashcam records video at 1080p at 30 frames per second at around 12 Megabits per second – or 1.5 Megabytes per second. The files are H264 encoded and are stored in a .MOV files. With the default recording interval of 3-minutes, the slightly overlapping video clips are just under 280 Megabytes or 0.28 Gigabytes. This means my 32 Gigabyte card will hold just over 5 hours of video before it starts overwriting the oldest, unlocked clip. If the Dashcam detects a shock, such as your car being hit in an accident, that video clip is flagged so it won’t be overwritten.
Sample Video Clips
Take a look at the video clips and see for yourself. I think everything looks solid for the price of the model.
Conclusions
Having used the Audew Dashcam (D102) over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to test it out in the morning, afternoon, and late at night. Morning and afternoon video looks excellent. Video that I’ve sifted through at night looks solid as well, with the only issue being the same glare from oncoming headlights that my previous dashcam had. If you are interested in an inexpensive dashcam that does good quality 1080P video and is simple to use, I would suggest picking one of these up.
Update (11/18/2019): One year later, the dashcam is still going strong. It lasted through the Florida summer without having any issues.
Update (02/17/2022): I still haven’t had any issues with the dashcam and it’s been in my vehicle now for over 3 years. I did notice that the time doesn’t stay 100% correct. Granted, I barely touch the thing anymore, other than to occasionally take the microSD card out to make sure it’s still working correctly, but it’s still worth noting that you should probably check the clock on it every few months to make sure the time isn’t too far off from the correct time. That recommendation honestly goes for all dashcams — take your memory card out and check the clock every once and a while to verify they’re both working correctly. MicroSD cards can only take so many writes and the fluctuating temperatures that a dashcam is in are not ideal.
