New Anker Roav Dashcam - photos, manual, video reviews

#43

A bit of a disappointing aspect is the lack of GPS (I guess so it will be used in conjunction with the Roav computer / dashtop) but for those just after a dash camera included GPS would be ideal to allow both map tracking of your journey and for an ‘as near’ accurate speed estimation to be embedded in the video (speed cameras).

Any chance a future software update might allow use of your phones GPS via WIFI tethering (or logging within the WIFI linked app to allow speed / locations etc) @AnkerOfficial ?

#44

I will pass your idea to our PM team, but we have to keep a secret on the product innovation.:sunglasses:

4 Likes
#45

BTW most Android photos automatically track your location in a coarse grain way.

maps.google.com and look at timeline.

#46

iPhone’s do the same (location not speed :slight_smile:) but a method of having them embedded in the outputted video (using a GPS link from the app) would be beneficial when you have to use the video for evidence in the event of a speed camera claim / proof of accident etc

Hopefully it’s something that could be looked at in a future software / firmware update.

1 Like
#47

@TechnicallyWell

2 Likes
#48

Thanks for the shout out @nigelhealy! Some quick notes:

  • The ROAV Dash Cam’s video quality is superb in both daylight and at night.
  • The cord was the perfect length for tucking from the top of my windshield down to the cigarette lighter.
  • The ROAV app works great for viewing your video files, but downloading videos to your phone is a little slow and takes a minute or two per video.
  • The Parking Monitor feature is nice, but if I leave it enabled all the time, it will create a “locked” clip every time I open and close a car door (or otherwise cause the car to shake). These “locked” clips don’t auto-delete, so they must be eventually deleted manually to avoid filling up the memory card. In the future, I would like to see an update where if motion is detected followed by the unit receiving power within a minute (i.e. I’m getting in the car to drive), the clip is not marked as a “locked” file and would automatically be deleted after a few days.
1 Like
#49

I watched your review. Your text here is consistent.

Most of us own a 12V DC car adapter already, so bundling it is somewhat excessive for most.

On a legal basis, these cameras actually move power from the innocent and places more power into the guilty, as it is a forward facing camera, proportionately more of the accidents will be one caused by the owner who can then delete the evidence. When hit from behind you are majority the innocent and yet Roav is not a rear camera. There is no side camera. There is no internal camera to show you were texting / distracted.

As such, such cameras are a minority gain to the innocent but a majority gain to the guilty.

SMIDSY

2 Likes
#50

Any updated manual for app and firmware upgrade just released? Like what are the sensitivity settings for? One is parking monitor but what is other one?

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#51

How do you change the wifi password. When you enter a password, it just says “Wrong password!” and doesn’t let me continue. What is the default Wifi password?

#52

Default password is “goroavcam.” To change the wifi password, you have to first be connected to the dash cam thru your phone & Roav App. From the app, you can choose to change the password. If you did it correctly, the dash cam should disconnect from the current wifi and you have to log back into the wifi with the new password. Hope this helps.

3 Likes
#53

I was a bit confused by this also. The sensitivity is for the monitoring impact. When the dash cam is plugged in via microUSB cable, the sensitivity sensor “locks” the clip from being erased/re-written on the microSD card…when there is a sudden braking or impact. Then, there is also “parking monitor” sensitivity. With that, the sensitivity sensor triggers the cam to start recording the 30 second clip and automatically locks/saves the clip. Hope that helps. Just remember, if the dash cam is plugged in, the dash cam automatically takes either a 1, 3, 5, or 10 minute clip (depending on the setting you select, with the new firmware update). Otherwise, when it isn’t plugged in or powered by external power source (but using only the dash cam’s internal battery), the recording is only triggered when the sensor senses a bump or hit to your car (ex. someone bumping your car)… and again, only takes and automatically locks/saves a 30 second clip.

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#54

Thanks for that. Don’t know why it isn’t in the documentation…or maybe I just missed it.

#55

I found the reason that I couldn’t change the password. I was trying to use an underscore ("_") in my password to make it more secure. If you use an underscore in your password it will say “Wrong password!” and will not let you change the current password to any containing an underscore. Not sure how many other characters are not allowed, but this is silly and it undermines having a more secure password. Anker should allow all printable characters as passwords and (although I haven’t checked for the number of characters limit yet) the password should be allowed to be up to 256 characters.

#56

Thanks @Nhi, you are a life saver! Hi @bill_rae, to better reply your question, I suggest you contact us via support@anker.com, my colleague will glad to help you.:grin:

#57

Awww I see. It would be nice if we could rename our Wifi network too. But I am very happy to see that they had an update for the dash cam recently. I hope more updates will continue coming out in the future.

1 Like
#58

I would like to suggest a Sync button or download all button to be able to grab all videos and review on phone later. It would be nice to just hit one button and let it rip

1 Like
#59

Hi @bill_rae, the sensitivity for gravity helps to detect vibration and shock while driving and makes DashCam to respond appropriately. And the parking monitor enables to keep DashCam in standby mode. Hope I make myself clear. If you still have any doubt, we recommend you contact us via support@anker.com or support@goroav.com. :grin:

2 Likes
#60

yes thanks, i forgot about the sensitivity while driving, i believe its for recording accidents and locks the clip correct?

#61

Correcto! I love that feature, otherwise, you’d have to manually push the EMER button to lock that footage so it doesn’t get overwritten when your memory card fills up. Besides that, how many people would remember to do so when in an accident? Good thinking Anker :wink: But let’s hope that we’d never have to actually go thru getting into an accident.

#62

A few UI improvement suggestions based on my couple weeks of ownership. These are in order of my perceived value add.

The emergency button is very difficult to get too, especially if it is tucked under the rear-view mirror like mine is. The on/off button however, would be a great, easy to hit, emergency button. A short press could trigger emergency/lock, a long press could turn off. Assuming this button is simply tied to a GPIO, that should be trivial to implement.

I agree with the poster above about the the parking monitor falsing on the door open/close. Perhaps a dead-zone setting option in the parking monitor would be sufficient. A default of +/- 30 seconds from power on/off. This should prevent most door open/close false triggers.

It would be nice to have an indication upon entering/power on if there were any issues during the parking segment. Turning on the screen, and displaying a large number (or beeping) or some other indicator to inform the user that the parking monitor was activated while away. Bonus points if the time/date/sensitivity of the impact(s) could be displayed.

Although, the way mine is tucked behind the mirror, a series of beeps on power on might be a better option b/c it is difficult to see the screen w/o moving my mirror completely out of the way.

And finally, it would be fantastic to be able to use the device as a wifi client on my network. This of course would take a fair amount of effort, but it would be much easier to pull/view videos. Not much ROI on this feature – it’s only neat. Perhaps a compromise would be to auto-enable wifi for X seconds after power so a phone could easily connect and see if there were any issues during the parking segment.

The nerd in me hopes the f/w is still in active development. This is a nice little camera. These updates would be worth a couple of dollars donation.

I wonder if anyone has built a custom f/w for this device? :slight_smile: