Arpha A14 4K Voice Control Dash Cam Review

Arpha A14 4K Voice Control Dash Cam Review
https://youtu.be/fI_gl1_Ga28

More Info and Purchase: https://tinyurl.com/2xs3qn62

Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/marcoscu6

Blog: https://marcoscucom.wordpress.com/2024/06/03/arpha-a14-4k-voice-control-dash-cam/

If you want an easy to use, easy to set up well featured 4k dashcam then this might be for you.

This dashcam can give full 4K video – 3840x2160P@25fps - and features app and voice control. You can connect to the camera over wifi to configure and control it as well as to download video and photos. It has onboard GPS as well as a high quality screen and two 24-hour parking modes. There is not much it won’t do.

In the box, you get the camera, a car power adapter with a 12ft cable, 2 sticky mounts, 2 electrostatic mounting sheets, 5 cable clips, a mounting tool, and a user guide. It’s all there, everything you need is included. The build quality all seems fine to me with the packaging and contents all having an upmarket feel to them.

The f1.8 camera has a wider than average 170-degree angle of view and gives a clear, detailed and sharp WDR image with a range of recording options available: 3840 x 2160@25fps, 2560 x 1440@30fps, and 1920 x 1080@30fps. I have to say that the video quality at any selected size even in low light is first class, one of the best yet for me on any dashcam, but I keep mine set to 4K@25fps for maximum number plate reading quality. The only downside is that MP4 video files even with H264 compression can be very large and even a 64GB card will soon fill up, so install the largest size card that you can. When it receives power the cameras are designed to record automatically and continuously in short segments overwriting the oldest when the card is full, the tiny internal Super Capacitor battery will keep recording for a few seconds after the power goes off, handy in case the power is cut during a crash. When bumps or sharp braking is detected the camera G-Sensor will flag the current segment and not overwrite it in case an incident has taken place. This can mean that the card will fill up over time. I would advise buying the largest capacity Class 10 or better card – maximum size is 256Gb – and formatting it regularly to delete all the current segments, marked and unmarked.

Fixing the camera discreetly behind the mirror on my Toyota Aygo was easy enough and the cable was easily long enough. A car cigar lighter cable is provided but, with most modern cars having USB ports, any suitably long USB-C cable should work.

The dashcam is controlled and configured using the ARPHA VISION app connected to a Wifi hotspot generated by the camera. You can select to operate in the various recording modes listed above and even watch live streaming video. Various other options can be set including the audio recording, loop recording time, etc. Recordings can also be viewed on the app or downloaded. Make the initial connection to the app by connecting your phone to the camera generated Wifi hotspot "A14_******", the default WiFi password is 12346578. Subsequent connections should be automatic and transparent. Be sure to disable cellular data when connecting to the hotspot. There are voice prompts to confirm the operating status and for error messages.

Another selling point for this dashcam is the inclusion of GPS tracking. Although it can be fun at first to trace your route on the screen map simultaneously with the recorded linked video, remember that in the event of an incident, the police may review all the files on the card and use previous driving speeding errors detected by the GPS against you. This is an option I prefer to keep turned off. For those that need it, the Arpha GPS Player viewing app can be downloaded to your computer for viewing side by side map/video files.

The camera offers two parking modes, with the first the camera is triggered by the G-Sensor and with the second it runs continually as if the engine were turned on. You will need to hard wire the camera directly to your battery to allow it to work in either mode which requires the purchase of a simple wiring kit. Either mode may drain your battery if used too long, so take care.

Voice Control is another unusual feature on offer and using it the following controls are available: Wifi On/Off, Take Photo, Stop/Start Recording, Lock The Video.

Not quite every feature is included and it is a pity that no dual write SD card is included – it is handy to have a second backup card available if one needs to be submitted to the police or your insurance company. That said, that is an option very seldom offered.

Priced at £89.99 before discounts this is by no means the cheapest but certainly one of the best and most feature rich dash cams I have tested. I doubt you will regret buying it.