{"id":1297,"date":"2021-12-10T10:17:18","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T15:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2021\/12\/10\/kenwood-drv-430-review\/"},"modified":"2021-12-10T10:17:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T15:17:18","slug":"kenwood-drv-430-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2021\/12\/10\/kenwood-drv-430-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenwood DRV-430 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is the Kenwood DRV-430?<\/h2>\n

The Kenwood DRV-430 is a dash cam from renowned Hi-Fi manufacturer Kenwood. This might sound like an odd product for the company to be involved in, until you realise that Kenwood has been producing other in-car tech such as satnav units (with Garmin) for a while. The company is also part of JVC, which has been in the camcorder business for decades. So the DRV-430\u2019s pedigree is promising, and the specification is too, with a Super HD (2304 x 1296) recording resolution and extra safety features.<\/p>\n

Related: Are dash cams legal?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kenwood DRV-430 \u2013 Shooting specification<\/h2>\n

The DRV-430 is based around a reasonably sized 1\/3-inch CMOS with 2.98 megapixels. This allows the top shooting resolution to be \u201cSuper HD\u201d, which equates to 2304 x 1296. It\u2019s also possible to record at Full HD (1920 x 1080) and 720p. The recording frame rate is decidedly odd, however.<\/p>\n

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All of the video resolutions are recorded at 27 frames\/sec, which is a bit like someone decided to split the difference between European 25 fps and US\/Japanese 30fps. At the top resolution, footage is recorded at 16.5Mbps, which is a bit low for Super HD. You can fit around 100 minutes on a 16GB microSD card before looping occurs, with the oldest files overwritten by new ones.<\/p>\n

Kenwood DRV-430 \u2013 Mounting options<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Kenwood DRV-430 is one of the smaller dash cams I\u2019ve come across, sporting a slightly odd design where the end with the lens is more bulbous than the other. However, its size will mean it fits relatively unobtrusively at the top of your windscreen, behind your rear-view mirror.<\/p>\n

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This is clearly a dash cam that\u2019s meant to stay in your car once installed. The only mount included uses an adhesive patch \u2013 you don\u2019t even get a second patch in the box for instances where you might want to move the DRV-430 to a different car.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a simple affair, with a ball joint allowing you to position the dash cam correctly. The latter slides onto its mount, but firmly, so it won\u2019t be easy to remove when the car isn\u2019t stationary.<\/p>\n

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The usual lengthy cable (in this case, 4 metres) with a cigarette lighter adapter at one end is supplied for power connection, but this is captured, so you won\u2019t be able to power anything else at the same time. Also, the end that attaches to the dash cam uses a proprietary plug, so you won\u2019t be able supply your own alternative cable either.<\/p>\n

However, you can purchase a CA-DR100 kit for hardwiring the DRV-430 for a completely permanent installation. This would leave your car power socket free and make a parking mode operational. This will be installed via the Halfords weFit service, which costs \u00a330 \u2013 or you can get a bundle including the dash cam and 16GB SanDisk microSD card for \u00a3130.<\/p>\n

Kenwood DRV-430 \u2013 Menu and configuration<\/h2>\n

The LCD screen on the rear of the DRV-430 is one of the smallest I\u2019ve seen on a dash cam with a built-in display. The control buttons, on the other hand, are large and robust. There are only three of these, although there\u2019s also a record button on the bottom of the unit for manually triggering an emergency recording; this button is also used to go back up a level within menus.<\/p>\n

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The middle button calls up the main menu, with the other two navigating up and down the options. You can set the individual recording file length at 1, 2 or 3 minutes, and choose between 15, 30 and 60 seconds for manually triggered recordings. The event recordings, caused by the G Sensor detecting a collision or hard braking, have the same time options as manual recordings.<\/p>\n

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Unusually, the default for the DRV-430 isn\u2019t to overwrite old files once storage is full. Most dash cams do overwrite by default, so you may want to change this setting. Also by default, HDR is enabled to reduce over- and under-exposure in conditions with high brightness contrast. The G Sensor has five levels of sensitivity.<\/p>\n

Kenwood DRV-430 \u2013 Advanced dash cam features<\/h2>\n

The DRV-430 has a number of advanced features that you should configure the first time you use the device. You can set the mounting height, with options including 1.2 metres, 1.35 metres and 2 metres (the latter presumably for trucks and vans). There\u2019s a detection range option, and you\u2019ll need to set the horizon and front edge of your car\u2019s bonnet.<\/p>\n

Once configured, you can make proper use of the advanced dash cam features available. These include forward collision warning, which detects if you\u2019re too close to the vehicle in front. Lane departure warning notifies you when you stray out of your lane when travelling at 60kph or above. Departure delay warning lets you know when the car in front starts moving in a traffic jam, just in case you stopped paying attention. All of these functioned as expected during testing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a built-in GPS, so your location is recorded along with the video footage. This is also necessary for the features above. The parking recording option is only available if you have the CA-DR100 permanent power cabling installed. This leaves the device in standby mode, ready to start recording if a collision is detected.<\/p>\n

Kenwood DRV-430 \u2013 Image quality<\/h2>\n

The Kenwood DRV-430\u2019s slightly low data rate for Super HD means its video suffers from obvious compression artefacts. Overall colour reproduction and contrast handling are decent, but if you want to make out specific distinguishing features then you may need to go through footage frame-by-frame until you find one where the details are clear.<\/p>\n