Decent price for the Viofo A129 Pro Duo from Amazon. Price has dropped to $271.91 then there is an extra 5% discount coupon you need to select to bring it down to $258.31
CamelCamelCamel.
Why is 60p video smoothness important?
The plus version is also on special with a $15 coupon.
Because it's hard to make out license plate at 60hz let alone 30hz. At least you have a much better chance at 60hz. Jitter.
How much more is the saving to plus? Wouldn't it be better to run pro at 1440p 60?
I fully agree.
Have been using a Duo in my cars for going on 4 years now.
Was the A119 before the A129 released.
It is a great camera. IMO 4k is overkill for a 30second clip should something happen. Numberplates are easy enough to read in 1080p and 60fps makes it so much easier to play and pause and catch clips.
The other huge issue in Australia is how hot the 4K camera gets and it's chipset overheat protection. I trialled one for a few months and found that the 4K model dropped off the air around 12-1pm every day due to overheating from the sun.
Never had this issue with the A129, I guess it runs a lot cooler when recording footage.
(I use event detection parking mode and work in education so the carpark is very busy all the time with constant recording triggers)
I have this hooked up to a Cellink Neo 6 battery pack which takes over once car is off - that has been a flawless experience and a great investment.
Overall definitely recommend the A129 Duo or the A129 Plus Duo if you aren't interested in buffered parking mode.
If you are interested you can also get custom firmwares that further increase footage quality and speed however it is third party and not supported by VIOFO.
I must also mention my experience with VIOFO and their techs has been great.
Whilst these are on the market and VIOFO continues to make great quality products I will never understand why people drop nearly 1k on Blackvues.
A139 looks like a good alternative, with buffered parking mode enabled.
Yeah looks decent if you can cope with the no screen.
I like the units build and size, just a shame theres no screen. I do enjoy only having to glance to see if my dc was recording properly etc.
Has great reviews on the forums too.
@dawnchorus: I think the no screen is fine. You have the status LED lights on the top of the unit to indicate whether recording is ongoing or not. I think that should suffice!
Reports of over heating issues as well. They've just release a A130 but the rear camera cable looks like a log.
thanks mate, i nealy place the order, will wait for the deal for plus dup
Well said.
This is a rather good deal for the A129 Pro 4K ,
but I, too, have the A129 Plus Duo and it's a good dashcam
(allowing for the smooth 60fps recording,
but the rear camera is limited to 30fps )
Not sure about the chipset issue but the pro duo has buffered parking mode where the plus duo has had that function removed due to bugs so probably still worthwhile getting this one
Great point.
Been waiting for a price around this mark. Got the hard wire kit and 256gb card as well. Thanks.
Random question whats the best way to keep these mounted? Mine keep falling down.
Alcohol spray and wipe the window. The sticky pad has to adhere to a completely clean surface.
Never had an issue personally with the 3M strips these come with.
That black gel is like super glue to glass.
I bought a pack of the same pads off EBay and have never looked back.
Make sure you clean the glass well before applying.
You using sticky pad or suction cup?
My duo plus came with a plastic silicon backed film, same thing as a mobile device screen protector. That goes on the glass and the sticky pad and camera goes on that, makes it much easier to remove when you need to.
If yours don't have it the just order a tablet screen protector and cut it down. Can be used for anything else you need to stick on your glass eg. Etag.
Good deal, but I own this particular model and not happy with it. I found that in many occasions it did not start when the car started. Streaming the recorded video to phone over wifi is very laggy and the 3 minute video takes ages to transfer to the phone.
This is my own honest experience and I don’t have anything against the op or people who might have had good experience with the product.
whatever happened to the standard duo (non-pro) model?
Discontinued
Great price, usually $330. Been using mine for almost 2 years and it's been great. Paired with a Blackvue hardwire kit
Is there any reason why you're using the Blackvue kit? Does it work properly with the Viofo's parking mode, or does it just power the camera off when you park?
I've tried a couple of different Viofo HK3 hard wire kits and they do not seem to work at all, which is apparently a known issue with poor voltage regulation - so I'm interested to hear if a different one works better!
I liked that the Blackvue kit came with a separate box/module that lets you turn off the parking mode, ie if parked at home in garage, I don't need parking mode to activate. It also had customisable voltage cut-offs and timeout durations. It works great with the Viofo parking mode, keeps the dash cam powered on while car is turned off, and only starts recording when motion is detected
Does it work fine for continuous parking record too?
@zintill: Yes certainly, since that is based on the dash cam settings and not the hardwire kit settings
It will continuously supply power to dash cam when car is turned off, as long as battery voltage is above the configurable cut-off of 12V or 11.8V
why would you want to have a 4k dash cam? this seems extreme.
easier to read license plates and see other small details like faces from a distance.
Do any of these come with reversing cam? Or any recommendations for a good reverse parking cam? Cheers
They don't come with a reversing camera
Parkmate CMD-14N is what i'm using, bought it at Autobarn. Noticeably better improvement over my old generic reverse camera from eBay. The viewing angle is very wide and image quality is better
Good Sony chipset but beware that Sony 4K chips get tired/heated up way too fast and then they goto rest/shutdown to relax/cool-down.
Its such an annoyance on RX series cameras making them pretty much useless for 4K and I don’t think this Sony 4K chipset will be any different. It will/must shutdown in hot weather or at most inopportune time, therefore ONLY in 4K model’s advertisement you can clearly see the mention of ‘auto shutdown in case of high temperature’ as a highlighted feature.
So if you are in hot areas of Australia I believe you will face auto shutdowns, so the better bet seems to be the 2K i.e. 119 v3.
Comment by dawnchorus also points this out of his personal experience.
VIOFO A139 Dual 2-Channel - 1440p 60fps WITH parking mode
$254.15 - use PSVES15
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/294119586749?hash=item447ae4bbbd…
hardwire kit for parking mode
$27.70
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/294235331045?ssPageName=STRK%3AM…
Great find - the only downside with the new A139 design is the lack of an LCD screen.
Same front camera sensor as the A129 Plus Duo - although bear in mind that 1440p 60fps is only possible IF you are using a maximum of 2 recording channels (Recording using all 3 cameras will limit you to 1440p 30fps for the front camera).
Thanks!
whats the difference between a139 2ch and a129 plus duo?
you mean a139 has buffered parking mode?can't find info on website
How expensive is it to get one mounted in a Toyotal Corolla 2015?
About $200 but it's very easy to do it yourself.
It's easy to do it yourself, but just be careful about wiring,
which needs to go behind the airbags , inside your car frame.
This is a particularly good point!
Interested to get a good dash cam (especially with parking mode), but a bit concerned that this model is more than 2 years old. Any good options that are more recent?
Looks like newer version Viofo A139 is out now, also you can consider a Blackvue dashcam which are great quality but on a higher price bracket compared to Viofo ($600+)
Does anyone know of a dashcam with rear cam that also allows you to use the rear camera as a reversing camera?
Apparently these ones can't be used in this way.
Im pretty sure that you can connect to the unit with WIFI and live-stream the camera's view to your phone.
is this better than the standard viofo 129? I've got mine hardwired and it always freezes. had to physically unplug and plug back in once a while which can be quite annoying
If the cameras are hardwired to the car, does the car battery need to be at certain level for the camera to turn on when you start the car?
I have these hardwired to my car and parking mode is disabled. For the past year it's been working fine, i.e. the camera turns on when I start the car.
Recently, I think my car battery may be low (short drives due to lockdown) so the camera won't start when I start the car. However, when I unplug and re-plug the cable to the camera body it will turn on and stay on.
Any solutions?
I've previously had the same issue with my Blackvue hardwire kit. I set the voltage cut-off at 12.5V. Even with the car turned on, sometimes the dash cam doesn't turn on. Once i charged my battery (with a Ctek MXS charger), it was all good since
Thanks!
I think it’s time to update my old A118. I have a dual cab ute, the rear screen is vertical. Does anyone know if the mount on the rear facing camera allow for vertical fitment or is it only for regular angled screens?
Missed…
This is a good price, but I have this dashcam installed and would NOT recommend it unless you absolutely need 4K recording
I would instead recommend the A129 Plus Duo. I don't really like 4K recording as it's limited to 30fps. Not as smooth as a 1440p 60fps recording.
Rear camera is limited to 1080p 30fps when both cameras are recording. Pro Duo can do 4K 30fps + 1080 30fps or 1440p 60fps + 1080p 30fps. 1440p 60fps + 1080p 30fps is the same as the Plus Duo, so it doesn't really offer any additional advantages other than the option of 4K 30fps (personally, I find that the disadvantage of the lower 1440p resolution is outweighed by the advantage of the far smoother video).
Plus Duo rear camera has its own chipset - so the front camera doesn't have to work as hard. There have been heat issues with the Pro Duo, likely due to single chipset working overtime.
https://www.blackboxmycar.com/pages/viofo-a129-plus-duo-revi…