Was after a dash cam and came across the A129 Pro Duo 4K at a pretty good price on Catch.
This has the buffered parking mode enabled unlike the Plus model, though you will need to hardwire it with a suitable hardwiring kit which isn't included.
hi, was it a DIY install ?- are you able to provide some info on how was it installed and what all you had to buy- i am getting my Sportage next week . thanks a lot in advance
You'll need the separate hardwire kit and a few fuse taps.
Very easy to YouTube the installation but you have a few options depending on your car and where decide to tap the fuse.
Re: the comment above about it draining the battery, you can select the cut off point, in the op's case I think it's more a faulty hardwire kit.
It's not a faulty hardwire, it's cutting off properly. All I am saying it the parking mode doesn't last for too long before it cuts off.
@abs898: I'm looking to get this for mums car. I thought parking mode comes on when it detects movement ? Does it turn off while there's movement in the picture, or when everything's calm ?
It's a professional install.
There are 4 cut off options. 12.5,12.11.8,11.5
I have tried all 4, the lower you go dashcam stays on for longer.
12.5 is practically only a few minutes to maybe just over an hour of parking mode before it cuts off.
12 is about 2ish.
I have it now at 11.8 which is about 3-4ish. This option will give you an error everytime you turn on the car that battery is bring drained by a 12v device.
11.5 will need a jumpstart.
That's drawing some serious current or your car battery is quite small.
You could run a small fridge off most batteries for a couple of hours and still have a large enough state of charge to start the car.
@whitelie: Roadside assistance guy who came to jumpstart, said it's pretty common these days. He's seen a few cases of battery going flat due to dashcam.
Thinking out loud here, but what if you put a USB powerbank between the dashcam and the battery. Have the powerbank run the dashcam's aux power (so that dashcam knows to go into park mode) and recharge the powerbank on switched power (so you don't drain your battery).
According to the specs, A129 draws <4w in park mode, with say a $80 2Ah battery, you should get around 20 hours of park mode. The only issue would be how long you drive vs powerbank change time.
Maybe buy 2 and swap'n'charge at home.
It drains the car battery that badly?
I don't know anything about the Sportage battery, but most car batteries aren't designed to be cycled like this.
Ideally look at something like Cellink Neo. While not much of a bargain (It costs more than this dashcam combo), it will give you many hours of parking mode recording, has a very stable battery chemistry (LifePo4 - 3,000 to 5,000 cycles) and won't leave you stranded with a dead car battery. I've had one for 6 years and it's still going strong.
Yup get something where the dashcam has it's own battery or a capacitor that will keep it on for a few hours.
Same issue to me. I even had it installed professionally and my car keeps sending messages it drains up car battery. The installer said the only solution would be also installing a backup battery for it but it's quite costly. BTW mine died after 12 months so definitely can't recommend it. Plan to replace it with Thinkware.
Was recommended the same.
Out of curiosity, which parking mode are you using? To my understanding, the a129 supports 3 different modes being 1) auto event detection, 2) time lapse or 3) low bit rate.
Have you tried changing parking modes to see if there's any effect on battery drain?
As per Viofos reccomendation, I'm planning to use the auto event detection mode at low sensitivity to avoid random detections from trees, rain etc.
Which one is better as a dashcam? 4k 30fps (pro) or 2k 60fps (plus)
fps is more important than resolution in this case.
Sold out already
FYI: I hardwired this earlier this year and it cuts-off fairly soon. Tried the 11.8C setting as well, cuts-off in a few hours or less. Absolutely love the dashcam, quality is great, just the parking mode has been a nightmare.
Also tried 11.50V but then the car needed a jumpstart. It's a brands new Sportage only 3 months old.