With all of that travel, I’m regularly the one driving the car and you’d be amazed how much beautiful scenery I miss taking video of because quite simply; I’m busy driving. That fact sparked the idea of investigating dash cameras, and you know already that I love testing and reviewing electronics so it was a natural combination to write about dash cams.
Today we launching the first part of the dash cam series and we are trying out what I consider one of the most attractive dual-channel dash cameras, the VIOFO A129 Duo Dual Channel Wi-Fi Dash Camera. To keep things consistent, I will break the review down into several categories for all cameras…and of course there’s a lot to cover in each…so off we go.
Why Do I Need a Dash Cam?
Let’s get this in up front. You may think that if someone is reading this, they know why they want a dash cam, but let me add a few additional reasons that you may not have considered. These “reasons” also play into how I review the camera systems so let’s discuss.
- People are crazy. I see it every day on my commute; the funny things that people do: putting on makeup while driving, texting and driving, cutting in and out of traffic, running lights and unfortunately having accidents. I’ll admit that some of my interest in a dash cams started with just wanting the ability to preserve these special moments. Get a Dash Cam to have fun.
- People are not always truthful. Like you, I’ve heard all sorts of stories about auto accidents where one (or both) parties aren’t necessarily truthful about what or who may have caused an accident. Insurance fraud is in the news every day, and pretty significant lawsuits relative to accident injuries don’t sound like fun. Get a Dash Cam to preserve the truth and protect you and your insurance company from fraud.
- People hold grudges or just do stupid things. Thankfully I’ve not encountered someone who decides to damage my car when it’s parked and I have not been a victim of hit & run or door dents….but people do it. Whether it’s an unhappy Ex, a random violent stranger, a terrible parker or just someone who decides they don’t like your car being so nice; people damage unattended vehicles all the time. Get a Dash Cam to protect your car when you can’t be there to protect it in person.
- People have rage. Anyone who drives on a regular basis has witnessed or even been the victim of road rage. Change lanes at the wrong time or even just randomly encounter someone who is taking their anger out on other drivers, and you know how dangerous that can be. Get a Dash Cam to preserve the details of a road rage incident.
- People like to travel. It may not be an obvious reason to get a dash cam, but I noticed that as I am traveling on vacation, we drive through some amazing scenery and some really cool National Parks. Unfortunately, since I’m driving, I can’t always stop to take pictures. Get a Dash Cam to preserve your vacation driving memories.
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| Image Courtesy of VIOFO |
Today we’re test driving a dash cam from VIOFO and they describe themselves as “an action camera and dash camera company that takes inspired design, relentless innovation and uninhibited performance and turns them into passionate, moving experiences.” We’ll be testing out the A129 Duo dual-channel 5GHz Wi-Fi full-HD dash camera and here are the features courtesy of VIOFO:
- Dual Channel Full HD Video Recording
- Dual Band Wi-Fi Built-in 2.4GHz & 5GHz
- Sony Starvis Image Sensor (Same for Rear Camera)
- F1.6 Aperture 7 Elements Glass Lens (Same for Rear Camera)
- 2.0 inch HD LCD Display
- 140° Wide Viewing Angle
- GPS Logger (Optional)
- G-Sensor & Motion Detection Supported
- Parking Mode Supported
- Quick Release Mount
- Circular Polarizing Lens Filter (Optional, Not Included)
- Bluetooth Emergency Remote (Optional, Not Included)
- Support Micro SD Card Class 10 up to 256GB
- Video Resolution Front & Rear: Full HD (1920 x 1080P 30FPS)
Before we can test out the A129 we needed to fully install it in our test car. Your car may be a bit different, but I will point out some helpful steps we encountered. First, it is important to note: In order for your dash camera to work while your car is parked (this is called Parking Mode), you need to have the camera directly wired into your vehicle’s fuse box. This is true for all dash cameras that have parking mode. VIOFO does include a 12V accessory plug that you can use if you have no interest in parking mode or you are just testing your installation.
Front Camera: The placement of your front camera is the first step. The A129 does have a wide angle lens, so choose a location as close to the center of the windshield as possible that a) does not have any visual obstructions, and b) is in a location where you can easily reach the controls on the camera and see the 2-inch LCD screen. In my vehicle, the rearview mirror had a plastic shroud that forced my placement a little left of center. You can use the 12V accessory plug and the video screen on the front camera unit to test placement. I used an alcohol swab to clean the glass before sticking the front camera unit on. Once attached, you can easily adjust the angle of the camera lens to the angle of your windshield to get the best view. You can also easily remove the camera main unit without removing the mount from the window itself by sliding it off the mount and removing the power and rear camera cable. Be aware that from the factory the A129 lens is covered in a protective tab you need to remove.
Rear Camera: Again you should choose a location near the center of the rear window of your car to place the rear camera. The rear camera connects to the front camera unit with a cable. For placement/testing purposes, you can just lay the wire across the seats. Be sure your rear camera is not mounted upside down. It’s a bit tricky to tell at first so look at the video screen on the main unit to be sure before you attach the rear camera with the provided sticky strip. As you’ll see, the cable to the rear camera is a bit on the thick side so it is a bit challenging hiding the wire. This was done to prevent damage to the wire and make it more reliable in extreme temperatures. For me it was easy to tuck into the headliner at the top of the windshield and then run across the rubber weather-stripping above the doors and back to the rear window. VIOFO does include a plastic tool that makes the routing of the cable much easier as well as stick-on cable clips to clean up your installation. You can get really fancy with how you route your cable but DO BE CAREFUL, especially if your car is equipped with side-curtain airbags.
Power: To power your A129 AND use parking mode, I used the VIOFO A129 3-wire power kit as well as some fuse taps that are the proper size for your car’s fuses. This part was a bit tricky, so you may want to have a processional complete this portion of the installation. Basically the three wires are for a ground (I found a body-metal-attached screw under the dash), a switched power (a fuse that gets power when you start your car) and a constant power (a fuse that is on all the time even if your car is not running or in ACC mode). I checked my owners manual and choose fuse positions for these two power wires that would not affect any of the safety of the car. The fuse taps made it easy to test and easy to reposition if necessary. Also keep in mind the A129 uses USB-based cables so not only is that convenient, but you can also use a standard USB connectors. VIOFO includes a longer cable with the 12V adapter as well as a short USB power cable should you choose to place the rear camera closer to the main unit (to catch video inside the car).
Car Battery: I stressed out about the potential for the dash cam to deplete my car battery. Fortunately, VIOFO has thought of that already and they do have setting you can adjust to ensure your car battery is not drained and to shut off the system if it senses a specific voltage drop level (that you set).
Hot Cars: The A129 does use a capacitor-based power supply which provides a much wider temperature range to prevent the camera from cutting out at very high or very low temperatures. This is important if you have a black car in the sun or live in a high (or low) temperature environment. I do have a black car but I doubt April temperatures even came close to being a problem. My A129 worked great and never powered off.
The test drive: Once wired you’ll want to test out the system and get used to it’s features by taking it for a ride. In very basic terms, the camera records all of the time when your vehicle is running and then switches to parking mode when your vehicle turns off. You can access the video from the screen on the main unit or by connecting your phone via Wi-Fi. Having the screen available on the main unit is a unique feature compared to other dash cams and it really made reviewing video MUCH easier than having to attach your phone to do so. The screen is a 2-inch HD screen and it even includes a picture-in-picture mode for both cameras to show at the same time.
Video: Once you do review the video, you’ll find the Sony Exmore Image Sensors for the front and rear cameras (and Novatek NT96660 processor) produce some really high-quality Full 1080P HD resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 30 fps, 20 Megabits/second bitrate). This is important! What good is the video you capture of an incident, if the quality itself is crappy. The resolution was crisp, bright and clean and the overall quality was very good on both cameras. The Sony Starvis image sensor in the cameras also takes really good video even in lower light situations. Full-sun video looks best, but the video taken in darker lighting situations is also very good. We did not install the optional CPL (circular polarizing filter) but that add-on is available if you experience glare on your camera from the windshield.
Wi-Fi: The VIOFO A129 has not only Wi-Fi built in, but also 5Ghz and 2.4GHz frequency radios to minimize wireless interference. I installed the VIOFO app and easily connected to the A129 to view video or even to copy a video to your phone to share or preserve as evidence (or as a travel video). The download speeds were very good even for a larger video file. This is also where you adjust the settings of your A129 BUT remember that you do have stop the camera from recording to adjust settings (or download video) OR if you choose to adjust settings on the main unit screen, you do need to turn off Wi-Fi.
GPS: The A129 does offer an external and optional GPS mount. This module will record your speed, the synchronized time and your driving route as part of the video if installed.
Manual Recording: The VIOFO A129 main unit has a button that allows you to manually record video. This feature allows to to protect a video segment by storing it in a different folder from your continuous recording. Keep in mind that your continuous recording is running whenever the car is on, so as that folder on your SD card runs out of space, the older video are overwritten. Manual recording lets you protect a video from being overwritten until you can download the video. VIOFO also offers a cool Bluetooth remote control button that activates manual recording without reaching up to the button on the main unit or taking your eyes off the road. This is a really unique optional add-on that I’ve only seen on the A129.
Parking Mode: One of my favorite features on the A129 is Parking Mode (you need to have the hardwire kit to make this work). If you have a nice car or even if you don’t, the thought of someone vandalizing, breaking into, scratching or even door-denting my car keeps me up at night. Just the thought of returning to my car and finding it damaged stresses me out. This is where Parking Mode comes in. The A129 is triggered by impact detection, so if someone hits your car, it will begin recording the event. The A129 also has motion detection that is adjustable and allows you to see if someone is messing with your car or otherwise doing damage to your car. This is great peace of mind if you worry about your car. The only limitation I have found with the A129 is that video is not buffered. This means that the camera does not power up and begin recording until the impact or motion is detected. In some circumstances, this could mean that you miss the actual event on camera. In my testing, I did find that in most cases the video will still catch the person as they leave the area around your car even if it does not catch the event, especially if the event is brief. It did also take a bit of testing (and menu navigation) to see what exactly each mode (Parking Mode, Timelapse Mode & Motion Detection Mode) did and what the best frame-rate was to set for Parking Mode was. Depending on how active your parking area is, one of these options should work well, but it will take some testing to find what works best for you. In the end, I have a very active parking lot and Motion Detection mode was recording way too many videos to review. I’m currently using Timelapse mode but still testing. Regardless, I found it really amazing to see what my car sees when I’m away from the vehicle.
Micro SD Card: The A129 has a micro-SD card slot on the side of the main unit that will accept up to a 64GB card. I personally like using the 64GB card, but depending on your usage, the 32GB card may have sufficient space to record continuous, manual and incident video until you can download anything you want to preserve. The micro-SD card is not included in the standard package so you can choose one of your own or choose a package that includes the micro-SD card. After using the dash camera for a few days, you get a pretty good sense of anything you want to preserve. Otherwise the camera just quietly protects your car as you drive. I did get into the habit of checking the parking mode video more frequently in case of any incident being recorded while I was not in the car. I also do recommend using either the VIOFO-brand SD card or a high quality faster card to ensure complete support. If you card does not work, you may have to format the card differently (FAT). My VIOFO card worked well right out of the box.
Value: Any review of the VIOFO A129 Duo needs to include a prominent mention of value. The A129 retails for $169 and even with the add-on 64GB. the hard-wire kit, the fuse taps, the Bluetooth remote and even the CPL filter, the unit is still very affordable. Competing models from other manufacturers start in the $400 range and they aren’t available with the Bluetooth remote and most do not have a screen at all. There are some tradeoffs, but most people would be hard pressed to find features that higher-priced cameras have that the A129 does not. We should also mention that at this price-point, you will not likely find better image quality on a dual-channel system.
Stay tuned for more dash cam reviews. As we speak I’m working on the review for the Thinkware F800 Pro Dual-Channel Dash Camera and awaiting the shipment of yet another.
Do they have customer service department in case something went wrong or the unit is defective? Thanks.
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