MedicWil

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Hey all,
I’ve been looking into getting a dashcam for my car and I’m going to hardwire it but I don‘t know whether to get the Viofo A129 Plus Duo or the Pro Duo.
Just in case you need to know, I’m a student nurse so the camera will mainly be used when I’m driving to the shops, or to placement at hospital or patients’ homes, both in the day and at night, and the car will be parked up the majority of the time.
I live in a city in the UK too if that helps - I‘ve noticed some people saying about 4K cameras needing a certain amount of light to work well
Any help people could provide to make my decision would be greatly appreciated :)(y)
 
Welcome to the forum MedicWil.

It is true the 4K cameras are a bit less light sensitive, but it do not matter much at night where even the best cameras are pretty much "just as bad" It is a simple limitation in the technology available at the moment.
So no matter what camera little details at speed will be missed at night, but one thing that the camera always capture well is your own driving in relation to road markings and lights, and that alone safeguard you against a lot of false claims.
If you intend to use parking guard a person walking up to your car should also be captured well if you have a street light near by ( if there are no rain on your windows to obscure the view )
If you intend to use parking guard a lot / always, well then you also need to drive some to recharge what have been used while parked, if you dont you risk ending up where your battery are never really fully charged and parking guard stop sooner as the hard wire kit hit the low voltage cut off. ( low voltage cut off should not be lower then 12.2 volts, it is set on a little 4 position slide switch on the hard wire kit )
So if you can not use parking guard while parked at home over night that would go a long way.
The camera i use for parking guard also have a timer function, which i use set to 1 hour as that cover all my shopping, and then back at home it do not record all night which would be wasted as the car are parked in a dark back year, and i also have a CCTV camera on it so no need for the camera to also record there.

The A129 plus duo will probably be more easy on the memory card as its 1440p footage take up less room than 4K footage from the pro duo.

You should get 128 GB memory cards ( at least ) for a dual channel system.
 
but I don‘t know whether to get the Viofo A129 Plus Duo or the Pro Duo.
Both good cameras, as is the 2 channel A139.

All are adequate for most people.

The A129 Plus is a cheaper camera, image quality in daylight is not as good as the Pro, and wifi is not as fast. But the sensor does do a little better in low light and at night.

The A129 Pro is not quite as good in the dark, but it is only really number plate reading that suffers, and that suffers for all dashcams at night, the difference between the Pro and Plus is not huge, while in good light the extra resolution of the 4K can be an advantage. If you are going to use it for parking mode, then the Pro will sometimes shut down over midday in summer for heat reasons.

The A139 is the more expensive camera, has fast wifi, uses thin coax cables for easy install, trades an LCD screen for voice announcements, doesn't appear to have any heat issues, and uses the same image sensors as the A129 Plus. Also has the option of later adding an interior camera, which can also be used as a door/side camera.

So there is no correct answer, read a few threads to see other people's opinions and see what issues people are having.
 
OP,

Viofo A129 Pro has higher resolution than A129 Plus/A139 (4k vs QHD). That doesn't mean necessarly better image quality, but (sometimes, when no motion blur) better details from far objects.
On the other hand, A129 Plus is cheaper, it has 60fps at native resolution, 21:9/widescreen format and HDR, which is meant to improve (maybe it will do it better than now in next firmwares) night sight. It also heats up less.
 
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the difference between the Pro and Plus is not huge, while in good light the extra resolution of the 4K can be an advantage. If you are going to use it for parking mode, then the Pro will sometimes shut down over midday in summer for heat reasons.
According to VortexRadar's comparison of the Plus and Pro A129 Duo, a January 2021 update removed the buffered parking mode on the A129 Plus Duo. That is a deal breaker for me IMO. I don't see the point in parking mode if you cannot record the event the led to the point of the recording.

Article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2020/10/viofo-a129-duo-a129-plus-a129-pro-comparison-review/
 
Welcome to the forum Synthetica.

If you are inclined that way, yes for sure you would want a buffer and about as much as you can get.
Which is why i like the way SG do it, they deal in segments in relation to where you are in current recording when the event trigger, hitting the manual event button on my SG camera net me two 3 minute files from each camera, so 4 in total and often a long ways before the actual trigger.
Personally i would not use anything else but low bitrate for parking mode, plus G - sensor on for actual events.
I would never be able to trust G- sensor alone, or motion detect, or a small memory buffer.
 
I recently leant toward a Viofo, but on reading comments about the big variations in hardwire kit, I felt uneasy about placing it in a brand new car. Probably totally unwarranted. So I opted for the Nextbase 622 and I'm really not happy with the quality. I really can't see what the fuss on review websites is about.

In 4k on a sunny day, the ability to capture number plates over 30mph is pathetic. Maybe I'm expecting too much from it? But it's grainy also. Parking mode, given its pathetic battery is pointless also.

I now find myself considering the Viofo once again and returning the 622.
 
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I now find myself considering the Viofo once again and returning the 622.
There have been some issues with the hardwire kit, but I think it is with a very small number of kits and I'm sure Viofo will have sorted it out fairly quickly, every company depends on suppliers. The cameras are pretty good.

Not sure I have seen video from the Nextbase 622 on a properly sunny day, I think it was launched when the days were getting short and most of the video looked reasonable, would be interesting to see some video or framegrabs showing the "pathetic" plate reading. The A129 Pro 4K is excellent on a sunny day, except under trees.
 
I don't doubt they'll rectify the Viofo. I see Nextbase stated in another thread that they're working on a 622 update to improve sharpness.

This is a photo taken from the laptop using a Samsung S20 camera. I'll try and get a proper screenshot. Maybe I'm just expecting too much.

Screenshot_20210410-114614_Messenger.jpg
 
Screenshot examples below.

The black Fiesta pic is my 622GW at 4k 30fps.

The silver Honda is the wife's 612GW at 1440 60fps.

The blue Citroen pic is also my 622GWnat 1440 60fps. 4k.JPG612 144060fps.JPG


1440p60fps.JPG
 
Maybe I'm just expecting too much.
I'm not impressed by those, not sure what is wrong, but the 622 should be doing obviously better than the 612 in those conditions, not the other way around.

It's done a decent job of the blue sky and clouds in the last picture, but I don't see much other good. Not sure you are viewing it in the best way, but given the clarity of the writing at the bottom, and the 612 image, it looks to be rather poor quality video.

If you are paying extra for 4K then you should get extra, so no you are not expecting too much, the lighting there is plenty for 4K sensors to do a very good job at 30MPH. Possibly the first of the three has a bit of an excuse with the time being nearly 7PM, so the brightness would not have been great, but the speeds were still below 40.

I think I have seen better from the 622, so maybe a poor example.
 
That is viewed in the Nextbase app on a HP Spectre 4k laptop screen and those are direct screenshots.

I've ordered a Viofo A129 Pro
 
I dont think sharpness are a issue on the nextbase cameras, at least not too little of it, too high sharpness can indeed give problems in regard to little details.
 
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