A129 Plus vs Pro vs A139 2ch?

[alkalius]

Hey, I've read quite some posts here but in the end I'm still quite undecided on what exactly to get. I am mainly looking for a dual Channel system, front and rear cam.

At the moment I have narrowed it down to these three models, I could get them for the following prices: A129 Plus Duo 154,95€, Pro Duo 184,95€, A139 2ch 219,95€.

My focus originally was on 60fps, out of these 3 only the Plus is able to do that, right? Is that even an advantage in day to day situations over the 4k Pro? Or would you prefer the higher resolution? And for a pure 2ch system, the A139 wouldn't even have any realistic advantages over the other two? Anyone who had all 3 at hand?

 

[Nigel]

Anyone who had all 3 at hand?

I have all three.

My focus originally was on 60fps, out of these 3 only the Plus is able to do that, right?

A139 can also do 60fps on the front when using 2 channels only.
A129 Pro can also do 60fps at 2K resolution, but you miss out on the 4K resolution.

Is that even an advantage in day to day situations over the 4k Pro?

Only for the race track and movie making.
30fps is perfectly adequate for accident footage, and for movie making you can use an editor to interpolate the video up to 60fps to get viewing smoothness, so 60fps is really only needed for racing.

Or would you prefer the higher resolution?

Definitely, although the higher resolution sensor is less sensitive so suffers more from motion blur, so the A129 Plus and A139 are preferable in low light and darkness. It is not a huge difference but if you often drive in the dark then it is enough to make the 2K sensor the better option.

And for a pure 2ch system, the A139 wouldn't even have any realistic advantages over the other two?

The A129 Plus has a lower spec. processor than the other two which affects a few things, most obviously relatively poor wifi performance.

The A139 was designed as the premium model, so has various things that are just a little better, such as the option for an external microphone so that it doesn't have to pick up windscreen noise instead of voice. Overall it is the best unless you want the 4K resolution.

The A139 doesn't have a screen, so it can be properly hidden behind the rear view mirror. It is the only one with a voice, so press the mute button and it will tell you that the audio is now muted, whereas the others will beep, but without taking your eyes off the road and focusing closely on the tiny microphone icon on the little LCD screen, you don't know if mute is on or off! Being the premium model, it also has a good quality speaker for the voice, it is the best sounding dashcam you can buy! It also uses coax cable for the rear camera which is much thinner than the USB cable the others use, many people prefer it for ease/neatness of installation but it also provides reliability with a much better power supply to the rear camera, just little things, but they all add up.

The A139 is just better, and compared to the A129 Pro is the newer and better supported. Currently it is the only one with a geofencing option, although that is still in beta release firmware.

Personally, if price wasn't an issue, I would definitely choose the A139, however they do all work and all record dashcam footage, so if price is an issue don't worry about choosing the cheapest!

The Plus probably does best in summer heat if you want to use parking mode at midday in full sunshine with all the windows closed tight! The others may shut down in such conditions, and wait until it is cooler again.

 

[alkalius]

Thank you very much for your reply, I know these models have already been talked about extensively in the past.

So it seems that for my driving profile I should probably go for the a129 plus or the a139. Will have to think about if a 40% extra is worth it for the a139.

 

[Durga Bali]

And I have a question here, Is there any advantage of having a screen on dash cam vs no screen? I think in case of an incident we can show the video on dash cam screen to cops or atleast we can review on the spot willbe an advantage over no screen dash cams right?

 

[Nigel]

And I have a question here, Is there any advantage of having a screen on dash cam vs no screen? I think in case of an incident we can show the video on dash cam screen to cops or atleast we can review on the spot willbe an advantage over no screen dash cams right?

A big phone screen is much better for showing video to police!

The only advantage of a screen is that the camera is then an independant device, you don't need a mobile device with the mobile app installed to be able to run the setup, which would of course be a problem if the app permanently disappeared from the app store for some reason! I don't think this is a serious concern though, at least for the Viofo dashcams. I never miss having a screen with the A139, and I much prefer having the voice so that I never need to take my eyes off the road.

 

[Nigel]

Thank you very much for your reply, I know these models have already been talked about extensively in the past.

So it seems that for my driving profile I should probably go for the a129 plus or the a139. Will have to think about if a 40% extra is worth it for the a139.

It might be worth searching the suppliers, or waiting for a special offer. Last autumn the prices were much closer than that for the 2 channel versions of both, but I haven't checked the current situation, and I wouldn't know the situation for your country anyway.

 

[alkalius]

That's already the cheapest I found, viofo.nl, a dutch reseller for parts of the EU. Even the Chinese sellers are more expensive I think. I mean I'd surely prefer the A139 over the A129 Plus, but that 155€ vs 220€ aspect is something that's hard to weigh if one doesn't have much experience in that regard yet.

 

[Durga Bali]

A big phone screen is much better for showing video to police!

The only advantage of a screen is that the camera is then an independant device, you don't need a mobile device with the mobile app installed to be able to run the setup, which would of course be a problem if the app permanently disappeared from the app store for some reason! I don't think this is a serious concern though, at least for the Viofo dashcams. I never miss having a screen with the A139, and I much prefer having the voice so that I never need to take my eyes off the road.

Got it.Thank you very much for your reply.

 

[LateralNW]

A big phone screen is much better for showing video to police!

The only advantage of a screen is that the camera is then an independant device, you don't need a mobile device with the mobile app installed to be able to run the setup, which would of course be a problem if the app permanently disappeared from the app store for some reason! I don't think this is a serious concern though, at least for the Viofo dashcams. I never miss having a screen with the A139, and I much prefer having the voice so that I never need to take my eyes off the road.

The thought of the app disappearing is something that comes to my mind. I know you can plug in a monitor to almost all Viofo dashcams with the only exception being the T130.
I am assuming the A139 will also let you get to the menus so it will last long after Google and Apple have gone.
Are you able to confirm the A139 can do that?

You have also highlighted a point of concern for the T130. Granted not a concern currently but I do like to rebirth equipment after it has passed its used by dates and that will be hard to do with the T130. (No Monitor port)

 

[Nigel]

The thought of the app disappearing is something that comes to my mind. I know you can plug in a monitor to almost all Viofo dashcams with the only exception being the T130.
I am assuming the A139 will also let you get to the menus so it will last long after Google and Apple have gone.
Are you able to confirm the A139 can do that?

You have also highlighted a point of concern for the T130. Granted not a concern currently but I do like to rebirth equipment after it has passed its used by dates and that will be hard to do with the T130. (No Monitor port)

I'm not sure what you can do from a monitor plugged into the A139, and I don't have any old analog video equipment to plug into it anyway! There is no good reason why it would have a full set of internal menus implemented when almost nobody is ever going to ever see them! I'm hoping all this analog stuff will disappear and be replaced with something better fairly soon...

The concern about the app disappearing is valid, especially if you plan to repurpose the camera at some point, but I think with dashcams it is more sensible to accept that like cars, they have a limited lifespan of usefulness, and while that has been getting longer as reliability and image quality has improved, I don't think we will be using many T130s in twelve years time (typical end of life for a UK car). Also, so far, Viofo's app updates have worked with all older dashcam models, not just the new ones, so I don't see the T130 app becoming unavailable for a long time.