70mai A800s, Viofo A129 Plus Duo, A129 Pro Duo, or A119 V3 and another rear camera?

[Grayson73]

First post! So glad I found this forum!

I'm looking for the best dual camera for under $200. Which would that be? Seems like the 70mai A800 is discontinued, but there's the A800s. The A129 Pro Duo is $180 refurbished.

I looked at some videos and the A119 V3 is actually the clearest for some reason. Could I get that and get a different rear camera?

Tough decisions!

 

[NARider]

Although they are a little over $200, I've been very happy with my Street Guardian SG9663DCPRO dual-cams. The SG customer support is outstanding (they are very active in these forums, look for @jokiin and @Street Guardian USA ). Be aware that many dash cams which use internal batteries may not be able to withstand your summer (and maybe winter) temperatures. I initially had a NextBase (UK-based) camera but shortly after installing it in June I found it was not recording correctly. It turns out that the summertime internal temp of my car (+120 F) was above the operating limit of the NextBase (-4° F to +113°F). I returned it and found Street Guardian which uses supercapacitors in their cams. My user manual says the SG camera temp limits are: Storage: -40 F to +185 F; Operating: -4 F to +158 F; Optimal Operating: +14 F to +140 F. I've never had a temp-related issue with my cam.

 

[richx]

Welcome to the forum! An A119v3 is an incredibly popular option, and you can always get a different product to use as rear coverage which will run independantly. It'll take a separate memory card which I think has its own pros and cons (less write load per card, less processing load per camera CPU, and if your front cam gets destroyed there's a chance the rear survives - in exchange for inconvenience of managing two separate systems).

I don't know about the quality of refurbishment done, but if it comes with a decent warranty the A129 Pro Duo might make life easier on the long term. Main enhancement being WiFi makes it quicker to get the footage off to the Internet.

Also, outside of your listed choices, the Viofo A129 Plus Duo seems to be the compromise you're looking for at SRP of US$180. Any reason why you're not considering it?

 

[SawMaster]

Welcome to DCT @Grayson73
The A129 Pro Duo is probably a little better than the A119V3 daytime, but it's the other way round at night. Both are excellent so it's more about single or 2-channel. Most of what you need to prove innocence will be your front cam, but a rear cam can show if someone was driving wildly before they passed you, prove tailgating, and might capture a front plate number if someone hits you from behind then runs without passing you. So I guess you can figure out what I'd recommend

But the A119V3 does great images in all conditions so if all you need is front coverage I prefer it or you can add a separate rear cam. The A800 was recently dropped as the chipset maker raised their prices too much for them to maintain their price point You might find one yet though. Just understand that if you needs it's warranty things will probably be awkward to say the least.

Phil

 

[Grayson73]

Welcome to the forum! An A119v3 is an incredibly popular option, and you can always get a different product to use as rear coverage which will run independantly. It'll take a separate memory card which I think has its own pros and cons (less write load per card, less processing load per camera CPU, and if your front cam gets destroyed there's a chance the rear survives - in exchange for inconvenience of managing two separate systems).

I don't know about the quality of refurbishment done, but if it comes with a decent warranty the A129 Pro Duo might make life easier on the long term. Main enhancement being WiFi makes it quicker to get the footage off to the Internet.

Also, outside of your listed choices, the Viofo A129 Plus Duo seems to be the compromise you're looking for at SRP of US$180. Any reason why you're not considering it?

The Pro Duo refurb is the same price as the Plus Duo, which is why I wasn't considering it.

 

[Grayson73]

Welcome to DCT @Grayson73
The A129 Pro Duo is probably a little better than the A119V3 daytime, but it's the other way round at night. Both are excellent so it's more about single or 2-channel. Most of what you need to prove innocence will be your front cam, but a rear cam can show if someone was driving wildly before they passed you, prove tailgating, and might capture a front plate number if someone hits you from behind then runs without passing you. So I guess you can figure out what I'd recommend

But the A119V3 does great images in all conditions so if all you need is front coverage I prefer it or you can add a separate rear cam. The A800 was recently dropped as the chipset maker raised their prices too much for them to maintain their price point You might find one yet though. Just understand that if you needs it's warranty things will probably be awkward to say the least.

Phil

Thanks. That's why I was asking about the new A800s, but there doesn't seem to be much info about it yet.

 

[SawMaster]

I'm always wary of new products- especially dashcams- as I've seen too many failures where successes should have been instead. I always recommend waiting to see how things work out before buying The new A800 might be fine but if it isn't then your money is wasted. There's a history for the old A800 and Viofo cams so you can know what you're getting.

Phil

 

[richx]

@Grayson73 well, new versus refurbished. I'll take the new A129 Plus any time for a drop in resolution. I'm not a particular fan of 70Mai in general, having gotten into their Indiegogo initial launches twice and having a lot of promises not fulfilled when the product finally came. So the parking mode on the A800/s, I'm sceptical about it. You might want to check out the brand sub-forums.

 

[Grayson73]

Thanks. I'm leaning towards the A119 V3 for the video quality. From the YouTube comparisons that I saw, it is much clearer than the A129 Plus and A129 Pro.

Maybe get one for front and back, or a cheaper one for the back.

 

[SawMaster]

Overall the A119V3 is still hard to match for dashcam usage, so I think it's a good choice. As for a rear cam you rarely need anything great there and many cheaper cams will do that job well enough. I still rely on an old G1W/s in the back even though I have several 2-channel systems in use back there too. It does what I want from it reliably though it wouldn't be my first choice today.

Phil

 

[ursamajor]

Thanks. I'm leaning towards the A119 V3 for the video quality. From the YouTube comparisons that I saw, it is much clearer than the A129 Plus and A129 Pro.

It's not clearer, just has narrower FOV, that's why things looks bigger and just seem "clearer". In term of sharpness, I think that A129+ has better, sharper and contrasty optics, better built, some extra features... OTOH, A119V3 is older and its firmware is mature. Also be aware that it has audio issues.

 

[richx]

Does the buffered event detection work on the A119v3 anyway?

 

[Grayson73]

@Grayson73 well, new versus refurbished. I'll take the new A129 Plus any time for a drop in resolution. I'm not a particular fan of 70Mai in general, having gotten into their Indiegogo initial launches twice and having a lot of promises not fulfilled when the product finally came. So the parking mode on the A800/s, I'm sceptical about it. You might want to check out the brand sub-forums.

Why do you like the A129 plus over the A129 pro? Is it solely because it's new vs. refurb?

 

[richx]

@Grayson73 yeah just because it's a refurb, at a price you can get a slightly less specified model new. But if it's half the price yeah why not.

 

[sltwtr]

@Grayson73 hi, what have you decide at the end and why? I'm trying to decide between viofo 129 plus VS two 119 v3

 

[Grayson73]

@Grayson73 hi, what have you decide at the end and why? I'm trying to decide between viofo 129 plus VS two 119 v3

At first I got the A129 Plus Duo but the rear couldn't be installed due to my automatic rear sunshade, so I returned that and got the A119 V3