Advice on buying one of the VIOFO 129 models.

[Mio NoVue]

I remember a while ago I saw a thread comparing various VIOFO models but I can't find it now. I think it was Nigel who made the post but don't quote me on that as it could just be that Nigel posts a lot so his name is in my mind

Basically from that thread or post, I formed the opinion that the 119v3 still had the best image quality, at least as far as detecting registration plates in daylight went. My opinion was that all decent dash cams are going to show a basic image of a car hitting you. Some may not be as crystal as others but you should be able to determine the colour, make, model but from personal experience of trying to identify a cars registration on a frame-by-frame slow-mo - this is there you'll be able to separate cameras apart & I found the 119v3 was the most suitable of the bunch.

But I want a rear camera setup and I don't want two individual cameras.

So i'm thinking of giving my 119v3 to a family member and picking up a 129 model. It's just a question of which & VIOFO don't make it easy.

3 Channel Dash Cams (Front + Rear + Interior) | Viofo UK

Maximise your camera coverage with a 3 channel dash cam, clearly recording the front, rear and car interior at all times. 1440P Front + 1080P Interior + 1080P Rear Dash Cam

viofouk.co.uk

129 Dual
129 Plus Dual
129 Pro Dual
129 Plus Duo Dual

Now if memory from that thread I mentioned serves correct then the all singing and all dancing Pro Dual didn't have as good an image quality as far as number plate detection goes as the Plus Dual?
But I could easily be wrong.
And then there's a Plus Duo Dual? Holy moly.

So i'm not really sure which to opt for.

I don't really do a lot of night time driving. Ok at this time of year when i'm at work it's all dark driving but when the light nights start coming i don't do any night time driving at all. Just saying in case that makes a difference.
And as I've mentioned, number plate detection is a pretty important factor to me.

Help greatly appreciated.

Oh and I would be looking at having parking mode enabled. Whether this would then record only front or also front and rear, I don't know.

 

[Nigel]

I guess that was my A129 Pro thread:

Viofo A129 Pro Dual Dashcam - 4K Front + 1080 Rear

Viofo A129 Pro Dual Dashcam - 4K Front + 1080 Rear The dash camera we have been waiting for, a 4K version of our favorite A129 Duo that records real 4K at a decent bitrate, and works at night! There are a few people with early versions of this camera now, so here is a thread to post your videos...

dashcamtalk.com

That thread is a bit old now, Viofo have added models and updated firmwares, but the A119 V3 is still very good, arguably still the best.

Maybe I should make another comparison with all the updates, but it has become very difficult, largely because nearly all the current Viofo models use the same sensors! The A129 Duo still stands out because of its 4K sensor, if you want to make road movies then that is still the one to go for, but the 2K sensor is still the best for general dashcam evidence gathering.

Of the 2K cameras, the one I like most is the A139, which is available in 2 or 3 channel versions. The A129 Plus is a little cheaper and 2 channel only but has a number of inferior features, such as having a thick USB cable to the rear camera instead of thin coax cables, much slower wifi for access from the app, and beeping instead of voice notifications.

I do think the QHD (2K) cameras are worth having over the FHD (1080) A129 Duo. The extra resolution isn't essential with the UK's large number plates, but it does make a significant improvement, mainly to resolution, but also improves motion blur.

 

[Mio NoVue]

I see the A139 has no display screen. Never actually noticed this before (I never paid much attention as always thought it was a 3CH cam which i'm not interested in). so on that note, how do you select your settings?

You'll have to forgive me if I misunderstood but I get the impression you're saying that in your opinion, the Pro Dual would be the better (overall) pick (since updates etc)? https://viofouk.co.uk/products/a129-pro-dual-dash-cam-front-rear? If you're not saying that then what would you lean towards?

Bearing in mind one of my top criteria is number plate detection.

I actually still have my Mio Mivue 618 up front which is quite old now as i've never gotten round to hardwiring the A119v3 in so this is just cowboy wired to the rear (I don't really carry passengers apart from the wife up front). There's been a number of times where I've had a near miss - someone has tried to exit the motorway last second or they've come flying round a corner on a country lane and I've taken the SD card out and played the clip back on my PC going frame-by-frame for the number plate and it's just terrible. I can't identify a thing unless it's pretty stationary (with the MiVue). The image quality is also pretty poor.

So the MiVue will show up very clear that it's a light or dark coloured car or that it's red and not blue for example. You'll likely tell make and probably model. All things I expect any cam to show anyway, the whole 129 range or basically any cam that costs certainly 3 figures.
What i'm looking more for is number plate readability.

I don't know how they all differ in the dark. I suspect they're all fairly similar with nothing showing just shadows.

 

[Nigel]

There's been a number of times where I've had a near miss - someone has tried to exit the motorway last second or they've come flying round a corner on a country lane

In the motorway situation I would choose the A129 Pro Duo, especially in the summer. The extra resolution can help a lot with reading plates, especially when there is a fair distance between vehicles at the time when the plates are visible, as is often the case on a motorway.

In the country lane situation, the distances are normally a lot closer so 2K is adequate resolution, and the extra sensitivity of the 2K reduces motion blur significantly, which helps a lot for vehicles flying round corners on country lanes. Personally I would go for the A139 and the 2 channel version if you don't want the interior camera. Potentially the interior camera is of some use in defending yourself against claims of using a mobile phone when you weren't so I do recommend it if the extra cost is not of significance to you. You can also point the interior camera towards the drivers window to record police stops, although that isn't likely to be of much use in the UK since almost all our police are decent.

see the A139 has no display screen. Never actually noticed this before (I never paid much attention as always thought it was a 3CH cam which i'm not interested in). so on that note, how do you select your settings?

You need to use the mobile (phone) app to change settings, except for a few commonly used ones that are available by pressing the buttons. For example to mute the microphone you press the mute button, and it acknowledges with a voice message to say if it is now on or off, so you can do it while driving without taking your eyes off the road. The app is not really needed since the default settings are all sensible and there is nothing that needs changing on a daily basis that isn't available on the buttons, but it is useful and works well, and I never miss the LCD screen when using the A139. The much bigger phone screen is much nicer to use, and the touch screen is much faster to use than the buttons for menu navigation, and the A139 has fast wifi so can respond faster than using some cameras with built in screens!

The A129 Plus is quite popular though, definitely works, has the 2K sensor, and is normally cheaper than the A139, although LCD screens have become expensive so it is worth comparing prices at the time you are purchasing.

I don't know how they all differ in the dark. I suspect they're all fairly similar with nothing showing just shadows.

Yes, all the Viofo cameras are fairly similar in the dark, and will all show far more than just shadows. None of them are guaranteed to read number plates in the dark, but often will and probably will when speeds are close to zero. Generally the 2K sensors are better than 4K in the dark, but when stopped the 4K can win, and likely will if the target is also stopped.

 

[Mio NoVue]

I know we're getting scientific but why is 2k better than 4k in the country lane situation? You say it's more sensitive, why is that?

I had a gander at the VIOFO app on the android store. Didn't really get high ratings. I like the idea of being able to change settings through an app (tbh I find the on board setting/selector on the A119v3 pretty poor) ... but only if the app actually works.

I also read that was it the A139 has a coax rear cable (or is that the 129? I've read too much now that things are starting to blend). That's a little concerning. Obviously i don't want huge thick cabling but isn't coax cable quite thin? And with the boot opening and closing, isn't there then high risk of cable damage?

For the record, car it'd (currently) be going in would be a 56-plate Mondeo hatch.



Side note, out of interest how come you have so much experience of various dash cams?
Are you a tester for a company or companies?

 

[Nigel]

I know we're getting scientific but why is 2k better than 4k in the country lane situation? You say it's more sensitive, why is that?

2K is better because it is more sensitive, which means it can use a faster "shutter speed", which results in less motion blur during each exposure, which increases the chance of reading number plates. Especially when two cars driving in opposite directions get within a few cm of each other, as they typically do on UK country lanes. Being close increases motion blur since it increases the speed that the object crosses the image. At the distances you get on USA roads there is far less difference in the motion blur but the resolution is then more important, especially with their small plates, and there the 4K cameras are more popular.

The reason 2K is more sensitive is mainly because if you have more pixels squashed in then you also have more pixel walls/borders squashed in, which means the total light collecting area is reduced by the extra gaps between the pixels. There are a few other technical issues too but that is the main one. The A129 Pro 4K is actually almost as good on motion blur as the 2K cameras and significantly better than most other 4K cameras because it uses a larger sensor that almost makes up for the loss of light collecting area.

I had a gander at the VIOFO app on the android store. Didn't really get high ratings.

Yes, almost the only people who bother to rate the app are the people who couldn't get it to work for some reason!

Normally due to network setup issues with their phones. Some of the older phones had a lot of issues, some couldn't talk mobile data at the same time as talking wifi, but newish phones along with recent versions of the app have very few problems. I've had no problems at all with the iphone version and insignificant issues with the android version, and that is not with particularly new mobile devices.

There are a few things that the app doesn't do that some people expect, such as replaying GPS data, and some people seem to like to complain about things like that.

People who find it works well enjoy using it, without getting any nag screens asking them to rate the app, so never think of giving it a good rating! It is actually quite decent.

I also read that was it the A139 has a coax rear cable (or is that the 129? I've read too much now that things are starting to blend). That's a little concerning. Obviously i don't want huge thick cabling but isn't coax cable quite thin? And with the boot opening and closing, isn't there then high risk of cable damage?

Coax cable, especially the stuff used by Viofo, is indeed quite thin, and that is the advantage, easy to install.
You do need to install it so that when the boot opens it is not kinked or folded.
It is very flexible within reasonable limits, so as long as installed sensibly there are no concerns, it is flex, not solid cable.

Side note, out of interest how come you have so much experience of various dash cams?
Are you a tester for a company or companies?

I've tested cameras for a number of companies for many years, and have all the models I comment on. I generally don't comment on things that I don't have personal experience of unless it is issues that many people have posted on. Normally I test cameras (not just dashcams), and answer threads like this to provide feedback to the development process rather than to find bugs or write reviews, and when I do write "reviews" I try to cover the things that most reviewers don't.

 

[Mio NoVue]

Thanks very much for your response. Informative & interesting

I've just seen Paul Iddon's threads. a 4 way split of day time and night time comparisons. Ok on YouTube and not the raw video file but interesting all the same. https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...9-blueskysea-b4k-viofo-a129-pro-duo-4k.44030/ that was his night time one.

I think all-in-all, the 129 Pro Duo would be more suitable. While I do mostly day time driving, this time of year (when i'm not off work unlike right now) I only drive with no light. I'm off to work in the dark and i finish in the dark, so I think from the video footage I've seen (not just from Paul) the 129 Pro Duo hits an overall balance. There was 1 frame where there was a vehicle ahead and they were coming to a stop. 3 of the cameras picked up the plate of the car in front but in the same frame, the 139 did not because everything was just so bright. You'll obviously know what the technical term is for that but I just call it bright


When you hard wire using VIOFOs kit & the cameras parking mode is triggered, does it record front facing only or does it record from the rear also?

 

[Nigel]

When you hard wire using VIOFOs kit & the cameras parking mode is triggered, does it record front facing only or does it record from the rear also?

They record both front and rear, and if using event recording will look for motion in both front and rear images.

Paul often has raw video to upload, maybe a link in the YT description, or in whatever thread it was posted in.

Don't take individual frames too seriously, there are too many factors that influence the result.

And remember that you will still have insurance to sort accidents out, the dashcam is in addition, so reading 100% of plates is not essential, and no dashcam is capable of doing so anyway!