Confused and need help (Viofo A129 Duo/+, Anker Roav DashCam Duo, 70mai A800, Vantrue S1, Bluesky B2W )

[Ygrec]

Hi to all,

After an unfortunate accident, when somebody bumped into my car's back bumper while it was parked in a public lot and left without leaving a trace, I decided it was time to get a dashcam.
I've spent many hours researching the web, including this site that looks like an awesome source. Managed to narrow my choices to a few models, but now I'm stuck at that. It looks like most of the dashcam reviews on the web don't take into consideration what is really important, like functionality or reliability.

I don't need anything fancy. Not sure I'll ever use stuff like ADAS or even GPS, and don't care much about the video quality, as long as it's possible to discern the number on the license plate of a car that bumps into mine . Basically, that's the main or the only reason I'm looking for a dashcam. And in all likelihood I'll only use it when the car is parked in public spaces, not when the car is at home.

I guess I need a dual cam, just in case that someone bumps into my car's behind again. And I guess Uber-like cams won't help in this case. So I concentrated on front + rear cams. All the models above, Viofo A129 Duo, Viofo A129 Duo Plus, Anker Roav DashCam Duo, 70mai A800, Vantrue S1, 70mai A800, Bluesky B2W look good. I see that Bluesky B2W is a front + interior cam, but if the lenses are fully rotatable, that means it can cover front and rear, right?
I can get Anker Roav Duo really cheap, but the review here says the video quality is pretty poor. The question is should it be a dealbreaker, keeping the above in mind? And the 70mai A800 looks really good on paper, but it has a battery instead of a capacitor, and someone said that its parking mode is not effective because it only starts recording after a bump is detected. Again, I'm not really sure about the practical implications of that.
Viofo seems to get the best reviews, but isn't its hardware (particularly the optical sensors) a bit outdated now? And I couldn't find any useful reviews for Viofo A129 Duo Plus, that at least on paper seems preferable, and costs not much more. And then there is Vantrue S1, that also looks good, and can be a bit cheaper than Viofo.

I also don't quite get the thing with the hardwiring kit. I understand it's used to plug the cam to the car's battery, but is that the only way to use the cam in parking mode, like to capture any event when your care is damaged while parking?

Sorry for the multitude of questions, but as the title says, I'm pretty confused. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

 

[kamkar]

Using parking mode in Israel i think will be hard, a dashcam or for that matter any electronics have a upper thermal limit set forth by the components used in them, and for a camera on a windscreen in Israel i think that limit will be hit quickly if the car is parked in the sun.

A hard wire kit are mostly there to provide power to the camera when parked, they also have a low battery cut off which you need to make sure your car can still start when you get back to it ( stay above 12.2 Volts )
You do now want a dashcam with a battery in it in Israel, first of all the battery are just for shutting down the camera in case of a violent event where regular power might get lost, and lipo batteries are no good with high heat,,,,,, or very low temperature for that matter, so capacitor based cameras are the best thing.

Some do / have used a USB power bank, and it is also okay in a not so warm or cold place, but the down side is you need to charge the power bank or have 2 you switch in between.
Still no good for Israel as the USB power banks are still lipo batteries, so you could risk burning your car down to the ground ( just look at youtube for lipo battery fire )

For sure you will want a few things to attempt pulling it off.
1: A cool running camera, so this exclude 4K cameras that run hotter than lesser resolutions.
2: A camera that can do time lapse for parking mode, or regular recording but with a lower bitrate to minimize heat generation in the camera itself. ( and low bitrate and time lapse are also less demanding on memory card space )
3: the best option are probably a camera with 1 or 2 remote cameras on a wire / wires, this mean you can put the main unit elsewhere in the car where it is not in the sun, this theoretically should mean the camera can run for longer before it do a thermal shut down.

Problem is these remote / dual remote systems are pretty new and rare, only a few to choose in between, there are some MC systems that i assume can be used in a car too, but all might not support parking guard.
And then there is a few actual dashcams where the Street Guardian SG9663DR probably are the top contender.

I am affiliated with Street Guardian as i often receive free cameras from them to test.

 

[Ygrec]

Thanks for the detailed response.
I saw that Street Guardian had glowing reviews here, but it costs about twice as much as the other cameras I'm considering. Which is really more than what I was thinking to spend on this. And looking at the specs, it has basically the same hardware as Viofo A129 (not Plus), so it's hard to see any reason to prefer it to Viofo (or, say, Vantrue).

As for the heat, I'm not in the desert part, so it's not really that bad here, not any worse than New York or Bucharest in the summer, and definitely better than, say, Phoenix, AZ. I know someone who uses a very basic front dashcam (Anker C1), and he hasn't had any heat issues.

I didn't think the 4K had that much of a difference in terms of temperature. But I think I can always choose a lower resolution, right?

So it sounds like I should opt for a cam with capacitor, which still leaves Viofo A129 Duo/Plus, Anker Roav DashCam Duo, Vantrue S1, or Bluesky B2W as possible choices.
I couldn't find any complete reviews for Viofo A129 Plus or Vantrue S1 here. There are a couple of video reviews for Vantrue, but I didn't find them very helpful.
Again, any input would be much appreciated.

 

[kamkar]

I think a 4K sensor still run as warm as if it was all being used, so no gain in using a lower resolution.
Besides 4K sensors are performing worse in low light, and going to a lower resolution are not done like binning pixels like you see on some phones where the 64 mpix sensor will bin 4 pixels in 1 for a better low light 12 mpix picture.
So make more sense to get a lower resolution that perform as good as it get.

yes but is that guy also using the Anker C1 for parking mode ? for the camera just sitting there turned off waiting for the next drive heat are almost never a problem, but if the camera have to be on and do something, and getting hit by the sun, then i even think the rare MAX warm Danish summer days of 30 deg C will be a challenge.
Sadly when i got the DR camera from street guardian to test it the Danish summer was almost over, and it wasent particular good this summer though i can remember worse like 2019 where we had 1 week of what i call summer.
And all that week i was sick with a infection in my leg

 

[Nigel]

I didn't think the 4K had that much of a difference in terms of temperature. But I think I can always choose a lower resolution, right?

All current 4K cameras that have real 4K do have temperature problems, many fake 4K ones are OK as long as they don't have batteries. Lowering the resolution doesn't normally make a big difference, only a small difference.

I couldn't find any complete reviews for Viofo A129 Plus

That is because it is new. Reviews will appear soon.

I have one here and so far it is working just as well as the A119 V3 that it is based on, so you can use reviews for that crossed with the A129 Duo as a guide, although it does have a wider angle lens than the A119 V3. I think it is a good choice, although it is not well tested yet, especially in heat. It does have quite a low power consumption which means it is unlikely to have heat problems and is good for parking mode battery life.


If you want something cheaper, then the Blueskysea W4K is a possibility, again new and without many reviews, and definitely a "fake 4K", really 2K camera, but quite nice. Still a few minor issues to sort out, and it is cheaper than the A129 Plus Duo for good reason, and I think the A129 Plus will do better in the heat. The B2W is a nice camera, but not ideal for catching plates at the rear, the resolution is a bit low for the rear and also the angle from the front means plates can be hidden from view when they are close enough to read.

 

[Ygrec]

yes but is that guy also using the Anker C1 for parking mode ?

He says sometimes.

Thanks, that narrows my choice quite a bit. That leaves Viofo A129 Duo/Plus, Anker Roav DashCam Duo, Vantrue S1, Bluesky B2W.

and I think the A129 Plus will do better in the heat.

Thanks Nigel! Any reason to chose the A129 Plus over the older A129? And what's your take on B2W, I see you also have it?

 

[Nigel]

Thanks Nigel! Any reason to chose the A129 Plus over the older A129?

The plus is QHD (2K) front instead of FHD (1080) so twice the detail, and that does make a difference.

I think the Plus is likely to get better support with firmware upgrades in future, the older A129 is now last generation rather than next generation.

The older A129 does have a good image sensor for night use, but the A129 Plus makes up for it with the extra resolution even in the dark, and is significantly better in daytime.

There is not much else, essentially it is exactly the same case with electronics that are a mix of A119 V3 and A129 Duo and arguably with a better front sensor, especially if the HDR support gets implemented. Rear camera is essentially the same although it is new electronics.

Not sure what the pricing is, maybe there are some discounted older versions available at the moment, the list price I think is the same, in which case I would definitely choose the Plus.

Note that there are always some risks with taking a new release, sometimes you have to wait for bugs to be fixed if you want all features working perfectly, but the basics do work OK.

 

[Ygrec]

in which case I would definitely choose the Plus.

Thanks again, that's very helpful!
The difference in price is very minor, about $17 on Aliexpress, so it sounds like the Plus is the one to chose. And the Blueskysea W4K costs about the same as the older A129, so I gather there's no particular reason to chose it over Viofo.

 

[Nigel]

And the Blueskysea W4K costs about the same as the older A129, so I gather there's no particular reason to chose it over Viofo.

It does have a 2K front sensor, so is competing with the A129 Plus, but is built as a budget camera rather than a fully featured high image quality dashcam. I would probably choose it over the older A129 except that the parking mode is inferior, no pre-buffering or pre-recording, so not ideal for your requirement. Needs a bigger difference in price to choose it over the A129 plus, even if parking mode isn't a consideration.

 

[SawMaster]

My B2W has been recording continuously 24/7/365 for about two years now, and it has frozen up and stopped recording only a few times when in the hottest parts of summer in a closed van. It is as reliable as any cam and better than most. With my large battery I can go up to about 30 hours recording before the battery gets low- you should be able to do 24 hours in all but the smallest cars. The lenses do rotate, but not 360 degrees. Each can be turned well past sideways in both directions though. If you stand in front of your car and look through the glass where it would be mounted, you can get an idea of what it will see through the back window. It won't get as much as a cam with a separate rear lens module but it might be enough.

I'm also using the W4K with parking mode, and though it does have some frame drops and frame doubling, the image quality is quite good up front and OK in back and both the g-sensor and motion detect work very well in my unit. Time between detection and recording start is about one second, which should capture something like the event you've experienced already. The motion detect only works with the front cam so you'd be relying on g-sensor for rear protection, however that works well with mine. The only problem there would be that it is a single setting, so if you set it to high sensitivity for parking you're going to get a bunch of locked files while driving. The rear cam bracket might be a problem as well. I didn't get a chance to test mine in the worst summer heat, but it has done well on hot days.

Some Viofo cams have issues when used with their parking mode- you need to research that yourself on the model you're considering as there are work-arounds for some of that, but it may be something you don't care to do, and the different models have different issues. Viofo is renowned for vid quality and that matters a lot when you need details such as plate numbers and people's faces. I've never seen any Anker cam video with really good vid quality, but they do seem reliable enough. Supercaps only; LiPo batteries are seriously obsolete technology now and have nothing to recommend them even in cool climates.

I would recommend that you consider using a low-bitrate type parking mode over the other methods, as then you will have images of the event since it's always recording. Even pre-buffering may do you no good if the detection function doesn't tell the cam something has happened, and detection schemes are never 100% even in the best of cams. Full-time recording like I do voids warranties and can kill or shorten the life of your cam but it's 100% certain, though you have to view the vids to find the event which may take hours, so I don't recommend it.

Phil

 

[Ygrec]

Thanks to all, you've been most helpful, and it's a great community you got here!

My B2W has been recording continuously 24/7/365 for about two years now

It's now down to B2W/W4K or Viofo A129 Plus. I saw it was possible to override the parking mode in Viofo. Is there something similar in the B2W and W4K ? I'll probably only use the parking mode when the car is parked outside/at public lots, not at home, so I won't need it on all the time.

 

[SawMaster]

Both the B2W and W4K are made by "Blueskysea", a reputable and well established dashcam manufacturer. I do some beta-testing of their products for them. Parking mode can be turned off or on in the menu settings with the B2W and W4K, which takes a little more effort than a single button push but it's easy to do and you can do it before leaving home for the day. With both you'll need the hardwire kit to utilize parking mode. Individual cams vary, but my W4K has a well-tuned g-sensor and the motion detect is equally good but maybe a bit sensitive as it activates when someone is walking 10m in front of the van. It can also be turned off or on in the menu.

I think the Viofo A129+ can be switched in and out of parking mode with a single button-push which would be easier, and it too is a reputable and well-established cam manufacturer. It's rear cam will have better images than the two above, and the front cam will be better than the B2W. IIRC it has 'overheat protection' which means the cam will shut down if the temperature gets too hot. I personally don't like that as I've never lost a cam to heat but you can decide for yourself. I have had cams 'freeze up' and stop recording parked in the heat but they always begin working again by unplugging the power then putting it back.

Of these 3, two are relatively new cams so do not yet have a long history to go by in deciding which to get, but the B2W has a proven track record and does as well in high heat as almost any other cam does so I can recommend it without qualification. It's unusual form-factor doesn't always integrate well with some cars but is excellent where it does work. The W4K does have video issues still, but not anything which would interfere with capturing evidence, and the A129+ is an extension of an older design so it should be OK. Any of these three should be a good choice.

Phil

 

[Harsh]

I think the Viofo A129+ can be switched in and out of parking mode with a single button-push which would be easier, and it too is a reputable and well-established cam manufacturer. It's rear cam will have better images than the two above, and the front cam will be better than the B2W. IIRC it has 'overheat protection' which means the cam will shut down if the temperature gets too hot. I personally don't like that as I've never lost a cam to heat but you can decide for yourself. I have had cams 'freeze up' and stop recording parked in the heat but they always begin working again by unplugging the power then putting it back.

I think one needs to go into the menu to turn Parking Mode on or off. Unless they've added that functionality via the bluetooth remote, I don't think it's single push.

 

[Ygrec]

Thank you all! Really, you've been most helpful!