Hello! Best option for a bus?

[Digital_Dad]

Hello from the MidWest USA! I drive at 5-7am when it is dark outside and turns light out. Then again at 3-5pm both times I drive a bus on very rough back country roads with lots of washboards and pot holes. Sun glare especially in the am hours is a real concern. A very strong mount that will work on a completely vertical bus windshield is going to be necessary. It will be plugged in to a always on 12v outlet so if I understand it right I need motion detection to make the cam start recording automatically each time I drive without having to push any buttons. GPS would be very helpful and wifi to review videos would be nice so I don't have to pull the SD card every time to see the videos. It doesn't get very hot where we live but it does get to zero sometimes but the bus will be warmed up before driven. Parking protection isn't important. A good lens, Sony sensor, resolution, plate viewing all seem important. I have been looking at the Viofo A129 with GPS and the CPL filter as a possible option?

 

[Nigel]

A CPL filter will be pointless on a vertical windshield, you shouldn't have much reflection anyway, but even if you do it will not remove them and will reduce the low light performance.

A129 should be good, or A129 Duo to record the passengers on the rear cam?

Note that the A129 doesn't power down in parking mode, it will just reduce the frame rate, which is probably good but will drain the vehicle battery if not driven for a while. Probably not much of an issue with a big bus battery though.

 

[kamkar]

On rough roads i will not recommend anything with a suction cup, you will need to stick a mount on the windscreen with dual sided tape.
The Viofo cameras are not bad.
Not so sure about wifi, it tend to be some slow stuff in dashcams, so navigating and viewing recordings that way will probably be a pain.

Driving into a low sun are just as bad for a dashcam as the human eye, maybe worse as you dont have a sunshade for the dashcam.

 

[jokiin]

You'll see improvement in wifi speeds next year, current product is still limited to the point where taking the card out is still the better option

 

[Digital_Dad]

Would one of the A119's be better? (A119, A119 Pro or A119S) I read the WiFi on the A129 was 2.4 to 5ghz not sure if that affects download and viewing speeds or not though. Are there any other brand options in that price range?

 

[Nigel]

Would one of the A119's be better? (A119, A119 Pro or A119S) I read the WiFi on the A129 was 2.4 to 5ghz not sure if that affects download and viewing speeds or not though. Are there any other brand options in that price range?

I find WiFi on the A129 perfectly usable, as long as I don't want to download the entire 128GB memory card in just a few seconds, like some people do! I only use the wifi for setup and playback of recordings while on the road, at home I would put the card in the computer.

I think most of the issues people have are more to do with the receiving equipment rather than the camera.