TonyM
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2013
- Messages
- 5,506
- Reaction score
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- Country
- United Kingdom
- Dash Cam
- Looking for something new
I received a pre-release T130 from Viofo to test & review. I have previously tested the A129, A129 Pro and A139.
Looking only at the specifications, the T130 appears very similar to the A139, Viofo's other 3CH dashcam. The front, rear and interior cameras have the same resolution. What makes the T130 different is the form factor. It is Viofo's first barrel camera, in a departure from their usual wedge style cameras, and the main body houses both the front camera and an articulated interior camera.
The T130 is seen here on the left. The remote interior camera above the T130 belongs to the A139 on the right.
Being a barrel camera, the front-facing lens of the T130 is offset from the mount. The T130 can be mounted upside-down, so the user can install it with the front camera positioned on either the left or right side of the mount. Having such mounting options is useful and much appreciated. The A139 by comparison can only be mounted with the front lens on the right side of the main unit, which does limit where it can be installed in some cars.
The rear-view mirror (RVM) sits rather low on the windscreen in my car. Usually this is good for hiding dashcams out of sight on the passenger side behind the mirror. However doing this would leave the interior camera looking at the back of the mirror. This is a camera that needs to be seen, so it can see back into the cabin. That is fine for taxi or ride share drivers. It might not suit private drivers so much, who may prefer to hide the A139 out of sight and have only the discreet remote interior camera facing into the cabin.
After trialling a few locations, I finally decided to mount the T130 on the driver's side, above the RVM. The front camera is far enough to the right to miss the dotted area next to the rain/light sensor housing, and the interior camera gets a good view into the cabin. The rear camera cable plugged into the far end of the T130 is rather noticeable and I find it spoils the appearance of the rounded barrel shape. If possible, I would have preferred the rear camera cable connect into the mount block, near the power cable, so that the cable routing could be tidier.
The interior camera has a good wide field of view that extends to both side doors. The new Omnivision sensor used in this interior camera appears to have excellent dynamic range and has consistently recorded video with good exposure within the cabin in all lighting conditions, both day & night.
The upper edge of my car windscreen has a fairly shallow slope angle around 21-23 degrees. This T130 preview sample has just enough range of vertical angle adjustment to aim the front camera at the desired angle when mounted in my car. I understand Viofo are looking into whether they can increase the range of vertical angle rotation.
Initially I was concerned about access to the microSD card slot located on the top of the barrel, especially with the shallow windscreen angle. There was no need to worry though. Being able to rotate the T130 barrel towards the driver means the microSD card slot can be accessed easily.
Looking only at the specifications, the T130 appears very similar to the A139, Viofo's other 3CH dashcam. The front, rear and interior cameras have the same resolution. What makes the T130 different is the form factor. It is Viofo's first barrel camera, in a departure from their usual wedge style cameras, and the main body houses both the front camera and an articulated interior camera.
The T130 is seen here on the left. The remote interior camera above the T130 belongs to the A139 on the right.
Being a barrel camera, the front-facing lens of the T130 is offset from the mount. The T130 can be mounted upside-down, so the user can install it with the front camera positioned on either the left or right side of the mount. Having such mounting options is useful and much appreciated. The A139 by comparison can only be mounted with the front lens on the right side of the main unit, which does limit where it can be installed in some cars.
The rear-view mirror (RVM) sits rather low on the windscreen in my car. Usually this is good for hiding dashcams out of sight on the passenger side behind the mirror. However doing this would leave the interior camera looking at the back of the mirror. This is a camera that needs to be seen, so it can see back into the cabin. That is fine for taxi or ride share drivers. It might not suit private drivers so much, who may prefer to hide the A139 out of sight and have only the discreet remote interior camera facing into the cabin.
After trialling a few locations, I finally decided to mount the T130 on the driver's side, above the RVM. The front camera is far enough to the right to miss the dotted area next to the rain/light sensor housing, and the interior camera gets a good view into the cabin. The rear camera cable plugged into the far end of the T130 is rather noticeable and I find it spoils the appearance of the rounded barrel shape. If possible, I would have preferred the rear camera cable connect into the mount block, near the power cable, so that the cable routing could be tidier.
The interior camera has a good wide field of view that extends to both side doors. The new Omnivision sensor used in this interior camera appears to have excellent dynamic range and has consistently recorded video with good exposure within the cabin in all lighting conditions, both day & night.
The upper edge of my car windscreen has a fairly shallow slope angle around 21-23 degrees. This T130 preview sample has just enough range of vertical angle adjustment to aim the front camera at the desired angle when mounted in my car. I understand Viofo are looking into whether they can increase the range of vertical angle rotation.
Initially I was concerned about access to the microSD card slot located on the top of the barrel, especially with the shallow windscreen angle. There was no need to worry though. Being able to rotate the T130 barrel towards the driver means the microSD card slot can be accessed easily.