Paul Iddon
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2016
- Messages
- 1,713
- Reaction score
- 1,340
- Location
- Preston
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Dash Cam
- Viofo A139 Pro 4K, A129 Pro Duo 4K, A229 Duo 2K, & NB 522GW
I recently acquired a new to the market dashcam from VAVA - a company that used Kickstarter to join the business revolution!
My thanks to Sally at Vava for helping get this sample set up.
I have 3 short videos for you to watch - the first is a quick unboxing video, then two of me driving round to have a look at the daylight quality of this 1080p dashcam.
The bad news is that I'm in one of them so please accept my apologies beforehand!!!
The good news is that this dashcam is pretty decent all round, with a couple of distinctive features to help it along the way. First is the shape... The camera is housed in a flat round pancake body - and I cannot think of any others that has this unique housing. It is a little on the large size - I think it might benefit from being 20% smaller. Second is the 360° rotation which will allow the user to aim the camera in any direction, and already many are talking up the fun option here for carpool karaoke James Corden style!
On to a couple of VAVA facts - the camera is using the Sony Starvis series IMX291 CMOS sensor which should give good night time recording (I cannot test this just yet because it gets past 11pm before darkness falls!) Add to this, VAVA says they will offer lifetime technical support and software updates.
The lens covers 155° so it is really quite a wide view - showing plenty of road, but also plenty of the interior dashboard area of my car. However, this is actually very good when rotated through 180° to look into the car (aside from being able to see me) where you get a very good view of all that goes on inside the car. You get six elements and an infrared lens - it would be interesting to see that in action, but as mentioned, I won't be able to do that easily, but hopefully, there will be videos elsewhere on the WWW that will show this feature.
The cam comes with a remote button which you can stick anywhere safely to hand which with a simple press, saves a 20 second video should something unexpected happen.
The WiFi app (on Android and IOS phones) allows social media sharing, wireless transfer, and a live feed to your mobile phone, and it is well featured and easy to use. It is vital to have though, because if you remove the memory card to take into the house for transferring files, and of course for the first time set up during installation (comes with a car removal trim tool to help along with cable tidies) you need to be able to see where the lens is pointing so that it records at the correct angles.
Onto the video quality, the default is 1080p at 60fps and on my test runs, the video is perfectly acceptable for a 1080p camera - bearing in mind that windscreen does offer up reflections that without a CPL on the lens, does reduce the video clarity as you would expect. As far as I know, there are no plans for a CPL, and it would also be a challenge to put on on a round housing unit anyway, should one be developed. Given that, I could see clearly as I can on my other brands of dashcam. In a still image (see below) license plates can be read, though not in every instance, and not as clearly as some other dashcams manage but enough to keep me happy (remember, I had this mounted alongside others so not in theideal position you would do if it was the only one on the windscreen) and this may be affecting the video a little bit because of the angle and position.
Audio via the built in microphone is a little bit lacking in bass tones, but clear enough to record conversations and the radio/cd music you might be playing.
One thing I do like is the GPS module that is in the power cable, that you can attach safely wherever you need it (on the windscreen, or on interior trim). This is quite a novel idea and is an interesting concept. So you can build up your own travel journal.
The mount is a sticky-type suction mount (so do not let mucky bits onto it as you install) and this holds a magnetic joiner that lets you simply clip the round dashcam body to it nice and easy. It just clunks into place, but allows the previously mentioned 360° rotation and also allows the tilting in all directions to get the view forward (or behind) correct, and the horizon straight.
The cam features a parking mode to save 15 second videos should motion be detected, and the internal battery stays alive for 72 hours so no worries there. After recording, the cam goes back into parking mode.
One thing to note - I had a prompt to update the firmware after my first journey, so it would be worthwhile checking during installation that the firmware is up to date.
Screengrabs:
Video files:
Overall, pretty good camera with some new features, and good enough (daylight) video.
You can download the pdf files for the manual and a detailed guide HERE and HERE.
Paul.
My thanks to Sally at Vava for helping get this sample set up.
I have 3 short videos for you to watch - the first is a quick unboxing video, then two of me driving round to have a look at the daylight quality of this 1080p dashcam.
The bad news is that I'm in one of them so please accept my apologies beforehand!!!
The good news is that this dashcam is pretty decent all round, with a couple of distinctive features to help it along the way. First is the shape... The camera is housed in a flat round pancake body - and I cannot think of any others that has this unique housing. It is a little on the large size - I think it might benefit from being 20% smaller. Second is the 360° rotation which will allow the user to aim the camera in any direction, and already many are talking up the fun option here for carpool karaoke James Corden style!
On to a couple of VAVA facts - the camera is using the Sony Starvis series IMX291 CMOS sensor which should give good night time recording (I cannot test this just yet because it gets past 11pm before darkness falls!) Add to this, VAVA says they will offer lifetime technical support and software updates.
The lens covers 155° so it is really quite a wide view - showing plenty of road, but also plenty of the interior dashboard area of my car. However, this is actually very good when rotated through 180° to look into the car (aside from being able to see me) where you get a very good view of all that goes on inside the car. You get six elements and an infrared lens - it would be interesting to see that in action, but as mentioned, I won't be able to do that easily, but hopefully, there will be videos elsewhere on the WWW that will show this feature.
The cam comes with a remote button which you can stick anywhere safely to hand which with a simple press, saves a 20 second video should something unexpected happen.
The WiFi app (on Android and IOS phones) allows social media sharing, wireless transfer, and a live feed to your mobile phone, and it is well featured and easy to use. It is vital to have though, because if you remove the memory card to take into the house for transferring files, and of course for the first time set up during installation (comes with a car removal trim tool to help along with cable tidies) you need to be able to see where the lens is pointing so that it records at the correct angles.
Onto the video quality, the default is 1080p at 60fps and on my test runs, the video is perfectly acceptable for a 1080p camera - bearing in mind that windscreen does offer up reflections that without a CPL on the lens, does reduce the video clarity as you would expect. As far as I know, there are no plans for a CPL, and it would also be a challenge to put on on a round housing unit anyway, should one be developed. Given that, I could see clearly as I can on my other brands of dashcam. In a still image (see below) license plates can be read, though not in every instance, and not as clearly as some other dashcams manage but enough to keep me happy (remember, I had this mounted alongside others so not in theideal position you would do if it was the only one on the windscreen) and this may be affecting the video a little bit because of the angle and position.
Audio via the built in microphone is a little bit lacking in bass tones, but clear enough to record conversations and the radio/cd music you might be playing.
One thing I do like is the GPS module that is in the power cable, that you can attach safely wherever you need it (on the windscreen, or on interior trim). This is quite a novel idea and is an interesting concept. So you can build up your own travel journal.
The mount is a sticky-type suction mount (so do not let mucky bits onto it as you install) and this holds a magnetic joiner that lets you simply clip the round dashcam body to it nice and easy. It just clunks into place, but allows the previously mentioned 360° rotation and also allows the tilting in all directions to get the view forward (or behind) correct, and the horizon straight.
The cam features a parking mode to save 15 second videos should motion be detected, and the internal battery stays alive for 72 hours so no worries there. After recording, the cam goes back into parking mode.
One thing to note - I had a prompt to update the firmware after my first journey, so it would be worthwhile checking during installation that the firmware is up to date.
Screengrabs:
Video files:
Overall, pretty good camera with some new features, and good enough (daylight) video.
You can download the pdf files for the manual and a detailed guide HERE and HERE.
Paul.
