VIOFO - A129 Plus Duo vs A139 2CH

[Pandahatch]

Hi folks! New here, looking to get my first dashcam to cover my ass in case of any incidents.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and have been seeing that the 2.5k sensors tend to have better image quality than the 4K sensor on the A129 Pro.

I just bought a new 2021 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison and want to film some of my off-roading for fun but really I want a dashcam to protect myself from any incidents.

I understand that license plate reading is a wash, and likely not going to happen, so I plan on repeating the license plate out loud if I ever end up in a sticky situation.

I know the A139 2CH is newer, but I’m a little confused on the differences here and which one I should go with?

I plan on hardwiring and using the buffered parking mode.

Are there any other resources I need to read as far as maintenance, installation, best practices, what MicroSD to use, etc?

Thanks!

 

[Mtz]

Show us a picture of your windshield behind the rearview camera. We want to see if there is some black dotted area and its size.
Take the picture from inside car

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Pandahatch]

Show us a picture of your windshield behind the rearview camera. We want to see if there is some black dotted area and its size.
Take the picture from inside car

enjoy,
Mtz

Is this what you are looking for?

 

[SawMaster]

Form factor will play a big part here and while either will fit, it looks like the A129 Pro will fit better. I do like the A139 and so far nobody has had any reliability issues with it, but it's new without a history, while the A129 Pro has been out a while so it does have a history you can find longer-term results about. Another good choice here might be the Street Guardian Dual-remote- not as high-spec but would install well with good imaging too.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

Dont look to be mush / any frit / dotted area on the windscreen.
A A139 if you want to install it beside the sensor housing on the windscreen, you will have to put it on the passenger R side of it, as the A139 slide to the Right to get off its mount.

I can not recall how it is with the A129 plus duo, it it slide up to get off the mount or it is also to one side, anyway you have to be mindful of this in the install.
Also can not see if there is a flat surface on that sensor housing, a few people have mounted off such a surface on the windscreen, and if it can be made to peek out below it, the install will be quite stealthy.

In the back with that sliding window ( well i assume it slide ) you of course have to be mindful here too if you install the rear camera on it, so when closed ( which i assume it will be moist times ) then the wire are tight and out of the way, but when you open it the wire will be slack and dangle down a bit.

Ill agree with Phil, the A129 plus duo will look more as just another sensor on the windscreen, the A139 a bit lesser in that aspect.

 

[kamkar]

Just noticed.
As you have that roll bar in the bed and it do block side view a little ( at least if you mount offset to one side ) then it might probably be the best idea to mount on the middle "active" part of the rear window.
In the middle the view should not be blocked too much towards the sides, but it will be a lot to one side if you mount it offset to either side.

Dont be too focused on wanting to see the LCD screen of a dashcamera during install, it will be a good idea to be able to see it without contorting too much, but otherwise you should have no need to see it.
Of course with the A139 thats no problem as it have no screen, but then you at least need to be able to get to the buttons, for instance to turn on wifi to make a setting change or something else.
Also the on camera event button, i put a little 60 grit sand paper on my event button so it was easy to feel, even if the A139 in my car are in plain sight.
As i recall the A139 do also support remote button event button on bluetooth, which might be handy if you have hidden that model camera well.

 

[Pandahatch]

Thank you guys for the thoughtful replies! It sounds like both are viable options. Totally going to mount it on the sliding window, not worried about it as it will be closed 99.9% of the time. I am not worried if it is fully hidden or not, and don’t plan on using the LCD screen very often.

Are there any quality or feature differences between the A129 Plus Duo and A139?

 

[SawMaster]

One main difference is the form-factor of the rear cam. You may prefer one over the other, especially with a center mounting possibly appearing in your field of view in the rear view mirror.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

The A139 use little coaxial wires, only half the thickness of the traditional USB wires used for remote cameras.
This mean they also use a very small clik in place plug, so for something that can experience "flex" like opening the window in the back, that might be a problem, so i think i would go for the A129.

Regarding IQ i dont think there are much difference, i think the A139 have a more capable SOC to handle the cameras, but i dont think there are anything there directly aimed at better IQ.
The A139 could probably handle a faster bitrate if it have a better class SOC in it, but that is something that would probably not be tapped into from the factory as we have seen in many other cameras where modders have bumped bitrate up considerably over the stock bitrate.