Viofo A229 Plus or 2x A119 Mini 2?

[prv008]

So Viofo seems to be having a spring sale on Amazon with the A119 Mini 2 ($99) and Viofo A229 Plus ($180).

Can someone kindly help me make a decision between buying a single A229 Plus vs 2x A119 Mini 2 (one for front and one for rear). I researched the pros and cons mentioned in all the other threads here and it seems like the decision between 2 single channel and one dual channel dash cam is fairly evenly split and I am losing my mind over this decision.

 

[mentadent]

My 3 channel VIOFO has been excellent for years.

I would get the 2 channel because it's easier to check if it is working before you drive off, instead of two, where you would have to look behind you to see a tiny LED.

 

[prv008]

@mentadent That makes sense, thank you.

Also, for folks who have used dash cams for a while (I am new to this), two additional questions
1. Are single channel dash cams more reliable than 2 channel dash cams in the long run?
2. Do I really need a rear camera if I don't drive too much (could I just make due with a single A119 mini 2 in the front)?

 

[Panzer Platform]

Welcome to the club.
You are the second person in 2 weeks to wrestle with this decision.
Use Promo Code MikeDmini2 for 5% off the Mini 2’s.

Final Decision. A229 Plus Duo or A119 Mini 2 x2

So I want to upgrade from A129 Pro Duo to something with starvis 2 chip. I am going to use A129 pro duo on my other car. 2 finalist are A229 plus duo or 2x A119 Mini 2 Which one should I go with?

dashcamtalk.com

Convenience: A229 Plus 2-CH ($180)
Image Quality: A119 Mini F&R ($99 each)

A119 Mini 2 additional costs;
$15 2nd CPL Filter
$18 2nd HK4 Hardwire Kit
$?? 2nd SD Card

1. Are single channel dash cams more reliable than 2 channel dash cams in the long run?

YES!

2. Do I really need a rear camera

Yes, kinda.
And also side cameras. lol

 

[prv008]

You are the second person in 2 weeks to wrestle with this decision.
Use Promo Code MikeDmini2 for 5% off the Mini 2’s.

Final Decision. A229 Plus Duo or A119 Mini 2 x2

So I want to upgrade from A129 Pro Duo to something with starvis 2 chip. I am going to use A129 pro duo on my other car. 2 finalist are A229 plus duo or 2x A119 Mini 2 Which one should I go with?

dashcamtalk.com

Convenience: A229 Plus 2-CH ($180)
Image Quality: A119 Mini F&R ($99 each)

A119 Mini 2 additional costs;
$15 2nd CPL Filter
$18 2nd HK4 Hardwire Kit
$?? 2nd SD Card

View attachment 71393


YES!


Yes, kinda.
And also side cameras. lol

Glad I am not alone and thanks so much for the promo code for the A119 Mini 2. You sold me on the necessity of a rear cam (will skip the side cameras for now though!)

Are single channel dash cams really significantly more reliable in the long run - if so, do folks still put up with them just for the convenience (vs buying two single channel ones)?

 

[Panzer Platform]

Are single channel dash cams really significantly more reliable in the long run

I can only speak to my personal experience with multi channel vs. single channel dash cams.
Single channel dash cams have "always" been more reliable based on my personal experience.
But that’s not why I like them so much.
The second channel (rear) of a multi channel dash cam “never” has the same, or equal image quality as the main (front) camera.
It can be the same image sensor, but they always find a way to make the rear worse by reducing the Bitrate of the rear camera, or something else.
You also get the benefit of of redundancy, (if one fails you still have the other).
You also get double the recording time because you’ll have twice the SD Card capacity.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I would get the 2 channel because it's easier to check if it is working before you drive off, instead of two, where you would have to look behind you to see a tiny LED.

This is kind of true.
When I want to verify if my A119 Mini 2 on the rear window is working I bark some voice commands to see if it responds like; “turn on screen / turn off screen”.
Or you can cuss him out;

 

[prv008]

I bought both the A119 and A229 and here are some non-obvious differences I observed that I hope will help folks in the future.

Pros for Viofo A119 Mini 2:

• Parking mode works perfectly in non-hardwired mode (my car has always-on ports). A119 Mini 2 goes into parking mode after being stationary for 5 minutes and can also completely turn off camera after some time. A229's parking mode was super buggy (probably works fine in hardwired mode though).
• Higher resolution options than advertised (reaching almost 3k @ 30fps)
• Faster boot times (8 vs 16 seconds)

Pros for Viofo A229 Plus:

• Wifi station mode to connect to home router and browse files from laptop without needing to disconnect from internet (although per Viofo support, this will come to A119 Mini 2 in the future).
• Rear camera is significantly smaller and discreet (compared to the A119 Mini 2 at the rear).
• Max bitrate option (A119 mini 2 doesn't have this option)

 

[The collector]

This point above about the mini 2.

Parking mode works perfectly in non-hardwired mode (my car has always-on ports). A119 Mini 2 goes into parking mode after being stationary for 5 minutes and can also completely turn off camera after some time.
Is this still a definite feature of the item after any firmware updates?

If it has constant power from whatever source, it will go into parking mode after 5 minutes rather than at the point of ignition off when ordinarily hard wired with the HK4 kit?

 

[Nigel]

If it has constant power from whatever source, it will go into parking mode after 5 minutes rather than at the point of ignition off when ordinarily hard wired with the HK4 kit?

Yes, which can be good, but note that it will be slower to wake up , and there is no low voltage cutoff on the camera, not a problem if you set the parking duration to 1 hour, but you don’t want to use it for 24/7 parking mode.

 

[The collector]

Yes, which can be good, but note that it will be slower to wake up

Thank you Nigel. It will have to wake up with movement then, is there anything obvious to tell you this, speech, screen on or something either within the hour or after it has shut down?

I take it this is from movement of a sensor, shock or whatever and not GPS because I might not bother with GPS at all.

 

[Nigel]

I would expect a voice notification when it exits parking mode, along with a status LED change, and if it has powered down then you should get the startup sound.

I don't know how it wakes up, some of the Viofo dashcams now turn off the GPS when parked, to save power, so I doubt that it uses GPS. If it has shut down due to parking timer expiration, I would expect that everything would be powered off except for the g-sensor, which uses almost zero power, so then it has to be the g-sensor that triggers wake up. The Mini 1 I have will definitely wake up on g-sensor, I've not tested a Mini 2, but based on prv008's post it works "perfectly", so I think it must wake up on g-sensor...

 

[The collector]

OK, that sounds likely. I suppose if I want it turned off, there is always the off button (which the VS1 doesn't not have I believe).