kawayanan
New Member
Hello. I recently decided to get my first dashcam. My goal was a dual camera setup (front and rear - I don't need interior recording). I was going for something in the mid-range, hopefully good features, simple, and reliable. I was expecting to hardwire it, and wanted something reasonably unobtrusive. I was shooting for $150-200 range. I know there are very nice dashcams in the $300+ range, but I didn't want to go that high. After a bunch of reading and watching video, I ended up getting a Viofo A229 Duo. I looked seriously at the Viofo A129 Plus Duo, but at the time the A229 was on sale so the difference between the two was not that much.
Shortly after I ordered the Viofo, Jeff from Vantrue contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the Vantrue S1 Pro. I was interested, so I have been driving around with both in my truck for a bit. I figured it was a good chance to compare the two since they have pretty similar MSRPs and features. From the specs, the biggest difference seem to be the Vantrue has the Sony STARVIS 2 Sensor and can record up to 2.7K (1940P front) and 1080P rear. The Viofo does 2K (1440P) font and rear. Otherwise, both advertise very similar capabilities, including buffered parking mode (which the Viofo A129 didn't).
First impressions - both seem well made, but look a good bit different. I had originally worried about the size and shape of the Viofo, thinking it might not hide behind or along side the rearview mirror. Looking at the two, I think the Vantrue is actually a little smaller, but but it sticks out from the windshield a bit more, so they end up feeling similar in size. It honestly a little hard to tell which would be more unobtrusive because I got the Viofo first, so it got mounted next to the mirror, with the Vantrue to the outside of it.
I tried out both apps (both have 5GHz wifi). The apps seem pretty similar, and the setup was equally easy. I didn't make any significant changes, and have started with most everything the default setting. This ended up being 2K for both front sensors, and 2K rear (Viofo) / 1080P rear (Vantrue). After a little usage, I noticed a couple of things about the app. First, the Viofo makes me turn off the recording before I can do much of anything in the app (Vantrue doesn't). Both have a feature to show your GPS location on a map while playing back the video (nice), but you need to download the file to the phone before it works. The Viofo just worked with what looked like Google maps. The Vantrue for some reason didn't display the map, but gave a choice of different map sources. Not sure why it didn't work straight away, but I didn't mess with it. Changing setting setting was easy, but I only tried a couple. I told both to sync the time to my phone, and adjusted the loop recording to 3 minutes (was default on the Viofo, but was 1 min on the Vantrue). One other change I made was to the voice notifications on the Viofo. More on that later... Downloading the files in the app was easy on both, and no noticeable difference in the speed (not surprising since they both have the same wifi specs). If I wanted to save a bunch of files though, I would probably pull the card and transfer them to my computer using a USB adaptor (Viofo included on with the dashcam, but I don't think its needed - I have a bunch lying around). Another difference to note is the cord to the rear camera - Viofo uses a small coaxial cable (noticeably thinner) while the Vantrue uses a USB cable (male USB-C on both ends). The Vantrue cable is thicker, but I didn't have to run it anywhere that that seemed to make a difference. Asuming it is a standard USB cable though, I kind of like that I could replace it without difficulty if it was damaged somehow (I assume you would have to get Viofo's directly from them).
I'm not sure how to best show the video quality, since anything you would normally downsize videos to post online (otherwise they are really big). I put together a clip going by Walmart so you can see some of the video, but for comparisons of things like license plates, I took individual frames from the video and will crop them to compare. Here is the video (Vantrue on top and Viofo on the bottom:
Here are crops from individual matched frames. I took the raw frame and croped out the same size bit, so they should be evenly comparable. I matched the frames as close as I could get using indicators like brake or turn lights to sync up the videos. Here is one from the front camera, effectively stopped in a parking (the first with the text on the bottom is the Vantrue and the second is the Viofo):
Here are some crops while moving at 35 MPH. The car is oncoming traffic (likely at a similar speed) with a turn lane between us. Again, Vantrue is first and Viofo second:
I should note that I have not adjusted any of the video setting (resolution or HDR, etc). For the front sensor in daylight, most license plates while driving are not really readable unless the vehicles are matched in speed and not to far away. On those that can be read, the Vantrue seems to be able to resolve the plate a hair earlier (e.g. while approaching a stopped car, etc), but the difference is very slight. The video quality is similar, but I think that there is a bit of difference in the dashcam video processing that seems to favor slightly crisper lines on the Vantrue instead of fuzzier edges on the Viofo. This helps a little with plates, and may be from the STARVIS 2 Sensor. For this the Vantrue may be slightly better, but its slight. Adjustment of some of the settings may change things more.
For the rear, there is a difference in resolution between the two camera. Here are example crops. First driving 30 MPH with a car following (Vantrue first, Viofo second):
And another rear camera, this time traveling at 35 MPH with the other car going the opposite direction with a turn lanes between us (Vantrue first, Viofo second):
Overall, for daytime video I would say that the Vantrue is just a hair crisper, but the Viofo's added resolution in the rear edges out the 1080P Vantrue. Neither are hugely different. In general, you could either not read plates both, or you could read them on both.
I mentioned earlier that I turned off the Viofo voice notification. I just figured that I didn't need it telling me "Two Channel Started" every time I got in the car. When I pulled the cards today to get some additional video (including night), this appear to have come back o bite me. For some reason, the Viofo stopped recording a couple of days ago without me knowing. I am sure that it didn't have a card error on the screen, and I though that the light was indicating it was recording, but it wasn't. When I put the card back in though, it did give a card eroor and would not let me do anything (including reformat). I had to reformat the card on a computer and then it started working again. Not sure if it was the card or the Viofo, but both dashcams are running on Sandisk Extreme cards (recommended by Viofo). I'll have to see if the problem occures again. Potentially, the lack of "Two Channel Started" when I start the car could have alerted me.
The Vantrue didn't have voice notification, but is supposed to have voice control (me telling it to do things), but I haven't tried it. I did however run into one strange issue. One of the changes that I made in the setting for the Vantrue was to set it to turn off the screen after 30 sec (defaulted to stay on). Even 30 sec (shortest available setting) is longer than the Viofo default to turn off the screen though. This worked for a couple of days, but now the screen doesn't turn off at all. It still shows that it is set to 30 sec turn off, but it stays on. Strangely, the instruction manual doesn't show a button to press to turn it off either. I haven't fiddles more, so it has just stayed on.
I plan to compare the night video soon, and also the parking mode (which I haven't tried using yet). Hopefully more to follow.
Shortly after I ordered the Viofo, Jeff from Vantrue contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the Vantrue S1 Pro. I was interested, so I have been driving around with both in my truck for a bit. I figured it was a good chance to compare the two since they have pretty similar MSRPs and features. From the specs, the biggest difference seem to be the Vantrue has the Sony STARVIS 2 Sensor and can record up to 2.7K (1940P front) and 1080P rear. The Viofo does 2K (1440P) font and rear. Otherwise, both advertise very similar capabilities, including buffered parking mode (which the Viofo A129 didn't).
First impressions - both seem well made, but look a good bit different. I had originally worried about the size and shape of the Viofo, thinking it might not hide behind or along side the rearview mirror. Looking at the two, I think the Vantrue is actually a little smaller, but but it sticks out from the windshield a bit more, so they end up feeling similar in size. It honestly a little hard to tell which would be more unobtrusive because I got the Viofo first, so it got mounted next to the mirror, with the Vantrue to the outside of it.
I tried out both apps (both have 5GHz wifi). The apps seem pretty similar, and the setup was equally easy. I didn't make any significant changes, and have started with most everything the default setting. This ended up being 2K for both front sensors, and 2K rear (Viofo) / 1080P rear (Vantrue). After a little usage, I noticed a couple of things about the app. First, the Viofo makes me turn off the recording before I can do much of anything in the app (Vantrue doesn't). Both have a feature to show your GPS location on a map while playing back the video (nice), but you need to download the file to the phone before it works. The Viofo just worked with what looked like Google maps. The Vantrue for some reason didn't display the map, but gave a choice of different map sources. Not sure why it didn't work straight away, but I didn't mess with it. Changing setting setting was easy, but I only tried a couple. I told both to sync the time to my phone, and adjusted the loop recording to 3 minutes (was default on the Viofo, but was 1 min on the Vantrue). One other change I made was to the voice notifications on the Viofo. More on that later... Downloading the files in the app was easy on both, and no noticeable difference in the speed (not surprising since they both have the same wifi specs). If I wanted to save a bunch of files though, I would probably pull the card and transfer them to my computer using a USB adaptor (Viofo included on with the dashcam, but I don't think its needed - I have a bunch lying around). Another difference to note is the cord to the rear camera - Viofo uses a small coaxial cable (noticeably thinner) while the Vantrue uses a USB cable (male USB-C on both ends). The Vantrue cable is thicker, but I didn't have to run it anywhere that that seemed to make a difference. Asuming it is a standard USB cable though, I kind of like that I could replace it without difficulty if it was damaged somehow (I assume you would have to get Viofo's directly from them).
I'm not sure how to best show the video quality, since anything you would normally downsize videos to post online (otherwise they are really big). I put together a clip going by Walmart so you can see some of the video, but for comparisons of things like license plates, I took individual frames from the video and will crop them to compare. Here is the video (Vantrue on top and Viofo on the bottom:
Here are crops from individual matched frames. I took the raw frame and croped out the same size bit, so they should be evenly comparable. I matched the frames as close as I could get using indicators like brake or turn lights to sync up the videos. Here is one from the front camera, effectively stopped in a parking (the first with the text on the bottom is the Vantrue and the second is the Viofo):
Here are some crops while moving at 35 MPH. The car is oncoming traffic (likely at a similar speed) with a turn lane between us. Again, Vantrue is first and Viofo second:
I should note that I have not adjusted any of the video setting (resolution or HDR, etc). For the front sensor in daylight, most license plates while driving are not really readable unless the vehicles are matched in speed and not to far away. On those that can be read, the Vantrue seems to be able to resolve the plate a hair earlier (e.g. while approaching a stopped car, etc), but the difference is very slight. The video quality is similar, but I think that there is a bit of difference in the dashcam video processing that seems to favor slightly crisper lines on the Vantrue instead of fuzzier edges on the Viofo. This helps a little with plates, and may be from the STARVIS 2 Sensor. For this the Vantrue may be slightly better, but its slight. Adjustment of some of the settings may change things more.
For the rear, there is a difference in resolution between the two camera. Here are example crops. First driving 30 MPH with a car following (Vantrue first, Viofo second):
And another rear camera, this time traveling at 35 MPH with the other car going the opposite direction with a turn lanes between us (Vantrue first, Viofo second):
Overall, for daytime video I would say that the Vantrue is just a hair crisper, but the Viofo's added resolution in the rear edges out the 1080P Vantrue. Neither are hugely different. In general, you could either not read plates both, or you could read them on both.
I mentioned earlier that I turned off the Viofo voice notification. I just figured that I didn't need it telling me "Two Channel Started" every time I got in the car. When I pulled the cards today to get some additional video (including night), this appear to have come back o bite me. For some reason, the Viofo stopped recording a couple of days ago without me knowing. I am sure that it didn't have a card error on the screen, and I though that the light was indicating it was recording, but it wasn't. When I put the card back in though, it did give a card eroor and would not let me do anything (including reformat). I had to reformat the card on a computer and then it started working again. Not sure if it was the card or the Viofo, but both dashcams are running on Sandisk Extreme cards (recommended by Viofo). I'll have to see if the problem occures again. Potentially, the lack of "Two Channel Started" when I start the car could have alerted me.
The Vantrue didn't have voice notification, but is supposed to have voice control (me telling it to do things), but I haven't tried it. I did however run into one strange issue. One of the changes that I made in the setting for the Vantrue was to set it to turn off the screen after 30 sec (defaulted to stay on). Even 30 sec (shortest available setting) is longer than the Viofo default to turn off the screen though. This worked for a couple of days, but now the screen doesn't turn off at all. It still shows that it is set to 30 sec turn off, but it stays on. Strangely, the instruction manual doesn't show a button to press to turn it off either. I haven't fiddles more, so it has just stayed on.
I plan to compare the night video soon, and also the parking mode (which I haven't tried using yet). Hopefully more to follow.
Maybe one with the front camera out the front and "rear" out the drivers side, one with the "front" out the back and the "rear" out the passengers side. All seriousness though, one will eventually go in my other car (which make more sense).