Viofo, let’s go! A229 Pro 3-Channel Dash Camera review (+ RTC300 telephoto review & Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro shoot-out!)

[Agie]

Viofo is back with their latest and greatest, the A229 Pro. With competition closing in all around from outfits such as Vantrue, 70Mai and Thinkware, does the Viofo have what it takes to ward them off? Let’s find out (special thank you to @viofo and @VIOFO-Support).



Viofo A229 Pro (Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 / Sony Starvis 2 IMX675 / Sony Starvis IMX307, Novatek NT96529) Review



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Firmware: V1.0_230928 (front and interior), V1.0_230928 (rear). These were the firmware versions loaded onto the device from the factory – I did not receive any further updates during the testing period.

App for testing: Android version 3.2.13, obtained from Google Play Store.
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The verdict:

There is a reason why Viofo is king of the dash camera market. They listen to their customers, push the hardware to the absolute limits, and package everything in a highly accessible and affordable way. Their first foray with Sony Starvis 2 sensors was the A139 Pro – they have taken their expertise and come up with a highly commendable product in the A229 Pro.

If you want the absolute best video quality in a dash cam, with 4K at the front and 2K at the rear, then look no further. Stop reading this review and just go out and buy the A229 Pro already, you won’t be disappointed.



My nitpickings:

• The red lights and the blue lights on the dash cam itself aren’t aligned in a straight line, perhaps manufacturing issues
• Niggly firmware bugs (e.g. WiFi toggling results in random soft and hard reboots)
• App could use some polish (why do I have to stop recording just to access the dash cam settings?)
• When are we getting OTA firmware updates, Viofo? (EDIT 16th March 2024: coming in V1.3 firmware)

The positive:

• Video quality from the Starvis 2 sensors front and back is SO, SO GOOD. You can tell that Viofo really puts in the effort to optimise the video quality, pushing it to the maximum bitrate values that the sensor/processors can handle
• HDR options (and auto-timer) on all three cameras! *cue party music*
• More options in the app and dash cam settings than you can shake a stick at, parking mode works pretty reliably with the Viofo HK-4 USB-C hardwiring kit
• Interior cabin camera with the Sony Starvis IMX307 has the best cabin camera footage I’ve ever seen
• From my limited testing, the dash cam doesn’t run that hot compared to other options on the market
• Viofo has a proven track record with firmware updates supporting their models, so we know the video quality and features are going to get even better

 

[Agie]

Viofo A229 Pro Dash Camera Sample Footage:


Daytime Footage (front): 4K max bitrate, HDR off and CPL on:

Daytime Footage (rear): 2K max bitrate, HDR off:

Daytime Footage (cabin): 1080p max bitrate, HDR off:

Night Footage (front): 4K max bitrate, HDR on and CPL on:

Night Footage (rear): 2K max bitrate, HDR on:

Night Footage (cabin): 1080p max bitrate, HDR on:

 

[Agie]

Coming soon: Viofo A229 Pro versus Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro.


Stay tuned.

 

[Agie]

Your videos say that they are private...

The anticipation was killing you Haha, it's fixed now

 

[Panzer Platform]

Viofo A229 Pro Dash Camera Sample Footage:

Audio is loud & clear.
Nice test footage.
You may want to consider adding the Firmware version in the custom text at the bottom of the screen to help keep track when we get new firmware.
And the number of channels in the other custom text, because 3-CH reduces the bitrate of the front camera.

 

[Agie]

Audio is loud & clear.
Nice test footage.
You may want to consider adding the Firmware version in the custom text at the bottom of the screen to help keep track when we get new firmware.
And the number of channels in the other custom text, because 3-CH reduces the bitrate of the front camera.

Thank you for your kind words mate . I'm in the middle of the Nexus 4 Pro comparison situation but moving forward I'll add the firmware versions to the text labels, the number of channels I've added thus far..

 

[Deleted member 85644]

Nice write up. I have been playing with my A229 Pro today, only the main camera. I can say that my onboard microphone picks up sound quite well. In fact, it has picked up
ambulance sirens that were probably half a kilometer a way. Picks up voice and radio quite well, no issues with the microphone for certain.

I am having some mild issues with voice commands, I have to learn the pattern, sound and tone it expects. But basically, voice commands works well.

The app is nice but, it has a timing issue with the dashcam with my Apple 7+ at 2.4. Camera live image will lag on my cell phone, that does not happen on the A129 Pro. I had an
occurrence this evening when using the app and was in live mode but not recording. Voice command to turn off the WiFi did not work so I closed the app and used the button on the cam to stop WiFi. The camera went into a beeping mode and would not come out of it and begin recording until I turned off the ignition and then turned the ignition back on. Never an issue with my A129 Pro. I will see if I can repeat that action again tomorrow.

All in all, I like the camera so far. I don't like that VIOFO have hobbled the Starvis 2 resolutions. Hobbling a Starvis 2 means they should have stayed with Starvis 1.

I think it is time for dashcam manufacturers to come to grips with the fact that they will need to change their approach to camera housing, the size of the housing, and cooling. Taking
a 5 star sensor and making it perform at a 3 star level is senseless, in my opinion.

 

[Agie]

Nice write up. I have been playing with my A229 Pro today, only the main camera. I can say that my onboard microphone picks up sound quite well. In fact, it has picked up
ambulance sirens that were probably half a kilometer a way. Picks up voice and radio quite well, no issues with the microphone for certain.

I am having some mild issues with voice commands, I have to learn the pattern, sound and tone it expects. But basically, voice commands works well.

The app is nice but, it has a timing issue with the dashcam with my Apple 7+ at 2.4. Camera live image will lag on my cell phone, that does not happen on the A129 Pro. I had an
occurrence this evening when using the app and was in live mode but not recording. Voice command to turn off the WiFi did not work so I closed the app and used the button on the cam to stop WiFi. The camera went into a beeping mode and would not come out of it and begin recording until I turned off the ignition and then turned the ignition back on. Never an issue with my A129 Pro. I will see if I can repeat that action again tomorrow.

All in all, I like the camera so far. I don't like that VIOFO have hobbled the Starvis 2 resolutions. Hobbling a Starvis 2 means they should have stayed with Starvis 1.

I think it is time for dashcam manufacturers to come to grips with the fact that they will need to change their approach to camera housing, the size of the housing, and cooling. Taking
a 5 star sensor and making it perform at a 3 star level is senseless, in my opinion.

Thanks for your kind words as well mate . The audio is quite decent but I'd prefer stereo mics. Death to mono mics haha

I haven't had a play with the Thinkware U3000 or 70Mai A810 but I think that Viofo is the best of the bunch when it comes to the Starvis 2 implementations. There are bugs here and there as you've mentioned, and they're eager to get on top of these issues, which is the best part.

 

[Deleted member 85644]

Yep, I stay with VIOFO because of their customer support, excellent build quality, and overall performance of their cameras. I looked at others but never got a warm fuzzy feeling from them. When I first got interested in dashcams, Thinkware and BlackVue were over priced, did not hear their customers and, it seemed to me they made just plain silly decisions.

I like VIOFO and I like their way of handling business. If they screw up, they learn from it and move forward. Can we say that about BlackVue and their app and security? Nope.

 

[Agie]

Yep, I stay with VIOFO because of their customer support, excellent build quality, and overall performance of their cameras. I looked at others but never got a warm fuzzy feeling from them. When I first got interested in dashcams, Thinkware and BlackVue were over priced, did not hear their customers and, it seemed to me they made just plain silly decisions.

I like VIOFO and I like their way of handling business. If they screw up, they learn from it and move forward. Can we say that about BlackVue and their app and security? Nope.

True on all counts. I think they do well enough but I think they deserve even better sales because of all the forementioned points. Unfortunately locally here in Australia people get duped by the Garmin's and Blackvue's and Navman's and Uniden's which are not even in the same league when it comes to Viofo.

 

[Agie]

And now the long-awaited *drum roll please* @Panzer Platform @viofo @VIOFO-Support



Viofo A229 Pro vs. Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro shoot-out!

Strap yourselves in for way too many videos as both 3-CH @ max bitrate for all cameras, plus 1-CH @ max bitrate were tested. Feel free to make your own conclusions about the Viofo's performance of the Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 up front, and the interior cabin Starvis IMX307 camera, and the Sony Starvis 2 IMX675 up back. Unfortunately, the rear camera comparison is a bit of a doozy as the RC-05 unit in the Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro has focus issues.

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Firmware (both current at time of testing):
Viofo - V1.0_230928
Vantrue - VT-ECH121
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Audio
Viofo - 63kbps, 1 channel mono, 16kHz
Vantrue - 63kbps, 1 channel mono, 16kHz
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My thoughts (updated 13th October 2023):

Viofo has the Vantrue beat in all regards, I don't think this came as any surprise. Also, irrespective of HDR, the image processing with the Vantrue appears to take on a more pleasing palette - where the skies are quite blue. This isn't indicative of the true nature of the scene captured by the dashcams themselves, so while I understand that some people may prefer this, I personally value accuracy and detail instead. In 1-channel mode, I notice that the Viofo picks up plates on cars on the other side of the road somewhat better than the Vantrue. Also, the motion blur at night on the Vantrue is noticeably worse than the Viofo - at first I thought it was due to the increased bitrate of the Viofo recordings, but I believe now it's due to better optimisation on Viofo's behalf.

When it comes to 3-channel mode and interior cabin footage, there is not much to separate the two dashcams when it comes to daytime footage, but the Viofo takes the clear lead at night. The Vantrue's footage is somewhat 'smearier', and also suffers from the reflection of what I believe are the IR LED's, which shouldn't be happening at all. Turning to daytime footage from the front cams, the bitrates of the two are comparable but in this instance, objects such as grassy lawns and cars are represented better on the Viofo. Some would call this oversharpening, but this works in the Viofo's favour as details on licence plates and cars themselves are able to be made out better this way. This once again extends to less motion blur on the A229 Pro's footage at both day and night. The Vantrue also doesn't deal as well with exposure changes on licence plates and oncoming headlights, and also tends to blow out the halos from street and traffic lights.

It's hard to make definitive conclusions from the rear dash cam footage, as the Vantrue tends to suffer (as some have reported here on DashCamTalk with the RC-04 unit, which is also in the S1 Pro) from focus issues. Therefore I can only guess and extrapolate any observations I have made previously about the Viofo and Vantrues' performance respectively. The Vantrue also tends to exhibit a yellowish tint to the colour balance when it comes to night footage, which makes for harder reading of cars and licence plate details.

Overall, it's not that the Vantrue is a bad dash camera. It's just that the Viofo does a better job, that's all.

 

[Panzer Platform]

And now the long-awaited *drum roll please*

This must have taken you hours to gather the test footage.
This must have taken you hours & hours editing all the footage together.
All for no compensation, or pay.
Thanks for your hard work.
-Chuck

 

[Agie]

This must have taken you hours to gather the test footage.
This must have taken you hours & hours editing all the footage together.
All for no compensation, or pay.
Thanks for your hard work.
-Chuck

Thanks for your kind words Chuck, and also the same for you mate with all your findings for dash cams - we do it for the love

Honestly didn't take me that long to get the test footage once I knew what circuits I was driving etc, the most time consuming part was editing -- DaVinci resolve didn't work for me and kept crashing. Moved back to Premiere Pro but the older version kept crashing, had graphics driver issues etc until FINALLY got it working and could reuse the same template to render and export.

Hopefully some folks find these comparisons useful if they're cross shopping between the two cams

 

[safedrivesolutions]

lots of flickering from Viofo A229 Pro at night on this video. But it is clearer than N4Pro

 

[Agie]

lots of flickering from Viofo A229 Pro at night on this video. But it is clearer than N4Pro

Agreed they both have immense amounts of flickering on the static lighted signs (whether driving past or stopped at the traffic light), but the Vantrue definitely blows out the halo from traffic lights and street lights a lot more than the Viofo.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Thank you for those comparison videos! Very helpful.

Looking at the front cams, the Viofo looks to have better clarity and detail including sign and license plate capture. It does look like there's way more windshield reflections on the Vantrue though. Could you doublecheck to ensure it's oriented correctly? It might need a little bit of rotation to knock out those reflections.

The rear cam also looks way better on the Viofo. The focus looks better on the Viofo which can impact things, but it also has a higher bitrate and I prefer its white balance too.

With the interior cams, nothing really jumps out much in the daytime, but at night the Viofo looks to have better contrast and flare management. Do you see similar results from the Vantrue when running it solo, without a second set of IR LED's next to it?

With the single channel comparison, looks like the Viofo again does better at plate capture with the traffic going the opposite direction. Not sure if it's due to the lens or the Viofo recording at nearly 2x the bitrate. At night, both cams are able to grab plates, but again I'm seeing a slight edge in clarity with the Viofo.

Overall to my eye after watching the videos, it's a solid W for Viofo.

 

[Mtz]

lots of flickering from Viofo A229 Pro at night on this video. But it is clearer than N4Pro

All videos with HDR enabled will have flicker. If you will remove the flicker in firmware you will lose the ability to read car license plates. The more flicker you have the better will be read the car license plates.
Vantrue also has lots of flicker. But is more evident on Viofo. There is no light which is flickering on Viofo and on Vantrue is not.

Regarding interior camera I like more the day image from Vantrue, but this is the only situation where Vantrue wins. During night, the Viofo is better and the Vantrue image have some strange light reflections in the middle of the image. I think this is a hardware issue.

Regarding front and rear camera I expect Viofo to add a little more brightness because when doing comparisons most of the average people are judging only the brightness and not the details.

Regarding car windows, Agie should to a better work for cleaning inside and outside if he is doing comparisons with pre-production samples.

 

[Nigel]

lots of flickering from Viofo A229 Pro at night on this video. But it is clearer than N4Pro

Someone has some old flickery light bulbs!
I drove through town last night, just one shop had flickery lamps, the shop most likely to have the cheapest/oldest lamps, everything else was completely solid.

 

[Panzer Platform]

With the interior cams, nothing really jumps out much in the daytime, but at night the Viofo looks to have better contrast and flare management.

When I first got my A229 Pro 3-CH I complained to Alex (Viofo) the IR Interior camera was out of focus, and looked blurry / grainy over the entire image.
I was checking focus outdoors at daytime at around 10 meters.
He explained to me the IR Interior is "designed" for passenger compartments around 1 meter, and the firmware was optimized for NIGHT TIME.
After re-checking with the IR Interior camera in my car in low light conditions I have to agree.
It almost looks like they are giving up a bit daytime image quality to improve night time image quality.
I guess you cant have both. lol

Regarding interior camera I like more the day image from Vantrue, but this is the only situation where Vantrue wins. During night, the Viofo is better

Long time no see Mtz.
Welcome back, I was worried you found a new hobby, and left us to fend for ourselves. lol
-Chuck

 

[Mtz]

Thank you for the welcome. I received my samples too late and here are already a lot of discussions about new dashcams. It is not easy to only read the feedback and can't verify or test it. For normal users the informations from the beta testers is very important but for me not so much and I prefer to enter into the discussions when I have the camera and not only to launch suppositions.

As I wrote before, I don't feel that is OK when I see tests and comparisons with dashcams not aligned properly, not exactly at the same video frame, windows not clean, or strange settings.

I deleted a lot of work when I made mistakes. Hours of work. I know it is not easy to just delete a half day driving and work just because of a mistake. But I prefer to work again and do my best even I am not good at video editing. I like to offer videos with less post production processing to preserve the original quality as much I can.