Which DashCam should I buy?

[BEDO]

Hi everyone,
which dash cam should I buy for my new big car, the hyundai tucson '20. No fuse installation. So far I thought about these options:

#1: VIOFO A129 DUO
But:

• I don't know how to install the wires, front to back, through the whole plastic's car. Therefore I am afraid to ruin the airbags/the plastic/the wires.
• I am not sure if the length of the wire from the rear cam will be long enough (it is really big car).
• I will have to buy SD card of 256GB (or more), because one card saves vids for 2 cams and it will get full very quick. Therefore old vids will be deleted very quick.

#2: VIOFO A119 V3 + cheap rear cam:
I also thought to buy the viofo a119 v3 as a front/main dash cam, and to buy a cheaper cam as a rear cam. Maybe 70mai (the old and simple model, not the pro version) or Blueskysea B1W.
But:

• I will have to buy 2 different SD cards (might be expensive, I guess)
• 70mai/B1W can be easily turn around, their lenses are not very fixed in place so even the simple and soft touch, and the lenses will be directed down/not on the road. I had 70mai in my old car, and every time I touched the body of the cam, it moved and changed the angle of the lense. Therefore it might be a problem when I close the trunk door (where the rear cam will be)

So what are your opinios folks?
And one more question: both of the options (A129 DUO or A119 V3 + 70mai/B1W) don't have GPS (like the A119 V2). Do you think it is necessary and worth paying a bit more to have also the GPS?

 

[kamkar]

#1
You cant really ruin airbags with the wire for a dashcam, but you can place that wire in front of the path such airbag deploying, and this could be bad.
I have a little car so i can route my wire to the rear camera along the floor / side, but i can also route it up high, you can often tuck the wire in under the door weather seal ( rubber strip ) that way it should be out of the way if a curtain airbag.
You can get extra long wires for most dual systems, i think the longest ones are 6M long

You will find many videos on youtube about how to install dashcams, maybe not for your exact brand / model of car, but they are all much the same in this regard.

#2 this is also a fine camera, and you can put in two of those if you want to, but if you take power in the back of your car for the rear camera, you have to know that some 12 V outlets in the back of 4x4 / SUV cars are often on all the time, so you have to watch out for this so your rear camera are not on al the time.

In general with a 64GB memory card you have 8 hours of recording ( single camera ) so if you have a dual camera like the A 129 duo you need a 128 GB memory card to still have 8 hours of recordings but in that case just from 2 cameras.

Many of us have used single cameras in out cars for years, it is a bit annoying to have to go and get a memory card in each camera, but then again most often what ever you want to save happen in front of the front camera and so you don't need to go to the rear camera to get the memory card there.

In Israel you need to look at dashcams with capacitors for emergency power, lipo batteries will not be good with the heat you have in your country.

 

[BEDO]

#1
You cant really ruin airbags with the wire for a dashcam, but you can place that wire in front of the path such airbag deploying, and this could be bad.
I have a little car so i can route my wire to the rear camera along the floor / side, but i can also route it up high, you can often tuck the wire in under the door weather seal ( rubber strip ) that way it should be out of the way if a curtain airbag.
You can get extra long wires for most dual systems, i think the longest ones are 6M long

You will find many videos on youtube about how to install dashcams, maybe not for your exact brand / model of car, but they are all much the same in this regard.

#2 this is also a fine camera, and you can put in two of those if you want to, but if you take power in the back of your car for the rear camera, you have to know that some 12 V outlets in the back of 4x4 / SUV cars are often on all the time, so you have to watch out for this so your rear camera are not on al the time.

In general with a 64GB memory card you have 8 hours of recording ( single camera ) so if you have a dual camera like the A 129 duo you need a 128 GB memory card to still have 8 hours of recordings but in that case just from 2 cameras.

Many of us have used single cameras in out cars for years, it is a bit annoying to have to go and get a memory card in each camera, but then again most often what ever you want to save happen in front of the front camera and so you don't need to go to the rear camera to get the memory card there.

In Israel you need to look at dashcams with capacitors for emergency power, lipo batteries will not be good with the heat you have in your country.

Hi @kamkar1
First of all - thank you very much for your informative answer.

I will check the option of the under the door's seals (rubber stirps). I really don't want to deal with the side air bags/plastic's car, afraid to ruin my new car
Do you know where I can buy a longer wire which will fit the A129 DUO?

You are right about the issue of the heat, capacitors are important. As far as I know, VIOFO cams have only capacitors and that's why I want them to be the main cams.
I had 70mai in my old car for more then 2 years, did very good job (still working) even tough it has battery, that's why I thought to put it as a rear cam. B1W will be better option, it has capacitor.
But I am afriad that every time I close the trunk door, the angle of the lenses will be moved.

Still don't what to decide - 2 cams or dual cam

 

[kamkar]

I think most of the sellers should carry the extra long wire too, as i recall they are not that much longer than the provided wire for the systems.
But the longer wire is a additional purchase.

You can mount the rear camera off the headlines to it is not on the rear hatch itself, i did that myself for a while in the beginning.
But if you mount that way you will probably need to space the camera out some way so it can see out the window.
My rear cameras have for some years now been mounted off the metal frame of my rear hatch ( small japanese 5 door hatchback car )
The neodymium magnets are very strong, i use one 20 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick.
My current rear camera ( street guardian ) are just glued to the magnet with the original dual sided tape.

 

[kamkar]

you can do a test install in your car, using a piece of clothing line or similar 6 mm or so think string or old extension cable, then you can route that and see exactly how long a wire you need, you might not need that extra long wire after all.
The shortest route are also directly over the headliner, but this route i have not tried myself.

 

[BEDO]

you can do a test install in your car, using a piece of clothing line or similar 6 mm or so think string or old extension cable, then you can route that and see exactly how long a wire you need, you might not need that extra long wire after all.
The shortest route are also directly over the headliner, but this route i have not tried myself.

Thanks a lot for your help, I will check it

 

[BEDO]

you can do a test install in your car, using a piece of clothing line or similar 6 mm or so think string or old extension cable, then you can route that and see exactly how long a wire you need, you might not need that extra long wire after all.
The shortest route are also directly over the headliner, but this route i have not tried myself.

Some more questions:
1. I read more about A129 duo on this site's forums. I saw there are several problems with 129duo, and that 129pro is more reliable. I am not talking about the quality of the lenses (I guess the A129pro has better lenses, but a129 duo is fine for me), but the firmware problems (frezzing, double frames ,etc.) Did I understood it right? Should I buy the 129pro duo and not the regular version?
2. Can you please tell me how SD card of 128GB keeps 8 hours in totall (4 hours from each cam) while 64GB keeps 8 hours from one cam?
3. Is 128GB SanDisk HE will fit to A129 duo/A129pro duo? What about Lexar 128GB?
or

 

[kamkar]

no the A129 pro are a new 4K system, the old A120 duo should be better suited for your country.
Lexar memory cards use to be very good, but their quality have dropped off after the brand was sold off.

with 1080p resolution and a 18 mbit bitrate you get around 8 hours on a 64GB memory card with a single camera, in a dual system with 2 cameras you of course need 2 X larger memory card to still have 8 hours of recordings ( but now from 2 cameras so in reality you have 16 hours recording in total but it is just 2 X 8 hours from the 2 cameras )

So in real time you just have 8 hours stored, but from 2 cameras so the storage space are 16 hours i is just the same 8 hours of real time X 2
So if you start recording at noon with a empty memory card the memory card will be full around 8 in the evening.

128 GB are the smallest memory card you should get for a dual channel camera.

 

[Nigel]

Some more questions:
1. I read more about A129 duo on this site's forums. I saw there are several problems with 129duo, and that 129pro is more reliable. I am not talking about the quality of the lenses (I guess the A129pro has better lenses, but a129 duo is fine for me), but the firmware problems (frezzing, double frames ,etc.) Did I understood it right? Should I buy the 129pro duo and not the regular version?
2. Can you please tell me how SD card of 128GB keeps 8 hours in totall (4 hours from each cam) while 64GB keeps 8 hours from one cam?
3. Is 128GB SanDisk HE will fit to A129 duo/A129pro duo? What about Lexar 128GB?
View attachment 51071or View attachment 51072

1. The A129 Duo is a good camera, don't worry about the double frames, you will almost certainly not notice them, and they should be fixed in the next firmware anyway. For a hot country, the A129 Duo is probably better than the Pro unless you actually need the higher resolution.

2. The Pro version records 4x the detail on the front camera, so it uses memory a lot faster.

3. The Sandisk should be good, or Samsung. If you have an old Lexar then you can use it, but the recent ones are of unknown quality, not recommended.

 

[kamkar]

As you are in Israel using something like parking guard are out of the question, at least if you park outside, it can maybe be done if you park inside a parking garage.

Only so high temperatures electronics are able to deal with

 

[Nigel]

I don't know how to install the wires, front to back, through the whole plastic's car. Therefore I am afraid to ruin the airbags/the plastic/the wires.

If you don't have a sunroof then the simplest is to drop the roof lining down a little, then push a stick through from the back to the front, attach the cable to the stick, and pull the stick back out with the cable.

 

[BEDO]

@Nigel
@kamkar1
Samsung Endurance Pro is also good for a129 duo (not pro)?

and @Nigel - do you have a video of these instructions?

 

[kamkar]

Yes that should be a good card, as endurance it will also have warranty for use in dashcams, something regular memory cards don't have.

 

[Nigel]

and @Nigel - do you have a video of these instructions?

It would be a bit different for every car, but normally the roof lining is held up by a small number of clips and the grab handles and sun visor mounts, if you unscrew all the ones on one side of the car, plus any clips in the middle, then the lining can drop down, and even 10cm is plenty to push a stick, fishing rod etc. through from the back to the front and then pull a cable back through. It can be very easy, but some cars will be more difficult than others. Taking a cable all the way around the floor is often far more work.

 

[kamkar]

I have looked in over my headliner from the back of my car, and it don't look as if i can guide a wire across there as there seem to be some form of cross braces on the back of the headliner, but i am not sure if they are just "soft" felt like the headliner or have some form of reinforcement.

But i will have to look at it later this year i feel like i have to do something with the many cameras i have and not least more dual channel systems i will get to test in the future.

On youtube you will also find many videos on how to replace or install headliner in cars, it should not be a impossible task if there is a little handyman in you.
The way these install are probably also much the same in all modern cars.

I will give it a try and see if i can install a wire channel / pipe up there so in the future it will be more easy to thread wires thru.
I don't want to take down / loosen the headliner every time i put in a new test camera, so i will have to make something up, which should be fairly easy with my strong DIY skills.

 

[Nigel]

I will give it a try and see if i can install a wire channel / pipe up there so in the future it will be more easy to thread wires thru.

That is a good idea, but I expect you will have difficulty putting the headliner back up with a pipe in the way.

Once I got my first cable through, then I have always been able to attach new cables to the old cable and pull them through, just put plenty of tape over the join so that there are no sharp edges to hook onto things. You can also start with a string that is twice the length needed, then you tie your new cable to the middle of the string and pull it through, you still have access to the string at both ends for the next cable.

There will be some strengthening bars for the roof itself, since it is very thin metal, and the liner will either have some strengthening bars or some clips in the middle of the roof to give it some strength.

The important thing is always to work out what order things were assembled in at the factory, if you work in the same order then it should be an easy job, if you start having difficulty it is because you have the order wrong, maybe some plastic panels need removing first.

 

[kamkar]

Yes probably not any big pipe i can put up there, probably only room for 2 wires if the plug at the end are a angled one.
I have been thinking maybe use a larger pipe like 30 mm or so, but then heat it up and flatten it so uts just 15 mm thick, but hard to tell from a distance i will probably have to pull out the whole headliner.
Or maybe buy a new or salvage one and modify it before i put it in the car.

 

[DkiDak]

@kamkar1 @Nigel
guys do you know if A129DUO front dash cam has suction cap holder vaccumm?
I knwo 119 models have

If there any suction cup (only vaccumm) which can work here?

***
It's BEDO,I had problems with the previous account so I created a new one. Hope this time it will be ok

 

[kamkar]

Not sure if the suction cup mount for other viofo also with on the A129 duo, but there are multi use suction cup mounts, often used for radar detectors by people.

something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B003AAJ4DG

And there are other somewhat similar that i am sure can be made to work too.

My own phone dock in the car are made up of a universal Brodit dock ( meant for installing on dash vents ) which i have mated to the suction cup part of the factory mount for a Samsung galaxy 2 phone.

 

[DkiDak]

Not sure if the suction cup mount for other viofo also with on the A129 duo, but there are multi use suction cup mounts, often used for radar detectors by people.

something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B003AAJ4DG

And there are other somewhat similar that i am sure can be made to work too.

My own phone dock in the car are made up of a universal Brodit dock ( meant for installing on dash vents ) which i have mated to the suction cup part of the factory mount for a Samsung galaxy 2 phone.

Yes, I saw that many said Arkon B010 is great, however it's pretty expensive for a simple suction cup.
I was searching on Aliexpress/ebay sites to get a cheaper suction cup mount