Hey
It’s Andrew with Car Cam Central
and we're back with a review
of the $170 Viofo A129 DUO
our pick
for best budget dual channel dash cam
It's the first
front-back camera under $200
that delivers great video quality
good warranty support
WiFI
and a reliable parking mode
We’ve been waiting years
for a camera like the A129 DUO
to come out
Before
the rear camera footage was really bad
or the camera cost over $400
Now
you can get premium level features
in a $170 camera
Launched in May 2018
The A129 DUO
fills the gap in our recommendations
between our top budget choice
the $85 Viofo A119
and our $250 plus premium picks
Make sure you get the DUO model
otherwise it won’t include the rear camera
For disclosure
we have purchased all cameras
at full retail price since 2017
and we aren’t sponsored by any
dash cam manufacturers or retailers
Our recommendations
are based on our research
lots of hands on tests
and a deep understanding of dash cams
In this review
we’ll go over the most important details
on the Viofo A129
We’ll get into some comparisons
with our former budget recommendations
Look at our premium camera picks
and also
the new Rexing V1P
3rd Generation and Pro cameras
There’s a lot to talk about
so let's get into it
[INTRO]
Starting with the basics
the A129 has loop recording
and auto records when power is received
It uses capacitors
not lithium ion batteries
for better heat resistance
It has GPS
WiFi
and a proper parking mode
all the major features we think are important
Like all front-back cameras
the A129’s second camera
attaches using adhesive pads
to your rear windshield
It sends video to the front camera
through a 20’ cable
with an easy plug and play connection
We think adding a rear camera
is a significant upgrade over a front only setup
We listed a few reasons on the side
The most significant
is to grab license plates
in a hit and run accident
or during road rage or tailgating incidents
Looking at the A129's wedge-shaped body
we find it stealthy and provides good functionality
Facing the driver is a 2” HD screen
with buttons to control the camera
There are connections ports
on one side of the camera
and the microSD card slot on the other
The backside
features Viofo’s new side mounting system
which is more secure and rattle-free
compared to the A119’s up-down system
which would wobble
and required a fix with a foam wedge
In both systems
the pins send data and power
from the GPS mount
and allow you to quickly remove
and attach the camera
should you need to hide it away
The A129 uses an f1/6 glass lens
and Sony Starvis sensors for both
the front and back cameras
which improves low light vision
This is one of the best hardware specs
on dual channel cameras
premium models included
The rear camera
shares the same housing as Aukey and Street Guardian
but the technology is more advanced
The A129 DUO has a bigger lens and a better sensor
Functionally
the design works quite well
for slanted and vertical windshields
Its matte design is hard to see by people walking by
The experience unboxing the camera
was quite pleasant
Viofo uses thick cardboard for protection
I love the small embellishments
like a foil-stamped logo
it feels more refined
compared to Viofo's previous packaging
Inside it’s more basic
there are snug foam cutouts
for your cameras
with a cardboard divider
separating your accessories
Below
you get everything you need to install the camera
including two extra sets of mounts
and a separate charger and USB cable
which lets you more easily upgrade
to a proper USB charger
Only two drawbacks:
One
there’s no extra windshield mount included
which is helpful
if you want to move your camera between vehicles
Two
the optional Bluetooth Remote is $20
a bit of a bummer
as one was included for free on the $120 Mini 0906
The remote triggers the file lock feature
which protects the current video footage
from being overwritten
You can stick the remote anywhere
And it's much more convenient than fumbling around
for a lock button on the camera
If Viofo can reduce the price to $10
I think more people would be interested
Looking at video quality
the A129 ranks near the top
due to its amazing hardware
In November 2018
there’s only one dual channel camera
that significantly beats the A129 in video quality
which is the $480 4K Blackvue DR900S
and only during the day
As a first for us
we found the front and rear video quality
to be nearly identical
Normally the rear camera is worse
Before
some people would install two single-lens cameras
like the A119
to get cheap front-back recording
as a good dual channel camera
would cost over $400
and still have somewhat inferior video quality
Now with the Viofo A129
there’s no big advantage
in getting two separate cameras
It costs more money
you need a second microSD card
plus you have to monitor both cameras
to ensure they are working
The A129 also fixes the issues we had
with our previous recommendations
the $130 Mini 0906 and the Aukey DR02D
While we’re removing these cameras
off our list of “top picks”
they do have value if you need to save money
as their video quality is fairly similar to the A129
as they share some hardware
The cameras under $130 are even worse
The construction is poorer
often using lithium ion batteries
and have poor warranty support
The rear video quality is abysmal
but it is good enough to show what happened
If you want to learn more about our former picks
you can watch the first review we made
on budget dual-channel cameras
Finally
we get a lot of questions of
whether the cameras we review
can see through tinted glass
You should have no problems
unless they are very dark
We are using 35% tints
and have great video quality
Listening to the audio quality
we found it to be quite good
it picks up conversations quite well
with little electronic noise
Installing the camera was as easy
as other dual channel cameras
The hardest part
is running the 20’ USB cable to your rear windshield
We recommend routing your cable
around your windshield
then across the headliner
or preferably down to the floor
and then to your rear window
Each vehicle is different
but I think most people can do everything
in under an hour
If you're interested in parking mode
we'd recommend buying and installing
Viofo’s three cable hardwiring kit
It allows your camera to sense
when your vehicle has turned off
and then enable the special
space and energy saving recording modes
Keep in mind
the 2-wire kit that’s sold with many retailers
is not as good
it can’t detect your vehicle turning off
and signal the camera to start parking mode
The installation process
goes beyond what we can cover in this video
As a summary there are two power leads
You connect one to a constantly on circuit
like your dome lights
the other to a switched circuit
like your 12V car socket
Professional help may be needed
We'll get in depth with the A129’s parking mode later
After installation
the A129 can be used right away
but you may want to customize a few options
which can be done easily through the LCD screen
While the navigation lacks on-screen controls
the A129 was overall easy to use
You can also turn on WiFi
and use Viofo’s iOS or Android app
to change settings
view and download saved videos
It provides the same functionality
as what you can do on the camera itself
The A129
has fast file download and streaming speeds
as it’s one of the few cameras
to use the 5GHZ WiFI Frequency
Most cameras use the 2.4ghz spectrum
which is slower
In the A129 it causes streaming to stutter
Overall
the app was easy to use
but it’s not as polished as Thinkware or Blackvue
For example
the actions to delete files wasn't obvious
And you needed to consult the manual
to understand how to turn off WiFi
so you can access the menu on your camera
Still for most users it won’t be a problem
Once setup was complete
we looked at how easy the A129 is to use day to day
Overall it’s quite good
there’s only a few minor things we’d like to see improved
Measuring the startup speed
the A129 took slightly longer
at 18 seconds from power on to the start of recording
but that shouldn’t impede you from leaving
The file lock button
protects important files from being overwritten
The button is distinctive
and somewhat easy to find in the dark
but you can accidently stop recording
if you press the adjacent button
If this is a concern
you can purchase the wireless remote
We also tested status notifications
which let you know how well your camera is running
Overall the A129 does a good job
In most situations where your camera fails to record
you get an audible and visual alert
that something is wrong
But we found
one of our three failed SD card had no audible warning
not great but not terrible either
Even so Viofo has done a much better job
than our former recommendations
the Mini 0906 or Aukey DR02D
In several situations they had no audible alerts
and a quickly disappearing message
To us that’s a big deal
as you can miss that your camera
has stopped recording
until you get a traffic ticket
or into an accident
the Viofo A129 DUO fixes that problem
and the others we mentioned earlier
If you want more details
you can watch our older review on these cameras
Viofo’s parking mode has three settings
but we would only recommend time lapse or low-bitrate
The motion detection setting lacks buffered recording
which means it will only record
after it detects movement
which can cause you to miss the initial impact
This parking mode can be turned on in two ways
the three-wire kit is most reliable
as the G-Sensor method
was buggy on the beta firmware
we were using
Testing energy consumption
we found the A129 uses relatively little power
compared to other cameras
This helps you record for longer
Overall we found the A129 with the three wire kit
has the most useful parking mode under $200
Still, for hot environments
proven reliability or internet features like streaming
You may wish to look at premium cameras
We made a recent review of our top picks
and here’s a summary screen of our findings
so you can compare
and make a better purchasing decision
To some
these extras might not be worth it
and we understand why
as the Viofo A129 brings a ton of value
But to others
the A129 isn’t enough
too cheap looking
unproven parking mode
with an unrefined user experience
I also want to talk about
Rexing’s V1P 3rd Generation
and the V1P Pro
They are two front-rear cameras
that approach the specs of the A129
Rexing is popular
and frequently mentioned by our viewers
because of their positive reviews
on retailers like Amazon
These V1P models
are the first time Rexing has used capacitors
not lithium-ion batteries in their cameras
which is a huge improvement in our opinion
After comparing their specs and features
our analysis is
the Viofo A129 has better hardware and value
than the Rexing cameras
and remains our recommendation
Still we can’t deny their positive reputation
and consistently strong customer support
One reason is
that Rexing only sells directly in the United States
you won’t find overseas retailers
messing up customer support
While we haven’t tested either V1P models
we have no major objections from our research
if you feel a Rexing camera is better
because of their customer support
even though we think the Viofo A129
has better hardware and features
Coming back to Viofo
if you are considering buying the A1219 DUO
don’t buy internationally
unless you lack a retailer in your country
The vast majority of complaints
were from customers with failed cameras
who found they needed to pay
for expensive overseas shipping
There’s a list of authorized retailers on their website
for many countries
We have links below in the description
with great retailers like OCD Tronic
or BlackBoxMyCar for North America
While there are a lot of choices
hopefully we have given you the information
to make a good buying decision
and if you do have questions
we’ll do our best to answer them below in
With that
that’s the end of the review
hope you got value out of it
We’ll update the description below this video
with any changes good or bad
You can also find links to the products
and retailers we recommended there too
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Thanks for watching