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Is VIOFO worth it over the other brands available for under 10k in India?

I am planning to buy the A129 Plus Duo from the USA at $160. This thing here costs about Rs.21000. Many reviews point to VIOFO and the Sony starvis sensors they have. I am worried of the reliability of this product and the applicability of warranty here. Can someone please recommend equivalent products that are sold here at possibly a lesser price? I need a dual channel dashcam with front and rear coverage. The main requirement is clear visibility of the name plate to identify hit and runs. Thanks in advance

Don't worry about reliability. These things don't fail so often. Read up about HDR. If yours doesn't have it then this model would be practically useless for night time driving. For daytime they are great.

If you've the budget get one with HDR. :)

Hi I am using a Qubo dual channel dashcam for more than 6 months and its working well for me. Front is 4k and rear is 1080 resolution. This has some ADAS features and I keep only the lane change warning as active and its working well for me. The Qubo app (phone) is also a good one - included GPS coordinates as well as option for making time-lapse videos from the app itself. I find both of them to be very useful.

You can check out the review of this product on Youtube. There are plenty of them who have reviewed and used this product. It costs less than 12k.

Hope this helps.

The more I read this thread, the more I get confused.:Frustrati

I want Dual Dashcam with following features (not in particular order)-
1. Video Quality should be good (Visibility of Clear Number Plate is not compulsory but the Human Faces and Vehicle Model is)

2. If HDR plays an important role in capturing details clearly, HDR is must.

3. Now it is clear that 'Made-in-China' or 'Chinese Brands' Dashcams don't have many worthy Competitors. So I am open to any Brand.

4. If APP is available, it should be trouble (Bug) free for Android OS. Easy to Connect, View videos on the phone, transfer videos on Phone or Laptop easily.

5. Should be able to detach and Attach within seconds whenever I want i.e. After every Trip. I don't want to leave it in the car for safety reasons (theft). Hence I am open to Battery as well as Super-Capacitor.

If Hardwire option is available, would like to avail it.

6. It should record and show the GPS Coordinates and Speed in the video.

7. Budget is Rs. 15000/-.


Don't want to go for 3CH Dashcam even if it is in the above budget.

EDIT: -
Would Detaching/Attaching Frequently (Almost Every day or Alternate Day) damage the Aux Supply Port or GPS Port?

Here is a summary of my Dashcam upgrade in my Toyota Fortuner:

Background: I have been a dashcam user in my car from 2015. I bought 2 SJCAM SJ4000 Wi-Fi as my Front and Rear Dashcams and I have installed them myself back then. Also, once I have been lucky to have them installed when I got into an unpleasant road accident situation few years back and the dashcam footage came to my rescue.

Even after changing my cars, I decided to move my SJCAMS to my new car also, but recently I started having doubts about the older cameras reliability. Few times I saw the dates were getting reset to 2014 year in the cameras. I wasn't using my car daily these days, added to this. And thought If the footage isn't available when we needs it then having the camera is of no use.

I decided to get new cameras for my Fortuner and with a bit of reading, watching YouTube reviews, talking to few users, and finally talking to the few sellers, decided to go ahead with VioFo A139 Pro 2 Channel Dashcam.

Reason for going with Viofo A139 Pro 2 CH:

1. 4K recording in Front Camera with HDR
2. Sony Starvis 2 chip in Dashcam
3. Available as complete kit, including 2 channel cameras, cables, GPS and CPL lens included
4. Can add a 3rd channel camera inside in future, if I am interested, this supports 3 channel recording
5. Supports 256/512 GB memory cards
6. Super Capacitor based. I had battery based dashcam before
7. Type C charging port on the camera
8. No Screen/display on camera, I found from my prior experience with dashcams, the camera display is of less/no use mostly.
9. One reliable and established brand, with good support available in India

Some of the cons which I was aware of:

• Expensive. But the Quality and support seemed better
• Mobile App is just average. But as long as it enables us to transfer files and manage with it, I was fine with it.

Buying experience:
Once decided, the buying experience was super smooth. I decided to buy from the Viofo online store directly and contacted Vijay on WhatsApp. I got clarification to each and every query and also assurance that I will be getting the delivery in Bangalore on 20th Sep if I placed order on 18th Sep EOD. I received delivery of the camera in Bangalore on the day as promised. Additionally, I ordered a 256GB MicroSD card from Amazon, for this camera.

Total cost: Viofo A139 Pro 2CH Dashcam: 35K INR, SanDisk 256GB card: 1900 INR.


I also did the installation myself and it was super smooth, except few minor learnings and tweaking I had to do.


Observations after installation and testing:

• Excellent footage quality, for front cameras. Number plates are readable. Can also zoom in the videos if needed
• Rear Camera in 1080P is also reasonably good
• Camera gives audio alert for recording for 2 channels, Wi-Fi etc.
• Dashcam Wi-Fi automatically gets turned on when the camera is on (SJCAM had to manually turn on camera Wi-Fi)
• Footage automatically adds GPS coordinates, speed and date/time
• Accessories provided are good, found the rear camera wires having sufficient length for Fortuner, and also CPL lens avoids windshield glare to a great extent
• Recording loop currently set for 5 minutes, front footage is 1GB and rear footage is 500MB in size.
• File Transfer from Camera to Mobile using Mobile App is reasonably fast, takes less time in 5G Wi-Fi

Learning from installation:

1. I installed the camera on the behind, left side on IRVM, completely outside of the driver's Field of Vision. one issue with this is, the indication lights for recording isn't visible to Driver, however the camera gives audio notification for these, so I am fine with it.
2. Could have avoided using the transparent film on the windshield. I am not liking the film being visible from outside.

My next steps/plans:

• Check low light, night footage quality, including in rains
• Plan to do hardwire the camera. Not planning to use any parking or surveillance modes
• Observe and monitor the camera recording footages for some more time to confirm recording reliability and quality
• Tweak camera angles and position as needed
• Hope the longer term reliability is good and if I get at least 5 years of life from this camera, I would be ok and happy about it

Front and rear video sample footage for members reference:

Front (Watch it in 4K): https://youtu.be/BWvldnKIE_g?si=SzBnBHZIUmkJjRbS
Rear (Watch it in HD): https://youtu.be/-jBWe1qxJFE?si=pVNS8ahGICIfah0D

Cheers,
narayanang76

Neat! The video quality is very good :thumbs up
Hope it serves you well.
I installed Viofo A129 duo in June in my car and happy with it so far.

One query, on your front dashcam. Since it is exactly behind the IRVM, did you check if during rains front wiper will clear the view of the dashcam? In my car (Zest) I had to place my front dashcam a little lower (protruding a bit below IRVM) to keep its view 'wiped' clear during rains.

PS: I was on the same road near SAP labs last evening but on the opposite lane, around 5.30pm .

Hi All, I am in need of dashcam with some key features as below:

Must Have:
1. Dual channel (Front + Rear)
2. Sharp enough to identify any person or vehicle easily.
3. Super capacitor based. LI Batteries is a big No.
4. Ease of access with good App to access the videos in case of emergency

Should Have:
1. Read number plates in both day and night but not must.
2. GPS
3. Should have optional parking monitoring

Have a budget of 10-15K Max. Not keen to spend more to get features which I do not want. Had almost finalize 70mai A500S but dropped when I found out it is Li battery based.

Now the options which i could see is:
1 Red tiger F7NP
2 DDPAI Z40

Please help me finalize the right one either out of the two or something else which is out of my sight. I would appreciate if people using any of the above two share their views too.

Are you satisfied with this Cam? Please share your feedback.

Did you only get the front one installed or dual? What is your feedback so far?

Thanks srvm, that is nice to know we were nearby during this time of video :)

Regarding windshield wiper coverage, frankly I need to check it in rains, anyways I am planning to test camera in different lighting and weather conditions. I have a feel that front camera view should be fine with wiper coverage, but I am not sure about rear camera. Anyways I know camera may need some fine tuning and tweaking. Will check and update.

Cheers,
narayanang76

I have very similar requirements. I am looking for a dual dashcam in the 10k-15k range for my Tata Safari and considering DDPAI Z40. Its a long car, so the cable for the rear dashcam must be long enough to reach the back.
I have a 70MAI on my other car, but its suffering from battery issues. Hence looking for a capacitor based setup.

Has anyone used DDPAI Z40 on a long car like Tata Safari?

Also, can I connect this camera to a USB port instead of a 12 Volt socket?

Thanks for your help,
Best Regards,

Front only. Overall quality and app is good enough for me tbh.

Where is the power to the rear camera from? Is it from the main front dashcam only, in that case you may need min 10 mtrs cable? If the rear camera needs local power then the USB connections in the 3rd row can be used to power the rear cam which means you may need a 3-4 mtrs cable depending on where you install the cam.

BTW which 70mai model did you have which had battery issues and what were the issues?

Looking at the review videos on Youtube, the rear camera is powered by the main camera. So I agree that the cable must be long to run across the longer length of the car along with some extra length for concealing the cable. I am hoping someone using the same dashcam on a long car can share their experience if the provided cable is sufficient.


The current dashcam I have is 70mai Pro with GPS receiver (link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07NPNK54Z). It is a front only camera. After running for about 2 years without hassles, the battery does not retain charge anymore. Every time I start the car, the date and all settings reset to a default state.
I have not tried to change the battery, but looking at other posts, I understand that due to the car beingin high temperature, the battery has likely failed.


On a related note, I don't intend to connect the dashcam directly to the fusebox and instead rely on USB power to run the camera.

I have a 70mai A400 dashcam installed in my Harrier which is of same length as the Safari. The dashcam consists of front and rear cams and the rear cam is powered by front cam. The length of the cable was approx 10 mtrs and sufficient to run till the rear cam location.

Generally the units offering rear cams do have the cable lengths sufficient enough for an SUV.

Attaching a pic of my dashcam along with the accessories for ref. The cable on the left most part of the pic is for the rear cam.

If the internal battery has failed and you will not replace it, better to connect it to the fuse for continuous power supply (I feel)

If number plate visibility is your main concern, you need Starvis 2 sensor based Dashcams. In USA, Viofo has A229 plus which has 2k front + rear cam, both with Starvis 2. Check it out on the Viofo.com website. Otherwise even Starvis 1 sensors like the ones in the other Viofo dashcams can give you good video though they may struggle reading licence plates in low light. Check out reviews on Youtube on Vortex radar, Blackboxmycar and Safe drive solutions. They give detailed reviews with footage samples