Today, we are going to be checking out the new 4K dash cam from Viofo.
The A129 Pro Duo. It is a 2 channel dash cam with a 4K UHD front camera and a 1080p FHD rear facing camera.

I have reviewed the original A129 duo a while back and also checked out the IR version of this dash cam and I will link them down below so that you can check them out. I’ve been using the Viofo brand for a while now and they are pretty reliable and haven’t had any issues. One thing I learned when I started installing dash cams especially here in South Texas… you do need a high endurance micro SD Cards to run your dash cams. Regular SD cards will not record and even fail when it gets too hot.. and also dash cams record continuosly and especially on this 4K version …and on top of that another 1080p channel…so your SD card fills up and loops record pretty quick. With all that recording and recording on top of old recordings… you need a micro SD card that can handle that.. I will link down below brands that I have tested and have been using.

So, we will be checking out the features, open the box, check out the settings and we will be testing this dash cam mostly on its video quality and see if 4K is the way to go as to dash cameras…I think a lot of you will be asking and wanting to know if these dash cam will be able to read license plates..especially on moving cars.

So this is a 4K ultra HD in the front and full HD 1080p in the rear.

Both channels will be recording in 30 fps…
Both channels uses a Sony Exmor sensor–8MP in the front and 2 MP in the rear.
It has Super Night Vision
G sensor and motion detection supported
You can use up to 256 GB micro SD card… remember get a high endurance card.
It has WiFi Support dual band 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi and using the Viofo app

Just to clarify about WiFi on these dashcams…these cameras will generate their own WiFi so that your phone can connect to it and stream live view or mostly for you to download footage… it doesn’t connect to the internet and this doesn’t mean that you can stream and download footage if you are connected to your home or work wifi…I personally don’t use this because even if it has 2.4 or the faster 5 GHz option… it is still too slow to download footage and the easiest way to search and pull out footage from the camera is to remove the micro SD Card and plug it in your computer.

This dashcam also has a buffered parking mode and has an optional bluetooth remote and a GPS logger.

Let’s check out some more specific specs on Viofo’s website…
So, the front camera has a 130 degree FOV with a 1.8 aperture and has a 7 lens glass which will give you exceptional detail day and night…

It has a buffered parking mode which when turned ON, it will record 15 seconds of video before the triggered event and also 30 seconds after that… There are 3 types of parking modes you can set the dashcam to… the auto event detection which the camera will start to record when motion is detected or there is an impact while the car is parked…and there is the time lapse mode which the camera will record at a low FPS and compressed into a long file… then there is the low bitrate recording.. Remember to properly use the parking mode, you need to hard wire the camera which Viofo sells an ACC hard wire kit. With a hard wire kit, the dash cam will switch to parking mode automatically when the car’s engine turns OFF and switch to normal recording when it is ON.
It also has a battery discharge prevention feature which turns OFF the dashcam when the voltage on your battery falls to a certain value protecting the battery from discharge.
Personally, I haven’t tried and tested the parking mode features yet but I might eventually in the future.

For now, my dahscam is only ON whenever the engine is ON and off when it is OFF.

Time to open up the box….

First, we have the rear facing camera… this is a FHD and records at 1080p at 30 fps..and uses a Sony Exmor R sensor.. and you can adjust the lens up or down so that you can set it depending on the angle of your windshield. It has the mounting tape to secure it in your back windshield and a mini-USB port to connect it to the front camera unit.

Next, we have the front facing main camera… this is the UHD 4K which records at 30 FPS..
It has the double sided mounting tape to stick it to your windhshield. It has a 7 element glass 8 MP Sony Exmor sensor lens. You can also adjust the angle of the lens up or down…

We have the 2 inch LCD screen.. We have the on or off and menu buttons.. video protect and playback button, the mic on or off and view selector buttons…

On the right side, we have the rear mini USB A port to attach the rear facing camera… AV out port and the power USB port. and also have some vent holes…

On the left side, we have the reset button, the micro SD card slot and the mic… and we also have some vent holes..

And this unit came with the GPS logger base… which you can slide in the main camera and this is where you connect the power supply if you want to use and power the GPS logger.. With the base attached to your windshield, you can easily slide the camera in and out… which in my case, I’ll be replacing my 1080p unit and this will be an easy swap…

So, what else is inside the box..
We have the 100% satisfaction card..
we have the user manual…

We have the USB data cable…
We have the 4 meter car charger USB cable.
and it comes with a 2 port car charger adapter…
Then we have the 6 meter or around 19 1/2 feet of rear camera cable to connect the rear camera to the main front unit… please note that Viofo also sells an 8 meter length cable.

We have a trim removal tool…
we have stick on cable clips…
we have extra mounting tapes for both the front and rear cameras…

lastly, we have a card reader USB adapter…

Let’s check out the menu and settings of the Viofo Pro Duo dash cam…
When you plug in the camera, it will automatically start to record and to get to the menu, you will need to stop the recording first…then click the menu button..

First we have the resolution and you can change it from 4K 3840 x 2160 to 1440 60 or 30 fps…. or 1080 120, 60 or 30 fps..
we have bitrate where you can choose from low to maximum…I will set mine to max..
Live view source…choose from front or rear or combination…
then loop recording from 1 minute to 10 minutes…
WDR or wide dynamic range.. on or off…
Exposure if you want to adjust it…
Parking mode..auto event detection, time lapse or low bitrate recording….
parking G sensor sensitivity – low-medium to high…
Time lapse. motion detection, GPS, speed unit, G sensor, Wifi, date stamp… and basically a lot of other settings that you can change and customize to your needs..

Time to install this to my truck…
Currently I do have the A129 Infrared 2 channel dash cam which I reviewed several months ago and I will link it down below together with original A129 review that I did a year ago… If you want to see how I routed the cables, check out those videos later on…

I already have and will use the existing GPS logger and mount, so it is easy to swap this out. Also, both cameras look exactly the same… First, I need to unplug the cable going to the second camera which is this IR camera beside it…. and just slide out the old one… and just slide the new one in…

Now, I need to route the rear camera cable which I will tuck in.. in my headliner and route it to the front of the passenger’s A pillar. I am doing this to avoid the window airbag.. on the bottom, it has to go across the A pillar and down to the door side which I will just need to tuck in to the door’s weather stripping…and down and also tucked in to the truck’s floor panel and going to the back…

Because of the truck that I have and I just realized that I have a power sliding rear glass window, I have to install the camera on the right most edge of the rear window to clear the glass when it is opened. The rear camera has 140 degrees FOV and should still be able to monitor the whole backside of my truck…

I just need to peel off the mounting tape and press it firmly to the glass and we got the rear camera installed. The main thing that you need to consider when routing your cables are the airbags… be sure not to block the front side of the airbags because it will cause more damage when cables fly around when the air bags gets activated, so keep that in mind.

Time to check out the video quality of this dash cam..

Well, what do you think guys?
I can tell you that 4k is the way to go with dash cams especially if you want to have the best chance of getting license plates…..I was checking and comparing the footage of the rear camera which is recording in 1080p and it is night and day compared to the 4k front and you will see the biggest difference when you are watching the footage in a 4k monitor. You will be able to read license plates of oncoming vehicles and easy to read street or business signs when you pause and take a screen shot of the footage. BTW, I will link down below full resolution 4K snap shots sample that I was able to get from the footage.

At night, you will always have the issue of the reflection glare from your headlights, lens flare on anything that it lit up and also motion blur due to low light and most of the time, you will not be able to read license plates, street and business signs… but aside from that, you can easily identify vehicles… and overall the video quality at night is pretty decent…

With the rear camera, just because I have a truck bed, I have a hard time seeing license plates on cars directly behind me but that is actually a good thing that I installed the camera mostly on one side of the rear window because I can see clearly the plates on the right lane on the passenger side.

My 32 GB high endurance card is not enough with 4K recording plus the 1080p from the rear camera. I was able to fill it up and the camera started to record over old footage after 40 minutes of recording. So, I have purchased and will test out the Sandisk 128 GB card… remember, the camera can support up to 256 GB card.

Viofo A129 Duo Dash Cam Review – youtu.be/8LwyveEDoWw
Viofo A129 Duo IR Uber, Lyft, Taxi Dash Cam Review – youtu.be/8LwyveEDoWw

Snapshots:
License Plate Test 1 – bit.ly/2PGUwfe
License Plate Test 2 – bit.ly/2prp89Q
Night Sample – bit.ly/2N7WFif
1080 Rear License Plate test – bit.ly/2PGUqUU

Viofo A129 Pro Duo Dash Cam – amzn.to/2JHRsve
Viofo A129 IR Dash Cam – amzn.to/34nYihy
Viofo A129 Duo Dash Cam – amzn.to/2C6GwDy

High Endurance Micro SD Cards:
Sandisk 128 GB High Endurance – amzn.to/335MWOZ
Samsung Pro Endurance – amzn.to/2YeFYIo
Sandisk High Endurance – amzn.to/2LwRdpp
Transcend High Endurance – amzn.to/2Ss3vA6