Viofo A229 Plus (my brief review)

[atomicorion]

My last dashcam was a Mobius which after all these years, I think is about to kick the bucket, as the camera starts but sometimes won't record, meaning I have to unplug the power cable to restart it, which is a pain in the arse, and so I thought it may be time to look for a new dashcam. The plethora of dashcams on the market today is overwhelming to say the least, but after watching a few ton of dashcam review videos on YT, the Viofo A229 Plus piqued my interest, as I was impressed with what I saw in the reviews on what it had to offer, reasonable price and not overly bulky on the windscreen. The YT reviewer Vortex Radar did a quick review of both the A229 Plus and Pro versions, but stated the Plus had better night time video capture and so that's what I went with. Mind you, I've never tried a Viofo brand dashcam before so all I had going were the reviews and the features it had which I liked. Upon receiving the camera, my first impression was that this is a well built good quality piece of kit, from the cameras to all the accessories it came with oozed quality. Heck, even the box looked well made. The front camera(can be detached from windscreen) was quite easy to install, only having to route through under the dash and up the windscreen, but the rear one required a lot more work due to having to run the cable through the A and B pillars and finally snaking its way to the rear hatch. This was my first time installing a rear camera and had to be super careful so as to not break any interior trim as it was all trial and error, which is quite an effort and luckily didn't break anything haha. I must admit though, having the proper trim removal tools made the job so much easier, as I can't imagine doing it with a screwdriver as some do. The video footage(front/rear) of night/daytime captured from the A229 Plus was what really sold me on this dashcam while watching the reviews, and after seeing it for myself with my own footage, I'm glad I made the right choice. The Sony Starvis 2 sensors and HDR do an excellent job at capturing crisp, clear day or night time video footage without too much exposure or glaring lights from other vehicles and road illuminating lights that's very visible with some dashcams. The footage is pretty good too even when it's raining. I purchased the CPL filter which imo is a MUST for the front camera as it reduces the sun's rays/glare significantly, especially during sunset, and the beauty is that you can leave the CPL filter on even at night without having to worry that the captured footage might be too dark. Both front and rear cameras being 2K also helps with the extra clarity of the footage compared to just 1080p, also keeping the file size down compared to that of 4K. The A229 Plus has extensive camera settings and the simplicity of operation is a breeze to use, that to me is a big plus. Connecting your smart phone to the camera via Viofo's app was simple, straight forward and downloading video footage from the camera to your phone was pretty fast with 5GHz wifi data transfer which requires just one tap. Again, I must stress the ease of use with this dashcam, which shows the design/R&D departments really thought about the end user. I've also purchased the bluetooth remote control which is placed just behind the steering wheel on the dashboard allowing quick access to lock the video if I wanted to capture a particular instance. This is better than to use voice commands to lock the video when I'm playing music, which I find can interfere with the voice commands when you're rocking to some loud tunes. The User Interface is quite easy to use on the camera itself, but I find it much easier to change settings or view live and saved footage via the Viofo app on the phone as you can just scroll up and down, compared to pressing multiple buttons going in and out of sub menus on the main unit. Voice commands work well in that the system understands and receives the command being said and immediately actions what you ask it to do.
I haven't tested the parking modes yet as I'm still not sure if I want to go the hardwire route which can possibly drain the battery or purchase a separate battery pack for this specific mode.
Back to do some more research then...
This review is 2 weeks after installing the cameras so that I can have a good assessment of the hardware/software and so far, haven't experienced any issues and everything is working flawlessly. Overall, I'm very pleased and impressed with the top notch build quality, features and functionality of the Viofo A229 Plus at a good price considering what you get and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a new dual channel(or optional 3rd channel) dashcam!

 

[Panzer Platform]

Thank you for taking the time to write this up.
It’s really nice hearing feedback from actual paying customers.
@viofo @VIOFO-Support will be pleased to read your feedback.
Viofo just released a CPL Filter for the Rear camera that you may want to get if you have reflections on your rear camera footage;

VIOFO CPL-300 Filter For Rear Camera of A229/A229 Plus/A229 Pro/A139/A139 Pro/T130

The CPL Filter is compatible with the A229/A229 Plus/A229 Pro/A139/A139 Pro/T130 Rear Camera. Protect the camera lens from fingerprints, scratches, and dirt destroying. Reduce reflections and glare from glass, metals, or shiny surfaces that would damage image quality. Make colors more saturated...

viofo.com

Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming "new" OBD2 Power Cable that will enable parking mode without using the traditional HK4 Hardwire Kit.
Here are my favorite reviews of dash cam battery packs;

 

[atomicorion]

Thank you for taking the time to write this up.
It’s really nice hearing feedback from actual paying customers.
@viofo @VIOFO-Support will be pleased to read your feedback.

I read some reviews on this forum as well when searching for my new dashcam and it definitely helps, so once I got mine I thought I'd do the same in hopes that it may/might help someone else.
Yeah, I bought it with my own hard earned money so it's an honest review of what I've experienced, and not that of an influencer who may have gotten the product for free and are obliged to promote said product and say good things about it. My experience with the Viofo A229 Plus so far is that it's a fantastic dashcam and don't have anything bad to say about it.

Viofo just released a CPL Filter for the Rear camera that you may want to get if you have reflections on your rear camera footage;

My car has window tints and so it may be too dark for the rear camera if I slap a filter on it haha. Add to the fact the rear glass usually collects a lot of environmental fallout, a CPL filter may make things worse, especially at night, but thanks for that recommendation Panzer. Just checked the Viofo Australian site, the rear camera CPL filter is not available here yet. It's typical that we aussies always tend to get products later than everyone else due to our location and ****ty government lol. As an example, our internet is about 10-15 years behind all the 1st world countries and many others. Heck, I remember about 15 years ago when Lithuania's internet(a small speck of a country in Europe) ran circles around ours.

Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming "new" OBD2 Power Cable that will enable parking mode without using the traditional HK4 Hardwire Kit.

This new OBD2 power cable you speak of is for the Viofo dashcams?
And if so, that would mean it plugs straight into the OBD terminal correct?

Here are my favorite reviews of dash cam battery packs;

Thanks m8, much appreciated!

 

[DT MI]

and not that of an influencer who may have gotten the product for free and are obliged to promote said product and say good things about it.

 

[Panzer Platform]

This new OBD2 power cable you speak of is for the Viofo dashcams?
And if so, that would mean it plugs straight into the OBD terminal correct?

Yes.