I run Viofo A129 Plus Duo in both my cars, front ant back cameras. The set is a little over budget but they’re good quality and last. One pair was in my old car and I transferred to my new one, they even provide you with extra sticky pads for that purpose.
https://ebay.us/m/K0kn2X I’m afraid it’s eBay but that’s the best price (£119) I’ve seen. Annoyingly Amazon has delisted it and Viofo direct is £169.
You’ll also need a microSD card. I was a pro photographer so I swear by sandisk, expensive but they aren’t prone to corrupting and have decent read/write speeds.
Bear in mind that a bespoke fit dashcam that cannot be moved from car to car. I’ve had my Viofo A129 across two vehicles, and it was £150 when I first got it, so over 6 years it’s offered great value and doesn’t show any signs of letting go.
I would consider Viofo if you want a lower profile install that isn’t bespoke, all their designs seem to be blend in quite well, small enough to be tucked in behind the mirror. The hardwire kit (which I got for my fun car - I have one in each car) was quite cleverly put together. Newer versions also have upgraded STARVIS II processing from Sony for immense low light performance, though I would say the earlier STARVIS is more than good enough.
Depending on the dash cam some will eat power for breakfast. To know how long you can have parking mode for will depend on that, the condition of your battery and how many events get triggered.
I tested the Thinkeate U3000, BlackVue DR770X Box, VIOFO A129 Plus Duo, and Akeeyo EYES AI dash cams to show how much power is used by each in parking mode. Watch for more info:
https://youtu.be/52nfmtyEEQ8
I also am trying to use a solar panel to potentially have unlimited parking mode. Find out more about the solar dash cam project here:
https://youtu.be/BI-fhD5w0m8
How long you get for parking mode will depend on several things including how much power your dash cam uses in parking mode, the state of charge of your car battery, the condition of your car battery and the amount of motion in your parking spot.
Currently, the Thinkware U3000 and U3000 Pro have the longest parking mode when set to RADAR. I've gotten past 8 days but again depends on those factors I mentioned above. If I were to use a dash cam battery pack I could probably extend it to past 21 days. These are expensive dash cams so budget will also play a factor.
It's possible a different dash cam used with a dash cam battery pack could cost less and last more than what you need it for.
Note too that dash cam parking mode differ between brands and makes so you would want to know how it really works for a specific dash cam. A lot of cheap dash cams implement parking mode not too great or use too much power or have a long wake-up time. This matters because if it takes a long time to wake-up you will miss recording some or all the action.
Here is my comparison video on parking modes and power usage of some common dash cams: [U3000 vs VIOFO, BlackVue, Akeeyo](https://youtu.be/52nfmtyEEQ8)
[My full Review of U3000 Pro](https://youtu.be/6PxwpG2-ZII)
[My full Review of 70mai 4K T800](https://youtu.be/G88zYI3J5YE)
[My full Review of VIOFO a129 Plus Duo](https://youtu.be/9YQGChfUGIY)
To add... Just because a dash cam says it has motion detection in the specs doesn't mean it does it well. For example, the VIOFO A129 Plus Duo doesn't record an impact if motion detection doesn't happen first. I think that is not the best way to implement it. It should always record impacts and motion detections independently.
I show this in the VIOFO review.
Top Dash Cams on Reddit
1
VIOFO
A229 Pro Series
90% positive of 276 users
Great video & easy install, but app and SD card issues.
210Angler
