A329 Test & Review PP

[lufa6977]

On the A329, you can use a USB-C Stick instead, with an extension cable if you want, then the hot controller chip is in the stick, not the camera, and the USB-C connector will stay in no problem!

Edit: Not sure what that does to power consumption, I've seen power figures with external SSD, but not with USB sticks...

Wish I could use a USB-C stick, but I have the A229 Pro, I have to use an extender of some sort. The extenders I have are just slightly thinner than a microSDXC card and will not stay seated. I have considered an extender with a cable, but not sure which ones will stay seated in the housing. I started playing with this earlier this year, but gave up. I am waiting to see what VIOFO offers next along the lines of the A339, Pro or otherwise. If I can get a 3 channel that has front, IR and telephoto I would seriously consider getting the camera. I would then move the A229 Pro to the rear window and remove the A129 Pro Duo that is presently on the rear window.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

we can see in the images that the A329 Pro is quite a lot cooler,

Agreed, the front of the A329 is noticeably darker compared to the A229 in all thermal images, indicating less heat.

The A329 appears cooler than the A229 Pro in the thermal photo because I must place an object in between the units when I’m trying to measure the A229 Pro.
Otherwise the thermal camera will lock onto (red cross-hair) the A329’s hotspot.
See attached photos.

 

[Nigel]

The A329 appears cooler than the A229 Pro in the thermal photo because I must place an object in between the units when I’m trying to measure the A229 Pro.

In this image we can see the A229 at the front and the A329 at the back, the colour of each tells us their temperatures:

If you match the colour of the front faces of the two cameras to the temperature scale on the right, then the A329 is over 25°F cooler?

 

[Chuck McCoy]

In this image we can see the A229 at the front and the A329 at the back, the colour of each tells us their temperatures:

If you match the colour of the front faces of the two cameras to the temperature scale on the right, then the A329 is over 25°F cooler?

Incorrect.
I guess you won't be happy until I perform another heat test.
What settings / configuration would you like me to use?
You must wait 1 hour for camera temperatures to stabilize. lol

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Heat Test Comparison #6 (for @Nigel)
A329 2-CH REAR vs. A229 PRO 2-CH REAR
Normal Recording Mode
A329: 4K60fps (front)
A229 Pro: 4K30fps (front)
Both Rear Cameras: 2K30fps
HDR: All Channels Off
Bitrate Setting: Maximum
1 Min File Size: 472MB + 196MB = 668MB (approx 90 Mbps) A329
1 Min File Size: 430MB + 172MB = 602MB (approx 81 Mbps) A229 Pro
Ambient Office Temperature: 74℉ (23℃)
154℉ (68℃) A329
149℉ (65℃) A229 Pro

 

[GPak]

Have you found an extender board that will stay in? I have tried 2 different brands of extender boards and they will not stay seated, keep falling out.

As for the heat, on my A229 Pro, the heat from the microsdxc card was mostly coming from the controller chip that is butted almost up to the card housing. The card itself will produce heat from contentious read/writes but, that controller is the huge culprit.

No, not the extender, I was talking about A329 with the USB-C out for remotely mounted Micro SD or SSD.
I guess the controller would be in the reader itself since the USB-C can support both the SSD and the Micro SD

Here is the link showing Ugreen card reader working with A329:

Post in thread 'Viofo A329 Review'

Oct 21, 2024

This is a very interesting question.
What is the benefit of using such a device?
Is it to prevent the SD Card from being baked to 1000F degrees in the camera? lol

It works.

• viofo

• 
• 

 

[Chuck McCoy]

A329 with the USB-C out for remotely mounted Micro SD

This is the one I ordered for heat testing;
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B09L4NDV4X

Watch Type C to Micro SD/TF Card Reader on Amazon Live

Shop with expert advice from WINSTONE in their latest video Type C to Micro SD/TF Card Reader

www.amazon.com

 

[Bladex]

Good morning colleagues.

The dedication and professionals that you are are impressive, congratulations and thank you for all these contributions.

I started with the manufacturer Viofo with the A129 V2 model around 2017 and 1 month ago I decided to update my dashcam to more current models.

I decided to buy the A229 Pro with 2 channels, it cost me €279 with an offer on Amazon.
But a few days later Viofo began to market the A329 and seeing the criticism of overheating of the a229 pro (I live in the south of Spain, right next to the Mediterranean Sea, desert climate) and the improvement in the reduction of the a329 along with lower consumption of energy I decided to return the a229 pro and buy the a329.

At first glance I didn't see a big difference in quality in favor of both, but it did catch my attention that the vertical lens regulator on the a229 pro is more solid, harder, I noticed it as more precise and with quality.
I noticed the a329 regulator as more imprecise, soft, the same as the a129 v2 that I had mounted.
This is probably something unimportant since it does its job the same.
The advantage for me regarding it being harder like that of the a229 pro, apart from the feeling of higher quality, is that between click and click you can regulate the position more precisely and it does not move from there easily.

I hope that since it is a dashcam that has just been released on the market, Viofo improves it with firmwares compared to the a229 Pro, the superiority of the a329 being quite noticeable if it really is.

greetings to all.

 

[Augustus]

Good morning colleagues.

The dedication and professionals that you are are impressive, congratulations and thank you for all these contributions.

I started with the manufacturer Viofo with the A129 V2 model around 2017 and 1 month ago I decided to update my dashcam to more current models.

I decided to buy the A229 Pro with 2 channels, it cost me €279 with an offer on Amazon.
But a few days later Viofo began to market the A329 and seeing the criticism of overheating of the a229 pro (I live in the south of Spain, right next to the Mediterranean Sea, desert climate) and the improvement in the reduction of the a329 along with lower consumption of energy I decided to return the a229 pro and buy the a329.

At first glance I didn't see a big difference in quality in favor of both, but it did catch my attention that the vertical lens regulator on the a229 pro is more solid, harder, I noticed it as more precise and with quality.
I noticed the a329 regulator as more imprecise, soft, the same as the a129 v2 that I had mounted.
This is probably something unimportant since it does its job the same.
The advantage for me regarding it being harder like that of the a229 pro, apart from the feeling of higher quality, is that between click and click you can regulate the position more precisely and it does not move from there easily.

I hope that since it is a dashcam that has just been released on the market, Viofo improves it with firmwares compared to the a229 Pro, the superiority of the a329 being quite noticeable if it really is.

greetings to all.

The A229 Pro had a number of firmware updates which tidied it up quite well, but I was one of the first to find it had some overheating issues here in the summer heat in Australia.

Hoping with the processor improvements, the A329 doesn't meet the same fate - your climate in Spain is pretty hot like it is here - so will be testing as summer is hitting here quite soon (going into winter in the USA)

 

[Nigel]

A329: 4K60fps (front)
A229 Pro: 4K30fps (front)

With twice the frame rate on the A329, is this a fair test?

 

[Julian23]

This is the one I ordered for heat testing;
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B09L4NDV4X

Watch Type C to Micro SD/TF Card Reader on Amazon Live

Shop with expert advice from WINSTONE in their latest video Type C to Micro SD/TF Card Reader

www.amazon.com

Be careful with these.
I have a couple of them and when I was transferring data to my phone 2 of them have so far randomly decided to not work anymore.
And they get pretty hot themselves.
Maybe yours are better quality but my ones look nearly identical

 

[Chuck McCoy]

With twice the frame rate on the A329, is this a fair test?

Answered in post #74.

 

[Augustus]

Be careful with these.
I have a couple of them and when I was transferring data to my phone 2 of them have so far randomly decided to not work anymore.
And they get pretty hot themselves.
Maybe yours are better quality but my ones look nearly identical

This.

Most of the no name Chinese brands suffer the same fate. Stick to trusted names in future if you can like Baseus, UGreen etc but not sure if they do stuff like this adapter either, not all of them do. I've stuck to those brands when buying off AliExpress for the last seven or eight years and haven't had any issues.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Be careful with these.

Correct.

The average “American” consumer has no problem buying a luxury sports car for $50K-$75, and when they get to the gas station they buy 87 octane gasoline because it’s $0.20 cents cheaper per gallon, instead of buying the required 91 octane as specified in the owner’s manual, and gas cap door / lid.
And the car runs like sh*t, and they end up at the dealership service department, and are hit with an out of warranty repair bill because they failed to use the correct octane gasoline.

These are the same consumers that will spend top dollar on;
$400 A329 2-CH
$130 Viofo Brand SD Card
$26 HK4 with fuses taps
$20 BTR200 Remote Control Button
$16 CPL-500 (rear camera)
$592 Total

But, when it comes to things like SD Card readers they will buy the cheapest one for $5.50.
That’s precisely why I chose this one for testing. lol

 

[Augustus]

Correct.

The average “American” consumer has no problem buying a luxury sports car for $50K-$75, and when they get to the gas station they buy 87 octane gasoline because it’s $0.20 cents cheaper per gallon, instead of buying the required 91 octane as specified in the owner’s manual, and gas cap door / lid.
And the car runs like sh*t, and they end up at the dealership service department, and are hit with an out of warranty repair bill because they failed to use the correct octane gasoline.

These are the same consumers that will spend top dollar on;
$400 A329 2-CH
$130 Viofo Brand SD Card
$26 HK4 with fuses taps
$20 BTR200 Remote Control Button
$16 CPL-500 (rear camera)
$592 Total

But, when it comes to things like SD Card readers they will buy the cheapest one for $5.50.
That’s precisely why I chose this one for testing. lol

If it lasts two days for testing then breaks, who cares right lol. But if wanting it to last then look elsewhere basically.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

This

$12.99 is just too darn expensive for me.
If the $5.50 model doesn't give me the warm & fuzzies I will return it, and get the Ugreen.
Would that make you happy? lol

 

[Augustus]

$12.99 is just too darn expensive for me.
If the $5.50 model doesn't give me the warm & fuzzies I will return it, and get the Ugreen.
Would that make you happy? lol

Doesn't make me happy or sad or erect or flaccid, because I have been buying reliable tech from china for years without issue

Just some gentle suggestions in case you're wanting your tech to last though, that's all.

 

[Nigel]

Answered in post #74.

In this test, the A329 at 60fps looks just slightly warmer than the A229 Pro, while in the previous test, with them both at 30fps, the A329 looks a lot cooler than the A229 Pro. In both tests, the A329 SD card looks slightly warmer than the A229 Pro card, which should be expected since the A329 has a higher bitrate, so works the card harder.

So, if you live somewhere hot, you are best off with the A329, set to 30fps, and less than maximum bitrate, depending upon how hot it is.

 

[GPak]

$12.99 is just too darn expensive for me.
If the $5.50 model doesn't give me the warm & fuzzies I will return it, and get the Ugreen.
Would that make you happy? lol

These are attached to DVR, I would prefer SD card reader separated from the DVR

I really appreciate all the extensive testing done by @Panzer Platform here, really helpful data, but why is he the only one having fun suffering 😀
I would like to participate in this "suffering" if @PP allows me. 🙄
I can send these two items for testing to any address of @PP choice (in private email)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0BNBXVLZS
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0D1V76CYB

Based on the tests, I may buy the A329 if there is a sale on Black Friday.

 

[Julian23]

This.

Most of the no name Chinese brands suffer the same fate. Stick to trusted names in future if you can like Baseus, UGreen etc but not sure if they do stuff like this adapter either, not all of them do. I've stuck to those brands when buying off AliExpress for the last seven or eight years and haven't had any issues.

I also buy some stuff from AliExpress.
But for certain things I prefer to buy familiar brands.
I have a 140W charger for example that has served me well without any issues. Also many USB C cables from the brand. Not one of them failed so far with daily use.

But yeah, in the end buy something proper or you gonna buy it again after it fails. Easy as that.
Cheap can be good but isn't always the best choice.