A119 Mini - Review / Testing

Right on Robert,
I noticed this too when I updated to 20220621, (text got smaller, and shifted) but I failed to report it because I think I've been emailing them too much asking for silly features like temp sensor info in the text overlay, louder audio volume, and "GPS Connected" voice notification. lol

But now looking at the A229 side by side. WOW, what a difference!
The A119 text looks small, blurry, and scattered.
I hope they can fix the A119 to look like the A229.
-Chuck
The A229 Duo status line text is formatted similar to what I would expect. They could decrease the font size a wee bit in the A229 Duo's status line text. I would like to see the A119 Mini status line text more like the A229 Duo's status line text.
 
I captured some daytime video footage with a CPL filter installed from three QHD VIOFO dash cameras. (VIOFO A119 Mini, A229 front camera and a T130 front camera)

As I mention in the intro of the video, the A229 and T130 cannot have their front camera lenses lowered any further to match the ground/sky ratio that I was able to obtain with the A119 Mini.

 
Right on Robert,
What a fantastic compilation.
Very nice “side by side by side” editing.
Since all these cameras have similar hardware, it really is like splitting hairs. Lol

As far as reading signage on the side of the road here’s my ranking.
1.) A119 Mini
2.) A229
3.) T130

However, I really, really like the A229 text overlay at the bottom of the screen.
It’s much more legible, and easy to read.
It also looks more aesthetically pleasing, and “symmetrical” if that makes any sense.

At 4:15 the A229 colors look a little flat when looking at the trees.

Also the T130 looks just a bit darker than the other two.
-Chuck
 
Daytime Video Samples - With CPL Installed

I have a VIOFO A119 Mini with its rectangular mount CPL filter, a VIOFO A229 Duo front and a VIOFO T130 front with their circular press on CPL filters installed. The A119 Mini's CPL filter simply snaps onto the front camera lens without needing any adjustment according to the user instructions. The A229 and T130 CPL filters did need some adjustment to have them block the best/most amount of dashboard reflections in the windshield. All three dash camera were recording 2560x1440 30fps.

Vertical Front Lens Adjustment

The three dash cameras are mounted side-by-side-by-side on the front windshield. The A119 Mini allows for a larger range of vertical adjustment of the front camera lens when compared to the A229 and T130. The A229 and T130 had their front camera lens (and camera body in the T130 case) adjusted as far down as they allowed to try and match the same ratio of sky/ground as the A119 Mini. The A229 Duo front lens gets a bit closer to matching the A119 Mini than the T130 does (see pics in next section).

Focus

The A229 Duo front camera lens and the T130 front camera lens have very good focus clarity across the entire field of view. The A119 Mini (pre-production unit) does seem to be developing a soft/fuzzy focus clarity level across upper 2/3 of the field of view. I will be receiving a production replacement for my current A119 Mini so I can complete my full review of the product in the next several weeks. I hope to see a better focus clarity with the replacement unit. I've included three frame grabs from the 2560x1440 video (scaled to 1920x1080 for this website) and you can see the A119 Mini's focus is not as sharp as the other two dash cameras.

The A119 Mini's focus is decent in the lower 1/3 of the image (interior dashboard and the rear section of the car's hood). The focus issue is not a windshield clarity issue. The A229 and T130 both have a very good focus clarity level across the entire field of view.

a119mini_a229_t130_left.jpg a119mini_a229_t130_center.jpg a119mini_a229_t130_right.jpg

Color

The A229 Duo's front camera with the CPL filter seems to be the unit which best reproduces the actual colors from the location being recorded. The colors captured by the T130 look more like an early fall session version of the colors for that area. The T130's road color is a bit off as well (very brown). The A119 Mini's colors are a bit closer to the actual colors than the T130's colors.
 
As I mentioned in the reviews section of this site, I have completed my review of a production A119 Mini dash camera. During my testing, I had some problems with overheating of the A119 Mini. I had a preproduction A119 Mini but I was not allowed to base my review on that unit. I purchased a new production A119 Mini for this review video and that unit also had some issues (speaker sometimes worked and sometimes didn't work, A119 Mini would power down in normal mode due to an apparent overheat condition). I'll be digging into those issues with the production unit with VIOFO.


Here is the power consumption spreadsheet updated with data using a Fluke 117 multimeter to get min/max/avg power consumption values. I was able to perform all of the tests since the production A119 Mini resolved the issue of the A119 Mini not staying powered off when requested (using the <PWR> button or using the "Parking Recording Duration" timer to shut it down).

a119_mini_power_consumption_20220707.png
 
At what air temperature did the A119 Mini turn off due to obvious overheating? :unsure:
I was in the vehicle driving with the A/C on. The passenger compartment temp was in the mid 70s F (around 25C). The outside air temp at that time of day was in the mid 80s F (around 30C).

On my 08-July-2022 test drive, the vehicle was parked the three times. The passenger compartment air temp would rise to the 130F/54C to 140F/60C range.

Over the past few weeks when I used the preproduction A119 Mini in the same temperature conditions but with the A119 Mini being in direct sunlight, it would record just fine in normal mode. When it was in low bitrate parking mode and the passenger compartment temp would rise to the 140F/60C range, the preproduction A119 Mini (with it being in exposed to direct sunlight) would get to the 180F/82C range and it would shutdown (at least attempt to shutdown but due to a known issue with the preproduction circuit board, the preproduction A119 Mini would not stay powered off).

When I was testing the production A119 Mini in my filming studio (inside temp was around 79F/26C) the A119 Mini operated correctly and did not overheat. Having direct sunlight exposure seemed to be a key factor in my issues with the A119 Mini.
 
When I was testing the production A119 Mini in my filming studio (inside temp was around 79F/26C) the A119 Mini operated correctly and did not overheat.

Good evening.
Yesterday I left 119 mini turned on for recording at home for 4 hours, temperature +27 C, high bitrate, 2560 * 1080, no problems with overheating, no shutdowns.
In the upper part of the cooling radiator, a Wi-Fi module plate is glued inside, it can significantly block the ventilation inside the case.
Perhaps Viofo should pay attention to this.
 

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It appears that the A119 Mini is running into a lot of overheating issues, in fact both times where I drove for more than 2 hours in direct sunlight, the cam overheated and shut off. The outside temperature was around 80 - 90 degrees fahrenheit. I am using 1440p @ 60 fps, high bit rate.

The A119 V2 I had been using previously didn't have any issues like these so I think it is specific to the model.
 
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It appears that the A119 Mini is running into a lot of overheating issues, in fact both times where I drove for more than 2 hours in direct sunlight, the cam overheated and shut off. The outside temperature was around 80 - 90 degrees fahrenheit. I am using 1440p @ 60 fps, high bit rate.

The A119 V2 I had been using previously didn't have any issues like these so I think it is specific to the model.
Can you try to switch to 2k 30fps, the 2k 60fps is almost similar to 4K recording, it is a challenge for this mini-size dashcam.
 
Now there's a firmware challenge. If the cam temp gets above a certain threshold it automatically switches to a more suitable setting.
 
Now there's a firmware challenge. If the cam temp gets above a certain threshold it automatically switches to a more suitable setting.
I wonder how many people would notice if it switched from 60fps to 30fps when it gets hot?
Might even get some comments about image quality improving in high temperatures!
 
Can you try to switch to 2k 30fps, the 2k 60fps is almost similar to 4K recording, it is a challenge for this mini-size dashcam.

I will give it a try this weekend, thank you.
 
I ran my power consumption tests for the A119 Mini. As I mentioned before, my VIOFO contact has told me that early review samples (preproduction) have a non firmware bug that prevents the A119 Mini from powering down and staying powered down when using the power button. Based on my testing, the "Parking Recording Duration" (PRD) firmware setting also will not properly work due to the same non firmware problem. Just like when using the power button to power down the A119 Mini, the PRD timer feature will power down the A119 Mini, but within seconds the A119 Mini powers up again. Due to that known issue, I was unable to get the power consumption readings for those tests.

View attachment 60567
Thanks so much for doing that testing! That’s very helpful. :)

I just wired mine up last night and for reference, connected to my Cellink Neo, I’m getting about 28 hours of parked recording time in low bitrate, screen off, and wifi off.

That’s longer than my Blackvue’s so I’m happy with those numbers. :)
 
I was in the vehicle driving with the A/C on. The passenger compartment temp was in the mid 70s F (around 25C). The outside air temp at that time of day was in the mid 80s F (around 30C).

On my 08-July-2022 test drive, the vehicle was parked the three times. The passenger compartment air temp would rise to the 130F/54C to 140F/60C range.

Over the past few weeks when I used the preproduction A119 Mini in the same temperature conditions but with the A119 Mini being in direct sunlight, it would record just fine in normal mode. When it was in low bitrate parking mode and the passenger compartment temp would rise to the 140F/60C range, the preproduction A119 Mini (with it being in exposed to direct sunlight) would get to the 180F/82C range and it would shutdown (at least attempt to shutdown but due to a known issue with the preproduction circuit board, the preproduction A119 Mini would not stay powered off).

When I was testing the production A119 Mini in my filming studio (inside temp was around 79F/26C) the A119 Mini operated correctly and did not overheat. Having direct sunlight exposure seemed to be a key factor in my issues with the A119 Mini.
I’m on my second day of driving with mine and it looks like like overheated and shut down while driving too.

I still have to check the actual footage, but it was very hot to the touch after being parked in the sun for a few hours. I changed some settings and started driving, but it looks like it shut off at some point during the drive even with the AC going. Temps are in the low 90’s today.

So I guess you’re not the online one…
 
I’m on my second day of driving with mine and it looks like like overheated and shut down while driving too.

I still have to check the actual footage, but it was very hot to the touch after being parked in the sun for a few hours. I changed some settings and started driving, but it looks like it shut off at some point during the drive even with the AC going. Temps are in the low 90’s today.

So I guess you’re not the online one…
The A119 Mini that shutdown during normal mode recording also had an internal speaker problem. Early this week, I returned it to Amazon. VIOFO sent me a new review sample (production unit) which I installed late last week. It survived last week's somewhat moderate outside temps during my multi hour weekly shopping trip route. It was configured to record 2560x1440p 30fps with a bitrate of high.

I decided I wanted to try an experiment to see if I could help shield the A119 Mini from some of the direct sunlight coming through the windshield. I purchased a small roll of perforated mesh privacy window film. Windshields have an enamel coating baked onto them where it attaches to the vehicle and many times that material extends into the visible window glass area on the top of the windshield to act as a solar shade (aka as window frits). My idea was to add a small amount of film to the window glass with small holes in it (like the window frits) that would help block some of the direct sunlight reaching the A119 Mini to see if that could help reduce the amount absorbed heat from direct sunlight exposure.

1659224743459.png1659224781266.png1659224717966.png

Last Monday, I ran an experiment in my driveway measuring the temps of an A119 Mini which started off at room temp and then I checked it after 10 mins, 20 mins and 30 mins. The GPS mount had reached its max temp being directly exposed to the sun before attaching the A119 Mini. I did not power the A119 Minis (I had two for this test) because I wanted to see just what the temp the A119 Mini would reach solely based on direct sunlight exposure.

The first test was without the film installed and the second test was with the film installed. The outside temp during the 30 minute test one (without film) was 92F/33.3C and during test two (with film) was 98F/36.6C. The temps at the 30 minute mark were about 5F lower with the film installed. Not a large amount of temperature reduction, but it did reduce it a bit.

Looking at the temps I gathered during last week's shopping trip route at the hottest part of the trip (parking mode #3), the temps from this week were down between 5F and 20F with the film installed. The other dash cameras in the car (without any film on the windshield) had temps similar to last week's temps, only the A119 Mini showed somewhat lower temps. This week, I was able to run the A119 Mini at 2560x1440p 60fps with a bitrate of high which is the first time I've been able to get that configuration to work during this weekly shopping trip route. The outside temps during the hottest part of the route (parking mode #3) were 87F/30.6C last week and 81F/27.2C this week. Even though this week's outside temp was 6F/3.3C degrees cooler, the other non A119 Mini dash cameras had similar case temps both weeks.

The addition of the film didn't help quite as much as I would have hoped, but it did seem to help reduce the A119 Mini's case temps and every degree of reduction helps.
 
The addition of the film didn't help quite as much as I would have hoped,
The film probably got hot and radiated heat into the camera. The film can also heat the air around the camera to hotter than without the film. There is probably a way of blocking the heat, but a simple film on the glass doesn't seem to be very effective.
 
On my old A119 V3 install I used a cut up piece of folding insulated window shade to shield my cam from the Aussie heat. It worked very well.

Not sure if I will need to do the same with my Mini as it's currently Winter in Oz, I will wait until things heat up a little to see if it's needed.

20200114_145439.jpg
 
Thats another thing i like about Aussies,,,,, seem so problem solving / solution finding.

I am very solution oriented myself, which is why i fear infant children, cuz when one go off screaming, well if the reason are not obvious i am lost and not able to find solution and i dont like that.

Today while i finished a loop on our garden train layout, and my friend was racing the RC cars on the off road track with other people, well some of them got their kid with them and he was very interested in what i was doing, so as he was 7 - 8 years old, i taught him about spirit levels i was using.
Then gave him a little level only 20 CM long and sent him off checking the other 100 M of the railroad track i had already made, and the kid had a ball seeing if everything in sight was level.
 
Today while i finished a loop on our garden train layout, and my friend was racing the RC cars on the off road track with other people, well some of them got their kid with them and he was very interested in what i was doing, so as he was 7 - 8 years old, i taught him about spirit levels i was using.
Then gave him a little level only 20 CM long and sent him off checking the other 100 M of the railroad track i had already made, and the kid had a ball seeing if everything in sight was level.
You don't use your phone's spirit level app? :unsure:
 
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