A119S v2

[Street Guardian USA]

I've been in the business for several years now. Red/Grey Sandisk cards should be avoided based on experience and what factory engineers say. There is no official white paper type write up on this. The Black Sandisk cards with red font is ok. Better yet the Sandisk High Endurance cards are perfectly fine.

 

[jokiin]

Sandisk cards are not prone to failure, the red/grey version do have an issue for dashcam use in that they can change to read only mode when errors are encountered which then renders that card useless from that point on, the High Endurance cards are fine and would have no issue recommending those for supported (some Korean cameras in particular are very fussy about what cards will work with them) dashcam models

 

[RCPilot]

@Wrecked - I'm not a fan boy of any particular brand. Actually, the last couple of cards I purchased were Lexar 64GB High Endurance cards for $29.99 given that the Transcend high endurance cards were listed at $71.18 which is ludicrous. (They were only $36.99 six months ago last I bought a pair of them.) I also have a couple cams using Samsung cards. So far none have failed. What made me do my research on memory cards was when my son was in an accident and the crash was not recorded on the SanDisk card (red/gray card). That combined with having other SanDisk cards that failed before the accident that I discovered when periodically checking video. I would not use one in a car dash cam if they were free. The goods ones I pulled out of the dash cams are now in my GoPro, and other devices that don't get high usage.

Now more on topic, I am returning three A119S and one A119 cameras from Amazon. The first A119S I got the focus is soft on the left 1/3 of the image. (My A119 has a much better image and sharp focus across the full image.) The other two A119S were listed as "Latest Version" on Amazon by SmartDealsUSA but what arrived were two V1 cameras. I'm also returning a A119 which locks up after 1-2 seconds of turning on. Sigh. Why so many? I'm upgrading cams in a few cars. Hopefully just a streak of bad luck and the replacements will be good.

 

[OCD Tronic]

If you order from OCD Tronic you'll receive the latest second batch A119S V2 with the fixes you are looking for.

 

[Dashmellow]

(sigh...) OK then, humour me: Lets see the unbiased, independent studies that show how Sandisk cards fail prematurely, under any circumstance. Didn't think so. All you have is anecdotal "proof"!
This all rings of just so much brand tribalism. I'm sorry if I am getting more than a little tired of this subject, and I am extremely sorry if I have sounded insulting: it is/was not my intention to be rude but rather direct. However I do grow weary of folks saying things about brands that are simply not backed up with anything other than gossip, mob hysteria and misdirected and ignorant brand loyalty. Note I did not include corporate hit-jobs in that list of malfeasance, as saying that is also idle supposition: highly likely, but extremely difficult to prove. I won't even hint at what I suspect are the effects of the tremendous amount of heat generated by the a119s on memory cards... It just cannot be good.

The issue with SanDisk cards is that they can work just fine and then fail prematurely when you least expect it. On the other hand they can work for a very long time and not have any issues.

I've been using dash cams for seven years now and have experience with quite a few different ones (no A119 units though). As a result, I've owned three SanDisk 32 GB Ultra cards (red/gray) that I purchased long before I was ever aware of the potential problems people have been known to report about them. I continued to use them for awhile and lo and behold finally one of them failed quite suddenly and became completely unusable just like the reports I've heard. As a result, I took the other two out of service in an abundance of caution.

Over the last year I've been beta testing several cameras for a developer and decided to make use of the old SanDisk cards just to see what might happen and I guess kind of to make use of my investment in the cards since flash memory was far more expensive seven years ago than it is today. I've put those two SanDisk test cards through a lot of hard use (and abuse) over the last year and they are still working perfectly. Go figure, you just don't know....and that's the whole point. In the meantime SanDisk has altered their warranty policy to specifically disallow coverage of their cards when used in dash cams which is telling us something as well.

The issue with SanDisk Ultra cards is that there have been more than enough anecdotal reports about failures to take it seriously. The first reports began surfacing in the Mobius RC forums almost four years ago and the advice was to avoid them. We started hearing similar reports here on DCT about that same time (about the time this web site came into being). I have no idea what you mean by "independent studies" since that would be essentially impossible considering the wide variability and randomness of these failures but when one particular brand of card generates consistent, specific reports of failures over a period of years it is not a myth. Once in a while there are sporadic reports about other cards having random issues here and there on DCT but there has been no other brand of card that garners this many reports. To be clear, we are talking specifically about the gray and red SanDisk Ultra card, not any other model they offer. This particular card has an issue with its internal controller that can flip the card into READ ONLY mode and THAT is the issue.

The last thing you want is to discover only after the fact is that a card failed on you at a mission critical moment. So although the SanDisk Ultra cards "might" give you excellent service, the risk of poor reliability is a serious drawback and they are best avoided.

 

[RCPilot]

@Dashmellow - In the case of my son that is exactly what happened. The card went into read only mode and could not even be reformatted. Thee card was last checked 2 weeks prior and was working well. A few days before the accident it stopped recording. The other driver failed to accept responsibility. She was going at a very high rate of speed and driving recklessly at the time. We bluffed and told her we'd turn the video over to the highway patrol to prosecute her for her very high rate of speed and to her insurance company to have her insurance cancelled for reckless driving. The bluff worked and she admitted to her insurance she was the one at fault. That was when I did my homework on memory cards...

@OCD Tronic - I ordered two A119s from OCD last night (B01MFAK888). I've been very happy with my V1 A119 so far. Hoping the A119s from OCD will also be as good with a little better night performance.

 

[Dashmellow]

@Dashmellow - In the case of my son that is exactly what happened. The card went into read only mode and could not even be reformatted. Thee card was last checked 2 weeks prior and was working well. A few days before the accident it stopped recording. The other driver failed to accept responsibility. She was going at a very high rate of speed and driving recklessly at the time. We bluffed and told her we'd turn the video over to the highway patrol to prosecute her for her very high rate of speed and to her insurance company to have her insurance cancelled for reckless driving. The bluff worked and she admitted to her insurance she was the one at fault. That was when I did my homework on memory cards...

@OCD Tronic - I ordered two A119s from OCD last night (B01MFAK888). I've been very happy with my V1 A119 so far. Hoping the A119s from OCD will also be as good with a little better night performance.

Yeah, once it actually happens to you personally you don't need any convincing. Those of use who have had this experience report about it here for no other reason than to confirm the problem and alert others, not to hear ourselves talk.
The odd thing is how it might happen or it just might not. My SanDisk cards that are still working have countless hours on them. If they do fail, it might just be from old age at this point.

Edit: Glad your bluff worked!

 

[borik]

Thee card was last checked 2 weeks prior and was working well.

2 weeks?!
i checked the video the same day it was recorded and it was (and the cards) OK, the next day the cameras started (verified) recording, but when after the driving I took the cards home to review the video one card was dead!

 

[zroger73]

To be clear, we are talking specifically about the gray and red SanDisk Ultra card, not any other model they offer. This particular card has an issue with its internal controller that can flip the card into READ ONLY mode and THAT is the issue.

So, if a card becomes read-only, the camera will obviously stop recording. The Viofo cams (and presumably others) beep/flash and/or display a warning message if there is a problem with the card or the camera isn't recording. Right? (My A119S V1 didn't like a new Panasonic card and displayed "Memory Error", so I knew it wasn't recording and replaced the card with a SanDisk Ultra which does work.)

It's possible a card might go bad the very moment someone pulls out in front of you, but I'd think you'd have better chance of winning the lottery that morning then getting struck by lightning that afternoon.

Another $25 or so for the "recommended" card is nothing to me - I paid more that that for lunch today! But, I have a hard time buying another memory card simply because it says "high endurance".

Also, how hard could it be for the manufactures to add code to the firmware that reads immediately after a write to ensure data integrity. If the integrity check fails, display a warning message. That way, if you start getting errors the the written files are corrupt, you'll know it's time to replace the card. This ain't rocket science.

 

[Dashmellow]

So, if a card becomes read-only, the camera will obviously stop recording. The Viofo cams (and presumably others) beep/flash and/or display a warning message if there is a problem with the card or the camera isn't recording. Right? (My A119S V1 didn't like a new Panasonic card and displayed "Memory Error", so I knew it wasn't recording and replaced the card with a SanDisk Ultra which does work.)

It's possible a card might go bad the very moment someone pulls out in front of you, but I'd think you'd have better chance of winning the lottery that morning then getting struck by lightning that afternoon.

Another $25 or so for the "recommended" card is nothing to me - I paid more that that for lunch today! But, I have a hard time buying another memory card simply because it says "high endurance".

Also, how hard could it be for the manufactures to add code to the firmware that reads immediately after a write to ensure data integrity. If the integrity check fails, display a warning message. That way, if you start getting errors the the written files are corrupt, you'll know it's time to replace the card. This ain't rocket science.

Some cameras have a warning and others don't. In my case it happened on a rear facing Mobius and I saw in the rear view mirror that the LED indicator was solid and no longer blinking so I knew there was an issue, If it had happened on one of the side facing cameras in my vehicle such as the one behind the drivers seat on the left hand side I would not have noticed. It is not a question of being there the moment a card might go bad. I think that is poor logic to base a decision on using the SanDisk cards or not. Why take a chance when the consequences of missing the video capture are mission critical?

As far as the "high endurance" business is concern I think there is a lot of hype surrounding the promotion of these cards. It's not that they are a bad idea or don't perform as advertised but in seven years of full time dash cam use I have never had a "normal" card fail prematurely and I still have cards in service that I bought years ago that are working fine with countless hours on them.

 

[SawMaster]

Based on rough calculations, my favorite 400X 64GB card went at least 500 data cycles (maybe even 600) without any problems h2testw showed it still perfect when I retired it and stashed it for a spare in my van. I have another one from that vintage which should be around 400X now (that cam doesn't see 24/7 usage like the first one). Around 6 weeks ago it too tested perfectly and I'm still using it.

The entire point of a dashcam is to record video evidence should you need it. It makes no sense at all to possiblly compromise the cam's ability to perform it's job for you. There is nothing more frustrating and aggravating than having something you need badly fail you when you thought it wouldn't. I gain or lose nothing over someone elses card or cam choice, but I still want them to have the evidence they need should they need it, same as me.

My cam set-up is far from optimum as I can't see what my rear cam is doing; only that it's start-up activated the screen display until that turns off several seconds later. It's on the same circuit as a side cam that I can see if I turn my head and look at it. If that side-cam is working the rear cam should be as well but I have to take it on faith It will be made better eventually. I'd never take that kind of chance with my front cam nor should anyone

One of the advantages of wedge-cams like the A119S is that the recording LED is normally very easily seen, and that's important

Phil

 

[zephiris]

Sorry if this have been answered already, but what's the differences between the v1 and v2? Is it just a GPS thing?

 

[OCD Tronic]

Sorry if this have been answered already, but what's the differences between the v1 and v2? Is it just a GPS thing?

New GPS connection system for stable pass through power, new EVA foam pad for a stable vibration free recording, New lens base to enhance focus. (And the usual minor internal improvements that are normal with each production run)

 

[zephiris]

New GPS connection system for stable pass through power, new EVA foam pad for a stable vibration free recording, New lens base to enhance focus. (And the usual minor internal improvements that are normal with each production run)

Thanks. By any chance, is there a non-GPS version for the v2?

 

[OCD Tronic]

Thanks. By any chance, is there a non-GPS version for the v2?

Yes search Amazon for A119S V2
Or
B01MDPB7CS

 

[zephiris]

Yes search Amazon for A119S V2
Or
B01MDPB7CS

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ryne]

Is there a warrenty with this camera? I'd like to contact Viofo directly, but I think there will be a language barrier.

Bought mine from amazon in Canada, but it doesn't seem like the vendor I bought it from will help me out.

So here's the response I received from Viofo:

Hi,

We suggest you contact with Amazon Canada.
Ticket: xxxx
Best regards,
Bill Zhou | Product Manager

VIOFO LTD
Phone: +86 755 8526 8909 | Mobile: +86 133 0296 1506
Email: bill@viofo.com
Website:www.viofo.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/viofo.world
Address: 401, Zhupai Industrial Zone, Minfu Road, Minzhi Street, Longhua, Shenzhen, China
Professional Action Camera, Car Dash Camera Manufacturer

Any idea of what I should do now? The vendor tells me to go through the manufacturer, the manufacturer tells me to go through the vendor.

 

[jokiin]

The vendor is the one that should be helping you out, who did you buy from?

 

[ryevick]

A119S V2 just arrived at the Amazon FBA warehouse. (For Prime / Fulfilled by Amazon)

A119S V2 (without GPS)
Search for: B01MDPB7CS

A119S V2 (with GPS)
Search for: B01MFAK888

Again, EVA foam will be included in all of these.

I just placed my order with you on Amazon for the A119S V2

 

[OCD Tronic]

I just placed my order with you on Amazon for the A119S V2

Thanks, make sure it was "Sold by OCD Tronic and Fulfilled by Amazon"
It seems another seller just took over my listing. (and it might not even be the newest stock)