Alabama Heat - A119v3 or A129 Pro ?

tsitalon1

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Hey guys, I'll make this quick.

Long time A119v2 user, thinking of upgrading, but I live in Alabama with crazy high temps...
I hear of overheating issues with the newer Viofo models, would I be better with a the A119v3 or the 129 Pro?

Also do dual cam units overheat more than single cam units?
 
Also do dual cam units overheat more than single cam units
Yes, because they have to do more work, but you won't have any issues with the Viofo dashcams unless you use them for parking mode, and I would think parking mode isn't recommended for any dashcam in your "crazy high temps"!

If you want to use parking mode in the midday heat then the A119 V3 will do best, the A129 Plus is not far off even with its dual cameras since unlike most dashcams, most of the extra work is done in the rear camera. The A129 Pro with its 4K is going to be a lot worse, not recommended for parking mode in Alabama. The A139 is better that the A129 Pro in dual channel form, just a little better with 3 channels.
 
Overheating are generally associated with parking guard use, for the camera to just wake up and start recording when you go for a drive on a hot day, that should not be a problem.
At least i cant say i have noticed that issue with any brand, at worst extreme heat can occasionally get the focus to shift in the lens, but nowadays thats not so bad with quality cameras, in the old days it was more of a problem to be aware of.
If you do want to use parking guard, then systems where you can hide the main heat generating part out of the direct sun will probably fare better, but there are not many dual remote systems to choose from yet.
And it is just a hunch on my part, i have not seen anyone compare a traditional system VS a remote system in regard to heat endurance, but my logic say even if a car get blast furnace hot, then the camera not sitting in direct sun will be much better VS one that do that.

Sadly all the brands that do make remote camera / cameras systems, they have not taken advantage of the fact that the main body you hide somewhere, it can pretty much be as large as you like and so house actual cooler VS the standard dashcams that have a little passive cooler trapped inside a more or less ventilated black housing.
I would not mind if the main unit was the same size / volume as 5 - 6 CD covers on top of each other, if that additinal space was used for cooling and so you could also do even higher bitrates too as the cooling would allow for the SOC to give all it got.
 
Hey guys, I'll make this quick.

Long time A119v2 user, thinking of upgrading, but I live in Alabama with crazy high temps...
I hear of overheating issues with the newer Viofo models, would I be better with a the A119v3 or the 129 Pro?

Also do dual cam units overheat more than single cam units?
The A129 Pro runs hot already, the V3 will do better. I'm in upstate SC and we get about the same summers as you do. I've actually had very few problems with older cams overheating nor has it been an issue with most newer ones. If it still worries you then you might want to look at Street Guardian cams as they're specifically built to tolerate Australian heat which is worse than what we get, but I think the V3 will do OK for you :)

Phil
 
I think the main issue for me would be to ensure I parked with the camera out of direct sun.
 
I have the A119v3 and I have had mine running for several hours in parking mode, with the car parked in plus 40ºC heat in direct sun, and I have not had any shutdowns or errors.

I am in Australia and I've had the camera for a few years. Am I just lucky, who knows?
 
Am I just lucky, who knows?
No, not lucky, the A119 V3 is cooler than the others because it uses less power than the others, which also makes it good for battery life in parking mode.
 
Maybe is hard to believe but I consider that many of the Viofo dashcams heat problems are just because the hardwire kit is mounted in the wrong place, covered by the car carpet so its cooling is blocked.
People living in the same area, with same dashcam and same cards, one have problems and the other not. The only difference is the hardwire kit placement.
I know that here are many old members with experience which are helping other people here so they must take this into consideration when helping people regarding the heat problems.
 

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Maybe is hard to believe but I consider that many of the Viofo dashcams heat problems are just because the hardwire kit is mounted in the wrong place, covered by the car carpet so its cooling is blocked.
Maybe I don't understand something, please explain: How can the hardwire kit affect the heating of the DVR?
How does the cooling of the hardwire kit affect the cooling of the DVR itself?
 
Maybe I don't understand something, please explain: How can the hardwire kit affect the heating of the DVR?
How does the cooling of the hardwire kit affect the cooling of the DVR itself?
If the hardwire kit gets too hot then it will turn the power off, but before that it may reduce the amount of power available to the dashcam, which could cause problems at times of high demand, such as when starting a new loop recording file.

Definitely a possible cause of problems, especially with the 3 channel cameras.
 
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It is understandable that the hardwire kit can affect the performance of the DVR.
But we sometimes have problems due to the high temperature of the DVR itself.
Even for those people who do not use НK3.
 
But we sometimes have problems due to the high temperature of the DVR itself.
Even for those people who do not use НK3.
That is another story and affect only few dashcams. If not ALL dashcams from that model have the same heat problem then is a local problem or some bad manufacturing about the heating part of the camera. From all complaints I read until now, I consider that the most are not because of the camera but external.

Nigel already told you which is the connection between heat, non-ventilated space for HK3 and dashcam behavior.

Offtopic: another situation is when people are using some USB from the car, or some other USB charger. Combined with heat, the not enough power from the USB can kill the camera after some time.
Stupid people don't want to understand that if he manufacturer is selling the camera with a charger, that charger should be used. That stupid people say that if the camera have a standard Mini USB connector, then any USB charger can be used. And that stupid people have usually big mouth when complaining about the camera. I wrote 3 times the word stupid for them to understand they are very very stupid and warranty is not covering their stupidity.
 
Thanks guys, just received the A119v3 - setting it up now and updated to OEM v2.5 firmware..

What's resolution everyone using with this cam?
anyone try the new 2880x2160 H.265? I don't like the 4:3 ratio
Is it still suggested to use modded firmware like the older v2 a119?
 
I've never heard of anyone using V2 firmware. From my testing, firmware 1.03 is best for screen grabs, least motion blur, but the mod versions 2.5 and 2.6t have better colours, more vivid. The mod versions are also more optimised for night clarity.
 
I've never heard of anyone using V2 firmware. From my testing, firmware 1.03 is best for screen grabs, least motion blur, but the mod versions 2.5 and 2.6t have better colours, more vivid. The mod versions are also more optimised for night clarity.
No I didn't mean to infer usingV2 firmware on the V3 cam... I was just asking if Modded firmware is preferred to OEM firmware like it was on the V2. - LOL
 
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