Best energy efficient 1-Channel Viofo Cam?

The A119 Mini 2 uses less than 3 watts in normal recording.
 
@viofo Thanks for the info. How many watts does it use in Parking Mode (Event Detection)? For an external battery that has a 96 Wh capacity, the A119 Mini 2 will run for how many hours approximately?
 
viofo said:
The A119 Mini 2 uses less than 3 watts in normal recording.
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The VS1 uses less than 2 watts in normal recording, if the HDR is turned off...

It appears that the VS1 is the more energy efficient, although it is not a big difference:

rcg530

Post in thread 'VIOFO VS1 - Testing / Review - RCG'

I now have a production VS1 dash camera. I performed my power consumption test suite using the production unit with firmware v1.0_240105 installed. I found there was a interesting/noticeable difference in the amount of power consumed by the VS1 while in normal recording mode with HDR enabled, so I expanded my parking mode tests to test with HDR on and HDR off.

I discovered two issues in the v1.0_240105 firmware that VIOFO has told me they will work on fixing after the CNY break in late February.
  • Firmware v1.0_240105
    • Immediately after entering AED parking mode, the VS1 will...
  • Like
 
Thanks Nigel. I had a look at this video comparing the VS1 to the A119 Mini 2. The side-by-side shows the Mini 2 has a wider FOV even though both cams are stated as having the same 140* FOV. Even though the VS1 may use less power, the A119 Mini 2 has many features and is less expensive than the VS1. A119 Mini 2 has a LCD screen, more resolution options and an actual wider FOV.

Go to 5:20 mark in the video to see the sid by side FOV.
Viofo VS1 Mini Dash Cam Review - Better Than the A119 Mini 2?

To muddy the choice selection even more, I was also considering the A229 Plus one cam only. It has the option to add cams later or act as a backup in case something goes wrong with the original A229. I don't see it available on the Viofo Canada site.

Of the 3 choices above and the A119 V3, I think the best option for me is the A119 Mini 2. I'll run it off a 96wh external battery with a spliced cable.
 
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DashCamUser123 said:
Of the 3 choices above and the A119 V3, I think the best option for me is the A119 Mini 2.
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I don't want to change your mind, I think that is probably the correct choice, but for other people reading this thread, a couple of points:

DashCamUser123 said:
Go to 5:20 mark in the video to see the sid by side FOV.
Viofo VS1 Mini Dash Cam Review - Better Than the A119 Mini 2?
Click to expand...
The Mini 2 definitely has the wider vertical FoV, when you run it in 4:3 aspect ratio. But for most people the extra image of the dash and clouds is of zero use, so I would recommend running it in 16:9 aspect ratio, same as the VS1, and use the bitrate up on license plate detail instead of the details of the clouds!

The Mini 2 also has the wider horizontal field of view, but the difference is not as big as it first looks in that side by side image where the VS1 image has been magnified relative to the Mini 2 image so that with the extra vertical FoV from the 4:3 aspect ratio, they are shown at the same height, making it hard to understand the difference. I think the VS1 FoV is the the more sensible for most people, the Mini 2 FoV is more sensible for a 4K resolution dashcam, especially for places with small text on their license plates.

Most people seem very happy with the Mini 2 though, clearly they both work well. If you want a wide FoV then go for the Mini2, the question above was about energy efficiency, and for that the VS1 appears to win, by a small amount.

DashCamUser123 said:
A119 Mini 2 has a LCD screen, more resolution options and an actual wider FOV.
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You should always run a dashcam at native resolution, and since they both use the same image sensor, they must have the same native resolution.

The difference in "resolution" options is that the Mini 2 gives the option of 4:3 aspect ratio, which for most people is of no benefit.

If you want to use lower resolutions to save on file size, then it is much better to reduce the bitrate setting than reduce the resolution setting, the purpose of the bitrate setting is to reduce file size, at the expense of image quality instead of resolution. If you reduce the resolution then you get less detail even when parked, if you reduce the bitrate then it makes almost no difference to image quality and detail when parked, the differences only become obvious at high speed, and most accidents where you need a plate recorded happen at lower speeds, or when you are stopped.
 
Nigel said:
I don't want to change your mind, I think that is probably the correct choice, but for other people reading this thread, a couple of points:


The Mini 2 definitely has the wider vertical FoV, when you run it in 4:3 aspect ratio. But for most people the extra image of the dash and clouds is of zero use, so I would recommend running it in 16:9 aspect ratio, same as the VS1, and use the bitrate up on license plate detail instead of the details of the clouds!
Click to expand...
I will keep those points in mind. Here is a more apples to apples horizontal FOV comparison between A119 Mini 2 vs VS1 in what I assume is the 16:9 aspect ratio. The A119 Mini 2 still looks wider when both cams are at the same aspect ratio (I assume). However, I don't know how the videos were cropped, if they were at all.

I do have a question. As the 2 cams approach the same object, the orange road sign on the right side at 3:06 mark, the sign has already disappeared from the A119 Mini 2 while it is still visible on the VS1. Shouldn't the orange sign still be visible on the A119 Mini 2 if it has a wider horizontal FOV? When I am parked, it is the static FOV that counts, right up against my windshield.

I'm trying run this thru my head and if the A119 Mini 2 is actually wider, shouldn't the orange road sign STILL be visible on the A119 Mini 2 video footage?
2-cams-comparisonx.webp



A119 Mini 2 vs VS1 side by side FOV

Energy efficiency is a priority but I was assuming all 140* FOV cams provided the same horizontal FOV. I know it's not the case but didn't recall the real world FOV between the 2 cams.
 
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DashCamUser123 said:
I'm trying run this thru my head and if the A119 Mini 2 is actually wider, shouldn't the orange road sign STILL be visible on the A119 Mini 2 video footage?
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Yes!

The problem appears to be that the VS1 video is about 7 frames behind the Mini 2 video during that video clip, although there isn't a way of accurately determining how many frames, which is probably why it is not synchronised accurately. During the previous cut, it is about 3 frames behind, which included a junction where it was possible to measure fairly accurately, but it seems the two bits of video either side of the cut where separately aligned in the video editor timeline.

When you are in a moving vehicle, the effect on the image of moving 1 frame in time, is almost identical to the effect of changing the lens FoV, it can be very difficult to align clips correctly, and almost no reviewers do, some do a lot better than others though.
 
Nigel said:
Yes!

The problem appears to be that the VS1 video is about 7 frames behind the Mini 2 video during that video clip, although there isn't a way of accurately determining how many frames, which is probably why it is not synchronised accurately. During the previous cut, it is about 3 frames behind, which included a junction where it was possible to measure fairly accurately, but it seems the two bits of video either side of the cut where separately aligned in the video editor timeline.

When you are in a moving vehicle, the effect on the image of moving 1 frame in time, is almost identical to the effect of changing the lens FoV, it can be very difficult to align clips correctly, and almost no reviewers do, some do a lot better than others though.
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Thanks again NIgel. OK, that explains it.
 
Thnaks for the help and advice. Greatly appreciated. I just purchased the A119 Mini 2. Picked up another Viofo Industrial 512gb card. I will be buying more on Amazon Canada during their Black Friday event. I saved a lot on Prime Day too.

Now I have to test it to see if FOV is enough. FOV will not be enough if I stick it on the rear windshield so I will have to pull the cam away from the windshield by several feet and probably have to attach the cam to some support to keep it in place. For now, I'm using the cam for a special purpose.

PS. Still waiting for the A229 Ultra fisheye cam to come back into stock.
 
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Which resolution settings provide the 16:9 fov ratio? Thanks.
 
DashCamUser123 said:
Which resolution settings provide the 16:9 fov ratio? Thanks.
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Should be about 2560 x 1440

2560 / 16 * 9 = 1440

2560 is the native resolution of the image sensor (almost), so that will give the best image quality.

If you don't need the full height of that resolution in your vehicle, maybe because there is a lot of dash and sky visible, then 2560 x 1080 is a good option, you still have the native resolution in full detail, but the top and bottom are chopped off, thus don't use up any bitrate, leaving more bits per pixel for the remainder, which equals more detail for the remainder. This is 21:9 aspect ratio, but it tends to be more useful on a 4K dashcam than a 2K dashcam because they tend to have a wider field of view, so see more sky and dash, but the Mini 2 also has a wide field of view, so you may find it to be preferable...
 
Nigel said:
Should be about 2560 x 1440

2560 / 16 * 9 = 1440

2560 is the native resolution of the image sensor (almost), so that will give the best image quality.

If you don't need the full height of that resolution in your vehicle, maybe because there is a lot of dash and sky visible, then 2560 x 1080 is a good option, you still have the native resolution in full detail, but the top and bottom are chopped off, thus don't use up any bitrate, leaving more bits per pixel for the remainder, which equals more detail for the remainder. This is 21:9 aspect ratio, but it tends to be more useful on a 4K dashcam than a 2K dashcam because they tend to have a wider field of view, so see more sky and dash, but the Mini 2 also has a wide field of view, so you may find it to be preferable...
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Thanks Nigel. I don't need the height for the use I have in mind. I'm only interested in the widest fov. For widest fov without any need for height, is it 2560 x 1080? So, 2560 x 1440 will have same widest fov as 2560 x 1080?
 
Karagandinez said:
It all depends on the angle of your car's rear window. Models from the A119 series cannot be installed everywhere.
The following models are very well suited for installation on the rear window of a car: Viofo: WM1 and VS1.
I use these myself.
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You are correct. I found out the A119 Mini 2 needs to be installed on a windshield (there is a slope to both front and back windshields) so the camera can be adjusted to various angles from a slanted angle (the angle of the windshield) to start with.

The VS1 can be stuck to the cabin car light’s plastic housing and hang down vertically and allow the adjusting of the VS1 cam to multiple angles. This cam is going to be a better fit for my use.

Not many other dash cam buyers will use these single cams for anything but the windshields, so hope this benefits those looking for unusual applications, like me.
 
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