Current state of issues and features

[InToSSH]

Hi,
I am considering buying th A139 Pro as a replacement for my old Mivue J85.
I have read a lot of threads here and found people are reporting a lot of issues so I wanted to ask about the current state with latest firmware and I would also like to ask about some features that are important to me, but couldn't find an answer for:

1. Has the blurry image been fixed?
2. Issue with AED parking mode? Or is it still better to just use 5fps timelapse?
3. Does the camera turn on and start recording reliably after turning on the ignition (using the hard wire kit)? This was my main issue with my current camera, sometimes it would just stay off.
4. How does the manual button emergency recording work? Does it save only the current clip or also the previous/following clip if it is near the beginning/end of current clip?
5. Does the camera support geofencing for parking mode? Same as the fw v1.6 for A139 does.
6. Some other issues I missed?

To explain point 4 and 5 this is where I found the info: https://viofouk.co.uk/news/six-new-functions-added-in-a139-dash-cam-v1-6-firmware/
I hope the A139 Pro has the same features. Geofencing would be nice to have, however the point 4 is a must. My current camera records only 5 seconds prior to pushing the emergency button which is just not enough time and I always miss the event. With A139 Pro if it didn't have the same feature as described in the link I would be afraid that when I hit the button right at the beginning of the clip, I would also miss the beginning of the event.

Or would you recommend any other 2CH DC with similar video quality and features with budget up to $400?

Thank you

 

[acters]

"Does the camera turn on and start recording reliably after turning on the ignition (using the hard wire kit)? This was my main issue with my current camera, sometimes it would just stay off."

My camera sometimes turns on has all lights on and is stuck. It does not respond to any button presses(even power button fails to turn it off). It does not record anything at all when it is in this stuck state. It is warm to the touch and seems to just got into some kind of strange error that has it not function and stay on. My car got recently damaged in the parking lot and it was doing this stupid problem. I now have no footage of said problem. I wish I didn't get a VIOFO, customer service team is terrible and tries so hard to placate instead of making a reliable product.

Camera does not like the desert heat and will shut down randomly, cant blame it, there is just nothing it can do in 110+ F weather.

No geofencing parking mode.

Parking mode sucks tbh, it detects no movement and nothing else as far as I can tell and will record randomly. It has a habit to just continuously record every minute in parking mode. better of with time lapse mode. can't tell if there is a need for audio.

This camera sucks at being reliable. when I needed it the most it failed to be working. I am disappointed and unhappy.

 

[InToSSH]

Thank you for the answer @acters
Well that doesn't sound too optimistic. We don't have such high temperatures in summer, mostly up to 95F, but still I need something that is reliable. When it works 90% of the time, you forget about it, start to trust it and then it fails you in those 10% it craps out when you need it.

Have you maybe tried different SDcards to see if that might be the cause? Based on what I read this dashcam is quite picky.
Too bad it doesn't have the geofencing, it is probably just in the non Pro A139. And I agree with the parking mode, basically most people seem to just keep it in timelapse or low bitrate.
Ah, there can't just be one dashcam that ticks all the boxes, there is always a thing or two that keeps me from buy it.

 

[Nigel]

I just checked the current temperature in Phoenix Arizona, 42 degrees C according to Google. Realistically, any dashcam is going to have problems running parking mode in that, 4K dashcams are going to have serious problems, and 3 channel dashcams...

Thankfully the Czech Republic is a bit cooler - only 21 degrees C, so exactly half the temperature!
Here, I am at 14 degrees C - I don't need to worry!

 

[InToSSH]

Thankfully the Czech Republic is a bit cooler - only 21 degrees C, so exactly half the temperature!
Here, I am at 14 degrees C - I don't need to worry!

We are having a colder week. Usually in summer hover around 30 C, still nowhere near the Arizona temp. Our hottest day this summer was 37 C, but those are rare.
It is understandable that the 4K video processing make things run hotter.

In the meantime I got an answer from VIOFO support, they said that the geofencing is not supported yet, they are testing it but so far it is not reliable, but it might come in the future.

 

[Nigel]

We are having a colder week. Usually in summer hover around 30 C, still nowhere near the Arizona temp. Our hottest day this summer was 37 C, but those are rare.
It is understandable that the 4K video processing make things run hotter.

If you really want reliable parking mode at those temperatures, it might be better to consider a 2K dashcam, or one that sleeps when there is no action such as the Thinkware U3000... although that seems to have some issues with its rear radar sensor at the moment, and image quality isn't as good as the Viofo cameras.

I'm hoping the Viofo A229 Pro will be run somewhat cooler, but it is not available for testing yet...

 

[InToSSH]

If you really want reliable parking mode at those temperatures, it might be better to consider a 2K dashcam, or one that sleeps when there is no action such as the Thinkware U3000... although that seems to have some issues with its rear radar sensor at the moment, and image quality isn't as good as the Viofo cameras.

Right, we were actually talking about the U3000 in that other thread, it is a shame that they didn't use the CPU which supports HDR. If the radar was working and the image quality was comparable to Viofo, I would be happy to pay more to have a solid camera.
The 70mai A810 can't be even preordered here for the early-bird price, if I could get it for that price, I would consider it too, but given it will probably cost the same as the A139 Pro, there is no real advantage.
Seems like I will probably have to wait for couple of months and see what comes out.

 

[Dashcamuser567]

Right, we were actually talking about the U3000 in that other thread, it is a shame that they didn't use the CPU which supports HDR. If the radar was working and the image quality was comparable to Viofo, I would be happy to pay more to have a solid camera.
The 70mai A810 can't be even preordered here for the early-bird price, if I could get it for that price, I would consider it too, but given it will probably cost the same as the A139 Pro, there is no real advantage.
Seems like I will probably have to wait for couple of months and see what comes out.

Its a shame they cut corners where it matters. A premium dashcam but using a slower cpu than the viofo which is a "budget" camera