looking to replace my old A119v2. is the A129Pro worth it?

[roadkill401]

I know here on Dashcam talk i will get the unfiltered opions of people who actually use the unit all the time and give a real review. I have had the A119v1 and replace it with a v2 about 2 years ago. it has saved us from countless trouble in proving what really happened. I am however thinking that getting a 4k unit would be worth while with the idea that I can move the A119 to the back of the car pointing rearwards and have a great rear dashcam without the need to try and run a usb cable from the front to the back that would be just about impossible with my current car.

I have read the reviews on Amazon and they all seem to say that the unit overheats and intermittant problems with the unit. I don't really trust that many of the people who write reviews on that site know what they are doing or would even know what firmware they are using or how to upgrade it if they did. I don't see overheating posts here or intermitant failure flags on the pages so ???

is there anything else to consider or know about? I am driving a Kia Hybrid so its a battery/motor powered vehicle if it makes any difference.

 

[Skylar132]

from my experience the Viofo A129 pro duo is pretty okay. The issues I've had are the speaker dying (faulty unit) and on my new unit protected videos are still overwritten and the wifi has died

 

[DAP]

I have two A129 pro cameras in my car. I've never had either overheat, but then I don't live where it is particularly hot.

I have had intermittent problems with the cameras re-booting, but I have tracked that down to insufficient voltage due to too thin wires between the power supply and the unit (the unit draws quite a bit of current). I fixed this by building my own power cables using lamp cord for extremely low resistance. I don't have the duo so I don't have the additional load of the second camera on each unit.

I had another issue with video not being recorded, but I tracked that down to the "parking mode" option being enabled without having the hardwire kit. The description for that option is not very clear. That option basally tells the unit to pay attention to the 3rd wire used by the hardwire kit, and if you don't have the hardwire kit, that pin is randomly floating.

4K is an improvement when it comes to license plates, but still not good enough. Poor lighting, motion blur, and compression artifacts can still make plates unreadable. If you are having trouble reading the plate, try stepping thorough one frame at a time. 30 FPS is too low to read a moving plate while the video is playing, but the individual frames can be clear. Try to remember to read out the plate so that the audio recording will capture the plate number.

 

[EijiS]

Mine died recently. I had it for a year. I live in northern California where it doesn't get extremely hot. I had overheating problems, so I switched to 2k recording. But it would still restart or hang from time to time especially when the weather hits 75+. I also had problems where it skipped recording. Too bad I like the features, especially where you can connect it to a stereo that has video-in. I have pioneer 4200nex. I can just switch it to video and it will give me live view

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Mine died recently. I had it for a year. I live in northern California where it doesn't get extremely hot. I had overheating problems, so I switched to 2k recording. But it would still restart or hang from time to time especially when the weather hits 75+. I also had problems where it skipped recording. Too bad I like the features, especially where you can connect it to a stereo that has video-in. I have pioneer 4200nex. I can just switch it to video and it will give me live view

Hello,

Did you use the supplied car charger and supply the power through the USB port on the camera body side?
Or have you tried to upgrade the firmware and then reset the camera and default settings?
Unplugging the rear camera may also help. Please have a try if haven't tried before.

If the above three solutions still don't work, we can help you to get a replacement or provide a favorable discount for purchasing a new dash camera.

 

[HonestReview]

I believe the A129 Duo (1080P) or A129 Plus Duo (2k) may be more favorable options for people in warmer climates. The higher the resolution, the hotter the unit runs. Also, hardwiring is ideal because it'll permit parking mode with low bitrate and guarantee proper voltage.

 

[EijiS]

Hello,

Did you use the supplied car charger and supply the power through the USB port on the camera body side?
Or have you tried to upgrade the firmware and then reset the camera and default settings?
Unplugging the rear camera may also help. Please have a try if haven't tried before.

If the above three solutions still don't work, we can help you to get a replacement or provide a favorable discount for purchasing a new dash camera.

I have it on Cellink NEO 6. It was working fine until last month. I bought it May 2020 so I'm out of luck with the warranty. I also have it in latest firmware, 2.4. I have unplugged it from rear camera, got the original car charger and plugged it in my car and my wife's, still won't turn on. It died. I even tried plugging it without the gps module. Still not turning on. I had it on 2k 60 fps setting so it won't overheat. Thanks for the concern.

 

[VIOFO-Support]

I switched to 2k recording. But it would still restart or hang from time to time especially when the weather hits 75+. I also had problems where it skipped recording.

I noticed that there are still problems happening to your dashcam sometimes when using 2k resolution. So we recommend you take consideration on a replacement or the discount as I said above. If you want to keep the current dashcam, we're also able to provide a partial refund. You can feel free to send me a message to solve the problem.

 

[HonestReview]

I have it on Cellink NEO 6. It was working fine until last month. I bought it May 2020 so I'm out of luck with the warranty. I also have it in latest firmware, 2.4. I have unplugged it from rear camera, got the original car charger and plugged it in my car and my wife's, still won't turn on. It died. I even tried plugging it without the gps module. Still not turning on. I had it on 2k 60 fps setting so it won't overheat. Thanks for the concern.

I would suggest testing the camera indoors using the adapter as a final test. Try plugging it into a computer or other power source.

FYI: VIOFO also have Product Registration Program to help customers extend warranty by 6 months, once registered, the warranty time will extend from 12 months to 18 months

So if you registered the product, your warranty would be up this month (November) - 18 months (12 Months + 6 Months Extended). So you may still get a free replacement under warranty. If in fact the camera is faulty!

 

[EijiS]

I would suggest testing the camera indoors using the adapter as a final test. Try plugging it into a computer or other power source.

FYI: VIOFO also have Product Registration Program to help customers extend warranty by 6 months, once registered, the warranty time will extend from 12 months to 18 months

So if you registered the product, your warranty would be up this month (November) - 18 months (12 Months + 6 Months Extended). So you may still get a free replacement under warranty. If in fact the camera is faulty!

I’ll try this. I hope I can get a replacement. Thanks. I also tested my camera using my computer and I got a charger, even with 12 V transformer but to no avail.

 

[EijiS]

I noticed that there are still problems happening to your dashcam sometimes when using 2k resolution. So we recommend you take consideration on a replacement or the discount as I said above. If you want to keep the current dashcam, we're also able to provide a partial refund. You can feel free to send me a message to solve the problem.

I’ll try the product registration program to see if I can get a replacement first. And we can proceed to how we can replace dashcam