Pros and Cons: A119S v2 VS A119 v2

[Dont Knowler]

Want more quality?Buy a Gopro 5 and use it like dashcam.

You cannot be serious with that. I bet that you know better than me: it is absolutely not practical to use hi-end action cams (or any action cams) as dashcams, since they are lacking the necessary dashcam-specific functions. Otherwise I would.

It is no secret that there are now way better options as Viofo,maybe little expensive but WAY better.

Please let me know, which options? What makes and types? Want to try out something better. Thanks in advance.

 

[Moon]

I was tossing up between the A119 and A119S .. and although naturally favouring the 1440 A119 version .. watching both Day & Night videos .. I didn't find much difference (others would) as far as clarity of Number Plates goes.
Can't say I'm a fan of that green filter look that covers day .. and especially night vision in the A119. The A119S has clear vision, much more natural, brighter, and preferable to watch.
If I had to choose .. I'd still go the earlier A119 though .. err .. Go figure?.

Ended up going with the A119s with Sony Starvis ... and preferred the brighter more natural colour of night vision over the yellowness of the A119

I'm very happy with the Viofo A119s that I have on my rear window. Very neat.
Using a Samsung 32GB Evo (yellow) micro SD card. 1080p 30fps

 

[Sutton]

Well,it is frustrating,but as newcomer on the market,this was at its time expensive.
If the comercial policy of your country makes that you should pay 150 bucks for a A119s it was YOUR decision how much to pay for it.Viofo didnt took your money,YOU gave the money,YOU alone to some reseller I suppose.
I personally,and I think many more buyers of this camera probably did not payed more than 80 USD shipped.Which is still expensive.
I payed 65 usd shipped for a new camera A 119 GPS and could easily buy a A119S GPS for 75 usd.Which is still expensive.
Probably factory price is no more than 20 usd.Here beginns the whole story.The production cost cuts every kind of quality controll,if any,and they are supplying the production robots whith medium to low quality components.Also it is well known that even with the real support of Viofo.ltd,engineering is not the hard point by them.There are companies which are way more sensitive and receptive to customers need for even less money...
Image sensors are the same as in your 300 usd camera,but from other production batch,that is for sure...Do you imagine that the sensors are not passing HQ step after testing are thrown away???And the idea of a dashcam is to be discrete,almost invisible(at least in my country).1o cm diameter of a Hi quality objective is not what i want to see on my windshield.
Everybody wants way too much from this camera.It is exactly like you buy a Chevrolet Spark but want to perform like Audi S8.
Want quality?Buy a YI plus and use it as dashcam.
Want more quality?Buy a Gopro 5 and use it like dashcam.
I do not want to excuse Viofo for any quality issues,they will do something about this or not,depends if they want to stay on the market.It is no secret that there are now way better options as Viofo,maybe little expensive but WAY better.
And if you ask me:
For the moment best buy IS A119.The price you have to pay for A119S is not worth...Maybe in the future,but for now,A119V2 is the way to go.

I have a few A119s installed in a few vehicles and I am 100% satisfied with the quality, the price and the great support I get from the Sellers on this site. I had Dod and Garmin DVR's before and was not satisfied. Viofo's products are worth the money.

 

[Tatty]

Viofo's products are worth the money.

That is why I buy them ,but that does not mean I am also prepared to pay for the quality flaws they PARTIALLY have.I pay for a product and it should be as advertised.No less,no more.
It is very frustrating to discover that you payed for something like a kind of lottery.THIS is disturbing.
Who likes paying more for a Sony sensor with NO REAL benefits,please go forward...Keep going...
But I do not want to pay for capacitors that does not charge/hold energy,low quality image sensor,wobbeling lens unit(very disturbing),connector for GPS module that after 20-40 cycles brakes,vibration of all kinds when mounted on non GPS mount,and so on...Not to mention the firmware which suppose to improve things(you release a firmware AFTER a thoroughly testing,right???).Writing new commands and scripts exactly there where hundred of users keep saying it should be modified takes only minutes if somebody IS PAYED PROPERLY to do that.This is the proof that somehow there is no link between production and marketing and absolutely NO research.

I am 100% satisfied with the quality, the price and the great support I get from the Sellers on this site.

Obviously I can not change your mind...Try to get support from Banggood from somebody that speaks no foreign language ,uses only Google translate and has no idea about the products they are selling...on this site

 

[Tatty]

You cannot be serious with that. I bet that you know better than me: it is absolutely not practical to use hi-end action cams (or any action cams) as dashcams, since they are lacking the necessary dashcam-specific functions. Otherwise I would.

I use very often as back camera a Elephone Elite.It has already many of a dshcam features and the gyro stabilised image is astonishing good.
Many action cam producers want to introduce Full dashcam features in their product to improve the versatility.
For instance,if Elephone would add somehow a GPS module inside their camera and per firmware add the dashcam features it will be the camera of the century...At least for me...

 

[Lola]

Here is a good comparison:

My monitor is a new Asus with IPS screen 1080p.

Interesting video of the two cameras. Since I have been on this forum I have always heard that the A19 had a very good picture, I think it's picture is OK but much prefer the brightness of the A119S and it seems a little clearer to me (could be the brightness) overall. However their is something wrong here with this video or the camera/lenses.

There is a black truck and a white van that in both camera comparisons (same vehicle) are close enough that one should be able to read the license plates with out any trouble. Because they are just not sharp enough at all at relatively close distances. I went back and checked again, and I can make out the white vans with A119, but not fast you have to concentrate. I've looked at a lot of camera comparisons with vehicles at approximately the same distances as these, and some a little further away that the plates could be read.
For me, being able to read the plates is the number one consideration, if that can be done then the overall camera view should be OK as well.
If those guys were hauled into court, it would probably be thrown out because of the inability to read the plates easily.

A better test would be a set viewing distance at plates (or a few like 20 and 30 feet or so). and then a driving test with Cameras mounted in the same vehicle of course. Just my opinion.

 

[Nigel]

You cannot be serious with that. I bet that you know better than me: it is absolutely not practical to use hi-end action cams (or any action cams) as dashcams, since they are lacking the necessary dashcam-specific functions. Otherwise I would.

Gitup G3 Duo - has all dashcam-specific functions: G-Sensor, Loop Recording, Auto Start+Stop, GPS, Front+Rear sensors, etc...

OK, there is no point with a GoPro, but "(or any action cams)" is certainly not correct!

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/forums/git3.212/

 

[Dont Knowler]

Gitup G3 Duo - has all dashcam-specific functions

Interesting. Is this Gitup G3 Duo some new model? I cannot think of such a dashcam being available at the time when I was considering which cam to buy.
Does it have the "Automatic Switch on at External 12V Power ON" and "Automatic Turn Off at External 12V Power OFF" function? Otherwise I cannot use it as a dashcam.
Does it have a supercapacitor instead of a built-in battery? Otherwise - see above - since it will not last long in a car winter.

 

[Dashmellow]

Does it have a supercapacitor instead of a built-in battery? Otherwise - see above - since it will not last long in a car winter.

I absolutely agree! So often most members here on DCT focus on super-capacitors in terms of replacing li-ion batteries in a hot car when it is just as important to consider what happens to these batteries in sub-zero temperatures. Lithium-ion batteries should never be charged when they are below 32º F / 0º C.

 

[rsilvers]

 

[jokiin]

not a good example unfortunately

 

[Dont Knowler]

this guy edits the results

This is a serious accusation. How can we make ourselves sure that this statement of yours is correct?

 

[jokiin]

This is a serious accusation. How can we make ourselves sure that this statement of yours is correct?

he was banned from this forum previously, he is a retailer in England

 

[Dont Knowler]

he was banned from this forum previously, he is a retailer in England

This may well be, but this has nothing to do with what I was asking. How can we make sure these comparison test results are falsified? If that was what you meant when you called them "edited"? Theoretically, even banned retailers from England could deliver test results which are true.

 

[jokiin]

This may well be, but this has nothing to do with what I was asking. How can we make sure these comparison test results are falsified? If that was what you meant when you called them "edited"? Theoretically, even banned retailers from England could deliver test results which are true.

the best way is check the cameras yourself, don't rely on the information provided by others, obviously that's not always possible but look for real unedited raw video samples whenever possible

 

[Dont Knowler]

he was caught out here with edited results

I guess, that asking the third time, how exactly I can personally double-check that these results are fake, would not make much sense, since the answer will not be as specific and technical as I would wish it to be. Nevermind.

the best way is check the cameras yourself,

This is very true. I haven't checked the A119 myself though, since I do not own one. However I do own two pieces of 119S, and for now my impressions from using these are perfectly in line with what I see in those comparison pics - that the 119S's are not the sharpest cams ever.
Which conclusion, again, perfectly coincides with my theoretical reasonings: that a hotter sensor (Sony, used in the A119S), in combination with a plastic lens holder, will be delivering less crisp images, than a colder sensor (that of the A119) in a similar configuration.
Hence, lacking any specific input explaining why I shall distrust the specific comparison results shown above, and bearing in mind, that in terms of image sharpness those results are pretty much in line with my practical experiences and theoretical reasonings, I consider my point, that the 119s is the less sharper cam, pretty much confirmed.

 

[jokiin]

The A119s should be less sharp than the A119, that's expected, 2mp v 4mp, in low light situations the 4mp will start to lose the advantage due to smaller pixels collecting less light than the larger pixels of the 2mp sensor

 

[Dont Knowler]

The A119s should be less sharp than the A119, that's expected, 2mp v 4mp

That is only part of the truth. Due to the plastic lens holder, combined with a hot sensor, thus causing focus drift, my A119S dashcams are even less sharp than my ca. 5 year old FullHD DODs were. Which, at least for me, was UNexpected.
Let me put it this way: due to design mistakes, the effective resolution of the A119S is significantly below practically achievable limits of a 2mp / FulHD dashcam.

 

[rsilvers]

I took screen captures from this video also, which is a different person, and the A119 was sharper than the A119S. And that was even considering that it was wider angle. And even considering it being at night.

I just ordered an A119 today, and I am looking forward to it. I will probably end up with two of them.

 

[SawMaster]

You can only make true comparisons with raw video, and even then camera settings or situation where the comparison was made can skew the results to favor or disfavor one cam against another I trust the integrity of several folks here but not all of them, just as I would not expect to be trusted since I haven't got a long history of posting vids. While I have neither of the A119 cams, I have 2 models with the Sony sensors and for night-time vids I love them They are not as good daytime, however getting a decent daytime view out of a cam is a lot easier and IMHO most of the better cams today do well enough then for the average person. Better is always better, but isn't always necessary

Plate capture is a hit-or-miss thing with all cams at all times, and while it is important, it is not the only thing you want to have details of. What good is reading the plate of a car 100m in front of you if your cam didn't capture the unlit car or bicycle to one side which caused a crash at night? Or if your cam didn't show the drunk or dog staggering into the road which caused you to brake just before you got rear-ended? Now you stand accused of 'brake-checking' indefensibly Yes, there's a lot more to this than plate capture alone.

While I trust my cams to do their job I know their limitations and I use my eyes to capture plate numbers and details which the cam may not get. My testimony coupled with whatever my cam gets and any other physical evidence there might be should serve well enough to protect me from false claims, and that protection is what dashcams are designed for. They are not intended to be perfect video recorders or TV cameras- they are simple relatively cheap cams more intended to capture the big picture versus the details Better details are nice but I for one am not willing to trade off that big picture just to get a few more details day or night

If Viofo can make the A119 equal or outperform the A119S at night that is a win for everybody. Those of us who bought Sony-sensored cams still bought the best which was available at the time of purchase and that's all we can do. Every cam and sensor will become obsolete and outperformed eventually but that does not stop the old cams from doing whatever they always did- it just gives us better future options to choose from

Phil