Reliability??

Lord Baddlesmere

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Country
United Kingdom
Hi, After reading reviews of this unit I was considering purchasing one....... Until I read the reviews on Amazon.co.uk! the unit seems to have a poor reliability with over 30% of buyers on some resellers sites stating the unit is fine at first but then fails after two to four months. only 40% rated it five stars.
Can anyone supply input on reliability?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
I've used my A119S everyday since Aug. 24th, 4 months and 3 weeks and not a single issue.
It's worked perfectly in temps of +29C in a Sept. heat wave and -23C Dec. 28th in a deep freeze.
It's very reliable.
I use a Kingston Gold Model Series 32GB Micro SD HC Card. Class 10, FAT32, UHS-1 Speed Class (U3) that withstands a wide temperature range.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to DCT @Lord Baddlesmere :)
Not owning the cam but as one who has watched it from development till now on this site, I'd say it's as reliable as any others now with one caveat- this cam does not like anything less than a strong clean 5VDC power input. Most cams are far more tolerant of a bit less than this ;) There did seem to be some higher-than-usual failure rates early on but apparently the QC has been tightened up. There's a development curve with all cams and this one has matured into one of the best.

Phil
 
I bought this model in March 0f 2017 from Amazon USA: Spy Tec A119S DashCam (with GPS Mount) Sony IMX291 60fps 1080p Sensor Novatek 96660 Car Dash Cam

It lasted 6 months, then it stopped working. All it does is come on, display VIOFO on the screen and nothing else. I paid $101 USD which include tax.

There is a 2018 V2 that seems to have better ratings, but I guess we wont know for a couple of months if its any good.
 
I bought this model in March 0f 2017 from Amazon USA: Spy Tec A119S DashCam (with GPS Mount) Sony IMX291 60fps 1080p Sensor Novatek 96660 Car Dash Cam

It lasted 6 months, then it stopped working. All it does is come on, display VIOFO on the screen and nothing else. I paid $101 USD which include tax.

There is a 2018 V2 that seems to have better ratings, but I guess we wont know for a couple of months if its any good.
Update the firmware and it should be fine. There was a bug that caused the camera to hang on the startup logo and it was fixed long ago in an update.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mtz
Update the firmware and it should be fine. There was a bug that caused the camera to hang on the startup logo and it was fixed long ago in an update.
Thank you, I will try that and post result.
I see on their website they have a firmware update V2 would that be the right one or is that for the version 2 model, or is the version 2 model just my model with the newest firmware update?
 
Thank you, I will try that and post result.
I see on their website they have a firmware update V2 would that be the right one or is that for the version 2 model, or is the version 2 model just my model with the newest firmware update?

V2 relates to the updated GPS mount, firmware is still the same, just use whatever the latest A119S firmware is there and you'll be good to go
 
Thanks guys it worked!!! I downloaded the firmware and updated, it works now.

My 64GB SanDisk High Endurance card died before this happened. Did memory card dying cause the A119S stop working?

Also, I have a older A118-C, same thing happened. I updated firmware and it works now. The 64GB SanDisk Ultra died as well (I know, SanDisk are the worst to use with Dash-cams).

I did see in the A118-C instructions there is a timer that can be set for 30-60 days to remind you to reformat memory card... any reason why one would want to reformat card every few months?
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys it worked!!! I downloaded the firmware and updated, it works now.

My 64GB SanDisk High Endurance card died before this happened. Did memory card dying cause the A119S stop working?

Also, I have a older A118-C, same thing happened. I updated firmware and it works now. The 64GB SanDisk Ultra died as well (I know, SacDisk are the worst to use with Dash-cams).

I did see in the A118-C instructions there is a timer that can be set for 30-60 days to remind you to reformat memory card... any reason why one would want to reformat card every few months?
I have 2 Micro SD HC cards and I rotate them every 2 or 3 weeks.
The procedure allows me to monitor the performance of the A119S as well as extend the life of the Micro SD HC card.
 
I bought two, one for my car and one for my wife's car. One is version 1 and the other is version 2. The version 1 unit has died a few times. The first 2 times it died, a firmware update resurrected it. But it's on firmware 2.2, and it died yet again. I could try updating to 2.4, but I don't think it's worth the hassle anymore. My version 2 unit died once, a firmware update fixed it, and it's been good since.
 
Try carefully cleaning the four contacts on the camera and mount. The power fed from the GPS mount is sometimes intermittent on the V1 model. You can also plug the power lead into the camera directly instead of the GPS mount.

Ted
 
Try carefully cleaning the four contacts on the camera and mount. The power fed from the GPS mount is sometimes intermittent on the V1 model. You can also plug the power lead into the camera directly instead of the GPS mount.

Ted
Thanks for the tips, but neither of my dashcams have GPS
 
It doesn't record anything, and the screen looks like thisa119s v1.jpg
 
Looks like it may be the ribbon cable that runs from the image sensor to the main board. I’d open up the camera and reseat it. If that does not work, maybe Viofo can send you another ribbon cable.
I assume you’ve already tried resetting the camera to its default settings in the menu?
 
Looks like it may be the ribbon cable that runs from the image sensor to the main board. I’d open up the camera and reseat it. If that does not work, maybe Viofo can send you another ribbon cable.
I assume you’ve already tried resetting the camera to its default settings in the menu?
The reset worked, thank you! I'm still afraid this will fail on me eventually again. Should I open it up to see if anything is wrong?
 
Back
Top