Hi faroutxxx
I'm not doubting the issues you are having ... just popping by to mention that you are bagging and telling members to avoid which I believe is the forums favourite son, which is VIOFO.
I have 2 myself ...different models A119S and A119Pro and haven't had any problems for over 3 years ... not saying there aren't those who have problems, only there are many like myself who have been very happy with the brand and will defend VIOFO against folks who come into the forum where the criticism is considered unfair and too harsh. Hope you get it sorted, as this is a fantastic forum to get assistance.
I think what you will find if you do a little digging of their posting history is that it is rubbish.
Very heavy on "general" statements and very light on specifics (which I addressed in the link below).
You can see my post history. Yes, but it doesn't explain what the issues were: I received this new direct from Viofo. Its honestly buggy as hell. Changing settings in a certain order makes it go into a reboot cycle. Adding rear camera makes it go into reboots. I updated firmware to latest...
dashcamtalk.com
He says that he received "used" A139 dashcams. Several people here asked him where he ordered his dash cam from?...There was no response.
He stated that "
I was persuaded by people on the forums to stick with the camera I bought and even requested another one at my own expense."
I asked him who on the forum asked him to do that and to produce the link to such a post...There was no response.
I asked him "
Why would you buy a second camera at your own expense when your first camera issue is not resolved?"...Again, there was no response. I guess that common sense is not so common apparently.
Someone here asked him "
So what exactly were the issues?"
And he gave an overly broad statement "
Everything. Change every setting and test."
Someone else here followed up and asked him "
what specific settings did you change, and to what?"...Again, there was no response.
So you can already see how this is going and it is no wonder that he would have problems with Viofo support.
If you can't deal with the people here that speak english on this forum and are very experienced that are trying to help you troubleshoot, there's no way in hell that you will be successful with Viofo support (or any support from any other company as a matter of fact!)
If you call BlackVue to say "
I changed every setting and test", they will ask you "what settings did you change specifically and in what order did you change them? And what/how did you test?" and you blank out and don't say anything...Then guess what, BlackVue(or any other company) support won't be able to help you in that case either!
They have nothing to stand on which is why they start throwing the "free cameras", and "beta tester" accusations around to attack the integrity of other valuable posters.
They wait for a random poster to say, "I have problems with my Viofo XXX" and then they pounce on it like a kitten and say "Me too!". They never return to their own original issue for a resolution.
Viofo probably sells more dashcam than every other manufacturer listed on this website (probably combined even?). It certainly wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. I would therefore expect more people to report problems if one were to compare on a numerical basis alone.
Is there any evidence that Viofo dashcams have more problems than other manufacturers on a "percentage" basis and that is of statistical significance? I have yet to see anyone present that argument or prove it.
Like I mentioned earlier...I only use Street Guardian SG9667D2K. Only dashcam that I've ever owned.
I'm from the outside looking in, and I have not yet seen any valid reason for me not consider Viofo for future dashcam products despite the alarmist nature of this thread.