The Viofo A139 has the most unreliable cable connectors

[DashCamUser123]

It has already been covered in his forum but the Viofo A139 has the most unreliable, fidgety cable connectors on any Viofo dashcam. They are annoying as heck. The A139 design is likely to never be repeated by Viofo. Most likely a one-off design. All dashcams that followed it are back to the old A119, A129 design where it is small format and reliable USB cable connectors to the camera. Look at the A229 models for proof. I think Viofo designed the big chunky A139 to compete with other brands which looked like hat.

I had no such issue with the A129 Duo cable to camera connectors as it has USB connectors. I bet the same with the A229 Plus. I hate the constant issues with the A139 cable to camera connectors. When the ball-end of the cable plops into the camera connector hole, it is loose enough that any jitter / bump can affect the connection with the slightest movemnet of the cable itself. It is an unreliable design for use in a moving vehicle.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I agree.
If I just look at my A139 Pro’s rear & interior cables sometimes the camera will give voice notification of dropped channels.
This is why they made the original A229 Duo (2022) Coax rear camera cable much beefier, and more secure.
And now the A329 has returned to this type of Coax connector, thank goodness.

 

[Nath]

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Have you actually checked this forum? Because USB cable was always much bigger sh*tshow than just some defective units with coax connectors (those were just some cheap chinese quality)

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Out of curiosity what do you mean by "returned"? I though that A139 was the first coax cable based Viofo dashcam.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Out of curiosity what do you mean by "returned"? I though that A139 was the first coax cable based Viofo dashcam.

Correct.
The all-new A329 is an evolution of the original A229 Duo (2022).
The A229 Pro & A229 Plus (2023) lost Coax, and used USB.
So now the A329 has “returned” to Coax.

 

[Nigel]

It has already been covered in his forum but the Viofo A139 has the most unreliable, fidgety cable connectors on any Viofo dashcam.

The old Mini USB ones were the worst, they used to wear out, even if they didn't get unplugged much.
The USB-C ones are good, but they are very large compared to the A139 cables.
I have had no issues with the A139 cables, really nice and small. Fiddly might be an appropriate word, but I've really not had any difficulties.

I suspect they may be a bit more susceptible to cable damage than USB-C cables, if people are not careful with them, or if they are installed so that there is strain put on the connector from opening and closing the hatchback, mine are installed so that as the hatch opens, the connector turns in its socket, and there is no bending of the cable. Also, it is important to push the connectors on straight, if you push them into the sockets at an angle then you can damage the central pin.

Although you may have had problems with yours, I don't see much evidence that they are unreliable in general, most people like them and complain about the newer A229 having USB-C.

The reasons the A229 has USB-C is not that the A139 cables are unreliable, it is because the A139 cables were more expensive, while the A229 Plus is a cheaper dashcam, and also because the A229 encodes the video in the rear camera instead of in the front camera.

The A139 connectors do seem to have been a bit too small for some people, hence the A329 using the larger size coax connectors, and I expect the premium dashcams will continue to use those.