VIOFO A119 Mini 2 - Test and Review RCG

[gse]

@Nigel I read the old posts of 2017 from the 119S branch, you didn’t recognize the defocusing because of the holders there, but you couldn’t refute it either, the facts are a stubborn thing.

 

[Dashmellow]

When there were no original holders, I took apart several broken CCTV cameras, they all had a metal holder (alloy), but they did not fit Viofo in size.

I've dismantled several CCTV cameras too. That is why I came to believe that dash cams should be built more like them. Yes, some of the holders in CCTV cameras are different.

 

[gse]

We checked it in room conditions, everything is decent, it is necessary to check it in the sun in a car, in parking conditions or direct recording.

 

[Dashmellow]

We checked it in room conditions, everything is decent, it is necessary to check it in the sun in a car, in parking conditions or direct recording.

One of my CCTV cameras sits in the direct sun much of the day on the wall of my barn in very hot weather and in the winter where I live it can get down to -20º Fahrenheit. While all my other cameras are much newer I recently realized that that camera was installed in 2009 and has been running continuously for 14 years without any problems or going out of focus. I paid about $150.00 USD for the camera so it is in the same price range as a decent dash camera. If they can manufacture a CCTV camera as durable and reliable as this that never goes out of focus regardless of how hot it gets, surely a dash camera could be built that is at least nearly as reliable using similar design standards.

 

[Rsx5]

So after reading all this do I keep the mini2 or should I expect any issues with it eventually. I guess I'll check the video after 90 degree weather and direct sun drive today. I wonder if guys who are testing and reviewing mini2 just got those early production models and that's why they saw some issues with cameras producing blurry videos.

 

[gse]

ter reading all this do I keep the mini2 or should I expect any issues with it eventually.

Share a video with us?
Upload to any file hosting service and give a link to the forum.

 

[Rsx5]

Share a video with us?
Upload to any file hosting service and give a link to the forum.

Ok I'll do it tonight after work.

 

[Cyker]

Does it stay like that or does it get better once you start driving and the car cools down, e.g. if you're driving with the windows down or with the AC on?

 

[Nigel]

Does it stay like that or does it get better once you start driving and the car cools down, e.g. if you're driving with the windows down or with the AC on?

It will return to normal when it cools down, but that will take a few minutes after opening the windows or turning the AC on.
There have been cameras that stayed wrong, but not decent ones.

 

[Cyker]

Ahh good, that's not as serious then... if it stayed like that for a significant period of time or permanently deformed that would be an absolute deal-breaker, but a few minutes isn't so bad. My A129 needed at about that long to cool down enough to start working full-stop!

 

[Dashmellow]

Ahh good, that's not as serious then... if it stayed like that for a significant period of time or permanently deformed that would be an absolute deal-breaker, but a few minutes isn't so bad. My A129 needed at about that long to cool down enough to start working full-stop!

Depending on the circumstances it could take longer than just a few minutes for the camera to return to normal. It could even take as long as half an hour if the camera got especially hot. Focus should recover though.

Back in the day, when a dash cam went out of focus it was usually permanent. Today that is not quite as common, although it can still happen.

 

[Cyker]

Half an hour would be a bit too much! Maybe they should paint them silver and add a cooling fan

Or maybe they can bundle one of those USB-powered fans with them next

 

[Dashmellow]

Half an hour would be a bit too much! Maybe they should paint them silver and add a cooling fan

Or maybe they can bundle one of those USB-powered fans with them next

I'm just saying it's possible for it to take longer than a few minutes. It took a while to get hot enough to go out of focus and it can take about as long to cool off. In fact you wouldn't want it to cool off too rapidly or the fast contraction could cause its own issues.

People have tried cooling fans with dash cams but even tiny quiet ones will sound like a jet engine in your videos. A white camera would stay cooler but it wouldn't be very stealthy.

 

[Rsx5]

Today's video is short but I think it looks fine to my untrained eyes.

 

[Cyker]

I was just being silly; Fans would be impractical without making it obnoxiously large (Well, maybe unless that solid-state fan someone invented makes it to market...), but it depends on what sort of temperatures it's getting to for the focus to become affected - I know anything in direct sunlight can get ridiculously hot, especially things painted black in high summer, but if it's just a matter of keeping it shaded or opening the door for a bit to let the edge off then it might not be bad enough to be a concern. Even with the A129, it didn't take long for it to cool to operating temp, it was just a hassle as I'd forget and have to un-plug it while driving as it'd crash so bad that was the only way to restart it.

As for stealthy, is that desirable trait? I want my dashcam to be as obvious as possible - I find people tend to be more behaved when they realize I have one!

 

[Dashmellow]

I was just being silly; Fans would be impractical without making it obnoxiously large (Well, maybe unless that solid-state fan someone invented makes it to market...), but it depends on what sort of temperatures it's getting to for the focus to become affected - I know anything in direct sunlight can get ridiculously hot, especially things painted black in high summer, but if it's just a matter of keeping it shaded or opening the door for a bit to let the edge off then it might not be bad enough to be a concern. Even with the A129, it didn't take long for it to cool to operating temp, it was just a hassle as I'd forget and have to un-plug it while driving as it'd crash so bad that was the only way to restart it.

As for stealthy, is that desirable trait? I want my dashcam to be as obvious as possible - I find people tend to be more behaved when they realize I have one!

Most people (including me) seem to prefer stealthy dash cams that don't call attention to themselves. There was a time when most dash cams had a lot of chrome and logo artwork all over them because this was popular in Asia but Western markets preferred solid black stealthy ones so now that has become the norm.

As for fans, you can get tiny ones that are only 20 mm x 20 mm that can move quite a lot of air and are fairly quiet but even those have proved to be too noisy for dash cams based on evidence from people who have tried them.

 

[Karagandinez]

Here are two screenshots. The first screenshot was taken in the parking lot after 19 minutes after turning on the Mini 2.
The second screenshot was taken in the parking lot after 114 minutes of running the Mini 2 in the parking mode: "Low bitrate recording".
On the left side, the effect of heat on the lens, that is, defocusing, is very clearly visible.
It turns out that this problem also affected my copy.
Although I did not notice this on V3 and Mini.

 

[Panzer Platform]

On the left side, the effect of heat on the lens, that is, defocusing, is very clearly visible.

@viofo @VIOFO-Support Has some explaining to do.

 

[gse]

Although I did not notice this on V3 and Mini.

On V3 and Mini metal holder

 

[Gib]

@viofo @VIOFO-Support Has some explaining to do.

Thank you all for posting about this issue. I purchased a Mini 2 a few weeks ago and haven’t had time to install it yet. I was going to purchase a second one for the rear, but now am a little hesitant considering this identified issue. To me, this is a showstopper and am considering returning the one I have. I don’t know what VIOFO will be able do to correct it. Could they send out a metal holder and we could retrofit? Would the Mini holder work? This is dang disappointing considering the quality of the video the Mini 2 produces- most of the time.