Viofo A129 Duo - What Problems Have You Encountered With this Dash Cam?

[StrayCam]

The company would like to participate, but it is never going to do so given the confrontational attitude of certain posters! The consistent repetitive posting of the same issues only succeeds in giving the company a lot of extra publicity, and given that "there is no such thing as bad publicity", it is actually good for the company to leave things as they are Not the best approach for the OP to get the issues fixed though, I doubt he has had any effect on the timescale for a fix

You can attempt to lay the blame with me as to why Viofo has gone into hiding, but the fact is Viofo went into hiding for about a month before I was even a member here! I have come to learn that for whatever reasons certain posters on this forum will "never" say anything negative about Viofo! At the same time, many of them, you included, will literally make up excuses as to why Viofo can't fix their A129 Dashcam!!!

So, this thread was created to allow both prospective customers and current customers to gain a fair understanding of the issues facing the A129 Duo dash cam.

As I said, Viofo disappeared from threads on this forum long before I became a member here. Their current treatment of their customers has not changed simply because I joined the list of unsatisfied customers!!! This is standing operating procedure for Viofo.

 

[Airborne]

I know the A129 can be made more sensitive because Viofo already did it! - - It would go off if a little bird landed on your car... that was perhaps a little too sensitive!!!

So, that piece of hardware is quite capable...meanwhile we have to be patient and wait 3 more months or maybe more...???

Here is Cannoli.....

 

[StrayCam]

Here is Cannoli.....View attachment 48674

Nice pic and great looking truck!!! I can see why you want the. g-sensor in parking mode to work. - - Like most everyone else, you want to be alerted if something bad were to happen to your truck while you were away. - Crossing fingers that you never need that alert!

 

[Mtz]

Returning to car - A129 was in parking mode: continuous beeps heard & recording stopped after only 2 hours; pushing leftmost button displays screen, stops beeping and then turns-off A129. When starting car, A129 works like normal in "driving mode".

Did you had Wi-Fi enabled when Parking Mode was set to Event auto detection?

 

[StrayCam]

Did you had Wi-Fi enabled when Parking Mode was set to Event auto detection?

Mtz-

I believe your quote above was actually from Joe384, but mine had done the same thing as I mentioned. - - Like just about everyone here, I did not have WiFi enabled. I use wifi very sparingly... in fact, you can't enable WiFi while away from your car because there's nothing for it to connect to.

 

[TonyM]

One of my issues with the A129 is that there is no option for warning-only beeps. I don't want a startup tune every time I start the car, but I would like to be notified if there are any problems with the camera or the card.

 

[StrayCam]

One of my issues with the A129 is that there is no option for warning-only beeps. I don't want a startup tune every time I start the car, but I would like to be notified if there are any problems with the camera or the card.

TonyM-

I agree, that would be a nice tweak to have done. I did advise someone earlier today to leave "all beeps" on in the settings as that alerts us if we forgot to insert the SD card or if we left the record mode off inadvertently. Those types of alerts are important! Maybe I'll be overly optimistic and creat a "wish list" too on the front page. What's that saying you guys have, "In for a penny, in for a pound"...?

Hey, I know you've been on the "beta testing team" for the duration of the a129. Do you recall a time when the a129 g-sensor in parking mode was "too sensitive"? If so, do you recall the types of events that were causing it to get triggered too easily?

 

[TonyM]

Do you recall a time when the a129 g-sensor in parking mode was "too sensitive"? If so, do you recall the types of events that were causing it to get triggered too easily?

No, I do not think that the sensor has ever been "too sensitive". Both BCHobbyist and myself have noted some curious behaviour that to the casual observer might look like the sensitivity was too high, but I do not think that was actually true. (Read posts 812 and 813 in the buffered parking thread)

My take on the A129 g-sensor is that, similar to a digital camera sensor, it has just one base sensitivity. Anything higher is an amplification of the signal output from the sensor. I don't think the A129 g-sensor is sensitive enough to be triggered the type of events that some users seem to expect. Viofo have tried cranking up the amplification but it's just not enough to register tiny impacts. In one or two cases I get the impression that they turned up the gain so much that the noisy signal led to false-positive triggers and unreliable camera behaviour. I may be wrong about how such things work - these are simply my thoughts based on what I have seen during testing and my basic understanding of sensors.

FWIW, I don't think any of my other cameras are capable of noticing a shopping cart impact. I don't see this as an A129 problem, or a Viofo problem. TBH I don't think it's a problem at all. Personally, I'm happy with the A129 and I don't expect anything more from it.

However I do understand that Viofo's marketing, communication and inclusion of a separate parking mode g-sensor setting may lead customers to expect more from the parking mode than the camera can achieve.

 

[joe384]

Mtz-

I believe your quote above was actually from Joe384, but mine had done the same thing as I mentioned. - - Like just about everyone here, I did not have WiFi enabled. I use wifi very sparingly... in fact, you can't enable WiFi while away from your car because there's nothing for it to connect to.

I've always had wifi off whenever it is not needed, I think it slows down the camera a bit and probably uses more power.

On a side note, viofo are sending me a replacement, it will be interesting to see how well it works. I am dreading having swap the cameras out, it is not that much effort, just that I am starting to get fed up for a bit now

 

[LMN]

There's a new thread that's very interesting: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/how-to-access-the-a129-over-wi-fi-without-the-viofo-app.37279/

There's a parameter named MOVIE_GSENSOR_SENS -- maybe this can be used to tune the gsensor to their specific environment/needs for those interested in experimenting?

I just noticed it, it may be not be what I think it is though...

 

[Airborne]

TonyM-

I agree, that would be a nice tweak to have done. I did advise someone earlier today to leave "all beeps" on in the settings as that alerts us if we forgot to insert the SD card or if we left the record mode off inadvertently. Those types of alerts are important! Maybe I'll be overly optimistic and creat a "wish list" too on the front page. What's that saying you guys have, "In for a penny, in for a pound"...?

Hey, I know you've been on the "beta testing team" for the duration of the a129. Do you recall a time when the a129 g-sensor in parking mode was "too sensitive"? If so, do you recall the types of events that were causing it to get triggered too easily?

I can not listen to that beep when I am driving, maybe a option to just turn that off, I had to turn off all beeps account of that

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I can not listen to that beep when I am driving, maybe a option to just turn that off, I had to turn off all beeps account of that

If the camera is beeping while your driving, then there is a problem. Why would you want to turn off any beeps that alert you to an issue?

 

[Airborne]

i am sorry for confusion. I have all beeps on now. I see it beeps when recording has stopped. My mistake, I had it in the house and stopped recording and it was beeping. I thought right away I need to stop that. You really need all the beeps on because when you are in the vehicle you cannot see all the necessary buttons if they are on or off. The sun and windshield makes it difficult to view.

 

[StrayCam]

i am sorry for confusion. I have all beeps on now. I see it beeps when recording has stopped. My mistake, I had it in the house and stopped recording and it was beeping. I thought right away I need to stop that. You really need all the beeps on because when you are in the vehicle you cannot see all the necessary buttons if they are on or off. The sun and windshield makes it difficult to view.

You got it right Airborne, and thanks to Capture Your Action for highlighting the importance of having beeps go off when there's a problem. In fact, that's the only time they are supposed to go off. I have my g-sensor in driving mode set to "low" as I really don't need to know that I ran over a bump or a pothole and hear "3 beeps"...in fact, I don't even need to hear 3 beeps if and when there is a crash. I will be fully aware of what happened...

The time I'd really like to hear a beep is when I returned to my car after there was a "g-sensor event" triggered in parking mode that I'm totally clueless about...that's wishful thinking, I know!

Like TonyM mentioned, it would be nice if you didn't have to hear the melody at start-up, but on second thought it's nice to know your cam is operating and ready to go...

 

[joe384]

Decided to try to flash my fw back to 1.5, but when I tried to connect it to my PC (using the USB cable I got with the camera) it just kept disconnecting and reconnecting (the drive letter kept disappearing in windows)

I'm just going to put it back in the car now I think, my replacement is due Saturday apparently (although if it's been sent through the standard UK Royal Mail post service it will probably be late)

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Decided to try to flash my fw back to 1.5, but when I tried to connect it to my PC (using the USB cable I got with the camera) it just kept disconnecting and reconnecting (the drive letter kept disappearing in windows)

I'm just going to put it back in the car now I think, my replacement is due Saturday apparently (although if it's been sent through the standard UK Royal Mail post service it will probably be late)

Use a card reader to put the firmware file onto the memory card, then put the card back into the camera and start it up. It will update automatically.

 

[joe384]

Good news, my replacement arrived today.

Bad news, got a ding in my door today (4th ding and I've only had the car a few months!! )

Unfortuately, I only had the front cam going (rear cam disconnected in case it caused issues).

The dashcam behaved itself today and captured the whole day parked up but at a first glance I can't see anything obvious.

Im very certain the ding was caused by someones door but can't find anything on the footage so far. Shame about the rear camera but these things do happen I suppose

 

[StrayCam]

Good news, my replacement arrived today.

Bad news, got a ding in my door today (4th ding and I've only had the car a few months!! )

Unfortuately, I only had the front cam going (rear cam disconnected in case it caused issues).

The dashcam behaved itself today and captured the whole day parked up but at a first glance I can't see anything obvious.

Im very certain the ding was caused by someones door but can't find anything on the footage so far. Shame about the rear camera but these things do happen I suppose

Joe384-

I'm sorry to hear about ding #4! Ouch!!!!!! - - I realize some people don't always have the luxury of finding parking spots that are almost impossible to get "dinged" in.... I do so about 95% of the time.... I only have one real minor ding near the wheel well after having had my car for 2.5 years. I know for many, they are relegated to parking in some place that is almost impossible not to get dinged in....packed/parked like sardines!!!

My brother was just telling me it's not hard to have "most dings" taken out with the "paintless dent removal" process...here's a video to the process my brother was describing. If someone is real handy, they might be able to do the dent removal.

I hope the video helps you and others.

Btw, plug your rear camera in; you have a new unit and presumably new cables...both cameras should work fine!

 

[Airborne]

All trucks and cars coming off the line should have plastic edging all around the edges of doors. They can make them where it would be impossible to remove the door edging. A ding is bad versus a dent. I would think a dent would come out but not a ding, I would leave that for the experts. Cool video, but I would never attempt it. Plus the paint they use on cars and trucks today that glue would remove all the paint.
All that said sorry to hear about your door ding Joe384. I do not have any yet and the running boards I have in place helps with door dings if a car pulls along side me but if another truck parks along side of me the door would ding it. Having a new car or truck, this really pisses me and other people off. I hope it does not happen again and if it does you catch the person responsible.

 

[gabilondo77]

I have this on all 4 doors of my car from factory..This system should be obligatory for all car makers and no more dents on our doors or sides of the car...