Viofo A229 Pro (unboxing & first impressions) (Novatek NT96529, Sony IMX678/IMX675/IMX307, HDR³, GPS⁴, 5Ghz WiFi, 4k front + 2k rear + 1080p cabin)

[Agie]

No. Not for dash cams, since it is very much needed function to quick remove stored memory storage to pull footage etc. Without removing the whole cam.

For smartphones though, it already is the standard. Even the longest hold out, Samsung eventual gave up on have micro sd card support in their top tier phones.
Though, smartphone/computer industry, tend to follow on what Apple does....

The home cctv cam industry, Smart cams, also mostly done away with local storage, moved to cloud only Paid Subscription setup.
That may happen with dash cams, go cloud subscription based, but not for some time. But data plans getting cheaper, 5G getting more widespread...

Will be interesting to see where it heads with the dash cam industry. Have to agree on most points except 5G which is the biggest joke when it comes to rollout and promises though haha

 

[Agie]

VIOFO A229 Pro Dash Cam Support

viofo.com

Viofo A229 Pro Firmware Update

• Version: V1.1_231208 (front), V1.0_231207 (rear)
• File size: 63.13M (front), 4.44MB (rear)

Changelog (front):

• Optimised: image quality for front cam and rear cam
• Added: support exFAT file format
• Added: camera will give warning and default to turning off when overheating (internal temperature of 112 degrees Celsius or higher)
• Fixed: Bluetooth connection
• Other bugs fixed

Changelog (rear):

• Fixed: rotate and exposure settings cannot be kept after powering off
• IQ updated
• Other bugs fixed

@viofo @VIOFO-Support

 

[Agie]

No rebooting on the latest December firmware, but it did display the a prompt that the camera was going to turn off to prevent overheating. Previous behaviour was that the camera would reboot, and attempt to turn itself back on after an additional 20-30 seconds.

This was with an outside temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro carried through with no issues.

Still no return of the usual heatwaves we have here, but will have more information to post then.

 

[Mtz]

Can you show us pictures with both installed dashcams?
The camera was overheating in parking mode or during driving?

 

[Agie]

Can you show us pictures with both installed dashcams?
The camera was overheating in parking mode or during driving?

Yes, when the temperature hits 35C and above I will make all the measurements. For now they both happened at the same position, waiting in a parked car with ignition on, facing mid afternoon sun directly.

 

[Mtz]

So you are saying that the A229 Pro is turning off because of heat when your car is parked and engine running? If the engine is running I expect you to stay in the parking under 10-15 minutes.
Do you have a Volvo car?

 

[Agie]

So you are saying that the A229 Pro is turning off because of heat when your car is parked and engine running? If the engine is running I expect you to stay in the parking under 10-15 minutes.
Do you have a Volvo car?

No I have a kia.

And no, I have done this hundreds of times over the years, as I am waiting to pick kids up from school. Never had an issue with heat in the summer, with previous Viofo's or this Vantrue.

 

[Agie]

Further Update: confirmed by @viofo that the new default behaviour for the A229 Pro is to now turn off when overheating, not rebooting. This was added in the latest public-facing December firmware, I have added this to the changelog above.

The message will display: "The camera will turn off to prevent overheating". This will be triggered when the internal chipset temperature of the camera reaches 112 degrees Celsius. This is to prevent damage to the camera itself from excessive heat exposure.

 

[Agie]

So this has been bought forward, as the cameras have been exhibiting differing behaviours in these Australian summer heat conditions. I do not possess a thermal imaging gun, so I am aware this is not the most scientific method of temperature testing, but does give a rough idea of what is going on. @viofo @VIOFO-Support



Heat Testing: Viofo A229 Pro vs. Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro

Have pitched the Viofo A229 Pro against the Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro to see how they cope with the Australian summer heat. In my testing, they are both recording in three-channel mode at maximum resolution (4K, 2.5K, 1080p), but due to the increased rear camera resolution, the Viofo is immediately at a disadvantage. Please keep this in mind as the Viofo is pushing higher bitrates than the Viofo, thus contributing to more heat inside the dashcam shell and electronic components.

In all instances, the ambient car cabin temperatures (with air-conditioning set to lowest setting without car driver/passengers feeling hot) is 26 degrees Celsius. Vantrue Nexus 4 Pro installed to left of rear-view mirror, Viofo A229 Pro installed to right of rear-view mirror




14th December 2023:

Scenario: parked in stationary car mid-afternoon for approximately 30 minutes directly facing sun
Exhibited behaviour: Viofo displayed shut-down message to prevent overheating, Vantrue remained recording and did not reboot

Outside stated weather bureau temperature: 27.1 degrees Celsius
Dashboard recorded temperature: 44.1 degrees Celsius

Viofo (top of camera above LCD display): 79 degrees Celsius
Viofo (LCD screen itself): 73 degrees Celsius
Viofo (side ventilation grilles at bottom of dash cam): 57 degrees Celsius

Vantrue (side where logo is): 65 degrees Celsius
Vantrue (LCD screen itself): 65 degrees Celsius
Vantrue (bottom where buttons and ventilation grilles exist): 85 degrees Celsius

 

[Dadi_T]

If the cam is shutting down with the engine and air conditioning on, that could be an potentially disaster for Viofo.
It really doesn't matter what the temperature outside is!!!
I had my T130 3 channel running 3 hours in direct sunlight parked car, at 46 degrees Celsius outside temperature, and nobody in the car, of course. It had no problem. No need for scientific measurement...I couldn't breathe for several seconds when I entered the car.
I really hope that is a single unit problem or a memory card problem.

 

[Julian23]

I had my T130 3 channel running 3 hours in direct sunlight parked car, at 46 degrees Celsius outside temperature, and nobody in the car, of course. It had no problem. No need for scientific measurement...I couldn't breathe for several seconds when I entered the car.
I really hope that is a single unit problem or a memory card problem.

I can only agree with you. Never had an issue even with parking mode running and the car turning into an oven

 

[Dex_]

All dashcams use internal thermal sensor inside Novatek chipsets.
For Vantrue N4Pro overheat Power Off level is 130 degree of Celsius and detect duration is 10 minutes.
For Viofo A229Pro overheat level is 111 degree of Celsius and detect duration is 30 seconds (10 secs for detection, next 20 secs showing warning message on LCD and next power off).

Previous Viofo dashcams does not have ability to power off on overheat so we all did not see it before.
My Viofo A229 Duo work at 140 degrees w/o any power off:

Tue Jun 27 11:25:00 GMT 2023: 139'C
Tue Jun 27 11:26:00 GMT 2023: 139'C
Tue Jun 27 11:27:00 GMT 2023: 139'C
Tue Jun 27 11:28:00 GMT 2023: 140'C

 

[Dadi_T]

Previous Viofo dashcams does not have ability to power off on overheat so we all did not see it before.

That is not the point. The point is that a dashcam should not reach the temperature for that message in a car with air conditioning turned on.

 

[Dex_]

Yep, I know. I post for you exact values of temperature limits for this dashcams.

 

[Karagandinez]

That is not the point. The point is that a dashcam should not reach the temperature for that message in a car with air conditioning turned on.

It is prohibited to be in the parking lot near the supermarket with the engine running. This means that the air conditioner will not be turned on and the DVR will reach the temperature corresponding to this message in a maximum of an hour. We are, of course, talking about summer and temperatures above 30°C.

 

[Dadi_T]

It is prohibited to be in the parking lot near the supermarket with the engine running. This means that the air conditioner will not be turned on and the DVR will reach the temperature corresponding to this message in a maximum of an hour. We are, of course, talking about summer and temperatures above 30°C.

I'm talking about specific behavior that was reported by @Agie user who stated that the message appeared while it was with air conditioning on.
I don't know what you are talking about. Am I missing something?

 

[Karagandinez]

I'm talking about specific behavior that was reported by @Agie user who stated that the message appeared while it was with air conditioning on.
I don't know what you are talking about. Am I missing something?

You talked about the temperatures that Dex_ indicated.
I wrote to you how long it takes for the DVR to heat up to such values in the parking lot.

 

[Mtz]

All dashcams use internal thermal sensor inside Novatek chipsets.

Maybe they had but this thermal sensor was not working in a way to save the camera against heat damage. Maybe it will work on A229 Pro.
I don't know any Novatek dashcam which was auto shutting down because of heat but I know dead dashcams because of heat. Melted buttons, melted lens case, melted case. They can never melt if the dashcam is turned off, they will melt if something is obstructing the natura ventilation of the camera which is recording in that moment.

If the user is using a windshield sunshader in parking mode during summer the dashcam will be killed by the heat, other components inside the dashcam will be destroyed, not the main Novatek chipset. First which will fail will be the super-caps and then the power circuit. Sometimes is killed the CMOS.
That thermal sensor should be mounted in another place, not inside the chipset.
I expect about 5% from Novatek dashcams to be killed by the windshield sunshaders. If 90% of the people will use these sunshaders in paking mode, 90% of the dashcams will be killed. This is a serious thread and nobody cares about it. Maybe the manufacturers accept adding 5% loses because of windshield sunshaders.

Viofo displayed shut-down message to prevent overheating, Vantrue remained recording and did not reboot

It is normal Viofo to reach higher temperatures than Vantrue because it is much more closer to the windshield, the air is not so well vented on the wedge type dashcams. Also the GPS is taking a lot of hot from the windshield. The Vantrue has a better form factor against heat but, is further from the windshield and that mount can not transfer too much heat to the dashcam. The Vantrue mount is a very poor idea but is good at least against heat.

Unfortunately for your Viofo. your windshield does not have that black dotted area on the windshield where to install the mount of the dashcams.

Speaking of flaws and black dotted area I consider was not a good idea to include that static films because some people with great opportunities to mount the camera on the black dotted area in a great location will use that static film on a clean area on the windshield and the whole setup is also looking ugly from outside.

I have a kia.

I don't know if Kia has he same type of windshields like Volvo, which is creating heat issues to Viofo dashcams.

 

[Agie]

Maybe they had but this thermal sensor was not working in a way to save the camera against heat damage. Maybe it will work on A229 Pro.
I don't know any Novatek dashcam which was auto shutting down because of heat but I know dead dashcams because of heat. Melted buttons, melted lens case, melted case. They can never melt if the dashcam is turned off, they will melt if something is obstructing the natura ventilation of the camera which is recording in that moment.

If the user is using a windshield sunshader in parking mode during summer the dashcam will be killed by the heat, other components inside the dashcam will be destroyed, not the main Novatek chipset. First which will fail will be the super-caps and then the power circuit. Sometimes is killed the CMOS.
That thermal sensor should be mounted in another place, not inside the chipset.
I expect about 5% from Novatek dashcams to be killed by the windshield sunshaders. If 90% of the people will use these sunshaders in paking mode, 90% of the dashcams will be killed. This is a serious thread and nobody cares about it. Maybe the manufacturers accept adding 5% loses because of windshield sunshaders.


It is normal Viofo to reach higher temperatures than Vantrue because it is much more closer to the windshield, the air is not so well vented on the wedge type dashcams. Also the GPS is taking a lot of hot from the windshield. The Vantrue has a better form factor against heat but, is further from the windshield and that mount can not transfer too much heat to the dashcam. The Vantrue mount is a very poor idea but is good at least against heat.

Unfortunately for your Viofo. your windshield does not have that black dotted area on the windshield where to install the mount of the dashcams.

Speaking of flaws and black dotted area I consider was not a good idea to include that static films because some people with great opportunities to mount the camera on the black dotted area in a great location will use that static film on a clean area on the windshield and the whole setup is also looking ugly from outside.


I don't know if Kia has he same type of windshields like Volvo, which is creating heat issues to Viofo dashcams.

Actually, I do have the black dotted area just I haven't installed any dashcam on there. The interior camera of my A229 Pro is currently on the black dotted area.

I have a 2020 Kia Cerato (Forte in other territories) car.

 

[Dex_]

Maybe they had but this thermal sensor was not working in a way to save the camera against heat damage. Maybe it will work on A229 Pro.
I don't know any Novatek dashcam which was auto shutting down because of heat but I know dead dashcams because of heat.

I mean both dashcams that I talked about use same internal thermal sensor. To be clear only latest Novatek chipset based on ARM architecture have such sensor, previous chipsets based on MIPS architecture does not have it.
If we stayed on topic and talked about A229Pro - only front cam have it but rear cam - not.

But not all dashcams with hardware thermal sensor have firmware support for powerOff on high temp feature - like A229Duo for example.