Viofo Semi Resolved but Not Thrilled Yet

FYI: Workplace hookups are acceptable in lieu of payment. I promise not to judge, but as you may or may not know, all characters in Shakespeare plays were portrayed by men.
 
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Can you do a word count for the whole affair?

Are you not shocked by the way Viofo CS have dealt with this issue?

Regardless if HR is a problem customer they should have been more professional in dealing with the issue in my opinion. What if I have issues with my A119 and they also choose to not to want to deal with me?
 
Are you not shocked by the way Viofo CS have dealt with this issue?
Like I said many time ago, for Viofo will be better if a user like HR is not buying their products. Was a good decision from them to not send the T130 to HR for tests.
 
Like I said many time ago, for Viofo will be better if a user like HR is not buying their products. Was a good decision from them to not send the T130 to HR for tests.

Yes, because stress testing products and to finding faults and failures is horrible on my part. Apparently, and it seems according to your reply, the whole point of beta testing and purchasing a product is butt kissing. Wonderful Product! Love it! Please send me another free sample!

I wasn't the only one who found faults / issues.... I posted reviews from other people who complained about heat related issues, too. But hey, I'm the bad guy expecting a product to work year round or function as promised. Note the sarcasm!

The fact the heat killed the SuperCap in about 2 months. Ya that's reassuring. Hopefully, it was a one off failure and not endemic. But if not, then the moral of the story, is the A139 will have an extremely short lifespan if exposed to heat.

I did replace my camera through amazon, but will definitely be avoiding direct sunlight.

Love me or hate me @Mtz I'm not going to kiss ass testing a product. I know there are plenty of people out there who plug it in, say Great Camera! On to the next free trial because I gave the company a review they wanted.

Not me....
 
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I'm shocked, they're obviously a great company and I know why dashcamtalk web site says the cameras are excellent.
 
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I'm not shocked, they're obviously a trashy company and I don't know why dashcamtalk web site seems to think the cameras are excellent.

No one said they are a trash company.

The A129 Pro has lots of complaints on overheating. And there are several issues with the A139 overheating both between your tests, myself, and reviews I posted here from other sites.

That doesn't make them a trash company. But it does mean they need some product improvements. It's called criticisms.

The fact the SuperCap died on the 2nd camera is "possibly" concerning, but could just be a one off, and no conclusion can be drawn. Since I have read zero complaints from anyone regarding that issue.

I believe Viofo was behind the Zenfox T3. We saw major overheating failures there.

Heat is an issue for many electronics. So through stress testing, companies find their product's point of failure, and can better work to keep them cooled.

Viofo's solution was underwhelming: "Avoid the Sun".....That's not a practical response or a response that says, we value input, let's see how we can avoid these issues in future production of X product or in our Research and Design moving forward.
 
Are you not shocked by the way Viofo CS have dealt with this issue?

Regardless if HR is a problem customer they should have been more professional in dealing with the issue in my opinion. What if I have issues with my A119 and they also choose to not to want to deal with me?

If you criticize and find faults, then apparently, you're on their radar. If you simply keep quiet and return the product, I'm sure you'll be fine. The fact they tried to issue partial refunds and then not honor their warranty, was very disconcerting and unprofessional. Had they been upfront about everything, I would have certainly been more diplomatic.

Viofo doesn't like people pointing out their track record for overheating and faults. Maybe I could be more diplomatic in "approaching the topic", but it doesn't change the problem. Whether I dance around in some polite fashion or put it to you bluntly, the issue remains.

1. The Zenfox T3 was plagued with overheating problems, and was most likely backed by Viofo.

2. The A129 Pro has tons of complaints for overheating:



3. The A139 also suffers from overheating at least in my tests. And in some reviews I found posted by others online.

I'm not one to sugar coat, and that makes people not like me. So be it. But I thought the point of testing (even as a paying customer) was to find and point out these flaws. Apparently not.
 
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I thought the point of testing (even as a paying customer) was to find and point out these flaws. Apparently not.
There's a difference between pointing out a flaw and continually shouting about it in public.

You have pointed out some valid concerns. I believe Viofo heard you the first time. I don't think you need to keep repeating yourself across numerous threads.

I can't speak for other testers, but most of my test feedback is done privately rather than in public. And not all of it is positive.
 
There's a difference between pointing out a flaw and continually shouting about it in public.

You have pointed out some valid concerns. I believe Viofo heard you the first time. I don't think you need to keep repeating yourself across numerous threads.

I can't speak for other testers, but most of my test feedback is done privately rather than in public. And not all of it is positive.

Never claimed subtlety. I'm an definitely outspoken person for good or bad, and I am sure it rubs some people the wrong way at times. I agree Viofo probably knows there are issues. With similar issues spread across several different Viofo models. Making it appear concerns are left unaddressed.

I mean "park in shade" and "avoid the sun" aren't really solutions to the underlying problem (heat).

That being said, heat is a problem for many electronics. From using your phone as a GPS (on a hot day), to computers, etc. I still wonder if removing the main unit from the windshield and having it stashed under the dashboard or out of direct sunlight would be a viable solution for 3 channel setups.

In fact, Street Guardian appears to use this exact technique on the SG9663DR (2 channel)

SG9663DR-1.jpg.webp

 
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End of Day conclusion. We resolved the issue. Viofo Refunded me about 95%. Wasn't going to argue over about 12 USD / 8 Euros difference. Not worth headache. I asked Viofo to inspect the camera when they receive the return, verifying that I was telling truth on SuperCapacitor and not "Whining" over nothing.

Anyway, sagas concluded. I hope Viofo can analyze camera and determine why the SuperCap failed. Ideally, it's a one off production problem, versus an issue if the camera is exposed to heat.
 
I don't think the supercap failed

At this point your being patronizing and condescending. Please enlighten me then what failed?

Camera would immediately power off upon voltage cutoff / power cable removed and corrupt the file being written. The job of the supercapacitor is to hold power a few seconds and allow the file to properly exit.

The replacement camera I bought on Amazon holds power just fine for a few seconds on power loss, allowing the camera to properly exit without corrupting the file.

Pretty sure they'll find a bad supercapacitor unless you have a better explanation.
 
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General FYI:

Email I received:

We did receive the front cam and it seems the capacitor inside is faulty.

So yes, the unit I sent back to Viofo was verified faulty with a dead SuperCap. I knew I wasn't crazy! That was the "replacement" unit I kept.
 
Classic it’s never happened to me so can’t be true thinking?

So the original unit I purchased was overheating. So I got sent a "replacement", as I thought "OK" let me make sure this is a real problem (overheating). Anyway, I sent back original. And yes, the Supercap was indeed faulty on replacement. But like you said, "Never Happened to Me". So I must be a liar and it can't be true.....Well Viofo proved him wrong.
 
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