Zenfox T3 Triple channel dash cams free test invitation, limited quantity

[kamkar]

Okay that's bad ass of the viofo.
And yes i assume you can argue if any dashcam can do it others should be able to do that too, at least if they carry the same hardware.

 

[HonestReview]

Okay that's bad ass of the viofo.
And yes i assume you can argue if any dashcam can do it others should be able to do that too, at least if they carry the same hardware.

It's not apples for apples. The T3 adds an interior camera (3 Channels), whereas the Viofo only has 2 channels. So the T3 clearly generates more heat. Of course, I'd rather have 2 channels (front + rear) recording with the Viofo while my car is parked than the 1 Channel (Front Only - Rear and Interior Vanish) being offered by the T3 in its current iteration.

I hope the T3 overheating and dropping the rear and interior cameras can be fixed with firmware and it isn't a design flaw. Time tells, but the newest firmware did not resolve the issue.

 

[kamkar]

I just found out the other memory card i put in the T3 for my drive yesterday are a no go, as usual the camera have recorded a few full files, then some 1 second and then stopped, so only the first 5 minutes or so of my drive home from my friends house was recorded.
I have loaded up the new firmware and after that my short drives around town was fine, but i am still going to try another memory card.

 

[HonestReview]

I just found out the other memory card i put in the T3 for my drive yesterday are a no go, as usual the camera have recorded a few full files, then some 1 second and then stopped, so only the first 5 minutes or so of my drive home from my friends house was recorded.
I have loaded up the new firmware and after that my short drives around town was fine, but i am still going to try another memory card.

FYI: Im going to pick on @jokiin a minute. He's a good guy and can take it!

Let's pretend @jokiin from Street Guardian spent $700,000 AUD (100,000 Euros) on Research and Development. If you aren't aware, Street Guardian is an Australian Based Company. So he tests his cameras in all sorts of hostile environments against failure. Back to my point, let's say @jokiin finds out his cameras are overheating. He has two options.

1. Market the camera to a limited demographic. Northern Europe, Canada, and Russia. Places that don't generally get hot, meaning his own market is overlooked.

2. Correct the failure and market globally.

Businesses aren't there to break even. No one wants to spend $700,000 AUD / 100,000 Euros only to make that exact amount of money back. The goal of any business is to generate a profit, and to do so means reaching the largest customer base possible.

I am critical for the right reason. I want ZenFox to succeed, but he can only succeed if issues and concerns are addressed.

 

[kamkar]

I think, maybe all SG cameras also start out as the T3 are at the moment, but we just dont know as jokiin do all / most of the ground work himself.
The SG products i have been given over the years have all been fairly good at least in regard to operation, but after release we have still seen a lot of new firmware's, making larger or minute changes.

Also if we should compare to any viofo product i think it should probably be the A 129 PRO,,,,,,,, and as i understand it, that model also have its challenges, not least in regard to parking mode.

 

[HonestReview]

I think, maybe all SG cameras also start out as the T3 are at the moment, but we just dont know as jokiin do all / most of the ground work himself.
The SG products i have been given over the years have all been fairly good at least in regard to operation, but after release we have still seen a lot of new firmware's, making larger or minute changes.

Also if we should compare to any viofo product i think it should probably be the A 129 PRO,,,,,,,, and as i understand it, that model also have its challenges, not least in regard to parking mode.

Street Guardian has very active technical support here, but I agree, no product is perfect. And yes, the A129 Duo has issues, but overheating isn't one of them.

There's a difference in a bug vs. potential failure. A bug is an annoyance but doesn't impair the overall functionality of a device. For instance, the clock jumping ahead two days. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal if not for naming conflict. Annoying yes, but the camera records until it hits that spot. Overheating is a potential failure.

We have yet to hear feedback from @Zenfox_Official if the overheating issue is due to a low temperature cutoff causing the cameras to disable or a cooling issue. If this turns out to be a design flaw, then no amount of testing will make the device reliable with parking mode. If it's merely a "bug", where the temperature cutoff was set too low, then this is fixable by a firmware. Issues like this that impair the use should be resolved before lesser bugs (time jumps, dark image, etc).

 

[jokiin]

FYI: Im going to pick on @jokiin a minute. He's a good guy and can take it!

Let's pretend @jokiin from Street Guardian spent $700,000 AUD (100,000 Euros) on Research and Development. If you aren't aware, Street Guardian is an Australian Based Company. So he tests his cameras in all sorts of hostile environments against failure. Back to my point, let's say @jokiin finds out his cameras are overheating. He has two options.

1. Market the camera to a limited demographic. Northern Europe, Canada, and Russia. Places that don't generally get hot, meaning his own market is overlooked.

2. Correct the failure and market globally.

Businesses aren't there to break even. No one wants to spend $700,000 AUD / 100,000 Euros only to make that exact amount of money back. The goal of any business is to generate a profit, and to do so means reaching the largest customer base possible.

I am critical for the right reason. I want ZenFox to succeed, but he can only succeed if issues and concerns are addressed.

gee I'm glad I don't do currency exchange with you 😛 (100,000 Euro is 160,000 AUD), doesn't cost that sort of money to develop the product in China though, particularly for one like this when they've used an existing design, that doesn't mean it doesn't have costs involved though, you don't get what you don't pay for

 

[HonestReview]

gee I'm glad I don't do currency exchange with you 😛 (100,000 Euro is 160,000 AUD), doesn't cost that sort of money to develop the product in China though, particularly for one like this when they've used an existing design, that doesn't mean it doesn't have costs involved though, you don't get what you don't pay for

Mixed up my currencies!! Woops. Never said math was my strong point! I'll trade you 700,000 AUD for 100,000 Euros. It's a good deal I swear!

My sucking at currency exchange aside, if your Research and Development was all done by a team in Australia, it could easily cost 6 figures to develop a new product from scratch between design, prototyping, and getting a team trained to have the product made in China. Of course, if you use an existing product design and do all the development in China, I'm sure it's far cheaper.

That being said, you aren't in business to lose money or have a bad reputation. If the first product you send out the door lands with a thud, people remember, and shop elsewhere. If the first product impresses, then you acquire a loyal fan base eager for the next release!

 

[jokiin]

My sucking at currency exchange aside, if your Research and Development was all done by a team in Australia, it could easily cost 6 figures to develop a new product from scratch between design, prototyping, and getting a team trained to have the product made in China. Of course, if you use an existing product design and do all the development in China, I'm sure it's far cheaper.

to give you an idea on dev costs between China and elsewhere I had a customer come to me about 7 years ago that wanted to do a related product to his specific design based on an Ambarella chipset, Ambarella had referred him to a design house in California, their price to design the product and build a single working prototype which he could then use to show a manufacturer what he wanted was USD $220,000

for us to to do it using our guys in China the price was the same, but included 1000 pieces of the finished product in that price

 

[HonestReview]

to give you an idea on dev costs between China and elsewhere I had a customer come to me about 7 years ago that wanted to do a related product to his specific design based on an Ambarella chipset, Ambarella had referred him to a design house in California, their price to design the product and build a single working prototype which he could then use to show a manufacturer what he wanted was USD $220,000

for us to to do it using our guys in China the price was the same, but included 1000 pieces of the finished product in that price

Taking into account the $220,000, a six figure number albeit higher than I expected, Research and Development is a very costly proposition. Anyone spending that amount of money expects a working product. Whether it's $220,000 for one prototype or 1000 units. So if there's a problem that ends up being a design flaw, the designer expects the item to be corrected to meet specifications. Now I don't know how much skin Zenfox has in his product, being that it's a modification of an existing design, but I'd still guess $10s of thousands of USD. Enough that if there's a problem, he'd want the issue resolved.

Moral of the story here, whatever Zenfox has spent, there is definitely a problem with overheating. I hope the development team can track down the root cause and resolve. If I were in Zenfox's shoes, I'd have the expectation that my investment yield a functioning product. So what I say isn't meant as a personal attack, but as criticism we've been asked to share when we find a problem. I'd like his company to succeed! The 3 Channel Camera is a cool idea.

 

[jokiin]

Moral of the story here, whatever Zenfox has spent, there is definitely a problem with overheating. I hope the development team can track down the root cause and resolve. If I were in Zenfox's shoes, I'd have the expectation that my investment yield a functioning product. So what I say isn't meant as a personal attack, but as criticism we've been asked to share when we find a problem. I'd like his company to succeed! The 3 Channel Camera is a cool idea.

keep in mind they haven't released it yet, the whole idea of giving them out was to get some real world feedback so they can address issues before release

 

[HonestReview]

keep in mind they haven't released it yet, the whole idea of giving them out was to get some real world feedback so they can address issues before release

Correct. Which is why getting this feedback to him is important sooner than later. I assume Zenfox spent at least decent amounts of money on his camera, so he has a right to expect a working product. Meaning any major issues need corrected before the camera can go into mainstream production.

 

[Jeremy Wong]

keep in mind they haven't released it yet, the whole idea of giving them out was to get some real world feedback so they can address issues before release

Some sellers has already brought in and selling the T3 in Malaysia

 

[HonestReview]

Some sellers has already brought in and selling the T3 in Malaysia

Now that's a huge problem.....The T3 isn't ready for the mainstream market, and these early Betas may leave people with the wrong impression of the ZenFox company.

 

[Harsh]

If they cared, it wouldn't be available...

 

[SawMaster]

I've seen where some places get a cam before it's generally released before- not sure if that's done 'officially' or through an 'unofficial back-door'. But it's generally a bad sign, especially when it's done 'officially'. Only SG seems to wait till all the bugs are worked out before releasing a cam, and than they get bashed for the amount of time development takes- sometimes you just can't win 🙄 Every other cam manufacturer releases their cams to marker before they're truly ready. If the issues found are small, and addressed quickly and well, that's not a big problem. But if the issues are big and/or are not addressed well and quickly then nobody is going to be happy 🙁

@Zenfox_Official Several of the issues found here are such that they need to be fixed before this cam is released because they render it useless for it's intended purpose.Those issues must be fixed first or this cam and it's manufacturer are going to be doomed.

IMHO an Uber/Taxi cam needs to be more relaible and free of problems than most, because these folks are far more likely to need their recordings than an average driver. They are a 'professional' market and they have higher expectations. There are already some very good cams for them on the market now and if this one doesn't meet that level it's going to fall on it's face quickly. The back pages of AE, GB, and GB are full of cheap crappy cams which probably sell a few units, and probably make a small profit for their manufacturer, but that is not where success is at. Even if it costs a little more, people want and will pay for a good cam, and those who build them make far better profits from far better sales.

Looks like we're about to find out what this manufacturer is like and how dedicated they are to building a good product. DashCamTalk is the largest furum in the world on this topic. It is highly respected for it's reviews from actual owners and users of dashcams. A good recommendation here can boost sales greatly- a bad recommendation here will hurt sales equally. We want you and the T3 to succeed @Zenfox_Official but it's all up to you.

Phil

 

[jokiin]

If they cared, it wouldn't be available...

someone doesn't care, whereabouts in the chain that happened though to know who that was is something that should be confirmed before pointing the finger one way or the other, I've seen the same before when a potential reseller pays for pre release samples that they want to assess, and then sells them as production pieces, it's not always the suppliers fault when this happens, there are some dodgy sellers out there that are only looking for a quick buck

 

[Nigel]

Moral of the story here, whatever Zenfox has spent, there is definitely a problem with overheating.

There are no reports of them melting, so describing it as a "problem" is questionable. Clearly it has a limited temperature range, but all cameras do, and when outside that range it appears to cope well by limiting the number of channels, so you could see this as a successful design. If it was to start shutting down cameras while driving then it would be more serious, but still 1 channel is better than molten plastic!

In the end, it is up to Zenfox to decide on if it is a problem or not, and to decide on if the expense required to fix it is worth while. If you are testing then you should supply Zenfox with the data needed to make that decision, for example what outside temperature is needed for parking mode to shut down channels, how many hours per day it is shutting down the channels for, does it ever shut down channels during normal driving with the aircon on? Testing should provide data, opinions are also useful, ultimatums are not useful.

 

[kuoh]

Sounds like I might need another dashcam to monitor my test dashcam. 😀

So far the T3 has not shut down on me during normal around the city 30-40 minute drives. It is only when parked in sunny or partly sunny days above 90F and takes around 15 to 30 minutes before shutdowns occur. It does return to normal operation after 20 to 30 minutes of driving, but that time is going to be highly dependent on the individual car's cabin design and AC effectiveness. For comparison, my longest in use dashcam is a Blacksys CF100, which has never shutdown, but has focus shifted and partially melted the outer casing due to the same heat, so I've replaced the front unit and only manually enable parking mode now. In a couple of weeks I might be taking an 8+ hour road trip and we'll see how the T3 fairs over long sessions outside of the garage.

KuoH

If you are testing then you should supply Zenfox with the data needed to make that decision, for example what outside temperature is needed for parking mode to shut down channels, how many hours per day it is shutting down the channels for, does it ever shut down channels during normal driving with the aircon on?

 

[kamkar]

hehe i have actually had cameras on cameras, but it was a jovuu X cam i used aimed at the mini 0906 i was testing.