@@BillBarnum the link to my review is ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ajw1CUwi0_4.html @Vortex Radar, please delete if you don't want this posted here.
Just recently got the 139 pro after seeing your video comparing it to the blackvue, went with 2 ch with the rear camera. Also not sure why but my previews work perfectly fine on mine, they do take some time to load though with android and a Sandisk 256gb max endurance (running the newest firmware 1.1_0321).
How have I not had more ads for this camera? :0 Amazing job with the video, first time watching something from your channel and wow you did a great job. Super detailed and you demonstrated a lot of different scenarios for a lot of different user scenarios. Definitely on my list for which dash am to get.
Thanks for this excellent, in-depth review. After researching several brands and models of dash cams, I was pretty close to opting for the Viofo A139 Pro. Your video gave me the extra push to make the purchase. And thanks for the tip about the problems being encountered with the 516 MicroSD card - I would have bought one but will now get a 256 instead. Awesome review!
Great Job with the video. The flickering you seen at night with HDR. I know someone else who seen that in December. Viofo had him taken care of very quickly by replacing his unit. I was trying to duplicate it on my test unit and never could.
Lets hope viofo is paying attention in terms of providing two things. A. silent start except for significant events/errors B. add a message that something happened during parking mode~!~
First off, congratulations on the very nice and professional review. Your reviews were one of the main reasons I bought an A139 Pro dual channel myself. Now I would like to add a comment I've never seen anyone (including you) mention before: why is the camera barrel fixed on the right side of the unit? It's great for right hand drivers (UK, Australia, etc) as it allows to mount the dashcam on the left side of the windshield and still keep a more or less centered image. However, for the rest of the world, left hand drivers, like myself, it's actually counterintuitive because we tend to mount it on the slight right off center of the windshield. This makes the footage even more off center. Maybe a suggestion for Viofo would be to make RHD and LHD versions of the camera for easier installation. I'm currently struggling on where to place the camera so it stays out of sight from the driver's view but still provides a somewhat symmetrical footage.
Concur, I still ordered it but frustrated they dont have a left mounted option for North American drivers or anywhere else left hand driving can be found.
Wow. You've reached quite a level of recognition. You've certainly come far since I started watching your videos years ago on your old TravelLog1111 (I think) channel!
Today i had someone pull of my wiperarm and damaged the hood as a result. It's the 4th time with this car that something is damaged when it was parked. After your review and some research i bough one. It's great people like you make video's like these. I still feel like dashcams are a necessary evil but as a fellow mx5 driver. You don't want to get your baby hurt. And once again it happend....
Nice video...I was almost completely sold on viofo until I saw the hardwire kit. In our older car (mazda 3) we have the older blackvue (non-x) and the power magic box that just cuts power to the dashcam when the battery drops below a certain voltage... that has been a source of pure frustration cause it only has 3 options... one cuts off way too early but doesnt drain the battery, one drains the battery just enough that starting the car can get a bit iffy (especially when it gets cold) and the battery only lives about 18 months before the battery starts to really suffer the failures that come with continuous cycling of the starter battery. So i have a true hatred of the hardwire kits where the voltage selection is on the hardwire and very limited... most other dash cams now have this in the cam and its very adjustable which for me is a HUGE selling point (it cant be understated how much of a selling point this is in many situations)... HOWEVER... we're putting the new cam in a car with a dual-battery system and the secondary battery is a 100ah deep cycle, so even in its worst case, it should run the viofo for quite a number of days. Really very torn now.
It is a good video, Let me chime in: Most of the problems with this dashcam are in the software: Is the end of the day, the camera is placed in parking mode (MOTION DETECTION), records 35 Parking mode videos, you need to find who scratched your car on the last 7 hrs of videos. It does not show a snapshot of why it took the 45 seconds, it does not have 2x or 4x play speed to save time. I cannot adjust the parking mode video lengths, like in regular video of 1,2,3,4,5 video loops. Sometimes stays continuously recording 45sec clips while in Parking Mode. So I have to go video by video, and it takes forever to do so, and find out who scratched the hood of my car. Lets say you are on video 11, wanna go to the next, just swipe left? no I have to select go back and when it does the one you were watching is not highlighted, so there is 35 videos and have to track it following the timestamp. Is those little things that drive me crazy about this software. If I delete the video, show the next in line, or let me swipe left or right to view the next parking video, but no, once again so stone age, for the latest release is super cheap. Parking mode motion even at low settings is over sensitive, or I would say it does not work. It detects the movement of an airplane far out in the picture frame, or the movement of a leaf 10 houses down, etc, very frustrating. Multiple drivers for the same vehicle, they download the viofo app, but I do not want them to mess with the settings, I cannot set parent /child accounts, so they have only viewing capability. The LED always ON or OFF rarely works. The one that really pissed me off bad was, video locked will not work if the card is formatted, I lost some valuable footage. I came to find out if the RECORD button is pressed for more than 5 seconds it will format the SD card, HELLO! what if someone breaks into the car and presses it, everything that just happened is lost, and it will format everything including locked videos. While navigating it will sometimes say video locked, out of nowhere, and when I check there is no locked video. Snapshot is super laggy, I would say about a second late, for a almost $400 camera with all bells and whistles, I can tell it has a cheap processor. The sound it makes turning on and off, I f**kin hate it. I turn off sound recording, and it states pressing the mic button will turn it on, it does not, only from the app. One thing is true, does record very high quality. There are definitely many issues in firmware and Viofo needs to provide a much better app to manage the dashcam. IMO, this camera should be valued about $100 less than it is currently sold for. Is not a bad dashcam, but it is overpriced.
I love watching your dashcam videos - you are definitely my "go to" for learning about dashcams!! Question: I want to purchase a dashcam and I see Viofu have started using the new Starvis 2 sensor in the A139 - do you know, or have you heard, when they might start using it in their other models?? I am looking at the A229 pro as that will fit my needs!!
Hi I've been using it for a couple of months now and I can say it is a pretty decent dashcam. One thing I noticed though is that it is running quite hot. Have you noticed the same thing by any chance? Wonder if this will affect it on the long run
It gets REALLY hot in Florida in the Summer (100F today!). Hoping this new purchase holds up better than the two Blackvues that died on me in the past five weeks!
If it only had an LTE option 2ch… nice when car is in shop and you can check if it is being worked on yet or not… and the notifications are nice if impacts happen.
Dash cam not working. I just purchased a Viofo A139 pro, after many reviews I settled on this unit. And after 3 days many rounds with brused ribs from laying on my car seal . The problem was the unit would work intermittently would not stay on. The fix was the battery limits switch would shut it down in park mode. So pay attention to your battery voltage I had to put switch to the lowest voltage for it to stay on. It seems simple and stupid right , well it took me 3 days to figure it out , I hope this will save some poeple from a frustrating install.
0:30 This looks gorgeous! How hot does it get with all 3 cameras on, with 4k and HDR at the same time? Would it be a problem in the summer if the car was parked in the sun? I'm slightly concerned about thermal shutdowns. Also, does it have a regular Li-Ion battery or supercapacitors? I only wish the rear camera would've been a Starvis 2 sensor too for better low light performance.
Your costing me way too much money. First with the radar detector I bought, the uniden 7 and now a dash camera. Only kidding. Great that your going thru all this for us. I had a Garmin Mini for a month in a new Silverado but found the wifi to the iPhone 14 pro would only stay connected for about 15-20 seconds at a time then have issues reconnecting. I’m worried is this normal? So when I buy one of these is that an issue? I’m interested in the two camera version. Would you say this is the best in this price range? Also do you have any experience with a dash cam that can connect to the cloud via either a hot spot, cell phone or an internal cell set up so i could view the camera real time remotely? Many tks.
You didn’t go into any detail on the AV out feature. Would love to know more about that. It could work nicely with the license plate reading project you were working on. If you can input the output to a computer it could do the automated LPR on the feed.
I don’t use the feature at all which is why I didn’t go into detail about. If you want to learn more, test it out and/or head to the forums to discuss it with others.
Any chance you have a setup video of this (ideally, the 2-channel A139Pro)? (Thanks to you, I bought it off of Amazon when you posted the special discount - THANK YOU!!)
So, unless you are running this in a 1 channel camera set up, it isn't really worth buying. Why would I spend all that extra money if I know I will be running 3 cameras? Yes, the true 4k res is great, but to me, it should be there at all times. They should have a dual processor for their 2/3 channel cameras. I'm glad I watched this video, because I was about to buy one of these to install in the car that my wife and daughter typically drive, and my daughter will definitely have all 3 cameras going, so I can see how she is driving. EDIT: After further review and watching this one over again, I misunderstood what you said. I did go ahead and buy one from BBMC, and of course, I used your link/code. Now, on to find a battery for long parking recording. The one on BBMC was out of stock. I'm also going to start looking for a camera set up for my own truck.
That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. Everything in life is a tradeoff. The best quality is 1-2 CH, sure. 3CH does give lower quality for the front cam, but you get all 3 channels of coverage to see more like you’re wanting plus it’s still better than any other 3CH option out there IMO.
Serious question: has this camera ever shut off on you? Has it ever beeped because it's offline? Has it ever shut off because it was hot? These are all the problems that I've had with this dash cam. I'm now looking for a cheaper one without a lot of reviews because I don't think the reviewers actually have used or tested the a139 for a long period of time.
I ran it for maybe two years in my wife’s car and maybe a year in mine. I don’t think I’ve seen that issue with the A139 Pro, but I also live in Seattle. Perhaps hotter climates have more overheating issues? Do you run it with the sounds on to double check its recording? Given that cameras can and do sometimes have issues like this (I’ve had issues with some other Viofo’s over the years), I like to run a second cam now as a backup. It’s also a help in case I bring the memory card home and forget to bring it back next time I drive.
Great review! Made me buy it! Any chance you can do a detailed vid on setup options and what they each mean on this A139 Pro? There's a lot of stuff on this app and I have no clue what most of these things do..... But more importantly, can you run through the basics of what if something has happened and we need to pull the recording? Such as a 2am car break-in or a car accident - whats the basic procedure we need to do to find and save that video for future needs (lawsuits, law enforcement, etc...)
I recommend buying a good external usb that has both (micro SD port and plugs to the cell phone), leave it in the car and use it to transfer/view videos faster and more reliable than wifi. Or at least keep it as a backup method to view videos in phone
Great video with tons of information but Is there a reason why you prefer the external battery pack versus the fuse box as a power source $300 is a bit much if the car battery it's actually charging the external battery pack
Longer record times. If I set the A139’s voltage cutoff low, it sometimes kills my wife’s car battery and I have to jump start her car. If I raise the voltage cutoff to not drain it so far, I get like 2 hours of parking record time.
What’s good my man. I have been watching a lot of your videos. Great job 🙌 love what you do. I’m in search of advice. I have a 2023 gladiator that I have just recently purchased the redline 360c and a viofo a139 pro for. But I park 5 days a week in the sun. And my current car gets extremely hot when I do. As I don’t have the expensive electronics in this car I don’t worry. But I am worried about the jeep and the electronics. I want to utilize the parking mode with the camera at work but cannot find for the life of me on the internet or RU-vid ways to use a sunshade and still utilize parking mode. Without frying the camera. It’s a shot in the dark but I was hoping you might have some advice. Thanks again and keep up the great work 🙏😊
@Krishna like they've done with others. I think that this and many other windshield mount items just need a flat surface for things to mount. Blendmount could make a mount that has a flat panel for such devices. They could make it so different sizes of panels could be attached to the same base. A large "universal" size could accommodate things with a less exact fit. Then things notnin the radar detector or dashcam space could be mounted like track performance monitors and whatnot. For mounting both front and interior, both sides of the flat panel could be utilized.
Very nicely detailed review. I have just bought this 2 channel model with the hardwire kit, bluetooth button and rear camera. I still have to build the muscle memory to press the button when I see things that should be kept. Which has lead me to a point about the app, it doesn't seem to have the feature to retroactively protect files to prevent them being overwritten or if it does it's not very obvious. Yes, I could download the videos to my phone but, like you, I prefer to remove the card and use my computer. That is where I do my editing after all. I did also just have an issue starting my car after continuous overnight filming so I'll be checking out the power pack you recommend. I can't be jump starting my car every time and have set the hard wire kit to cut off at the highest voltage now so hopefully that will do in the meantime. Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for such a detailed user review because it's good to know these things were I to want to upgrade to having the interior camera (for quite a reasonable price I have to say) and to know of the potential issues I may face. Great work, thanks again.
Unfortunately my 139pro failed (constant restart loop) tried new SD ram, different power supply (device was hard wired) new firmware etc. Rais d a ticket with Viofo I hope they honour the warranty.
i may have missed it but can this unit be left on 24/7 (if hardwired) and the card recycle the recording as needed (if no incident or event occurs)? I would want one for either theft or accidents but beyond that, not have to fiddle with it... (Great video - thank you!)
I couldn’t find this in a 2ch IR config on Amazon, so I ordered the 1 channel w/ hardwire kit for $239 on amazon & then ordered the interior cam from Viofo for $65, 2 week shipping, but I’ll have the main cam installed this weekend, in my wife’s car… As for me, I’m still rocking an old school BlackVue 750X 1080p😢
wow !! this was a very well done comparison and review ! I am impressed !! I wonder if firmware updates will affect the various issues and if there have been updates since this review..
I'm plagued with problems since i bought the cam 1.5 months ago. Constant beeping sounds and "fake recording" where it says 2 channel recording but actually there is none. Realized it was due to a faulty original Viofo 256gb SD card. Replaced it and was ok. Parking auto detection mode records everything, even light flickering. So consider it as constant recording instead of auto. Final straw was a total hardware failure where the unit keeps restarting. All known attempts to troubleshoot doesnt work, firmware update not possible as it cant even read the SD card due to the constant restart. Reached out to their support and awaiting response. Its been a lot of hassle and stress to constantly be paranoid if the camera is working or even recording. Now, its not even booting up.
Yikes! Sorry to hear that. Would you mind sharing your experience here? dashcamtalk.com/forum/forums/a139-pro.404/ Viofo participates there and you can both get help and let others know about that too.
Hi there and Greetings from Finland! Great review! I just ordered the A139 Pro 4K 2CH from VIOFO, Bluetooth button and Memory card and used your code, thank you very much for that code! This is my first dashcam ever and I bought it mainly because my road trips. Driving from Finland to Turkiye and then to Bosnia and last time I noticed that there was amaising views suddenly ahead and no time or place to stop and take a picture or video. So my first question is, when I press that Bluetooth button, does it start to record then that saved video, save the video just before I pressed the button and how long video it will be and does the settings about viodeo length effect to this? Oh and is it supported with Android Auto and if yes, what you can do with it? Second question would be that , what settings would you recommend for me to use for the roud trip.
Thank you for this video. I bought my A139Pro. great camera. biggest issue I have with this camera is the APP. I came out of Blackvue and it had a far superior App. 2 things that I'm still struggling with 1) app wont allow me to sort by date/time (even tho everything is setup correctly) files are all over 2) the app wont show protected files. tho when I get it into the computer i can see that there is a folder with that there. please help if your able. maybe I'm doing something wrong.
So sorry for the issues. Is the time right when you playback the videos on your computer? If it is also incorrect, please check if you have set the time zone correctly. Please check the locked files in the app to confirm if the videos are here. If not, please update the firmware of the camera and app. If the issue persists, please open a ticket here: support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new
Hey could u show us how to set the time zone correctly in the USA? There’s so many ones to pick from can be bit overwhelming. From 24hrs to 12hrs I have reg a139 2ch But I seem to get mine time correctly but my day is one day ahead that would be every helpful and nice! I’m in MN thanks love watching all of your videos on dash cams! ❤
I also get longer parking record times, especially when having to raise the cutoff voltage level to avoid draining my car battery too far. I've had issues with the original A139 killing my wife's car battery for example, and when I raise the voltage cutoff, it only records for like an hour or two, heh.
Does the rear-facing camera mounting point rotate so I can attach it to the back window of a pickup truck... Nevermind, shortly after posting myquestion you answered it in the video... As always, great detailed review, thank you...
Due to your excellent review I came down to two dash cams. Next base and Viofo 139 pro. I couldn’t decide which one. I like the Nextbase for its live view on the device but concerned overheating. What do you think?
Another amazing detailed video. I want this installed in my cars. I live very close to you, which always makes watching your vids fun with the family identifying the local sights, who do you recommend for installation? I've been told Systems Unlimited, or I guess car toys..
Systems Unlimited is for pretty high end work and might be a little overkill for a dashcam. A place like Car Toys would be much cheaper and should still be fine.
Google Translated from French: Hi Vortex. Love your reviews. Now, My car is parked in an interior garage. It can stay parked there for several days or even weeks. Is it possible to connect the powercell 8 battery pack to a hardwire system that would bind them via an electrical connection 110 VOLT to keep the battery fully charged while parked? Thanks. Mario from Montreal.
Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but why do you recommend the powercell over wiring it directly to your car power supply? Especially with not even getting 24 hours on a dual channel setup.
Hi, thanks for this review. I have a question for the parking mode... The recording during this event is for all the cameras or only for the front camera?
Quick question for the group. My girlfriend has a 2018 Jeep JK and just bought a 139 pro with a rear cam, but where would you put the rear cam? She has a soft top ( stop it... stop it now...) and I don't think the cam is waterproof to install at the spare tire. Thoughts?
great review! Question for you - I have a Toyota Tundra 2023 OEM dashcam which is lacking in performance, and thinking of going with the voifo 139 pro - Do you have any recommendations on how to remove the OEM dashcam from the windshield? It looks to be using some sort of 3m tape mount similar to others. Looks like it's on the black dots section of the windshield if that makes any difference.
It's unfortunate that the Viofo units are so issue prone. The forum is littered with people having issues with them, and some folks don't even realize they aren't recording, until they go to pull footage.
Great video as always. If you have an A129 Pro as I do, would you upgrade? Or do you think other companies will release Starvis 2 based dashcams that may exceed the Viofo this year?
So there are others coming this year too. I know of like 4, but I still suspect this one will be the solid goto pick for most people looking for video quality and core functionality.
@@VortexRadar - OK…since you mentioned it…what are the other 4 (STARVIS 2 equipped) dashcams that are set to debut this year? I know you can’t provide specs, detailed information or model numbers but can you tell us which companies will produce them?
Hi there! I recently purchased the A139p and so far liking it. Haven’t run the permanent wiring, probably this weekend. I also live in the Puget Sound area and I’m wondering how sensitive you have found this unit with heat. With summer on us, the in vehicle temps here are getting pretty high, and I’ve been taking it down when I park.
Ok, I don’t know if you remember me, but I bought this dash cam based on some messages with you. I was looking for a dash cam to hook my cb up to. I wanted to just record the cb audio, and not the audio in the cab. I ran a wire from the speaker out of the cb to the internal in of the camera. It does not work. It only records when I key up the mic to speak. Can you please help me? I’ve reached out to the camera’s tech assistance and they haven’t been much help. By the way, I love your content. I watch all the time.
Awesome video! When you run the bluetooth button, do you find that the battery needs replacing VERY frequently? I gave up on mine - every time I went to go mark some footage, the bluetooth button was dead again.
Thanks man, great video. One question, how long is the hardwire kit? I’m driving 2018 dodge durango where there is no interior fuse-box, only in the engine bay.
Can this camera do firmware updates thru the app? It's my understanding it can't be updated this way. I was hoping you would have addressed this in your video. BTW I have this dash camera and it's quite good for capturing plates. I do notice some issues with the camera locking up and I have to unplug the power and reboot it. Great review though.
Great review! Is there any downside to using the IR interior camera as the rear camera and just turning off the IR? I accidentally bought the wrong 2ch dash cam off the Viofo website last month =(
How long can it record one full loop on 256GB card on max video settings? Does the rear camera have a parking movement sensor as well? Lastly, doesn't the front camera and all those cables running out from it obscure the driver's field of vision a bit?
Do you recommend the external battery pack to use with the A139 to not drain an electric vehicle, or is it not really necessary. Appreciate your feedback.
@@VortexRadar Thank you for replying. One more question. I hear that this camera runs really hot. Do you think this could be an issue when a windshield is tinted with ceramic tint? Could it melt the tint, or would the sticker shield prevent that? TY again!
Warning for anyone thinking of moving from BlackVue… Viofo does not offer Audio alert of any kind when exiting parking mode if impact was detected while in parking!
Thanks Radar for a very helpful review! Indeed it inspired me to get the A139 Pro 3 channel installed 2 days ago. Not long enough to verify anything about the system but more than long enough to experience what I surmise to be a major problem. I am hoping that you might be inclined to comment perchance I am simply expecting too much from the 139: I had a lot of trouble pairing the VIOFO App betwixt my iPhone 7+ and the cameras. With help from the seller/installer we finally got it to work. But every time I park the car and walk away, the VIOFO drops from my WIFI list, thus shutting down the app. The consequence is that I cannot view or review any recordings, past or present, when away from the car. If I remove the SD card every time I leave the car, in order to download it into my computer, then what’s the point of having the parking mode? I thought that one of the benefits of such tech was that you could readily check on the status of your parked car and review past performance from wherever you happened to be. As it stands now I can only reactivate the system by getting in the car and pressing the WIFI button on the camera. Do I have unrealistic expectations? Thank you.
@@ViofoDashcamOfficial So, do I understand you to say that you must be within 10m of the unit to view and adjust all parameters……. And that walking away disallows you to view any videos taken up to that point? But even though the WIFI connection is broken, the parking mode is still creating video recordings??
@@robkcra Yes, the wifi will not influence the recording. You just need to turn on wifi and connect wifi if you want to check the footage or change settings in the app. Otherwise, it is better to turn off the wifi to decrease power consumption.
For the interior camera is what kind of lens is it like is it a telephoto because anothe video of yours you would talking about how telephoto lenses will capture license plates a lot better compared to wide angle 4K lenses then you could just throw a bunch of infrared light in your bumper so u can see the plate in low light conditions
Interior cams are wide angles with infrared LEDs to light up the cabin at night. IR leds on the bumper are kinda impractical unless you’re a cop or something.
Thanks very much for your video. Based on this video and others I plan to buy the 129 pro but now it’s just a question of how many channels. I’m not sure if you answered this question in the video, but if I buy the duel channel pro can I turn off the second channel and still get the resolution on the front facing camera at the same bit rate, as if it was a single camera or is it only the three channel model that allows you to reduce one channel?
You mean A139 Pro? Yes if you physically unplug any cam, you can take a 3CH down to 2CH or down to 1CH and get the benefit of the higher bitrate. I don’t think you can turn the extra channels off in software.
Vortex Radar, I'm curious to see if you can do the stress heat test to the dashcam to see if the parking sensor still working after 3hr+ sitting out in the Arizona sun around 110 degree outside temperature.
You let us know it's power hungry in parking mode but you specify "with all three dash cams running". I think most people don't want three dash cams and even fewer would want the interior camera running in park mode.
Thoughts on the new Vantrue Nexus 5? First time I’ve seen a dash cam company offer front and rear cabin interior. It of course has the new Starvis sensor but just curious what you think about that whole set up
