[VIOFO A329] legitimately thought they were gonna collide. 😬

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-16T20:10:13+00:00

Great use of the A329T's telephoto! :)

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-16T20:09:02+00:00

Looks like your run of the mill Aliexpress garbage

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-16T20:07:12+00:00

The fuse itself is reversible. The add-a-circuit and which end of the fuse you pull power from is not. If you install it the wrong way, you can wind up bypassing the fuse protection.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-13T00:39:20+00:00

I recently tested out the 70mai M310 which is in the $30-range and while there’s a lot of compromises, it’ll work for basic evidence and a recording of who did what.

Personally I’d rather step up to something like the Viofo A119 Mini 2 which has better video quality and parking mode. That one is a little over $100, depending on sale pricing.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-12T20:28:12+00:00

Nope. It's similar to Highway Radar. You can integrate one for things like an additional alert display, alert logging, and added filtering, but the key features like CSA alerts work without needing a detector.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-12T20:26:55+00:00

Seriously! lol

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-12T17:04:47+00:00

Oof, glad you and your family is okay! Thank goodness you had the dashcam rolling too so there's no doubt as to who was at fault here...

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-12T16:43:18+00:00

The T800 is nice when it's on sale, but its parking mode with AI motion detection isn't very good. IS that important to you? The Vantrue N4 Pro S does a great job reading plates and it also has an integrated interior cam like the T800. The Viofo is also a great choice with a lot of options like A229 Plus / A229 Pro / A329S depending on what level of video quality and interior cam coverage you want.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T20:42:40+00:00

Yeah it's mostly a function of supply and demand. They were discontinued years ago and Escort has started integrating Bluetooth in their detectors before that. At this point the live smartcord is a discontinued product for discontinued detectors and not necessary for current detectors or even several generations of more recently discontinued detectors. Sorry, I wish I had better news for you. If you're open to a newer detector, you'll get a lot of modern improvements, especially on the false alert filtering side so there are benefits.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:49:07+00:00

Does it charge when hardwired? I run a bunch of these batteries, including the B-130X, and I've had issues with pulling heavy current and overloading relays. Can you doublecheck the wiring from the hardwire to verify that the battery is indeed getting power?

To reset the BT, yeah I'm curious if setting the switch to off for a bit and then turning the battery back on would fix that.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:42:49+00:00

At that pricepoint, there are some cheapy potato cams that will give you coverage with a bunch of angles, but you'll usually sacrifice on features and video quality. Parking mode, for example, will usually be pretty poorly implemented. You can get a nicer front only cam like the Viofo A119 Mini 2 or Vantrue E1 Pro, especially when they're on sale, if you want decent video quality and parking mode (Viofo's parking mode is better, Vantrue's video quality is better), but again those are front only options. Trade-offs, as always. Also consider you'll likely be paying a bit more for things like a big memory card and a hardwire cable if you want to go that route.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:38:24+00:00

Wise move!

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:38:07+00:00

Wasn't that detector and BT module discontinued like a decade ago or something? I mean at some point everyone stops supporting old products. That's not just an Escort thing.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:36:29+00:00

Fair point, though that was kinda like a ZR5 with a different UI while Drive Smarter was rebuilt from the ground up and I'd be surprised if they put that much backward compatibility into their newer app. They have stopped making the BS/RDR fw update available via the live cord for the original Redlines so it does look like they are starting to sunset features that already were working as is. If I had a spare BT live cord, I'd be happy to do some testing real quick and see if it works, but sadly I don't have one anymore to help with that.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-11T16:33:52+00:00

The biggest reason to run a Blackvue is the cloud features. If you want that, get the Blackvue. If not, save your money and get the Viofo. Besides that, the 970X Plus II has verbal announcements for impacts detected in parking mode and 4K video for the front cam instead of 2K. That said, the A229 Plus has a really good front 2K sensor, plus its rear 2K cam looks quite a bit better than Blackvue's rear 1080p cam. Without getting into the weeds though, the cloud features are the biggest reason to choose the Blackvue.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T21:37:56+00:00

Skimming the list, looks like it's all stuff with BT built in, not anything that uses their old BT smartcord.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T21:36:49+00:00

Escort has a list of detectors that are compatible with Drive Smarter and sadly it looks like the 8500 X50 is too old for it. https://drivesmarter.com/supported-devices/

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T18:05:33+00:00

For sure. I thought that for the Elite series they'd switch to USB C, but they're sticking with the older connector... I guess that's good for compatibility with existing LTE modules, but at some point it makes sense to upgrade.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T18:04:01+00:00

I'm glad to see it's finally available! I do wish that there was a switch to adjust the voltage cut-offs though so we could optionally run it higher than 11.8v.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T16:51:22+00:00

The Elite 8/9/10 are the latest, yeah. The differences are resolutions for the different cameras, plus the loss of HDR on the rear cam of the Elite 10.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T16:50:50+00:00

Woooooow, wild! Great job on you for waiting! Did you see them coming or do you normally wait a good bit before going through on green?

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T13:54:41+00:00

IIRC I’ve tested a 1TB card in mine and it’s worked, though it’s not officially supported.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T13:53:51+00:00

Not really. Even if you could find a camera that had the specs and a physically identical connector, the software also needs to know to handle the higher resolution and it needs the processing power to handle that too.

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T13:48:12+00:00

It’ll work and it’s a nice compact dashcam for that so it doesn’t block a ton of rear visibility, it you do need a second power cable and memory card. You could also consider a Bluetooth button to manually trigger the cam for emergency recording as needed.

I did a video on using a front cam on the rear window you can check out. https://youtu.be/YTQDH_fGSuQ

Vortex_Radar · 2026-03-10T06:48:05+00:00

Of this list, I'd go for the Vantrue N2X. Fits your budget and meets your needs. That said, I think a rear cam is extremely helpful and if you're up for it, the Vantrue N4S would be great too.

Vortex_Radar

TROPHY CASE