Best micro SD card?

plasmo

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My DR650GW-2CH that I have been using has been working well for the past 8 months or so, until recently when I found that it stopped recording.

I took out the SD card (SanDisk Ultra 64GB UHS-I Class 10) and reformatted it, and the camera worked for a few more days again, until it stopped functioning again (orange lights on, but nothing works).

I'm thinking this is a SD card issue (unless anyone else has any other ideas).

I'm also using the older Blackvue App with the older firmware (because of the higher bitrate), but haven't been following these forums for a while so I'm not sure if the new firmware/app is better now.
Is there any reason to update to the latest app/firmware?

Finally, any recommendations on microSD cards? Does the DR650GW-2CH handle the faster Speed Class 3 cards and is it worth it?

THANKS!
 
I remember reading that many decent DashCam manufacturers advise to stay away from the SanDisk Ultra ... even though it says Class 10.
I seems it is slow to keep up the recording speed.
I have been using all brands SanDisk/Samsung/Lexar/G.Skill ... without any problems so far : mostly on sale types, and mostly from reputable NewEgg ($10-$12) ... I would stay away from Ebay sellers and merchants on Amazon and from Overseas (because of fake ones).
I wouldn't put all of my eggs in one basket by getting 64GB ... 32GB is plenty and more economical... if one 32 goes bad, it is only less than half the price of the large one.
Keep in mind that no one brand is best/better all the time , because all brands can go bad with usage.
 
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SanDisk microSD cards (red/gray Ultra) have a proprietary controller that can fail into read-only mode over a period of time. They can also become unreadable as well. SanDisk microSD cards can last quite some time but then suddenly fail when you least expect it. SanDisk knows about the problem but rather than fix it, they simply changed their warranty policy to specifically deny coverage if you use their cards in Dash Cams or similar devices.

Here is the paragraph from SanDisk's warranty statement:

"This warranty does not cover use of the Product in connection with the following uses or devices (as determined by SanDisk): (i) normal wear and tear, (ii) video monitoring, security, and surveillance devices, (iii) internet protocol/network cameras, (iv) in-car recording devices/dashboard cameras/black box cameras, (v) display devices that loop video, (vi) continuous recording set top box devices, (vii) continuous data logging devices like servers, or (viii) other excessive uses that exceed normal use in accordance with published instructions"

There are many fake cards on the market, especially on eBay as @medash points out. I find that Amazon is hands down the best place to buy memory cards. They usually have them at the best prices and if you look for "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com" in the offer, you can have confidence that the cards are authentic. Keep an eye on the constantly changing prices on these cards and you can often find amazing deals on them.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=MicroSDHC+Class10


Good brands for dash cams are Transcend, Kingston, and Samsung EVO (and a few others).
 
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SanDisk knows about the problem but rather than fix it, they simply changed their warranty policy to specifically deny coverage if you use their cards in Dash Cams or similar devices.

Actually I think with Sandisk it's not so much that they know about the problem and have changed their warranty policy because of it, they fall into this read only mode by design, their concept is that protecting your data by changing the card to read only so that you don't lose what you have is preferred over the possibility of creating corrupt data, I guess there is some merit to that thinking for some applications, what they have done with their warranty is exclude devices with excessive write cycles that are perhaps more likely to have this happen

We recently changed to Transcend cards, this model specifically http://transcend-info.com/Products/No-423 their approach is to have some built in error correcting code in the cards firmware to handle bad blocks rather than disabling the whole card, I think overall it's perhaps more suitable for our needs, we've only used a few thousand of these cards so far but to date the results have been very consistent
 
I see your point. I think they also may want to nudge buyers into their more expensive "high durability" line of cards whereas some other manufacturers seem to understand that many people today are shooting a lot of video. I guess the main message here is that SanDisk is best avoided for use in dash cams.
 
I see your point. I think they also may want to nudge buyers into their more expensive "high durability" line of cards whereas some other manufacturers seem to understand that many people today are shooting a lot of video. I guess the main message here is that SanDisk is best avoided for use in dash cams.

I'm not sure if the high durability cards have a different logic to the controller, they don't seem to be problematic in some brands that have trouble with regular Sandisk models so perhaps there are some changes, perhaps it's just that not many people use them so less feedback as a result, the extra cost could certainly help offset some of the potential warranty issues if they were no more reliable than their cheaper models, the potential is there for it to be more about marketing but impossible to say really, it's not the type of info they're ever likely to share, for the most part though I would agree, best to avoid for dashcam use, better just to use a proven performer
 
I've been using the Lexar 633x 64GB with zero problems for 6 months.
 
I've been using the Lexar 633x 64GB with zero problems for 6 months.

Lexars are probably fine too.

The insidious thing with the SanDisks that people should be aware of is that they can work for very long periods of time, six months or even much longer but then fail very suddenly when you least expect it and perhaps when you most need it.
 
THANKS everyone for the comments.
Looks like the TL;DR is Avoid SanDisk for Dashcams.

Anyone using the faster 90MB/s Speed Class 3 ?
 
I switched to a 64 GB SanDisk High Endurance card from the ADATA that came with it and it appears to be running problem free. Will update after a long drive this coming Sunday
 
If a microSD card does fail, will the dashcam indicate there is an error? Or do you only find out when you go to view a video clip?
 
I believe it would depend on the failure and the cam.
 
Depends on the error. Sometimes it reboots a lot, sometimes it just records corrupted files that can't be opened, sometimes it tells you. That's why I keep two cards and rotate them, checking one every so often (and can take my time doing so because the dashcam will always have the other card in it).
 
If this has been brought up before, I apologize, I did try searching and it brought me here.

Is there a recommended Microsd card read/write speed?

I saw the SanDisk Ultra wasn't highly favored here as well as read a review on a different forum from the UK that advocated using Delkin, Lexar, and Transcend as their top 3, but most of the recommended cards have been updated/replaced.
 
I'm happy with Delkin 375x 64gb so far (18 month).
 
EDIT - 3rd Nov 2016
===============
It's giving me jip - so looks like all you guys were right. Lots of rebooting and really slow WIFI transfers.

===============

SanDisk Ultra 128 GB SDXC Class 10 seems to be working fine for me.

It's slow pulling data off via WIFI but I am not sure that's the card's fault. Recordings seem to be problem free.

When SanDisk give specific speed ratings I am inclined to believe them - and a Class 10 (MB/s) is far higher than a 15 Mbit/sec stream requires, so even allowing for filesystem overheads, I think it's fine.

Endurance is another matter - but it will be a while before I can know how well it fares.

I had not heard of the high endurance cards before now, so I'll get one of those if this one fries.
 
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SanDisk Ultra 128 GB SDXC Class 10 seems to be working fine for me.

It's slow pulling data off via WIFI but I am not sure that's the card's fault. Recordings seem to be problem free.

When SanDisk give specific speed ratings I am inclined to believe them - and a Class 10 (MB/s) is far higher than a 15 Mbit/sec stream requires, so even allowing for filesystem overheads, I think it's fine.

Endurance is another matter - but it will be a while before I can know how well it fares.

I had not heard of the high endurance cards before now, so I'll get one of those if this one fries.

I've tried both a 128GB an 64GB of that type.
And they gave me problems with random rebooting. Seems like they don't like high bitrates. I've always used "highest" setting for video quality = high birate, especially after v2.005.
After getting a better card with 80MB/s writing speed I've had zero problems with rebooting.
 
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