Memory card question for first dashcam Q800 PRO

[MissDank]

The Q800 PRO with front and rear camera is my first dash cam and its being installed Wednesday. My question is about the memory card. I want something larger than the standard 32GB it comes with and Thinkware says I should a memory card made by them because it works better. It’s a lot more money though and I was wondering if anyone agrees with this. Is it safe for me to use a 128GB memory card that is not manufactured by Thinkware? Can anyone recommend a 128GB-400GB card that you have a good experience with using in Q800 PRO? Thank you!

 

[Eternalblue]

using a Sandisk U1 400GB Card from Amazon is working well.
About reliablity i can speak after many month of use. There are either cards which do not work at all, so they won't be recognized or record anything and cards that do work.
Problem could be for heavy use like permanent recording that those cards will fail after some time. As i have good experience with Sandisk cards in our house surveilance system i also got one for my Q800.
There are also high durable cards out there which are special made for permanent recording but those are quite expensive and in my case not worth the extra dollar.
Card i use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B074RNRM2B(No need to format just insert into Cam and you are good to go.)

Cheers,

 

[know610]

Got the same card as @Eternalblue . So far so good with the card. Just a little disappointed the dashcam cannot handle heat at above 80 Fahrenheit or 27 Celsius (outside temperature). Maybe the heat issue happened to all dashcams, idk..
If anything happened to the car after dashcam shutoff due to heat, then tough luck lolz

 

[MissDank]

Got the same card as @Eternalblue . So far so good with the card. Just a little disappointed the dashcam cannot handle heat at above 80 Fahrenheit or 27 Celsius (outside temperature). Maybe the heat issue happened to all dashcams, idk..
If anything happened to the car after dashcam shutoff due to heat, then tough luck lolz

“Integrated thermal protection
Provides additional dash cam safety and reliability in extreme temperatures.”

Is this not the case? It definitely gets hotter than that during California summers. Should I return for a different cam?

 

[MissDank]

using a Sandisk U1 400GB Card from Amazon is working well.
About reliablity i can speak after many month of use. There are either cards which do not work at all, so they won't be recognized or record anything and cards that do work.
Problem could be for heavy use like permanent recording that those cards will fail after some time. As i have good experience with Sandisk cards in our house surveilance system i also got one for my Q800.
There are also high durable cards out there which are special made for permanent recording but those are quite expensive and in my case not worth the extra dollar.
Card i use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B074RNRM2B(No need to format just insert into Cam and you are good to go.)

Cheers,

Thank you!

 

[know610]

Got the same card as @Eternalblue . So far so good with the card. Just a little disappointed the dashcam cannot handle heat at above 80 Fahrenheit or 27 Celsius (outside temperature). Maybe the heat issue happened to all dashcams, idk..
If anything happened to the car after dashcam shutoff due to heat, then tough luck lolz

I’m thinking of returning cuz here in Philly summer temp in the upper 80F outside and Q800Pro cannot handle the heat. It shut off within 2-3 hrs after going to parking mode (day time)... night time dashcam work fine cuz it’s cooler.

Yesterday it’s cloudy and in the mid 70F, dashcam parking mode work fine... but 80F up, nope

I wonder those who had the dashcam especially hotter States like Cali, FL, etc .. but no1 seem to answer..

Like I said, if hit/run or whatever happened after dashcam shutoff then it’s useless with dashcam

 

[Eternalblue]

Right now there are no other cams available which can work under higher temperature. It might not seem much if there is like 80F outside but direct sunlight will heat up the glas and the inside of a car much higher. (It also depends on the car/windshield some are better isolated from heat like others. Tinted windows will also be better)
At the moment there is only Thinkview and Blackview offering "good" parking mode but both will shut down when temp is too high. (I checked specification of the used A12 chipset inside Q800. It should not be the bottom neck. I'm quite sure the protection is too avoid any damage on the optical sensor)

 

[MissDank]

using a Sandisk U1 400GB Card from Amazon is working well.
About reliablity i can speak after many month of use. There are either cards which do not work at all, so they won't be recognized or record anything and cards that do work.
Problem could be for heavy use like permanent recording that those cards will fail after some time. As i have good experience with Sandisk cards in our house surveilance system i also got one for my Q800.
There are also high durable cards out there which are special made for permanent recording but those are quite expensive and in my case not worth the extra dollar.
Card i use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B074RNRM2B(No need to format just insert into Cam and you are good to go.)

Cheers,

I just remembered the Q800 PRO is only compatible with an SD card of up to 128gb

 

[know610]

I think the 1.1Gb might be for parking mode???? i don't know. Anyone know?

 

[know610]

Right now there are no other cams available which can work under higher temperature. It might not seem much if there is like 80F outside but direct sunlight will heat up the glas and the inside of a car much higher. (It also depends on the car/windshield some are better isolated from heat like others. Tinted windows will also be better)
At the moment there is only Thinkview and Blackview offering "good" parking mode but both will shut down when temp is too high. (I checked specification of the used A12 chipset inside Q800. It should not be the bottom neck. I'm quite sure the protection is too avoid any damage on the optical sensor)

There should be a way to protect dashcam from heat... Maybe the sunshade I bought from Target was very thin. I tried to google DIY but so far haven't found anything yet.

 

[Eternalblue]

When i first saw your drawing i was sceptical it won't change anything. I also don't see any problem when direct sunlight does hit the camera itself but more the way it heats up the inside of a car.
The more area can hit by sunlight the more it will heat up. So your tissues solution only did cover a tiny area and won't do much to drop room temperature.
As advised before a complete windshield sunshade with just a small hole for the cam might do the trick. (Would be interesting to see actual temperature differences by doing this)

 

[Eternalblue]

I just remembered the Q800 PRO is only compatible with an SD card of up to 128gb

There is a difference between "old" Specs and actually compatibility. Manufacturer is using old data sometime or just have limited resources to test any brand/size of cards. Therefore they say 128GB are ok to use, we tested and confirmed. So unless those 128GB has been a physical limitation it is more a recommendation. For my 400GB card it has been recorded to it's full size several times already without any problem. (I decided to go for 400GB card after i did read some other customers using larger size cards than 128GB)

 

[know610]

When i first saw your drawing i was sceptical it won't change anything. I also don't see any problem when direct sunlight does hit the camera itself but more the way it heats up the inside of a car.
The more area can hit by sunlight the more it will heat up. So your tissues solution only did cover a tiny area and won't do much to drop room temperature.
As advised before a complete windshield sunshade with just a small hole for the cam might do the trick. (Would be interesting to see actual temperature differences by doing this)

Today I saw one car with dashcam and sunshade. The person uses sunshade to cover the windshield but odd was dashcam outside the sunshade. Wouldn't this cause more heat to dashcam?

Yea, I kind of figure that my DIY wasn't a good method since it's only covering a small portion and the heat still spread out. Maybe there's a better place to mount the dashcam beside on windshield to avoid heat. It would be nice if we can open the dashcam apart and place the body elsewhere in the car and the len stick on windshield hehehehe

 

[jokiin]

Today I saw one car with dashcam and sunshade. The person uses sunshade to cover the windshield but odd was dashcam outside the sunshade. Wouldn't this cause more heat to dashcam?

yes that can cause a problem, the reflective type screens can reflect enough heat to melt dashcams

 

[oneducks]

Tried with Sandisk Extreme Pro 128GB, Sandisk High Endurance 128GB, and Lexar 633x 128GB. When I put both Sandisk cards, keep saying "format your SD card" but Lexar, dont even ask format and working right away.
I will keep my eyes on it if it is working well. Thanks.

 

[hdkeith]

I have been very interested in the Q800Pro and impressed with what I see, but this "must be a Thinkware" SD card at 3x the going rate for a high endurance card has turned me off. Will likely go reluctantly with Blackvue or even Viofo as the value. Such a shame to be so tied to their own price greedy solution. They can easily "certify" a few models of other brands to work. They don't make their own cards so what are they using?

 

[kamkar]

I think Blackvue would also very much prefer to sell you one of their memory cards, it is a unfortunate situation when you have to be careful what memory card you get for your new camera.

I have just thrown every relavant memory card i have in my posession at the Viofo A139 i was sent to test, and it worked fine with all of them, there was only problems when i started to use parking guard for longer durations, and i still do not know why, i cant for sure say it was overheating and i cant say my 1 year old car battery wouldent allow for more than 4-5 hours of parking guard, when other cameras can do 12 hours just fine.

 

[hdkeith]

Yeah, seems like a money grab and will cost them some sales. I have no issue with their dash cam prices, but paying $150 for a 128gb. To me either offer them at a reasonable markup, and/or list tested cards you can use, instead of this "use ours or assume your own risk".

 

[Fulleffort]

The Q800 PRO with front and rear camera is my first dash cam and its being installed Wednesday. My question is about the memory card. I want something larger than the standard 32GB it comes with and Thinkware says I should a memory card made by them because it works better. It’s a lot more money though and I was wondering if anyone agrees with this. Is it safe for me to use a 128GB memory card that is not manufactured by Thinkware? Can anyone recommend a 128GB-400GB card that you have a good experience with using in Q800 PRO? Thank you!

Don't buy anything bigger than 128g. Bigger capacity does not increase the longer recording time. I think 72hrs is Max. Unit wrecked 64g SanDisk in 5months. Go with Samsung 128G good over 1year.

 

[Fulleffort]

I have been very interested in the Q800Pro and impressed with what I see, but this "must be a Thinkware" SD card at 3x the going rate for a high endurance card has turned me off. Will likely go reluctantly with Blackvue or even Viofo as the value. Such a shame to be so tied to their own price greedy solution. They can easily "certify" a few models of other brands to work. They don't make their own cards so what are they using?

Majority of Dashcam manufacturers use no name brands. Stay with Samsung... I know them. Extra profits....