Sandisk High Endurance 128GB not working in my F800PRO

My F800Pro is now over 3 years old and has successfully used a SanDisk 128GB Ultra card from day one.

I have recently bought both SanDisk 128GB Ultra and Extreme cards and neither will work - the dreaded 'Format' message from camera!

Both new cards have been tested as genuine so i contacted both Thinkware and SanDisk about the problem.

Thinkware, as was to be expected, said they would only guarantee their own cards but did suggest reformatting cards to FAT32 and trying them - have not tried this yet but will report back when I have.

SanDisk reply was that they are continually changing both hardware (chips used etc.) and firmware and could not either guarantee or confirm that the card specification for any particular range may not have changed and this may be the reason why the old card works but the new ones do not.

I conclude from this that the ever change specification of cards, whoever the manufacturer, means that you can never be sure whether they will work or not.

This may account for the cost of Thinkware cards as, to offer the guarantee, their specification may never change to facilitate cheaper or alternative components.
 
These size cards often come pre-formatted as NTFS or exFat. Usually the camera will be able to reformat to their required FAT32. If they can't try SDFormatter to force FAT32 and go again.

Personally I'm not a fan of endurance cards as they tend to be slower and my Samsung Evo Plus 128Gb has been going strong for 3 and a half years now without issue. I've also seen a post here, ages ago from someone far more knowledeable, that reckoned SanDisk use a different NAND structure, or something like that, that some dashcams can't handle.

Nextbase strongly advise against SanDisk.
 
9411john
Are the two new cards that you have recently purchased, A2 or A1 cards?
 
@Kremmen
Interesting point re NAND structure. Maybe SanDisk have changed there’s since my original purchase.
That does beg the question that if they have then maybe other manufacturers have or will do in the future. That being the case then MicroSD card purchase from other than Thinkware will still be hit and miss!

@Peter_R
Ultra is A1 and Extreme is A2.

As an aside, do Thinkware manufacture their own cards? I would have thought not in view of the number they sell in which case I suspect that one of the major SD card manufacturers do. If so, and we knew which one, then maybe their other cards should be compatible as I doubt they would use a different manufacturing process for Thinkware - or maybe they do and that is what Thinkware branded cards are so expensive!
 
@9411john
I forgot to ask in my last post. Have you the latest firmware update for your F800Pro? If you haven't I suggest updating it and then proceeding as Thinkware advises.

I would be very surprised if Thinkware made their own cards. I would suggest they have them made by a card manufacturer and labeled Thinkware.
 
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As i recall the high endurance card is a U3 / V30 card so speed wise it should be fast enough for most dashcams i know off.
The WD purple cards are more of a pitfall, the old ones was also U3 ASO, but the new ones marked QD101 or something like that, they are just U1 cards.
No "A" rating on the one high endurance card i have in front of me, that could have been added to subsequent releases, i would assume it is at least A1

The incompatible cards as i understand it are mostly down to the controller used, and not really a speed thing.
I have encoundered problems myself some times with cards rated for 30MB/s write speeds, but it would not work in a dashcam that write under 10 MB/s,,,, which in any case is a WTF moment for me as i like to make things more simple than they apparently are.
 
Just tried a SanDisk Ultra 32GB card and it works ok!
So 128GB does not work but a 32GB does.
Would not have thought, other than capacity, that manufacturing/spec would be different but who knows!
Is it just Thinkware where it is all hit and miss as to whether non Thinkware cards work or do other manufacturers only guarantee their own branded cards?
 
9411john said:
Just tried a SanDisk Ultra 32GB card and it works ok!
So 128GB does not work but a 32GB does.
Would not have thought, other than capacity, that manufacturing/spec would be different but who knows!
Is it just Thinkware where it is all hit and miss as to whether non Thinkware cards work or do other manufacturers only guarantee their own branded cards?
Click to expand...
It may be that the memory chips are to a different standard. For all my dashcam needs I always use A2 cards. See...

www.sdcard.org

Application Performance Class | SD Association

www.sdcard.org www.sdcard.org
 
I recently purchased a used car with a Thinkware F800 Pro already hardwired in. The previous owner said the dashcam memory card wasn't working so I purchased the car knowing this but thought it was just a case of putting in a good memory card (which I had plenty of at home). However, I've tried several quality branded memory cards from Samsung and Sandisk but none of these work.

I did some searching and found these pages from Thinkware's website:

Effectively, they want you to buy Thinkware branded memory cards only at a hugely inflated price. Further, they don't even ship outside the US/Canada so I can't get it as I'm in the UK.

I have tried using different sized cards including 16GB and 128GB with no luck. I have formatted the cards using Windows (I believe this formats them as exFat) as well as via the actual dashcam (which I assume formats them in whatever way it needs). However, none of this has worked. I will try to format the 128GB in Fat32 using a separate tool I have to see if this helps but really not sure what the solution is.
 
@technoviewer
Welcome to the unpredictable world of Thinkware!
I too have a F800 Pro.
I have a number of SanDisk 32 and 64 GB cards of various ages and from various suppliers and all work ok. I have two 128GB cards; one works the other does not no matter what I try so have given up with 128GB cards.
Only last week camera started giving me a message when it switch from ‘parking’ mode to ‘live’ mode about connecting to smartphone via wifi. Never done that before in all the time I have had it!
Although cards do not work, do you still get the ‘format card’ message when you insert a card? If not, or even if you do, you could try a camera reset to see if that achieves anything.
Agreed Thinkware cards are overpriced but this is probably to cover the cost of replacement under guarantee as I doubt they manufacture their own cards so even purchasing a branded Thinkware card may still be hit and miss.
Chameleoncodewing are authorised Thinkware suppliers so if your pockets are deep enough you could try them for a branded card.
 
I wish I knew that before I shelled out for a brand new 128GB card thinking it would solve the dashcam issue. I've got some other 64GB cards anyway so I'll try using them, if I still don't get any joy then I'm tempted to just get it switched out for a Blackvue dashcam as I hear they are pretty solid.
 
Have you updated the firmware of the camera? Later versions are more likely to accept cards of different sizes and different manufacturers.
 
Just to report back, I tried the latest firmware update and that didn't change anything with the 128GB card. I then tried an existing 64GB card and it seems to be working like normal now. So guess it's potluck with the 128GB but glad it's working with the 64GB card. Thanks for all the help.
 
I'd be testing the 128Gb with h2testw just to make sure it's genuine.
 
Kremmen said:
I'd be testing the 128Gb with h2testw just to make sure it's genuine.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. I test all my cards using h2testw even though I buy from credible locations. All my cards are as expected.
 
technoviewer said:
I did some searching and found these pages from Thinkware's website:

Effectively, they want you to buy Thinkware branded memory cards only at a hugely inflated price. Further, they don't even ship outside the US/Canada so I can't get it as I'm in the UK.
Click to expand...
Thinkware branded cards are available from the UK/EU distributor & resellers. A 128GB is ~£90 incl VAT.
 
Heidfirst said:
Thinkware branded cards are available from the UK/EU distributor & resellers. A 128GB is ~£90 incl VAT.
Click to expand...
Feels like a rip off given you can get a branded 128GB card from likes of Sandisk or Samsung for around £15 or less (including VAT and delivery). My Thinkware dashcam has been working fairly flawlessly with a 64GB card so I think the camera is just overly picky about what 128GB cards it likes.
 
Feeling something remotely like that, is why i generally stay away from these brands, that push so hard their own memory cards.

IMO i like at least 3-4 different memory cards to be able to work in my cameras.
 
I have a 128Gb (can't remember atm if it is a Sandisk or Samsung) & it seems to work fine.
technoviewer said:
Feels like a rip off given you can get a branded 128GB card from likes of Sandisk or Samsung for around £15 or less (including VAT and delivery). My Thinkware dashcam has been working fairly flawlessly with a 64GB card so I think the camera is just overly picky about what 128GB cards it likes.
Click to expand...
 
Heidfirst said:
I have a 128Gb (can't remember atm if it is a Sandisk or Samsung) & it seems to work fine.
Click to expand...
Sounds like Thinkware is very sensitive to the type of 128GB cards. Far more sensitive than 64GB.
 
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