Which Micro SD Card are You Using?

[HonestReview]

A few years ago SanDisk would have been cards to avoid, not sure how recently they last updated their card recommendations, things do change

While we have discussed this matter at length, and I won't argue that high endurance cards are specifically designed with multiple writes and rewrites in mind (Dash Cam / Surveillance, etc), my Sandisk A2 Extreme 256GB has worked flawlessly now for over a year in the Viofo A129 Duo. I run another 128GB A2 Extreme in my other vehicle, and it too has worked flawlessly.

Sandisk by no means is a bad brand in the present day.......

 

[OfirShw]

I wasn't stating your issue was related to fakes. I said the problem is either or at times. Here, others have tried the card and had failures, so it's clearly an incompatibility problem. In other instances, the failures can be chalked up to fake cards and not the actual legitimate card itself.

My point is that once this is clearly figured out (can't say that it's the case here, but seemingly trending to) then it's important to clearly state to others what they should / shouldn't do to avoid issues. Therefore for this specific Kingston model I think that we have tiny yet consistent data set to state a recommendation

 

[jokiin]

Sandisk by no means is a bad brand in the present day.......

it was never a bad brand, the card quality was never an issue, the controller chipset wasn't suited to our application though which is the reason they used to be cards to avoid, only the entry level SanDisk Ultra cards still use that controller, still should not use those cards

 

[Nigel]

wasn't suited to our application though

So we should now only be buying cards with a suitable application class rating - A1 or higher for current generation cameras, since this does guarantee a minimum operating speed that should be sufficient for our cameras. Might expect the "Video Class" to be more relevant, but dashcams are writing multiple files simultaneously while also carrying out loop recording operations, including deletions, which is far more demanding on the card than just writing a single 8K video stream with no breaks.

Application Performance Class | SD Association

www.sdcard.org

If there is no A(pplication) rating on the card, it is not for use in the latest multi-channel cameras.

 

[Dashmellow]

A few years ago SanDisk would have been cards to avoid, not sure how recently they last updated their card recommendations, things do change

SanDisk has made strides in producing more durable and higher performance products, however all the reported issues affecting dash cams were with their SanDisk Ultra and that model should still be avoided.

 

[HonestReview]

My point is that once this is clearly figured out (can't say that it's the case here, but seemingly trending to) then it's important to clearly state to others what they should / shouldn't do to avoid issues. Therefore for this specific Kingston model I think that we have tiny yet consistent data set to state a recommendation

I'd say if two people are having the same symptoms, then it's the card. Not definitively but likely. Not sure if it's the quality of the memory used in the chips, read/write speeds, or something with the gold leads / connectors..... I know @jokiin said controller chip on some caused issues on Street Guardian.

 

[HonestReview]

So we should now only be buying cards with a suitable application class rating - A1 or higher for current generation cameras, since this does guarantee a minimum operating speed that should be sufficient for our cameras. Might expect the "Video Class" to be more relevant, but dashcams are writing multiple files simultaneously while also carrying out loop recording operations, including deletions, which is far more demanding on the card than just writing a single 8K video stream with no breaks.

Application Performance Class | SD Association

www.sdcard.org

If there is no A(pplication) rating on the card, it is not for use in the latest multi-channel cameras.

Especially now that cameras are writing in 1080p / 4K / etc. Higher britrates require greater capacity and read/write speeds. So if the card can't keep up, then I imagine the camera will display symptoms of erratic behavior (freezing, failure to record videos, etc)

 

[DesertBike]

This reminds me, I've been running my A129 Duo with the 256 GB card, Sandisk High Endurance, for a couple of weeks now. I need to pull it and check the video.

I'm running the modified A129 firmware with very high quality on front camera (28 Mbit/s or something like that) so I could use the space.

 

[DarthMaul]

I just replaced my trusted Samsung Evo 128 GB with a new one by Samsung, the Pro Endurance version, same size.
I didn't replace it because it's dead, but I believe after 2 years of service, you never know when it's gonna die. They say that the Pro Endurance card should work for at least 43000 hours - that's about 5 years, which is respectable for a card that is supposed to be constantly written for that long.

 

[jokiin]

I didn't replace it because it's dead, but I believe after 2 years of service, you never know when it's gonna die.

I wish more people thought like that

 

[DesertBike]

I've recently added two 256 GB SanDisk High Endurance cards to my setups. Wonder whether we'll see affordable 1 TB cards any time soon? Seems like they would be useful for 4k applications. I'd buy one once they hit the US$50 price point.

 

[DesertBike]

I just replaced my trusted Samsung Evo 128 GB with a new one by Samsung, the Pro Endurance version, same size.
I didn't replace it because it's dead, but I believe after 2 years of service, you never know when it's gonna die. They say that the Pro Endurance card should work for at least 43000 hours - that's about 5 years, which is respectable for a card that is supposed to be constantly written for that long.

I've been using one of those (the 128 GB Samsung Evo) for additional storage in my Android phone for almost a year.

Good stuff.

It doesn't get written to constantly, so should outlast the phone easily.

Swapping in a new SD card every ~2 years of dashcam use is a great idea. If nothing else, after 2 years the technology will have changed & you can get a much bigger card for the same money.

I'm interested in the biggest card that is reasonably affordable, because I like to run my dashcams with modified firmwares for improved image quality. So I can use the additional storage.

 

[milordas]

i see only 1 good option for every dashcam: Samsung Pro Endurance (max 128GB atm, no 256 yet)

 

[DesertBike]

Don't forget the SanDisk High Endurance 256 GB. That's what I'm using in my car dashcam lately.

I just bought another one from OCDTronic, as a small thanks for their amazing support on an unrelated warranty issue. I'll be using that in my motorcycle dashcam, if/when I can get one that is reliable (the dashcam itself, not the SD card).