Why BlackVue OEM SD cards?

[DJ70]

Whenever I've contacted Bv about an issue one of the first replies is "use a genuine BlackVue SD card".

What makes BlackVue need their own very expensive SD cards in order to "guarantee" [BlackVue: "we cannot guarantee the perfect performance of cards from other manufacturers"] correct operation from their dashcams?

Is there something so special about Bv cameras that means the likes of SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston or the other major SD card manufacturers are unable to make cards good enough?

Or is it, as seems likely, simply a marketing ploy to put extra cash in the Bv pocket?

Granted, not all SD cards are the same quality, but using cards of the required spec has never caused me any problems... and saved me hundreds of pounds again using Bv cards!

It would be interesting to know how many users actually do use the genuine BlackVue SD card.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Yeah I think it’s just their way of avoiding issues due to poor quality cards and fake cards, especially given people usually blame issues on their camera instead of their card.

I’ve also had good luck using non-BV branded dashcam-specific endurance cards.

I often wonder how much margin there is in MicroSD cards, especially for smaller companies who don’t do massive volumes. I vaguely remember a dashcam manufacturer mentioning in passing years ago how there isn’t much margin in memory cards, but I don’t know if that’s still the case or universally applicable, etc. Either way I’m also curious about the balance of them wanting to avoid issues vs. making money.

 

[kamkar]

In over a decade i have had very few memory card die on me, while in action in the car.
Yes i have had cards that was not compatible and so wouldn't even start recording, and testing static in my window i have also had many cards die on me, but this are months after i am done testing in the car.
Testing static in my living room window is where all my memory cards eventually die, i just have one 64 GB card left, and a few 128 GB cards, but then the rest are 256 GB cards which i mainly test with now as i also think it is what people should get for their dashcams.
I have also gotten a couple of memory cards, which generally will not work in any dashcam, but work just fine in other devises and testing them on the computer.
That ! Was a let down as both are also 256Gb cards and so not cheap, and really i do not need 256 GB in my action camera.

I have never run into a fake card, but at worst i have used a EU Amazon, and thru there i have made RMA on cards, some times before the brand new 64GB card filled up just once.

I remain sceptical towards any brand that push hard for their own memory cards, and not least when the cards are substantially more expensive than a similar card.

 

[DJ70]

When pushed BlackVue responded with this... "BlackVue SD card are specifically designed to match the specification of the cameras processor, operating temperature and rigorous quality control to ensure maximum reliability and thats why we don’t recommend the use of 3rd party cards."

Decide for yourself if you believe it....

 

[DJ70]

..., especially given people usually blame issues on their camera instead of their card.

Or, could it be a way for BlackVue to shift blame away from their cameras?

 

[Vortex Radar]

Or, could it be a way for BlackVue to shift blame away from their cameras?

There’s multiple dashcam manufacturers who make their own cards now so I suspect there’s other reasons they’re doing so.

 

[DJ70]

There’s multiple dashcam manufacturers who make their own cards now so I suspect there’s other reasons they’re doing so.

Hardly surprising, if BlackVue is anything to go by, it appears to be a very lucrative line.

 

[ImpliedConsent]

It's not a horrible amount to pay. The difference between a 64GB card and 256GB card is US $57.00. Hardly bank breaking.

 

[dashcamateur]

There’s multiple dashcam manufacturers who make their own cards now so I suspect there’s other reasons they’re doing so.

My guess would be that it's to reduce the risk of users ending up with cards that are either counterfeit or under-specced.

With major brands (Samsung, SanDisk, Transcend, Kingston, etc) the market is big enough to tempt counterfeiters to invest in producing counterfeits of those brands. But the dashcam market is still relatively small. This means it's less likely to be profitable for counterfeiters to set up tooling to imitate dashcam manufacturers' microSD cards.

Also, unlike with the general microSD card market, the dashcam manufacturers' distribution channels are often quite well-controlled (e.g. BlackVue/NextBase/etc microSDs are distributed/retailed by the same outlets as handle the cameras). This again reduces the incentives for counterfeiters, because they would have to somehow breach that supply chain.

Finally, even if a customer shops for a major-brand microSD card and manages to avoid getting a counterfeit, they might still have misunderstood the speed or durability requirements, and so could still end up with problems.

So, I think dashcam manufacturers are right to encourage customers to buy their microSD cards. It reduces the risk of the customer accidentally getting a counterfeit or inadequate card and then (wrongly) blaming the camera for the resulting problems. This is a win for the dashcam manufacturers, because it reduces the number of customer service headaches - and it's a win for customers, because it keeps the manufacturers' customer service costs down (which ultimately keeps dashcam prices down). It's also a win for consumers because it gives them a relatively safe source of reliable microSD cards at a fair price.

 

[curra]

l think it highly unlikely that BV (or Viofo et al) manufacture their own cards, they are almost certainly re-branded cards from an established maker....what country are the BV cards made in?

 

[dashcamateur]

l think it highly unlikely that BV (or Viofo et al) manufacture their own cards, they are almost certainly re-branded cards from an established maker

I agree. Sorry, I should have made that clearer.

But even though there are probably no dashcam manufacturers that are the OEMs of their branded microSD cards, those dashcam manufacturers probably do exercise some quality control over the cards that they pay the OEMs to manufacture for them.

As for who actually makes those cards, my geopolitical guess would be that South Korean dashcam manufacturers (Thinkware, BlackVue) use South Korean or Taiwanese microSD OEMs (Samsung, Adata, or Transcend), that Chinese dashcam manufacturers (Viofo, ...) use Chinese microSD OEMs (probably from the same factories that supply Sandisk or Kingston), and that Nextbase uses a "British" microSD OEM (Integral) that actually outsources to factories in China or Taiwan. As Bunnie Huang pointed out, SD card supply chains can be convoluted...

 

[MPH]

Whenever I've contacted Bv about an issue one of the first replies is "use a genuine BlackVue SD card".

What makes BlackVue need their own very expensive SD cards in order to "guarantee" [BlackVue: "we cannot guarantee the perfect performance of cards from other manufacturers"] correct operation from their dashcams?

Is there something so special about Bv cameras that means the likes of SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston or the other major SD card manufacturers are unable to make cards good enough?

Or is it, as seems likely, simply a marketing ploy to put extra cash in the Bv pocket?

Granted, not all SD cards are the same quality, but using cards of the required spec has never caused me any problems... and saved me hundreds of pounds again using Bv cards!

It would be interesting to know how many users actually do use the genuine BlackVue SD card.

Just put a Samsung PRO Endurance 256GB micro SDXC UHS-I U3 100MBs in the BlackVue 750s so far so good!