I went ahead and ordered the BlackVue DR650S 2-Channel from B&H Video for $269 on their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale since it seemed like a good price in anticipation of my Model S delivery in December. I assume today being Cyber Monday would be a good time to buy a larger memory card for the dashcam. Do current users have any preference towards memory card brand and size for the BlackVue? Thanks in advance!
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fallen888
Participant
You want to make sure it's a high endurance video card - specifically designed for frequent writing and rewriting. I got myself one of these and it's been working well so far - Amazon.com: SanDisk High Endurance Video Monitoring Card with Adapter 32GB (SDSDQQ-032G-G46A): Computers & Accessories
K-MTG
Sunshade Captain of TMC
But don't get a super high performance card either, the SD card has to be just right. A high performance card will cause overheating.
Some info here: Blackvue DR650S Review + Tesla Model X Install
Some info here: Blackvue DR650S Review + Tesla Model X Install
DDotJ
Member
I had issues with my BlackVue where there would be huge gaps between recordings. I thought my camera had gone bad, so I researched the issue online on various car forums. Turns out, the problem was with the microSD card and not the camera. Apparently, Sandisk's microSD card design does not play well with the dashcam's constant rewriting on the card. People recommended the Sandisk High Endurance card (not the Sandisk Ultra one) and Lexar microSD cards.
Since then, I've tried out the Lexar and the Sandisk High-Endurance microSD card and found that they don't have the same issue that my older Sandisk did. Right now, I'm using the 128 GB Lexar card.
Bad Card:
Amazon.com: SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC Class 10 Memory Card with SD Adapter - Retail Packaging: Computers & Accessories
Good Card:
Amazon.com: Lexar High-Performance microSDXC 633x 128GB UHS-I, U1 w/USB 3.0 Reader Flash Memory Card - LSDMI128B1NL633R: Computers & Accessories
Sandisk doesn't make a higher 128 GB capacity High-Endurance card (the largest being 64 GB), so I elected to keep my 128 GB Lexar card in for now. So far, I've had no issues with my dashcam recordings.
Since then, I've tried out the Lexar and the Sandisk High-Endurance microSD card and found that they don't have the same issue that my older Sandisk did. Right now, I'm using the 128 GB Lexar card.
Bad Card:
Amazon.com: SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC Class 10 Memory Card with SD Adapter - Retail Packaging: Computers & Accessories
Good Card:
Amazon.com: Lexar High-Performance microSDXC 633x 128GB UHS-I, U1 w/USB 3.0 Reader Flash Memory Card - LSDMI128B1NL633R: Computers & Accessories
Sandisk doesn't make a higher 128 GB capacity High-Endurance card (the largest being 64 GB), so I elected to keep my 128 GB Lexar card in for now. So far, I've had no issues with my dashcam recordings.
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I was looking to buy the Lexar 633X, but it seems like the 128gb is not in stock at most places right now. Thanks for the confirmation on that model!
whitex
Well-Known Member
I tried this first:
Amazon.com: SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC UHS-I Card with Adapter, Grey/Red, Standard Packaging (SDSQUNC-064G-GN6MA): Computers & Accessories
and after a week or so started to corrupt (no indication from the camera, but when I went to retrieve the videos they could not be played - the files were there but the videos were corrupt). I then tried the 32GB card that came with Blackbue, same problem after a week or two. Did a little research and found that newer cards nowadays have a "V" rating, which rates the card for continuous video recording. So I bit the bullet and got this:
Amazon.com: SanDisk Click to open expanded view Extreme PLUS Micro SDXC UHS-1 Card, Black, with Adapter (SDSQXWG-128G-GN6MAMA): Computers & Accessories
which is "V30" rated (should be plenty for 2 HD cameras recording). It's worked great for last 5 months. I did a 6000+ mile trip in October and pulled out some videos from that trip, no issues whatsoever.
Amazon.com: SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC UHS-I Card with Adapter, Grey/Red, Standard Packaging (SDSQUNC-064G-GN6MA): Computers & Accessories
and after a week or so started to corrupt (no indication from the camera, but when I went to retrieve the videos they could not be played - the files were there but the videos were corrupt). I then tried the 32GB card that came with Blackbue, same problem after a week or two. Did a little research and found that newer cards nowadays have a "V" rating, which rates the card for continuous video recording. So I bit the bullet and got this:
Amazon.com: SanDisk Click to open expanded view Extreme PLUS Micro SDXC UHS-1 Card, Black, with Adapter (SDSQXWG-128G-GN6MAMA): Computers & Accessories
which is "V30" rated (should be plenty for 2 HD cameras recording). It's worked great for last 5 months. I did a 6000+ mile trip in October and pulled out some videos from that trip, no issues whatsoever.
JPP
Active Member
If it helps, I got this card in Sept 2015:
Amazon.com: SanDisk High Endurance Video Monitoring Card with Adapter 32GB (SDSDQQ-032G-G46A): Computers & Accessories
which worked great in an old (hot...) Blackvue 550 until last month, when it failed during my routine reformat. I returned the card to SanDisk under a RMA and they sent a new one. I think that the very hot Blackvue unit (...better with the 650 models) and the continuous write really beats up the cards.
Amazon.com: SanDisk High Endurance Video Monitoring Card with Adapter 32GB (SDSDQQ-032G-G46A): Computers & Accessories
which worked great in an old (hot...) Blackvue 550 until last month, when it failed during my routine reformat. I returned the card to SanDisk under a RMA and they sent a new one. I think that the very hot Blackvue unit (...better with the 650 models) and the continuous write really beats up the cards.
cmd_keen
Member
Another vote for the Sandisk endurance cards. Just purchased a few hundred of them (seriously) for a project at work... and likely buying thousands more.
Either the structure is SLC or they literally double the wear-leveling, whatever they did it does last much longer through many write-erase cycles than any other card we've been using.
Either the structure is SLC or they literally double the wear-leveling, whatever they did it does last much longer through many write-erase cycles than any other card we've been using.
K-MTG
Sunshade Captain of TMC
I use these on both of my Blackvues for over a year and never formatted the car, and never had an issue since: Amazon.com: Lexar High-Performance MicroSDXC 300x 64GB UHS-I w/Adapter Flash Memory Card (old U3 version) LSDMI64GBBNL300A: Computers & Accessories
K-MTG
Sunshade Captain of TMC
Or you could get OEM blackvue SD Cards,those are more pricey but they should be guaranteed to work.
BlackVue OEM Class 10 Micro SD Memory Cards
BlackVue OEM Class 10 Micro SD Memory Cards
childcarepro
Member
I finally plugged in my DR650GW 2-CH I had installed about 1.5 yrs ago (I was too busy to deal with troubleshooting the "Please check the SD card" error). I got a 64GB Sony SDXC Class I 70MB/s.
First, I formatted it using the 10-second press of the "WIFI" button. Worked fine for recording, but wouldn't read on my Mac.
So I formatted the microSD volume on my Mac as FAT32, but still "Please check the SD card."
Next, I tried formatting it from the BlackVue Viewer app, it just brought up the Apple Disk Utility. Reformatted, still "Please check the SD card."
SOLUTION: I researched a little on the internet... you need to erase the DISK, not the volume! Use MBR (master boot record) and MS-DOS (FAT32).
HINT: it still says, "Please check the SD card" until you power cycle the DR650GW.
I'm reading on Dashcam Bros they recommend a SLOWER card? And some here recommend these high performance cards. Is this all just a crap shoot, or is there any verifiable research regarding recommended cards? And my product description says "Up to 64GB support." Anyone successfully using 128 or larger cards?
First, I formatted it using the 10-second press of the "WIFI" button. Worked fine for recording, but wouldn't read on my Mac.
So I formatted the microSD volume on my Mac as FAT32, but still "Please check the SD card."
Next, I tried formatting it from the BlackVue Viewer app, it just brought up the Apple Disk Utility. Reformatted, still "Please check the SD card."
SOLUTION: I researched a little on the internet... you need to erase the DISK, not the volume! Use MBR (master boot record) and MS-DOS (FAT32).
HINT: it still says, "Please check the SD card" until you power cycle the DR650GW.
I'm reading on Dashcam Bros they recommend a SLOWER card? And some here recommend these high performance cards. Is this all just a crap shoot, or is there any verifiable research regarding recommended cards? And my product description says "Up to 64GB support." Anyone successfully using 128 or larger cards?
I got a San disk extreme 128GB to work. Not the extreme plus. It might work with the extreme plus but I have not tried. So far 3 months of continuous recording and no problems.
Car Cam Central has great reviews and this good guide to which SD cards to use. I've got a couple of Lexar High Endurance for when I get a dashcam (probably Thinkware 770 or the new one coming out this summer):
f-stop
Active Member
I've been using a Lexar 128GB 633x 95MB/s Class 10 UHS-I microSDXC card in my 650GW-2ch for months without problem
Sir Guacamolaf
The good kind of fat
Also on a Mac here and running current MacOSX software. Just bought and using a Blackvue 128GB card with no problems (DR650S-2ch).
First and most importantly always unplug the power to your camera. The camera itself has a built-in super capacitor as a "backup battery" so it can power down safely when power is detached. Since you mentioned it gave the alert until you power cycled the camera, it sounds like you didn't turn off power to start with. You really never want to be pulling cards out without doing so.
Here's what we did. After following the BlackVue Manual's instructions on removing the microSDcard from the camera, inserted the new microSDcard into the adapter and plugged into our computer. Ran the Blackvue Viewer program and depressed the Format Card icon. It will bring up Disk Utility. BlackboxMyCar has a nice diagram of the last formatting steps on their site so we picked up instructions from that point: How to get a 64GB+ MicroSD to work with Macs (Mac OSX, 10.11.6, El Cap. Format should be MS-DOS (FAT) and Scheme should be MASTER BOOT RECORD. Then hit erase. The card is now ready to use. (keep in mind the instructions BlackboxMyCar gives are for formatting a different camera using the Mac so some of the text will be different for the Blackvue dashcam). The current Blackvue manual for our unit does NOT reflect the changes to formatting that Mac OS X El Capitan introduced...they don't show the Scheme setting! so I can understand people running into problems.
One other IMPORTANT thing to remember for Mac users is that if you are using a 64 or 128 GB microSDcard, you don't ever want to try reformatting the card in the camera by holding down the button for 10 seconds. It only works on the 16 and 32GB cards, nothing above. If you do so it will make the card unreadable on the Mac, which OP found out. I'll see if I can find where I read that but pretty sure it was on the Blackvue website.
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OK found that reference on the Blackvue site for Mac users about NOT using the 10-second hold on the format button on the camera when using higher capacity cards beyond the 32GB. It was on this page regarding firmware upgrade downloads. Downloads - BlackVue Here's the exact reference:
"5. MicroSD Card support: DR650GW, DR650S, DR450, DR430 Series models support up to 128GB cards, and DR750LW-2CH supports up to 64GB cards, with a few caveats:
a. Compatibility is guaranteed only with the official BlackVue microSD cards.
b. In case your card is an SDXC model, formatting directly from the BlackVue will cause it to become unreadable on Mac OS computers.
Formatting the card from the BlackVue Viewer for Mac or Windows will prevent this issue."
SDXC cards are the Extended Capacity cards that range from 64GB and up. Interestingly on the SanDisk website it says their SDXC cards have a default format of exFAT. Blackvue specifically mentions SanDisk cards and compatibility issues btw:
"5. MicroSD Card support: DR650GW, DR650S, DR450, DR430 Series models support up to 128GB cards, and DR750LW-2CH supports up to 64GB cards, with a few caveats:
a. Compatibility is guaranteed only with the official BlackVue microSD cards.
b. In case your card is an SDXC model, formatting directly from the BlackVue will cause it to become unreadable on Mac OS computers.
Formatting the card from the BlackVue Viewer for Mac or Windows will prevent this issue."
SDXC cards are the Extended Capacity cards that range from 64GB and up. Interestingly on the SanDisk website it says their SDXC cards have a default format of exFAT. Blackvue specifically mentions SanDisk cards and compatibility issues btw:
- "It is recommended to use the BlackVue microSD cards only. 3rd party microSD cards, especially SanDisk microSD cards, may have compatibility issues with BlackVue dash cams." ( How to format the micro SD card? ).
- The BlackVue site also mentions SanDisk cards under Random Restart issues: "*The main requirement (aside from the microSD card being Class 10) is that the microSD card must be formatted as FAT 32 [windows] or MS-DOS (FAT) [mac]. We highly recommend using BlackVue microSD cards for optimal performance. The reason for it is that dashcams put microSD cards under higher stress than most electronic products such as action cameras or DSLRs due to their constant recording. We test our cards extensively before selecting them for inclusion in our products, to make sure that their performance is good and degrades as little as possible over time. We cannot guarantee the perfect performance of cards from other manufacturers, as even cards with the same specifications may vary from batch to batch. Especially the SanDisk microSD cards, which show more restarting and stability issues in BlackVue dash cams." ( The dashcam is restarting randomly, how to fix it? )
childcarepro
Member
Thanks all for the verification that 128GB cards work fine despite only being "compatible" up to 64GB. I'll look at these.
At least on Mac, the steps are rather simple, as linked above by SMAlset's first post; here it is again: How to get a 64GB+ MicroSD to work with Macs (Mac OSX, 10.11.6, El Cap
Pay close attention to the second image, left pane: note the DEVICE (above) is selected, not the VOLUME (below), and select Master Boot Record for the partition table.
The same technique works fine on OS X 10.12.4, Sierra.
It's very possible it would have worked after reformatting just the FAT32 volume the first time had I power cycled the unit; I don't know. I just assumed it actually checks before rejecting the card. It definitely checks for the presence of the card, because it keeps saying there's no SD card until you insert it, then the infernal "Please check the SD card."
At least on Mac, the steps are rather simple, as linked above by SMAlset's first post; here it is again: How to get a 64GB+ MicroSD to work with Macs (Mac OSX, 10.11.6, El Cap
Pay close attention to the second image, left pane: note the DEVICE (above) is selected, not the VOLUME (below), and select Master Boot Record for the partition table.
The same technique works fine on OS X 10.12.4, Sierra.
It's very possible it would have worked after reformatting just the FAT32 volume the first time had I power cycled the unit; I don't know. I just assumed it actually checks before rejecting the card. It definitely checks for the presence of the card, because it keeps saying there's no SD card until you insert it, then the infernal "Please check the SD card."
In the Blackvue itself, holding the button in for about 10 seconds, or via the PC app, using the enclosed USB adapter.
BTW, I'm using the original Blackvue SD card (128 GB) that came with it. Still purring along after about a year.
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