Hello all being the resident SD card nerd I figured I would post a quick update as I’ve gotten multiple questions now in reference to a post I made years ago giving the differences in memory type for types of SD cards. Everyone’s seen the many many recommendations of the Samsung pro endurance being made. Apparently there is a new card on the block also by Samsung so it has some merit as far as quality goes and I actually did not know enough about this one so I did some research and I thought I would post here just to avoid any headaches or confusion for those searching around especially with the increasing resolution of our cameras. With the increase in resolution of our cameras the cards fill up more and thus the life cycle of our cards are shortened. Luckily we can now use bigger cards and expand that life cycle. But if anyone’s been on any type of SD buying vendor lately you may have noticed the Samsung pro ultimate. It’s at a similar price point and especially having pro in the name you would think that it may have similar attributes as to the pro endurance. So here is a little breakdown for everyone into the differences and the applications each was made for.
Intended Use:Pro Endurance: These cards are designed for continuous video recording, such as in dashcams and surveillance systems. They are optimized for high endurance and reliability in write-intensive scenarios.Pro Ultimate: Pro Ultimate cards are typically marketed for professional photographers and videographers, as they offer high-speed performance for capturing high-resolution photos and 4K videos.
**Write Speeds:**Pro Endurance: These cards may have slightly lower write speeds compared to Pro Ultimate cards, but they are optimized for consistent and sustained write performance.Pro Ultimate: Pro Ultimate cards often have faster write speeds, which are important for quickly capturing high-resolution images and videos.
**Storage Capacity:**Both Pro Endurance and Pro Ultimate series cards are available in various storage capacities to suit different needs, ranging from 32GB to 256GB or more.
**Durability:**Pro Endurance: Pro Endurance cards are built to withstand harsh conditions and have a longer lifespan with a focus on reliability in continuous recording situations.Pro Ultimate: While Pro Ultimate cards are durable, their primary focus is on high-speed data transfer and capturing high-quality content.
remember, there are other high endurance cards out there that are not made by samsung, that just a personal preference I have had and I make this post because the are very Widely used in our community and As I have received multiple questions on these particular cards I figured I would make this post. But keep in mind, high endurance cards are what are best, not required, but best for video recordings such as ours.
I have both 128GB and 256GB Pro Endurance cards and yes they are Samsung and they’ve been trouble free recording continuous on my V3 and V3 Pro cams. I agree high endurance cards are the best tool as long as they are made my a good brand manufacturer.
One of the factors that I look at when comparing a “High Endurance” Card, designed for harsh conditions and long life span, to a “Pro” or “Ultimate” card, designed for speed performance and high definition images\video, is the manufacturers tested life span for hours of writing along with their warranty for replacement. These will reveal a considerable amount about how confident the manufacturer is in the durability of their cards.
For example, I am currently using a 256GB HE card that is tested to 40,000 hours (4.56 years) but only has a limited warranty of 2 years. So the company is about 50% confident that the card will make it the full lifespan. They also make a card specifically for Dash Cams with a 5 year limited warranty designed for high speed write and high temp operation, and one with a lifetime warranty. I chose the High Endurance specifically for the cost. There were other High Endurance cards available that offered a lifetime warranty, but the added cost for that product wasn’t very attractive at the time.
The warranty terms on a card will also reveal a very clear picture about how the manufacturer feels about their cards being used in continuous write and harsh environmental conditions. Many lesser cards will not honor the warranty if the card is used in a continuous write dash cam or security cam.
I guess the message here is that not all SD Cards are created equal. Like cars, there are all varieties built for a specific purpose. And, like cars, the warranty shows how highly the manufacturer thinks about their card’s ability to withstand it’s stated purpose.
Too bad that is a scam card (Sansumg with the n and m switched) and not a real Samsung…REAL A2 and V30 cards are pretty awesome!
A2 gives it a minimum read of 4000 IOPS (compared to just 1500 IOPS for A1)
and minimum random write of 2000 IOPS! (compared to just 500 IOPS for A1)
And V30 is 30MB/s write!
Plus having 2TB would mean it could store over 7 months of continuous recordings on the 1080p cams before it starts overwriting the same sectors again. That thing would probably last the entire 5-10yrs even without being high endurance if it was really samsung.
I have 128GB Sandisk cards (non-high endurance) that have been recording 24/7 since 2020 and are still going strong more than 3 years later.
Funny scammer cards though. I bet that one doesn’t last more than a couple of months at most.
I now mostly buy High endurance since I’ve been switching to 2K cams, but I’m still pretty impressed with how long my 128GB Sandisks are managing after 3 years of abuse.
Openly the V4 does, although I wonder if others do too. They always said the cam was limited to 32GB when people were commonly using larger cards in them. I only use 32 or 128GB cards in mine.
I can confirm the others do take larger cards. When we were able to get access to that ex-fat license I believe that rolled over to every camera except the V1. I’ve used bigger cards in all of mine except for the original outdoor cameras.
Originally though before gaining that license we were limited to the 32 gig. But especially once we got the 2K resolution it was pretty apparent we were going to need bigger memory cards lol
And man has it paid off now we just need bigger time lapse options
He means Wyze got an exFAT license. Microsoft owns the rights to exFAT, and you can’t technically use it without paying them a licensing fee. So for many years Wyze only officially supported FAT32.
The problem is that FAT32 only comes default on cards 32GB or lower. Everything bigger than 32GB was coming as exFAT by default.
In the past we could format exFAT cards to FAT32 and they would still work…most of the time… There were a few times where large cards had some bugs, though Wyze usually worked those out. I was using 128GB cards in FAT32 for years before Wyze got an official exFAT license.
Eventually though, Wyze finally gave in to pay for an exFAT license so cameras would support the default format that larger cards came in.
I still have some 256GB cards running in FAT32. In some ways they work better than exFAT. But most of the time I leave them in exFAT now.
As per the regular @carverofchoice knocks it out the park with a concise explanation that would have been far more clear than anything I would have come up with
Since Samsung doesn’t have a 512GB Pro Endurance card that I can see I will not be trying one soon. The price of the Samsung 256 GB card has almost doubled in price from when I purchased mine when they were on sale last year.
I’ve been using SanDisk Extreme 256 GB cards without any apparent issues so far, but I think I’m gonna try their High Endurance model for my next camera(s). I like being able to go back in time.
