I have the same issues. All my devices eats SD cards. I have replaced the SD card multiple times different manufacturers and the same issues. WYZE is of no help I have replaced my doorbell and it still eats SD cards. I am tired of being a guinea pig for WYZE. They need to fix the issue it seems like it’s been persistent for a long time. I have requested a refund all my money that I have invested in the camera’s and the security system.
What brands/models of cards are you using? Are you doing continuous recording or event only?
Is the cam running battery only or hardwired?
How are they eating the cards - do the cards no longer work in any device and the doorbell doesn’t recognize it?
I have used:
Smart 128 gb
Motion 128 gb
Sandusky 128 gb.
The cards I am able to reformat and that works for a short time. It says video is not available. At some point the card quits working. The cards are not detected on my PC. The cards are rendered useless. WYZE replaced my video door bell and within two days it presented the same issues. I have a key pad that eats batteries, about every 5 to 14 days.. WYZE is sending a new one to try. I have had two entry sensors they eats batteries about every two weeks. WYZE replaced one and it works. I have a second one I have replaced and still hanging one to the old one. My security HUB follows the schedule to arm, but will not disarm per the schedule. WYZE has done nothing yet. I have 14 motion flood lights, Pan cams, DuoCams and all have SD card issues.
WYZE is sending me one of their cards to try.
I have used both modes. For now Event only.
My devices are hardwired.
I’ve never heard of any of those brands. I would suspect they are counterfeit or just really poor quality.
Continuous recording requires a halfway decent card and really should have an endurance rated card. The Wyze cards are a bit of a crap shoot, who knows who will manufacture each batch, but people here seem to have had decent luck with them.
I realize flash memory is expensive right now but generic/no name cards are going to be like throwing money out the window.
What brand do you recommend? My fear is that I will invest in a different SD card and the same thing will happen.
Lots of people here including myself use Samsung Pro Endurance. They have a 5 year warranty and when I calculated it out, the 128GB versions that I use should last 16 years of continuous recording at the rate the wyze cam writes. Problem is, the prices have skyrocketed on them.
Sandisk Max Endurance is very good also
Sandisk High Endurance is the new version of Max endurance, initially some people said they didn’t work as well but these days they seem to be equivalent. I know a couple members here use them for continuous recording without issue.
For motion only recording, (or even continuous recording, just knowing that they may not last as long) you can go with standard Samsung or Sandisk cards (try to stay away from their cheapest ones though, unless you only want to do event recording and there aren’t tons of events). I’ve had a Samsung Evo go bad on me but it was in a dashcam and definitely not intended for that, so that was my fault. Their Pro series (non endurance) have worked well for me in my phone and for general use, but never tried one in continuous recording.
Lexar is highly regarded in the photography community. A lot of “rebranded” cards like Wyze may actually be Lexar cards as they used to do a lot of “white labeling”. But these days, Kioxia (not as good) is the one that many brands are using to make their cards. Either may be fine for event recording. A good Lexar card may hold up to continuous recording as well, but hard to say as that’s not what they’re intended for.
Heck for motion only recording when you don’t have tons of events, PNY might hold up fine. They’re on the lower end but are halfway decent as far as the cheaper cards go. But YMMV.
Regardless of which brand you buy, get it from a reputable source. Not ebay, not 3rd party amazon sellers. Sold and shipped by amazon (and when it arrives, make sure there isn’t a white sticker with barcode on it as that means they sent you a 3rd party seller’s item), or from a reputable retail store (again if you use their website, make sure it is not 3rd party). That’s the most critical thing, there are SO many fake cards out there.
If only the Samsung Pro Endurance were still $13 for a 128GB card like when I bought them (or heck, even $20 like they were a year or so ago) I’d say that’s a no brainer. But they’re 2 to 3 times that price right now.
Dave,
Thank you for the insight and the information on the SD cards. I will purchase Samsung as you suggested. Again thank you for the heads up.
Fake branded SD cards exist (specially from Aliexpress/Temu/etc vendors). I’ve bought “Sandisk” SD cards that ended up being fake. Now what I do every time I get a new SD Card if to fill it (up to it’s maximum capacity… yes, that can take a little bit of time) with files (I use videos/photos), then I look at the photos and videos straight from the card to confirm they play back just fine.
There is a tool called H2TestW that does basically that and reports back, does it for you. Doesn’t take any less time but automates the process and gives some good stats.
Samsung also has a tool to verify the authenticity of their cards. Last I checked, Sandisk didn’t but not sure if that has changed. But even after running the Samsung tool, I still did a full overwrite format with the sdcard.org formatter, confirms they’re full capacity and have no bad spots.