Nextbase have designed an SD card specifically to fulfill the needs of our Dash Cams. We work directly with the factory to ensure consistency of the SD card quality. Nextbase have spent years testing, trialing and developing SD cards to optimize their performance with our Dash Cams. Due to the differences in technology an SD card that works with a mobile phone or computer won’t necessarily work well with a Dash Cam. The main differences and selling points between all SD cards are the storage size (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, etc.) and the READ speed. READ speed isn’t too important when it comes to Dash Cams, as a Dash Cam WRITES data to the SD card when recording. The ability to maintain a high WRITE speed consistently is what Nextbase SD cards are
designed to do better than any other SD card. Any drop/fluctuation in WRITE speed within the SD card causes the Dash Cam footage to buffer and in some cases will stop the recording entirely.
Years of research and design allows our SD card controller and Firmware on the SD card to achieve the requirements of our Dash Cams, where other SD cards cannot. A large requirement our Dash Cams place on the SD card is the ability to re-WRITE over the oldest footage when the SD card memory becomes full. This means the Dash Cam is always Loop Recording – when the Dash Cam is on it is always recording. From our experience most non-Nextbase SD cards struggle to do this as effectively as our SD cards, this has caused footage to be missing and footage to fail to record in the first place.
Q&A
Q) Why should I buy a Nextbase branded SD card? Can’t I just use any card?
A) Our cameras have different requirements to other recording devices; this is because they need to keep recording when the SD card is full whilst overwriting the oldest unprotected files at the same time.
Q) “Why are Nextbase SD cards more expensive than other brands SD cards?”
A) Years of research and development have led to the creation of an SD card that has superior capabilities to ensure it works with a Dash Cam, where other SD cards don’t have such capabilities. Dash Cams have greater technological requirements from an SD card than a mobile phone or computer, for example, thus the larger price tag.
Q) Do non-Nextbase SD cards work at all?
A) A card that is not made for this purpose may appear to work perfectly in the beginning, although failure tends to happen after prolonged use, this could be days, weeks, or months. In a worst-case scenario, you may only discover recording failure after your SD card fails to record a serious incident, therefore using a suitable card is imperative.
Q) I have a rear camera module as well as the Dash Cam, which SD card do I need?
A) If you are using a Rear Camera Module and a Dash Cam you need to ensure that a U3 SD card is used inside the camera. It is important to note that our 32GB U3 microSD Card will record approximately 4 hours of HD footage before the Dash Cam overwrites the oldest recordings, or 2 hours if using a rear camera module.
The 64GB U3 microSD Card will record 8 hours of HD footage, or 4 hours if using a Rear Camera Module. The largest SD card you can use is our Nextbase 128GB U3 microSD Card can record 16 hours of HD footage, or 8 hours if using a Rear Camera Module.
Q) What errors may I encounter using a faulty or incompatible SD card?
A) You may experience any of the following:
- SD error messages
- Recording failure
- Automatic recording failure
- Frozen screen
- Gaps between recordings
- Corrupted or unplayable files
- Failure to startup and shutdown
- Inoperable buttons
Q) What is formatting an SD card?
A) Formatting your SD card wipes the SD card entirely to free up space for new recordings. Note: all our Dash Cams loop record which means the oldest footage is overwritten by the newest footage. However, after a while the SD needs formatting so it can keep doing this.
Q) Do you I need to format my SD card?
Yes, we recommend formatting your SD card every 3-4 week for regular every day users; and 2-3 weeks for heavy users.
Q) How do I format my SD card?
A) Most SD cards can be formatted from the Dash Cams settings menu. Also you can find out how to format your SD card on you Dash Cams manual, which you can find here https://www.nextbase.com/en-us/help-and-support/dash-cams/
If you experience any of the faults listed above, we strongly recommend that you replace your SD card with a Nextbase one. All our dashcams are tested using Nextbase branded SD cards, therefore we cannot attest to the compatibility of other manufacturers' products. For best results, we always recommend using Nextbase branded cards.
