Steve928 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Keithl - 2016-03-21 2:55 PM This was their official reply... "I have attached some instructions that I found online on how to format the SD card. Please format the card and then try again and advise how you get on." and when I replied it didn't work they failed to reply to any further communication. Useless!!! Keith. Hi Keith, If I remember correctly, in a similar thread about a year ago we established that I have (probably) the same camera as your Snooper, but bought on Ebay as a no-name clone. Mine requires a permanent live feed to work correctly; the ignition signal then turns it on and off while the live feed allows it to shutdown correctly and close-off the SD card, a process which takes it around 5 seconds. That said, I've never come across a permanently locked SD card before. This utility might be worth a try to see if can recover your cards. https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Bulletguy - 2016-03-21 2:50 PM 747 - 2016-03-21 2:09 PM Give yourselves a pat on the back as this is the first Dashcam thread on a Motorhome forum that has approved cheaper Dashcams. It usually turns into a parade of expensive Cams and a list of reasons why you need one. This has led me to believe that the Motorhome mindset is 'Why buy cheap when you can buy the most expensive'. :D I have just purchased the cheapest one on this website and am very happy with it. http://www.carcamerashop.co.uk/car-cameras.html It is the G1W and is on at a reduced price. Actually thats not as "cheap" as you think it is. The G1W looks like a clone of the GS1000 which you can pick up for half that price off fleabay, and even the branded makes aren't cheap! The Mivue 538 Deluxe which is the dash cam i have is listed at a staggering £150!! That's available in Currys at £109, Amazon £107 and even less if you poke around on the internet a bit. Or have you got that the wrong way round? It is a minefield of decent makes and cowboy ripoffs. Price is the clue to which is which. And don't forget that dashcams can be assembled in the same factory for different clients (hence different names and versions). Having worked in China, I know you can never be certain of anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Keithl - 2016-03-21 2:55 PM Bulletguy - 2016-03-21 2:40 PM Keithl - 2016-03-21 7:36 AM Bulletguy - 2016-03-20 9:02 PM Keithl - 2016-03-20 8:19 PM And from my experience DO NOT buy a Snooper DVR-1HD Mini. Mine is slowly eating Sandisk 32 GB cards at an alarming rate. It seems to 'Lock' them so they cannot be re-formatted or re-recorded and are rendered scrap. Picture quality is fantastic but the cost in cards is alarming. Keith. If purchased new then i'd return it to store or contact Snooper for a replacement. Once the card is full it should overwrite any existing files. Unfortunately that is not the problem. If the power supply is interrupted for anything less than around 5 seconds, say through a loose power plug, then the recorder fails to shut down correctly and 'Locks' the card. The first card got locked when I plugged the recorder into a cigar lighter socket powered off the accessories circuit, what I hadn't realised was when the engine was cranking the socket got turned off. So key to position 1 camera live, crank engine camera off then straight back on as engine fired. Result one locked card. They don't warn you of this in the instructions either! Snooper in their usual 'Couldn't care less' attitude don't want to know (try searching for problems with Snooper Sat Navs!) and even calls to Sandisk and a special SD Card Unlock programme they sent me cannot recover the cards. I will never buy any Snooper product again!!! Keith. I must admit i've never come across this before and well understand your frustration. Have you tried speaking direct with the company? Their phone number is; 01928 579 579. BG, This was their official reply... "I have attached some instructions that I found online on how to format the SD card. Please format the card and then try again and advise how you get on." and when I replied it didn't work they failed to reply to any further communication. Useless!!! Keith. I wouldn't bother writing or emailing. It's a phone call job i'm afraid and i'd have the card and reader ready plugged in on your pc when you call......then ask them to walk you through the procedure. I know formatting is "abc" stuff but you really need someone from their Tech dept. It sounds to me like the cam itself is faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 747 - 2016-03-21 5:45 PM Bulletguy - 2016-03-21 2:50 PM 747 - 2016-03-21 2:09 PM Give yourselves a pat on the back as this is the first Dashcam thread on a Motorhome forum that has approved cheaper Dashcams. It usually turns into a parade of expensive Cams and a list of reasons why you need one. This has led me to believe that the Motorhome mindset is 'Why buy cheap when you can buy the most expensive'. :D I have just purchased the cheapest one on this website and am very happy with it. http://www.carcamerashop.co.uk/car-cameras.html It is the G1W and is on at a reduced price. Actually thats not as "cheap" as you think it is. The G1W looks like a clone of the GS1000 which you can pick up for half that price off fleabay, and even the branded makes aren't cheap! The Mivue 538 Deluxe which is the dash cam i have is listed at a staggering £150!! That's available in Currys at £109, Amazon £107 and even less if you poke around on the internet a bit. Or have you got that the wrong way round? It is a minefield of decent makes and cowboy ripoffs. Price is the clue to which is which. And don't forget that dashcams can be assembled in the same factory for different clients (hence different names and versions). Having worked in China, I know you can never be certain of anything. Most are made in China/HK including the Mio cams. I paid £110 for mine over a year ago but have seen it selling as little as £89 recently. On that site they have it priced at £150. My first cam was a HK cheapie. It wouldn't run on 32gb card and can only use 16gb or lower despite being described as 32gb card. Image is ok'ish but rubbish on a dull or rainy day. The Mio gives excellent images, even at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Keithl - 2016-03-21 7:36 AM Bulletguy - 2016-03-20 9:02 PM Keithl - 2016-03-20 8:19 PM And from my experience DO NOT buy a Snooper DVR-1HD Mini. Mine is slowly eating Sandisk 32 GB cards at an alarming rate. It seems to 'Lock' them so they cannot be re-formatted or re-recorded and are rendered scrap. Picture quality is fantastic but the cost in cards is alarming. Keith. If purchased new then i'd return it to store or contact Snooper for a replacement. Once the card is full it should overwrite any existing files. Unfortunately that is not the problem. If the power supply is interrupted for anything less than around 5 seconds, say through a loose power plug, then the recorder fails to shut down correctly and 'Locks' the card. The first card got locked when I plugged the recorder into a cigar lighter socket powered off the accessories circuit, what I hadn't realised was when the engine was cranking the socket got turned off. So key to position 1 camera live, crank engine camera off then straight back on as engine fired. Result one locked card. They don't warn you of this in the instructions either! Snooper in their usual 'Couldn't care less' attitude don't want to know (try searching for problems with Snooper Sat Navs!) and even calls to Sandisk and a special SD Card Unlock programme they sent me cannot recover the cards. I will never buy any Snooper product again!!! Keith. Most of these cameras contain a small lithium battery that continues to power the camera for about 30 seconds after shut down. This is ample time for the images to be written to a file on the storage card. I assume the Snooper unit has the same mode of operation. If it is shutting down immediately then the battery has failed. If the cameras are not used for several months the lithium battery looses all its power and often will not recharge. With some models the camera will then not power on at all. Some models allow you to set the shutdown delay within the menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 AliB - 2016-03-23 12:21 PM Keithl - 2016-03-21 7:36 AM Bulletguy - 2016-03-20 9:02 PM Keithl - 2016-03-20 8:19 PM And from my experience DO NOT buy a Snooper DVR-1HD Mini. Mine is slowly eating Sandisk 32 GB cards at an alarming rate. It seems to 'Lock' them so they cannot be re-formatted or re-recorded and are rendered scrap. Picture quality is fantastic but the cost in cards is alarming. Keith. If purchased new then i'd return it to store or contact Snooper for a replacement. Once the card is full it should overwrite any existing files. Unfortunately that is not the problem. If the power supply is interrupted for anything less than around 5 seconds, say through a loose power plug, then the recorder fails to shut down correctly and 'Locks' the card. The first card got locked when I plugged the recorder into a cigar lighter socket powered off the accessories circuit, what I hadn't realised was when the engine was cranking the socket got turned off. So key to position 1 camera live, crank engine camera off then straight back on as engine fired. Result one locked card. They don't warn you of this in the instructions either! Snooper in their usual 'Couldn't care less' attitude don't want to know (try searching for problems with Snooper Sat Navs!) and even calls to Sandisk and a special SD Card Unlock programme they sent me cannot recover the cards. I will never buy any Snooper product again!!! Keith. Most of these cameras contain a small lithium battery that continues to power the camera for about 30 seconds after shut down. This is ample time for the images to be written to a file on the storage card. I assume the Snooper unit has the same mode of operation. If it is shutting down immediately then the battery has failed. If the cameras are not used for several months the lithium battery looses all its power and often will not recharge. With some models the camera will then not power on at all. Some models allow you to set the shutdown delay within the menu. This is a valid point and i have to admit the battery power is poor to the point of virtually non-existent! Dash cams will not work at all without a continuous 12v supply. I have noticed even GPS units seem to be going this way too. My first satnav which was a second hand TomTom would survive on internal battery power only for a good few hours. In fact i often forgot to plug it in to 12v. I can't say the same for my later model TT or Garmin units, both bought new. Very poor on internal power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Guys, I fully appreciate what you are saying about an internal battery but unfortunately this is not the problem with the Snooper.If you re-apply power while the DVR is shutting down it then fails to either shut down or power up and simply 'Locks' the SD card. As per my post above using a cigar socket fed by 'Accessories' locked one card and a loose cigar plug managed to lock another. How often have you inserted a cigar style plug, given it a 'wag' to check it is home only to see the power light or whatever flash quickly on and off? Well that is enough to lock the card! Pretty poor really. And BG, the link you posted was the programme that the SD card Association advised me to use and whilst it managed to read the card it couldn't erase or format it. The programme that Snooper advise me to use couldn't even read it! SanDisk did offer to investigate what had happened with the card but their courier lost it in transit so we never got anywhere with that. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Keithl - 2016-03-23 1:38 PM Guys, I fully appreciate what you are saying about an internal battery but unfortunately this is not the problem with the Snooper. If you re-apply power while the DVR is shutting down it then fails to either shut down or power up and simply 'Locks' the SD card. As per my post above using a cigar socket fed by 'Accessories' locked one card and a loose cigar plug managed to lock another. How often have you inserted a cigar style plug, given it a 'wag' to check it is home only to see the power light or whatever flash quickly on and off? Well that is enough to lock the card! Pretty poor really. And BG, the link you posted was the programme that the SD card Association advised me to use and whilst it managed to read the card it couldn't erase or format it. The programme that Snooper advise me to use couldn't even read it! SanDisk did offer to investigate what had happened with the card but their courier lost it in transit so we never got anywhere with that. Keith. No idea what link that was as the only ones i posted were for DVR cams. Have you got me mixed up with another poster? I still reckon your best bet is to phone Snooper direct and ask to speak with someone in their Tech dept and go through everything whilst they are on the phone. As for a card getting lost in the post it seem if you didn't have any bad luck you'd have no luck at all !!! : :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 What some people don't do or don't realise is that you sometimes have to format the card to the device, that's usually why a larger capacity card doesn't work properly. Moving on to the OP though, you said the card wont format, are you doing this on your laptop/pc? The reason I ask is that if your camera has a facility to lock a file to prevent overwriting then all it should be able to do is lock an individual file not the whole card.Now don't get all huffy when I ask this but sometimes we overlook the blatantly obvious but the tab on the side of the card or adapter hasn't moved across and locked has it?Also try formatting the card in the camera and not on your laptop as some devices can or will write a block onto the card (a bit like locking a sheet in excel) and only the device can overwrite of re format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.