I own three of those cameras, and they have all been very reliable and take great pics and videos. I am not sure why you are having trouble clearing out the memory. I do not know how you are attempting to clear it. The cams come with an instruction sheet that is very clear and easy to follow, but you may have discarded it. If so, you need the front screen to have the day/time readout showing, then use the up or down buttons to scroll through the prompts. When you get to the erase events heading, press select, press the up or down button to get yes to appear, press select again, and it should read DONE after a second. Then using the up / down button again, go to the erase memory heading, press the select button, press up / or down to get yes to appear, then hit select again, after a second or two it should say done. Thats all there is to it. But you must remember if you are using a SD memory card in it that you must take the memory card out to clear the cameras internal memory. Anytime a SD card is installed it overrides the cameras internal memory. Thats what the camera "sees". With that being said, it is there fore possible for you to use the camera without a SD card, take some pics, Turn it off, insert a SD Card, Turn it on, Takesome more pics ( which read on the SD card ) , Erase the memory of the SD card, but still see pics / events listed on the camera. Hope this helps. Like I said, I have three cams out, each with a 1 GIG SD card, The are capable of holding 1877 pictures each ( on high resolution ) , more on standard resolution, before they are full. Less pics ifyou use the still / video Mode. The video eatsa little more memory. I have rechargable batteries in the cams, and I mounted a 6v solar charger with each one to keep the batteries full. Now I only have to disturb the area maybe once evey week or two ( my preference ), and I still get my pics to see the bucks.