Here's my experience,
I use Anker car USB charger to power my radio, don't know what other people are doing to fry their radios, first I've heard of it.
I use my radio daily.
I have it setup to AUTO POWER ON, this is a trick and not a feature. This radio lacks features for in car use, for example, no auto record function, no auto power on.
How to setup AUTO POWER ON for vehicle use:
1. run the radio on the provided rechargeable batteries until radio dies
2. now the battery voltage is sufficient to allow recording of transmission but battery power is not sufficient to run the radio
3. use the USB cable to power the radio
4. set the volume and squelch settings, power cycle the radio to remember those settings (they do not get saved if the radio runs out of power and does not shut down properly)
5. the radio will auto turn on if it has been on the last time you turned off the ignition, meaning never power down your radio, allow the car to do it for you, unless you need to power cycle to remember new settings, in that case turn the radio back on before turning the car off
This way when I get into my car and turn it on, my radio turns on by itself, I am asked whether or not to set the Mass Media Storage mode because the USB cable is connected, I click no or let it sit for 10-15 seconds at which point it continues to main screen. I then press Function+Record to start recording. It appears that the scanning/hold/avoid modes are remembered and do not require power cycling to remember the settings, so that helps to go to your previous settings when getting back on the road.
I never had card corruption! I would say anyone claiming card corruption because the radio messed up simply has a crap card and should get a different one.
I have run with depleted batteries for more than a year and have had no issues with card corruption, multiple times per day of cutting power to the scanner.
The depleted batteries are required in order to show the scanner that there is enough voltage to use the record function. I once had the batteries deplete too much (like <3.3V or something) after 8 months of use that the record function stopped, so I charged up the batteries a bit to get the voltage up but still keep them low enough that the scanner does not stay on after car ignition has turned off and it has been working fine ever since.