{"id":2617,"date":"2013-02-27T05:55:16","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T05:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/?p=2617"},"modified":"2013-02-27T07:24:20","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T07:24:20","slug":"sdhc-group-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/?p=2617","title":{"rendered":"SD Memory Card Group Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SDHC-Group-Test\"<\/a>There was a time when any old memory card would do but today there\u2019s a huge range of SD memory cards to choose from and the price per gigabyte is ever falling. In this group review I\u2019ll be looking at five 32GB SD cards which all claim to offer super fast speeds and all retail for less then \u00a326.00.<\/p>\n

At first glance all these class have very similar specifications. They all offer class 10 performance which in itself isn\u2019t that impressive now a days. In fact they all claim to offer write speeds of around 45MB\/s which makes them the perfect choice for DSLR video and shooting bursts of RAW still images.<\/p>\n

All the cards also read speeds of at least 60MB\/s and that\u2019s good news for everyone (with a USB3 card reader) as it massively reduces the time spend downloading images and videos from the card.<\/p>\n

\"Transcend-SD\"<\/a>Transcend 32GB<\/b> \u2013 WINNER<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Write Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 45MB\/s ~ Actual 61MB\/s
\nRead Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 85MB\/s ~ Actual 84MB\/s
\nRecovery Software<\/strong> ~ Yes (1 year licence)
\nProtective Case<\/strong> ~ No
\nRetail Price<\/strong> UK \u00a321\u00a0 (My Memory)<\/a>
\nRetail Price US<\/strong> unkown<\/p>\n

On paper this card looked every bit the winner and it doesn\u2019t disappoint.<\/p>\n

Transcend claim a respectable write speed of 45mb\/s which is average for the group but the claimed read speed is nearly double at an eye watering 85mb\/s. That\u2019s a big claim which testing proved to be 100% correct. Not only that but my tests the write speed smashed Transcends claim and all the opposition by hitting a whopping 60mb\/s<\/p>\n

Transcend also add in a 12 month licence for RecoveRx recovery software extra piece of mind. The only blot on the Transcend\u2019s copy book is a lack of protective case but with super fast speeds and a bargain price tag it\u2019s an oversight that\u2019s easily forgiven.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Panasonic-SD\"<\/a>Panasonic Gold \u00a032GB<\/b> <\/span>\u2013 Runner Up<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Write Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 45MB\/s ~ Actual 51MB\/s
\nRead Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 90MB\/s ~ Actual 84MB\/s
\nRecovery Software<\/strong> ~ No
\nProtective Case<\/strong> ~ No
\nRetail Price UK<\/strong> \u00a325\u00a0 (My Memory)<\/a>
\nRetail Price US<\/strong> $110\u00a0\u00a0 (Adorama)<\/a><\/p>\n

Panasonic is not a name I previously associated with memory cards but it is a brand that\u2019s well known. The memory card itself performed rather well with some excellent results. Sure the read speed missed the claimed 90MB\/s but the write speed was better then claimed by the exact same amount.<\/p>\n

Sadly there\u2019s no recovery software or protective case here although if the claims on the packaging are to believed you\u2019ll never need it. Panasonic say it\u2019s resistant to water, shock, magnets, x-rays, electrostatic and temperature. I\u2019ll let you test all those claims out but it certainly with stood the usual treatment I dish out to my cards\u2026 as did all the other cards in this test.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lexar-SD\"<\/a>Lexar professional 400X 32GB<\/span> \u2013 3rd<\/sup> Place
\n<\/b>Write Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 60MB\/s ~ Actual 49MB\/s
\nRead Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed More then 60MB\/s\u00a0 ~ Actual 82MB\/s
\nRecovery Software<\/strong> ~ Yes
\nProtective Case<\/strong> ~ Yes
\nRetail Price UK<\/strong> \u00a325\u00a0 (My Memory)<\/a>
\nRetail Price US<\/strong> $33\u00a0\u00a0 (Adorama)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lets start with the positive points. The Lexar card comes with both a protective case and downloadable data recovery software. There\u2019s also a very fast read speed of over 80MB\/s which puts it up with the best in the read department, which is odd as Lexar make no mention of read speeds on the box.<\/p>\n

The box does promise a \u201cguaranteed minimum write speed of 60MB\/s\u201d which sadly I wasn\u2019t able to achieve. In fact the best I could get was a pretty average 49MB\/s. To be fair Lexar does say, in the tiny small print on the back, that the minimum guaranteed speed depends on your equipment. That said it’s worth\u00a0remembering, all my testing was done on the same machine with the same equipment.<\/p>\n

\"Sandisk-SD\"<\/a>Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB<\/b><\/span> \u2013 4th<\/sup> Place<\/strong>
\nWrite Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 45MB\/s ~ Actual 43MB\/s
\nRead Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 45MB\/s ~ Actual 45MB\/s
\nRecovery Software<\/strong> ~ Yes (1 year licence)
\nProtective Case<\/strong> ~ Yes
\nRetail Price UK<\/strong> \u00a326\u00a0 (My Memory)<\/a>
\nRetail Price US<\/strong> $32\u00a0\u00a0 (Adorama)<\/a><\/p>\n

Sandisk has been the first choice of many professional photographers, me included for many years. However in this group review the Sandisk Extreme is looking a bit out of its depth.<\/p>\n

The claimed write speed was very close the actual speed but unlike all the other cards in this review, the read speed is no faster then the write speed. To be fair to Sandisk it is exactly what they said it would be but it\u2019s still almost half as fast as the best card in this review.<\/p>\n

All in all the Sandisk Extreme is a safe bet but there are currently better options out there when it comes to read speeds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Samsung-SD\"<\/a>Samsung Pro 32GB<\/b><\/span> \u2013 5th<\/sup> Place<\/strong>
\nWrite Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 40MB\/s ~ Actual 39MB\/s
\nRead Speed<\/strong> ~ Claimed 80MB\/s ~ Actual 77MB\/s
\nRecovery Software<\/strong> ~ No
\nProtective Case<\/strong> ~ No
\nRetail Price UK<\/strong> \u00a326\u00a0 (My Memory)<\/a>
\nRetail Price US<\/strong> $120\u00a0\u00a0 (Adorama)<\/a><\/p>\n

Someone has to come last and sadly, in this test, it\u2019s the Samsung Pro. Not so long ago its 40MB\/s write speed would have been top class stuff but now it looks, at best, very average indeed. The read speed is also slightly off the mark too.<\/p>\n

No recovery software and no protective case don\u2019t help matters either and when you discover the price is at the higher end of the scale it\u2019s game over for the Samsung Pro. It’s also worth noting the eyewateringly high price for US buyers!<\/p>\n

There is however one area where the Samsung beats all the other cards in this review and that\u2019s in looks. I love the engraved surface on this card.<\/p>\n

Click the image below to see the\u00a0benchmark results for all the cards.\u00a0<\/strong>\"Benchmark-SD-Cards\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a time when any old memory card would do but today there\u2019s a huge range of SD memory cards to choose from and the price per gigabyte is ever falling. In this group review I\u2019ll be looking at five 32GB SD cards which all claim to offer super fast speeds and all retail … Continue reading SD Memory Card Group Test<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,23,54,50,57,31,55,56,49,53,24,52,58],"class_list":["post-2617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-cards","tag-featured","tag-lexar","tag-memory","tag-panasonic","tag-review","tag-samsung","tag-sandisk","tag-sd","tag-sdhc","tag-spotlight","tag-storage","tag-transcend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2617"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2636,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions\/2636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}