SanDisk Extreme and Extreme PRO Memory Cards Review
by Ganesh T S on November 8, 2017 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- SanDisk
- flash
- Memory Cards
- microSDXC
- SDXC
- CFast
- CompactFlash
Miscellaneous Aspects and Concluding Remarks
Readers are often interested in the type of flash being used inside the memory cards. While manufacturers such as ADATA are quite open about the type of flash used, most are not. SanDisk falls in the latter category, and it is not clear whether the cards that we have reviewed carry MLC or TLC flash.
In addition to raw performance and consistency, pricing is also an important aspect. This is particularly important in the casual user and semi-professional markets, where the value for money metric often trumps benchmark numbers. The table below presents the relevant data for the various memory cards we have evaluated so far. The cards are ordered by the $/GB metric.
SD Cards - Pricing | ||||
Card | Model Number | Capacity (GB) | Street Price (USD) | Price per GB (USD/GB) |
ADATA Premier Pro SDXC UHS I 64GB | ASDX64GUI3CL10-R | 64 | 41 | 0.64 |
Lexar 1000x 128GB | LSD128CRBNA1000 | 128 | 95 | 0.74 |
ADATA XPG SDXC UHS I 64GB | ASDX64GXUI3CL10-R | 64 | 83 | 1.30 |
ADATA Premier ONE SDXC UHS II 128GB | ASDX128GUII3CL10-C | 128 | 200 | 1.56 |
SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS II 128GB | SDSDXPK-128G-ANCIN | 128 | 250 | 1.95 |
Considering the UHS-II cards alone, the SanDisk Extreme PRO has the worst pricing of all. The ADATA Premier ONE deliver comparable performance at a much better price point.
uSD Cards - Pricing | ||||
Card | Model Number | Capacity (GB) | Street Price (USD) | Price per GB (USD/GB) |
SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS I 128GB | SDSQXAF-128G-GN6MA | 128 | 65 | 0.51 |
ADATA XPG microSDXC UHS I 64GB | AUSDX64GXUI3-RA1 | 64 | 50 | 0.78 |
ADATA Premier ONE microSDXC UHS II 256GB | AUSDX256GUII3CL10-C | 256 | 261 | 1.02 |
SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDXC UHS II 128GB | SDSQXPJ-128G-GN6M3 | 128 | 206 | 1.61 |
Lexar 1800x 128GB | LSDMI128CRBNA1800R | 128 | 233 | 1.82 |
Consumers considering the SanDisk Extreme UHS-I card can rest easy. Amongst the UHS-I cards, it has the most consistent performance and also the lowest pricing (in terms of USD/GB). On the UHS-II front, the Extreme PRO delivers similar performance to the Lexar 1800x card, and is more consistent compared to the ADATA Premier ONE (despite losing out on a number of benchmarks to it). At $1.61/GB, the Extreme PRO represents the right balance of performance and cost.
CF Cards - Pricing | ||||
Card | Model Number | Capacity (GB) | Street Price (USD) | Price per GB (USD/GB) |
Freetail 800x 256GB | FTCF256A08 | 256 | 145 | 0.57 |
Freetail 1066x 256GB | FTCF256A10 | 256 | 171 | 0.67 |
Lexar 1066x 128GB | LCF128CRBNA1066 | 128 | 110 | 0.86 |
SanDisk Extreme PRO CompactFlash 128GB | SDCFXPS-128G-X46 | 128 | 140 | 1.09 |
The SanDisk Extreme PRO CF card does not perform as well as the Lexar equivalent, and it costs significantly more. The Lexard card is the more sensible choice here, while users looking for higher capacity cards might find the FreeTail offerings more attractive.
CFast Cards - Pricing | ||||
Card | Model Number | Capacity (GB) | Street Price (USD) | Price per GB (USD/GB) |
Lexar 3600x 128GB | LC128CRBNA3600 | 128 | 385 | 3.01 |
SanDisk Extreme PRO CFast 2.0 64GB | SDCFSP-064G-A46D | 64 | 214 | 3.34 |
CFast cards tend to be priced quite high despite just being SATA SSDs in a different form factor. The firmware is obviously more optimized for real-time multimedia recording use-cases. Our pool of evaluated CFast cards is small. Even though they are at different capacity points, and it is not exactly fair to make a comparison, we have to note that the Lexar CFast card offers much better performance and consistency compared to the SanDisk Extreme PRO 64GB version. The cost per GB metric is also in favor of the Lexar card.
SanDisk is one of the few vendors with a comprehensive memory card portfolio. We evaluated a number of their memory cards across different formats for their performance, consistency, and pricing aspects. All the evaluated cards emerged unscathed from our evaluation routine. Performance is acceptable for the speed classes targeted by the cards. In particular, the microSDXC offerings are very compelling and provide great value for money.
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peevee - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Very useful, thanks!ET - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
How do you explain the Extreme MicroSD's write performance in apps? Caching? It's way ahead of the pack for application use and costs a fraction of the Pro's price.ganeshts - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Yes, it was anomalous, and I have to say caching was responsible. I repeated the test sequence thrice with testbed resets inbetween, but the numbers were always similar. Unfortunately, without any way to confirm caching as the issue, I couldn't mention that in the review text.Also, note that the Extreme microSD is A1-class, and other microSD cards weren't optimized for the new performance class. So, the controller firmware could be responsible too.
imaheadcase - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
I had to get one of these Extreme Pro versions for my 1080p 60fps camera. Even with it i get the dreaded "writing data to disk please wait" shown on camera when using it.I suspect SD cards for video are going to be replaced by something else like a pure micro SSD.
imaheadcase - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Speaking of memory cards, do you know why you can't read multiple ones at a time in win 10? Also how come you can't by a reader for multiple ones at a time? You can by hundreds of those "all-in-one" doggles but can only read one at a time in windows 10 for some reason..DanNeely - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Is it just a W10 issue, or are you limited the same way in other OSes?imaheadcase - Thursday, November 9, 2017 - link
No other OS to try on. But I'm not sure when Win10 would even do this. Unless for some reason its not allowed simply because of saturated bandwidth if more than one.ddrіver - Sunday, November 12, 2017 - link
For me it works fine. My preactivated ISO has some extra mods and stuff integrated so maybe that fixes it..."Bullwinkle J Moose" - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
With the lack of information you provided, we could only guessAre you trying to read 2 cards from a single USB port or hub?
That would be a problem
Have you tried 2 separate card readers on two independent USB ports?
"Bullwinkle J Moose" - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Yes, you CAN buy hundreds of all-in-one dongles but you can only read one card at a time on a single port!