PNY Pro Elite Micro SD Card

[GeekOnTheWing]

I picked up a couple of these at Wally World. So far, so good. No problems at 4K / 60. YMMV.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

looks like a good card; might be the same price over at amazon.

next week (amazon day) is prime time for buying good microsd cards for cheap so be on the look out. they usually have a flash sale and usually about $10 off. I got this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GGCMT2Z

don't forget to test your card before putting it to work!

 

[herein2021]

These are the only cards I use in all of my drones....no problems since 2014. Same brand for all of my cameras in SD, CFE, and CF form factor, never had a single problem. In all of the years I have been filming, I've only lost two cards worth of footage and both times it was due to the card reader. I now use these readers and haven't had a problem since. Fortunately both times it was footage filmed with a camera that has dual card slots so I did not lose the footage.

Most people don't realize that the reader is every bit as important as the card itself and has the ability to completely corrupt your microSD or SD card. If you ever have critical once in a lifetime type of footage, a good trick to protect the footage before risking it in a reader is to first insert into a microSD to SD card adapter, then turn on the write protection via the slider on the side of the adapter before you insert it into the reader. This will keep your microSD card from being corrupted if the reader is bad however it will not prevent it from being fried if the reader has an actual electrical short so a good quality card reader is important.

For regular SD cards the write protect switch is already built in. This is what I always do if I am dumping my cards onsite for a customer that only needs the raw footage, I always turn on the write protection first before I stick my SD cards into their reader. Just remember to disable it before you put it back in your camera....a write protected SD card can lock up just about any camera.

 

[GeekOnTheWing]

In general (not just with drones), I've never had any problems with the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards, nor with Lexar Professional, nor Samsung Pro Plus, nor any other manufacturer's best cards. I think the top tier of most well-known manufacturers' lines are probably pretty safe.

But there's definitely a difference on the second tier. I have a high-end, dual lens dash cam that can be brutal on SD cards at its highest settings (both lenses at 1080 / 30 and ~ 20Mbps bitrate). With complex scenery, it'll start losing frames and/or reducing the bitrate using anything other than the best-quality cards. I think it's the heat that pushes lesser cards over the edge.

I may have some very nice test footage taken with that dash cam somewhere. The footage I uploaded a few years ago was removed for copyright violations because I had the car radio on and was singing along with the music. I have to check whether I still have the originals just for SD card comparison purposes.

On a more practical level, the high quality did help me in an insurance claim when a dump truck in front of me starting projectile-vomiting rocks from the hopper. I was able to read the plate at quite some distance to identify the operator, as well as prove that I wasn't speeding nor tailgating. That was with a Lexar Pro card.

One thing I noticed early on with this drone is that it warns you when the card is struggling. The message is something like "the SD card is writing slowly." I had that happen when I was doing the original 4K / 60 test footage with a Sandisk Extreme (not Extreme Pro) card. That's a handy feature.

 

[herein2021]

In general (not just with drones), I've never had any problems with the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards, nor with Lexar Professional, nor Samsung Pro Plus, nor any other manufacturer's best cards. I think the top tier of most well-known manufacturers' lines are probably pretty safe.

But there's definitely a difference on the second tier. I have a high-end, dual lens dash cam that can be brutal on SD cards at its highest settings (both lenses at 1080 / 30 and ~ 20Mbps bitrate). With complex scenery, it'll start losing frames and/or reducing the bitrate using anything other than the best-quality cards. I think it's the heat that pushes lesser cards over the edge.

I may have some very nice test footage taken with that dash cam somewhere. The footage I uploaded a few years ago was removed for copyright violations because I had the car radio on and was singing along with the music. I have to check whether I still have the originals just for SD card comparison purposes.

On a more practical level, the high quality did help me in an insurance claim when a dump truck in front of me starting projectile-vomiting rocks from the hopper. I was able to read the plate at quite some distance to identify the operator, as well as prove that I wasn't speeding nor tailgating. That was with a Lexar Pro card.

One thing I noticed early on with this drone is that it warns you when the card is struggling. The message is something like "the SD card is writing slowly." I had that happen when I was doing the original 4K / 60 test footage with a Sandisk Extreme (not Extreme Pro) card. That's a handy feature.

I have a similar dashcam setup, its a single dashcam that records in 4K; not sure of the data rate but it has to operate every day after sitting in the car's 130+ internal temps. In this day and age I think every single driver should buy and install one for every car they own. These days if its not on camera its very hard to prove guilt or innocence. I don't even know what card is in it (I think its a Lexar), it came with a 32GB microSD card and its worked fine ever since. Dashcams are another area where its important to get a reliable one that can work without issues and mainly that can withstand the heat of sitting in a car in direct sunlight for hours at a time. There's no point in buying a dashcam that fails the one time you really need the footage.

I read somewhere that there are really only two SD and microSD card manufacturers, Lexar and SanDisk. Anything branded anything else is a rebranded Lexar....not sure how true that is. In most reliability tests I've seen SanDisk consistently slightly edged out Lexar so years ago I decided to standardize on SanDisk for all of my memory card needs.

That is good to know that the EVO II will warn you when there are write performance issues; its better to find out that way then after a day's footage has been lost.

 

[GeekOnTheWing]

I have a similar dashcam setup, its a single dashcam that records in 4K; not sure of the data rate but it has to operate every day after sitting in the car's 130+ internal temps. In this day and age I think every single driver should buy and install one for every car they own. These days if its not on camera its very hard to prove guilt or innocence. I don't even know what card is in it (I think its a Lexar), it came with a 32GB microSD card and its worked fine ever since. Dashcams are another area where its important to get a reliable one that can work without issues and mainly that can withstand the heat of sitting in a car in direct sunlight for hours at a time. There's no point in buying a dashcam that fails the one time you really need the footage.

I read somewhere that there are really only two SD and microSD card manufacturers, Lexar and SanDisk. Anything branded anything else is a rebranded Lexar....not sure how true that is. In most reliability tests I've seen SanDisk consistently slightly edged out Lexar so years ago I decided to standardize on SanDisk for all of my memory card needs.

That is good to know that the EVO II will warn you when there are write performance issues; its better to find out that way then after a day's footage has been lost.

I need the dual cams because where I live, the population roughly doubles in the summer; and the downstate folks have a habit of tailgating. It's [usually] not aggressive driving. It's just that the three-second rule is a fantasy in the NYC Metro Area. If you allow three seconds of distance, three cars will pull in front of you. They bring that habit with them.

The problem is that the deer around here must be chronically depressed because they keep trying to end it all by leaping in front of moving vehicles. So if I have to stop short to avoid a deer and get rear-ended in the process, I want both the deer (to establish the reason) and the guy who rear-ended me (to establish who was at fault) to give to USAA.

I suspect Samsung is a primary SD card manufacturer, as well. They certainly have the capability.

 

[herein2021]

I need the dual cams because where I live, the population roughly doubles in the summer; and the downstate folks have a habit of tailgating. It's [usually] not aggressive driving. It's just that the three-second rule is a fantasy in the NYC Metro Area. If you allow three seconds of distance, three cars will pull in front of you. They bring that habit with them.

The problem is that the deer around here must be chronically depressed because they keep trying to end it all by leaping in front of moving vehicles. So if I have to stop short to avoid a deer and get rear-ended in the process, I want both the deer (to establish the reason) and the guy who rear-ended me (to establish who was at fault) to give to USAA.

I suspect Samsung is a primary SD card manufacturer, as well. They certainly have the capability.

I live in FL, here you need one because of tourists who slam on the brakes in the middle of the highway and then dash across 4 lanes to try to make up for the exit they just passed, and the pedestrians who are usually also tourists and will step out into incoming traffic without ever looking up from their cell phones.

We also have a lot of scammers here who increase their insurance coverage then try to get you to hit them so that they can get a payday; they will deliberately slam on their brakes and wait to see if you hit them before completing their turn into a driveway or parking lot. The worst is the pedestrians who jump on your hood and then claim you hit them. This happened to someone I know and they had to pay $50K to a bicyclist who fell into their car at a stop sign then claimed they hit him.

Another person I know had it happen to them with a skateboarder; the skateboarder actually ran into their car at the stoplight but then said the car was over the pedestrian marking signs so they claimed it was the drivers fault....there was no proof either way so the driver was found at fault. Then of course there is the famous Venus Williams car crash (FL again), as soon as I read the article I thought all she needed was a dashcam to prove 100% what happened.

I have thought about getting a rear dashcam as well and my current dashcam has a data port to support a second camera but its a hassle running the cable all the way to the rear window in an SUV and here in FL if someone rearends you its pretty much 100% always their fault for following too closely no matter why you braked.

I think Samsung is probably an OEM as well, but who knows.

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

Anyone looking at cards, I will suggest one further point... rather than picking up one larger capacity card (i.e. 256Gg), grab two smaller (i.e. 64Gb) capacity cards from the same tier/manufacturer (providing specs remain consistant).

If you are following recommended processes and reformatting before each day's flying, you'll likely never fully utilize that higher capacity. As well, having 2 twin cards automatically provides backup in case of card failure, theft, ect. Same investment, more wide ranging protections. YMMV.

 

[herein2021]

Anyone looking at cards, I will suggest one further point... rather than picking up one larger capacity card (i.e. 256Gg), grab two smaller (i.e. 64Gb) capacity cards from the same tier/manufacturer (providing specs remain consistant).

If you are following recommended processes and reformatting before each day's flying, you'll likely never fully utilize that higher capacity. As well, having 2 twin cards automatically provides backup in case of card failure, theft, ect. Same investment, more wide ranging protections. YMMV.

This is good advice, I think my largest regular drone memory card is only 64Gb and I have never filled it up. If you carefully plan your flights, and only record when the drone is in position and your exposure, drone movement, and everything else is already configured you really typically only need a few seconds of footage. But if you press record on takeoff and don't press stop until you land, you will have a mountain of useless footage which will quickly fill up a memory card.

The big exception of course is if you are filming events where you don't know when/where the action will happen. I also have an emergency spares kit in my car, it has two of every type of media my various cameras need just in case something happens during a shoot or I forget to bring the proper media. I have found you can get some really good deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday for storage. These days though the "smaller" chips (128Gb and below) are pretty inexpensive year round.

Now in my spares kit everything is 256Gb including the microSD cards, that way I can even use them with an adapter in my other cameras if I need to.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

I absolutely offload and reformat every day and each session starts anew. however, I don't necessarily think smaller is better. certainly I will not fill up the larger cards, in fact 32gb is plenty as a recreational flyer. I don't hit start and stop at the end of the day but close to it. I find that buying the best card for the money based on capacity is my best bet. there was a time when 256gb cards were insanely expensive. now that they are cheap, it only makes sense to buy one for a few dollars more than the equivalent 128gb counterpart. my thinking is I don't want to end up with a bunch of cheapo small capacity cards that are essentially worthless. I have several dozens in the 16gb and below range and most are out of service. for my drones, I tend to use the same card for half the drone's life and then I move to a better card. in turn, that card is re-assigned to a GoPro or another camera or an older device, maybe a tablet or a cellphone. by then, it really doesn't help if it's 64gb so I'm trying to keep up even if I cannot use all of the space today. 6k is here, 8k is coming. and I'm not sure for how long I can continue to offload a day at a time. also, I'm the type of person who puts one sd card in one device and that is where it lives; devices don't share. for several years, I have been keeping track (copy and paste below):

Current:
* Samsung mobile phone: Main (unk 4gb), Mobile (1gb to transfer apk files); currently there is none in the mobile phone
Innovv C1: out of service
*Innovv C2: (exFAT) now featuring Sandisk Endurance 64gb
*Innovv C2: Ducati helmet mount (sdcard pulled) "Ducati Rider" and sometimes ducati-rear-facing (update: this camera will not function properly as a rear-camera since it will stop recording due to vibration CONFIRMED)
Sonim RS60: Lexar 32gb
*Innovv C3: Ducati front (Samsung 128gb Pro) now (Sandisk Endurance 64gb) but back to (Samsung 64gb) because endurance should go in drone (update: as of jan 2021 this camera is empty)
innovv K2: ducati primary front (Samsung Pro 128gb)
*Garmin Virb Elite white: (currently empty and out of service: was Samsung 64gb) this camera is basically destroyed so it's in a bag in pieces (may 2018) TRADE-IN FOR GP8 10/2019
Garmin Virb dark: Lexus passenger mount (sd card slot empty) out of service
Mobius Wide: Lexus rearward Sandisk 128gb (may need more space)
Mobius Regular: Ducati 1199s rearward or handlebar (Sandisk 32gb that needs to be erased) camera currently idle
**GoPro Hero 3+: Chest Mount Motorcycle (Sandisk Pro 128gb) now (Samsung Pro 128gb) and finally (128gb Sandisk black)
Dimika: out of service until back in service starting June 2018 (no microsd card assigned)
Samsung Smartcamera: in home (Samsung 128gb)
Dbpower: clone gopro camera mounted lexus overhead: no name 2gb
Call Duty camera (came with a 4gb camera); as of May 2018, this camera is destroyed and out of service (parts are placed in a bag, battery is the problem)
**CooliCam damaged Red (Sandisk 8gb that used to be in Mega), in service starting May 2018 for Ducati 1199 rear camera; share one microsd card with both red and blue cameras; currently Samsung 32gb
CarCam (looks like your traditional car camera used in the ashtray): microcenter 32gb
Stealth (Wyze v1 cam) w/64gb Samsung for continuous recording
Departure (Wyze v2 cam) w/64gb Sandisk for continuous recording
ezviz1: 16gb (unknown manufacturer)
ezviz2: 32gb (unknown manufacturer)
GoPro Session (Samsung Evo 128gb)
SQ11 (Sandisk 32gb) out of commission; microsd card pulled
SQ11 red (sandisk 2gb) use only for short term recordings
new camera Tenker (microcenter 32gb)
Garmin Drive 50 gps device has a 1gb microsd card in it (for backup uses)
Fire Tablet red7 (samsung 16gb)
Fire Tablet red8 (none)
Fire Tablet black (none)
Osmo Pocket (Samsung 64gb) now (Sandisk 128gb)
Osmo Action (Sandsik 200gb)
Dji Crystalsky: Samsung Evo 32gb
skydio 2: sandisk extreme 128gb
Tripltek: PNY Elite-X 128 gb

mavic 2 zoom Samsung 128gb not (Samsung 64gb) is this in innovv c3
dji goggles: Sandisk 64gb U3 (switch to using a blank extra samsung 64gb regular)
dji smart controller: (samsung 32gb)
dji mini 2: samsung evo 64gb sold mavic mini 1
DJI Mavic Air 2: Sandisk Extreme Plus 64gb
Autel EVO 2 Pro: sandisk extreme plus 128gb

GoPro Hero 9 Black: Sandisk 128gb U3 A2 V30 Extreme
goPro Hero 8 black: Sandisk 32gb U3 A1 V30 Extreme

GoPro Max: Samsung 256gb U3 Evo Select

extras not yet in service:
*Sandisk 64gb U3 A2 V30 Extreme Plus
Samsung Evo 64gb (originally from Innovv c3)
(2) microcenter 32gb
*HyperX 256gb U3
Sandisk 32gb
*Sandisk Extreme 32gb (was evo 2 pro)
+Sandisk Extreme 128gb u3/a2 (from b&h)
+PNY Elite-X 128 gb (NIB-must test)
Lexar 1066x silver 256gb U3 A2 v30

 

[frosty beach]

I decided to standardize on SanDisk for all of my memory card needs.

+1

 

[LeoJR]

don't forget to test your card before putting it to work!

Apologies if this has been asked and answered already... Can I test the speeds of the card on my computer?

 

[herein2021]

Apologies if this has been asked and answered already... Can I test the speeds of the card on my computer?

Below is a link to the software I have used in the past to benchmark my video editing systems, I have not tried to use it on an SD card but it does have an option to pick a drive and test it so I assume it would work for SD cards as well. All I have ever used was the trial which is nearly fully functional. It is my favorite software to use to find the slowest hardware in my computer so that I can upgrade/troubleshoot those components first if I start having HW performance issues.


Passmark

Download PassMark PerformanceTest - PC Benchmark Software

Benchmark the speed of your PC computer hardware, then compare the result to other machines. Includes disk, 3D and CPU tests.

www.passmark.com

 

[GeekOnTheWing]

By way of an update, I'm still using the two PNY Pro Elite cards I bought originally, on an alternating basis, with no problems. I also bought two additional ones that are still in their wrappers.

I mainly shoot video at 4K/60, sometimes continuously from takeoff to landing if I'm practicing maneuvers.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

thanks for the update, I also mostly shoot continuously and it's about half 4k and half 6k and I use various microsd cards from pny to samsung, sandisk to generic. unlike other cameras, the evo2 doesn't seem to be picky about the media. I haven't really experienced cards that won't format correctly or videos that end up corrupted. I almost never use the internal memory space and I copy off all media from the card after every session and then reformat the card in the drone just before the start of the next session.

 

[GeekOnTheWing]

thanks for the update, I also mostly shoot continuously and it's about half 4k and half 6k and I use various microsd cards from pny to samsung, sandisk to generic. unlike other cameras, the evo2 doesn't seem to be picky about the media. I haven't really experienced cards that won't format correctly or videos that end up corrupted. I almost never use the internal memory space and I copy off all media from the card after every session and then reformat the card in the drone just before the start of the next session.

I had the drone complain about a Samsung Extreme (not Pro) card a few times. The app kept telling me that the card was writing slowly, or some such thing. I went shopping for new cards and found the PNY's on sale at Wally World, so I bought two. I'm still using them. I've bought two more since.

I do carry spares (same model card), however. Nothing lasts forever.

 

[GeoDrone SRL]

After a couple of "slow memory" from Sandisk Extreme Pro, we have switched to 64 Gb Micro SD from Canvas React Plus. Is working flawlessly, the copy speed on computer is far exceding Extreme Pro.
We have left Extreme Pro's for Air2S that seems to be OK with it, all Autels Evo2Pro 6k now works with Card Kingston Canvas React Plus + SD Reader 64GB, R/W: 300/260 MB/s, UHS-II, Class 3, V90, exFAT