SanDisk has just set the bar for SDHC performance by announcing the SanDisk Extreme Pro. With write speeds up to 45MB/s, the company has upped the ante from their previous Extreme cards by 33 percent (30MB to 45MB). Let’s dive in to find out more about these blistering fast SD cards.
The SD 3.0 specification was expected to take off last year after Toshiba announced UHS-I SDHC cards with write speeds of up to 80 megabytes per second. That promise never materialized into a product release. Luckily, SanDisk has come to the rescue with the UHS-1 Extreme Pro.
As you’ll notice from the product picture, the 45MB/s has an asterisk. This is because that’s the burst speed, however the card does have a “video-rated minimum sustainable write speed of 10MB/sec”. So what’s the cost for these premium SDHC cards? Currently the 8GB SanDisk Extreme Pro is $109.99, meanwhile the 32GB version is $349.99. In comparison, the older 30MB/sec SanDisk SDHC cards sell for as low as $170.
So is double the price worth a 33 percent boost in performance? Well that depends on how you use your camera. The SanDisk Extreme Pro is targeted at the “prosumer”, a DSLR friendly folk who loves high-end gear. The benefits of the faster card are only seen once the buffer of the camera is passed. For the Nikon D7000 this occurs after 18 photos are taken.
As the saying goes, you have to pay to play. Is the SanDisk Extreme Pro making it on your must have list year?
Out Now | SanDisk | $109.99 – $349.99
