PQI 64GB SDXC Class 10 Flash Memory Card Review

[Apoptosis]

PQI 64GB SDXC Class 10 Flash Memory Card Review

Back in December 2010 PQI announced that they were releasing an all-new SDXC Class 10 memory card that was 64GB in capacity! The PQI 64GB card breaks SDHC's former high capacity limit of 32GB by doubling capacity up to 64GB and upgrading the Class 10 SD 2.0 interface to high speed SD 3.0 specifications with the exFAT file system. Read on to see how this card performs against some popular 32GB SDHC memory card!

The 64GB PQI SDXC card has a very impressive storage capacity with respectable performance numbers. For example the Canon EOS Rebel 550D/T2i DSLR camera records HD video and the user's manual recommends at least Class 6 memory cards in order to record 1080p video smoothly. The PQI 64GB SDXC card should be able to keep up when recording 1080p video and images in continuous burst mode. Having a card that pushes 20MB/s read and write also means you can easily offload all of images and videos from the memory card to computer...

Article Title: PQI 64GB SDXC Class 10 Flash Memory Card Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1549/1/

[Kaos Kid]

Sweet card! These new SDHC flash mem cards have already made HDD camcorders obsolete IMHO. Who needs a HDD or even a fixed flash drive when these cards pop in and out so easily for transference to your computer?

[Tator Tot]

Sweet card! These new SDHC flash mem cards have already made HDD camcorders obsolete IMHO. Who needs a HDD or even a fixed flash drive when these cards pop in and out so easily for transference to your computer?

This is actually SDXC, not SDHC. Symantics but it actually matters as only SDXC slots will accept these cards (and SD or SDHC cards.)

Still, it depends. I know someone with an HD Camcorder that uses 2.5" HDD's, since the performance doesn't really matter, just the amount of storage; it can be cheaper to get an HDD.

Though these certainly cut back on the weight and increase the battery life by a mile.

[Kaos Kid]

I hadn't been paying attention to that new format, are you saying that my older media reader that can read SDHC cards cant read this newer format? I guess I would have to get a new media reader. My Canon SD1100IS' specs make no mention of SDXC, only SD/SDHC. To use this I would have to upgrade a couple of other items too, I see.

[Tator Tot]

Yeah, you'll need a new Camera and Reader for the SDXC cards.

It's not like SATA or USB where there is backwards and forwards compatibility.

[Kaos Kid]

Yeah, you'll need a new Camera and Reader for the SDXC cards.

It's not like SATA or USB where there is backwards and forwards compatibility.

Well then lets get to work on that shall we?

I'll expect the adapter prototype on my desk by Wednesday morning

[Apoptosis]

Yeah, you'll need a new Camera and Reader for the SDXC cards.

It's not like SATA or USB where there is backwards and forwards compatibility.

Not totally true...

I used three readers on this PQI 64GB SDXC card:

SanDisk ImageMate Multi-Card Reader SDDR-199-A20
Kingston USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 19-in-1 Media Reader
Nippon Labs Internal Card Reader - NL-ICR-D2T

All of them would read the card just fine and were released before the SDXC spec was finalized. Even my Canon SD770 IS from early 2008 worked just fine with this card. You can't format the card with these cameras, but it will work in them just fine.

Does anyone know of a good SDXC memory card reader?

The only one that I found that specifically mentions SDXC is one from Rosewill for $15 -

Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820223114

[bubba]

When the SDHC cards came out all I had to do was a firmware update to my card reader to read/format the SDHC cards. Before you run out to get a new reader see if you can do a firmware update. Same for notebooks.

[Tator Tot]

Yeah, you'll need a new Camera and Reader for the SDXC cards.

It's not like SATA or USB where there is backwards and forwards compatibility.

Not totally true...

Well "officially" it's not supposed to work. SO more or less it's not a guaranteed success. You'll want a compliant device. Some devices will work with a Firmware update; and Windows XP will work with a driver from the SD Org's website (and a driver for exFAT file system.)

Does anyone know of a good SDXC memory card reader?

The only one that I found that specifically mentions SDXC is one from Rosewill for $15 -

Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820223114

There's one more as well, from Belkin, though it's the same model. Rosewill's vendor ID is the same (so it means they just re-branded it under their name.)

If I recall, we should see some SDXC-USB 3.0 readers soon. Which will be great for these cards, as their would be no bus (USB 2.0) limiting their data transfer rates.