Lexar 32GB microSDHC memory card review

Lexar 32GB microSDHC memory card review: "Back in January during the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lexar introduced a new 32GB microSD memory card for mobile devices. Last month, before I headed out to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress event, Lexar sent me (cost-free) one of the cards as part of its High-Speed microSD Card Performance Kit, which includes a USB reader.

I loaded up the card with music and video content and slapped it into the LG Optimus 2X that I was using for the trip, and used the combo to watch movies and listen to music during the flights as well as during the trip. Everything worked as expected.

But I wanted to see just how much faster this new Class 10 microSDHC card was compared to the SanDisk 16GB microSDHC (Class 2) cards I'd been using, so I tested the Lexar and SanDisk cards against each other using their own, included USB reader devices. What I found was no real surprise: the Lexar 32GB card was faster.

When it came to reading data off of the cards, the Lexar was only a hair faster. I copied off a group of files totaling 5.77GB in size from the cards and onto my PC's hard disk. The Lexar 32GB card and reader managed that in 5 minutes and 15 seconds. SanDisk's card took a mere 10 seconds longer. Not a huge difference.

When it came to write speeds, however, the difference was large. The Lexar package managed to write that same 5.77GB group of files in 9 minutes and 55 seconds. Not bad at all. SanDisk's 16GB card required 46 percent more time to do the same write operation: 14 minutes and 28 seconds.

When it comes down to real world applications, the write speed is often the part that keeps people waiting. Few applications, except perhaps HD video playback, require high bandwidth read rates that can't be offered by typical microSD cards. But when it comes time to load up a card with a lot of media files, the extra write speeds really help. The huge capacity won't leave you wanting, either.

Lexar sells the 32GB microSDHC Card Performance Kit on its website for $149.99."

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