Lexar Professional 1000X 256GB SDXC Camera Storage Card

Lexar Professional 256GB 1066X SDXC

MPG tested the Lexar 256GB Professional 1000x UHS-II SDXC Memory Card (2-Pack, Class 10, UHS Speed Class 3) using a variety of card readers:

• Built-in SD slot on the 2015 MacBook Pro Retina. (slow reads)
• Hoodman USB 3.0 UDMA Reader (slow reads)
• The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader (UDMA 7) LRW300CRBNA reader. This is older than the LRW400CRBNA and much slower for reads. (slow reads)
• Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader LRW400CRBNA — recommended as it can read both SDXC anbd CompactFlash.
• Lexar SD UHS-II reader (U3, Class 10) — recommended but only does SD.

Note: card readers matter for speed as standards change.

Read speed

Read speed was around 145 MB/sec, close to claimed, but only on the two fast readers as noted above (“recommended”). The built-in slot on the MacBook Pro runs at about half the speed for reads as the two fast card readers. Ditto for the other readers.

Write speed

Write speed was about 77 MB/sec on the fastest readers, marginally slower on the other card readers. Clearly the card itself cannot write much faster than that.

Compared to the blazingly fast Lexar 2000X 64GB SDXC card the write speed is not so hot, but it’s a tradeoff: about the 3X the capacity per dollar.

Summary follows the graph.
Graph shows only the two fastest card readers as discussed above.

Performance of Lexar 256GB 1066X SDXC

Conclusions

Performance in a camera could possibly could be better for writes, but my concern is mainly about using the cards for big downloads and/or for special-purpose backups (write performance), and I want those operations to be fast, not marginal, especially the write speeds.

Still, 256GB is a lot of space and that’s worthwhile to me when in the field so I do not have to erase the cards, letting them act as another backup for shoots on prior days.

Bonus usage: a backup of critical data (MPG’s at least) can fit onto a 256GB card, which fits easily into a wallet. It’s a great way to carry a lot of data in a tiny space.

In context, I have 512GB of storage for about $275 whereas the 2000X 64GB cards would cost about $800 for eight cards totaling 512GB. So all things in context—speed vs price and capacity. I have not tested the Lexar Professional 128GB SDXC 1000X cards. I suspect that they perform similarly to the 256GB cards, and they’re even a bit better price per GB.