In terms of SD Cards, SanDisk remained at the top of other brands. The reason for this is that they offer a wide range of memory cards targeted for different kinds of users. SanDisk has also built a strong reputation when it comes to reliability. One of the cards that they offer is the SanDisk Extreme Pro.
As the name says, it is focused on professionals who use SD Card as storage for their cameras. However, due to its excellent quality, even ordinary users prefer to buy the Extreme Pro model. It is ranked 2nd on Amazon’s best selling memory cards with the SanDisk Ultra claiming the top spot.
SanDisk Extreme Pro: Specifications
- Card Type: microSDXC
- Max Read Speed: 170 MB/sec
- Max Write Speed: 90 MB/sec
- Operating Temperature: -25ºC to 85ºC
- Warranty: Lifetime (limited)
- Check current price
SD Card Performance
SanDisk wouldn’t be on Amazon’s top-selling memory cards if it did not perform really well. It has been the favourite card for DSLR cameras and action cameras. The card might be overkill for smartphones but you can see customer reviews that are using the card on mobile phones.
Now, let us see how the card performs in terms of Read and Write speeds.
Write Speed
Having a fast SD Card for professional cameras and action cameras is really important, especially when we talk about write speed. The write speed indicates the capacity of a card to accept data from a camera at any given second. For example, a camera that shoots video at a resolution of 4k would encode data at a rate of 7.5 MB per second, for instance. This means you should get an SD Card with a minimum speed rating of 7.5 MB per second in order to perform well.
On paper, SanDisk Extreme Pro has a 90 MB per second write speed. Let’s see the numbers from Camera Memory Speed.
| SanDisk Extreme PRO | Seq. Write 1000MB MB/s | Rand. Write 512KB MB/s | Rand. Write 4KB MB/s QD1 | Rand. Write 4KB IOPS QD1 | Rand. Write 4KB MB/s QD32 | Rand. Write 4KB IOPS QD32 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexar Professional Workflow SR2 UHS-II | 87.703 | 50.538 | 3.359 | 820.0 | 3.323 | 811.2 |
| Hama USB 3.0 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 87.272 | 50.656 | 3.306 | 807.2 | 3.335 | 814.2 |
| Lexar LRWM04U-7000 UHS-II Reader | 87.200 | 50.337 | 3.353 | 818.6 | 3.314 | 809.2 |
| Hama USB Type-C 3.1 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 88.042 | 50.605 | 3.334 | 813.9 | 3.336 | 814.4 |
| Sony S1 High Speed UHS-II Reader/Writer | 87.338 | 49.639 | 2.430 | 593.3 | 2.548 | 622.2 |
| SanDisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II Reader/Writer | 87.229 | 49.850 | 2.480 | 605.5 | 2.579 | 629.6 |
Read Speed
Read speeds are really important. If you are about to transfer large files to your computer you want it to be quick. You don’t want to end up wasting your time looking at your computer for hours waiting for the file transfer to finish.
Having an SD Card with fast read speeds is essential for professional photographers who transfer a lot of content from their SD cards to other storage devices.
SanDisk Extreme Pro has a read speed of up to 170 MB per second. This shows the quality of SanDisk cards. Some brands would have great write speeds but lack of a decent read speed. If you are wondering how would it perform in a real-world scenario, check out the table below.
| SanDisk Extreme PRO | Seq. Read 1000MB MB/s | Rand. Read 512KB MB/s | Rand. Read 4KB MB/s QD1 | Rand. Read 4KB IOPS QD1 | Rand. Read 4KB MB/s QD32 | Rand. Read 4KB IOPS QD32 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexar Professional Workflow SR2 UHS-II | 99.241 | 91.151 | 5.703 | 1392.4 | 5.821 | 1421.2 |
| Hama USB 3.0 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 99.241 | 91.061 | 5.685 | 1387.9 | 5.844 | 1426.8 |
| Lexar LRWM04U-7000 UHS-II Reader | 99.222 | 90.650 | 5.692 | 1389.7 | 5.843 | 1426.4 |
| Hama USB Type-C 3.1 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 99.053 | 89.696 | 5.879 | 1435.2 | 5.876 | 1434.7 |
| Sony S1 High Speed UHS-II Reader/Writer | 99.006 | 81.500 | 4.360 | 1064.4 | 4.867 | 1188.3 |
| SanDisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II Reader/Writer | 98.932 | 82.201 | 4.580 | 1118.1 | 4.898 | 1195.8 |
SD Card Sizes
You can get the SanDisk Extreme Pro from Amazon in the following storage options:
- 64 GB
- 128 GB
- 256 GB
- 400 GB
What Devices Work Well with SanDisk Extreme Pro?
SanDisk SD Cards, in general, are compatible with almost all devices that support SD Card expansion. Here are some devices that this card, the SanDisk Extreme Pro would work well.
- Action Cameras (GoPro) – most action cameras use external storage to store videos and photos. GoPro specifically tends to be picky when it comes to SD Cards. The SanDisk Extreme Pro is proven to be 100% compatible with all GoPro models.
- Handheld Console – back in the days when PSP was so popular we use SD Cards to store digital copies of games. Today, we see the same thing on Nintendo Switch. SanDisk Extreme Pro has an ultra-fast read speed which is important for fast game loading on the switch.
- Smartphones – Although we see more and more mobile devices that don’t support SD Card storage expansion, there are still a number of smartphones that support it. Using cheap SD Cards on smartphones has a bad effect on slowing down the smartphone. this would not be the case with the SanDisk Extreme Pro, with its fast all around it is a great option if you plan on expanding your storage.
microSD vs SD: Make sure you get a microSD version of it if your camera or tech device only supports small microSDs. These usually come with a SD adapter in case you want to use your microSD with SD enabled devices.
Should You Get a SanDisk Extreme Pro for Your Camera?
The short answer to this is yes. SanDisk Pro offers great features like 4k video support, lots of storage capacity options, lifetime warranty, and high read and write speeds. But, if you want to stay on a budget, there are other models that SanDisk offers for a cheaper price, with similar performance.
Who should get the SanDisk Extreme Pro?
As its name says, SanDisk Extreme Pro was designed for professional users, such as photographers and videographers who need fast and reliable memory cards for professional cameras. The SanDisk Extreme Pro is great especially for someone who needs to capture photo burst (a sequence of photos that are shot very fast). The 90 MB per second write speed of the SanDisk Extreme Pro would shorten the time of transferring the data from the camera’s buffer to the SD Card. This makes your camera ready for the next shot faster and a better overall camera performance.
If you are going to buy the SanDisk Extreme Pro or any SD Card, make sure to get at least a 32GB or 64 GB. Cameras today capture high-quality photos and the file size for each photo also becomes larger. To give you an example, a 32 GB memory card would only record 1,5 hrs of video on a resolution of 1080P at 60 FPS.
Another thing to add, the 64 GB variant of SanDisk Extreme Pro is just a few dollars more expensive than the 32 GB which will give you double the storage capacity.
Still not sure about Sandisk Extreme Pro?
If you are looking for an alternative to the Extreme Pro, you can check the SanDisk Extreme Plus which is also a good option, especially for normal users. It has a decent read and write speed, offers a lifetime limited warranty, and also rated at V30. The SanDisk Extreme Plus is also available on 16, 32, and 128 GB storage options.
If you are still not sure what Sandisk SD Card to buy between the Extreme Plus and the Extreme Pro, check out their comparison review: Sandisk Extreme Pro vs Extreme Plus (SD Card Comparison)
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