Does the class of Micro SD card matter?

[LapetusOne]

I need to buy a new Micro SD card for my Mavic 2 Pro.
I was wondering if any of you know if there's a real world difference between these cards?

http://a.co/d/6RB1D1p
and
http://a.co/d/6Rhny1l

Right now it only looks like read and write rates, but I just wanted to make sure I won't lose any functionality with buying a cheaper card.
Thanks,

 

[InvisibleName]

Not an MP2 owner, but the general view is: as fast as you can get, that should cater for when you record in 4K

 

[MadScientist]

I believe you need the '3' card if you want to shoot 4k

 

[Gringorio]

I'd definitely go with the UHS 3, not the UHS 1.

Found this good explantion on the Google:

"The first question is by far and away the most common today, and asks to find the difference between U1 and U3 rated SD cards. What is being asked here is what the difference is between UHS-1 Class 1 and Class 3 cards. In simple terms, UHS-1 Class 1 has a min write speed of 10MB/s, and Class 3 has a min write speed of 30MB/s, and we’re talking also here about increased sustained write speed.

This is a significant difference, and especially critical when recording large amounts of data rapidly, as would be the case recording 4K video. If you’re shooting a small sensor, and just street shooting or portraits, this may not matter much, so just adjust according to how you shoot. Check out the video below to see just quite how much faster the U3 is."

 

[hidaven]

Class 3 all the way. UHS is less important as a UHS 1 card is fine for 4k 30FPS. Since we will never get 4k 60FPS I wouldn't worry : )
I have (2) UHS1 cards and they work fine with video and stills. You do need class 3 however. Also factor in that you need to read to get the data back to the computer so Read and write speed is important.

 

[InvisibleName]

Hey, I’m glad I made my somewhat useless comment, I’m learning so much about SD cards!

 

[leenanj]

U3 for sure, what was fast enough in my Mavic 1 is giving me a slow card warring in the Mavic 2

 

[LapetusOne]

I just bought a U3 card just to be sure.
They don't make Micro SDs faster than that do they?

 

[jb.]

There are a few things being conflated here, so here's the rundown on what all those markings on the cards actually mean.

SD, SDHC and SDXC - This is just the size of the card, honestly. SD cards topped out at 2GB so we got SDHC which topped out at 32GB... and then we got SDXC which tops out at like 2TB.

Speed Class (this is the number in a circle... the options are 2, 4, 6, 10) - It's the minimum write speed in MB/s (so class 2 is 2MB/s, 10 is 10MB/s, etc.)

UHS (this is the I or II on the card) - This is the UHS level on the card. UHS-II cards have an extra row of pins that require that the slot also be UHS-II. AFAIK no DJI products ship with a UHS-II slot, so UHS-I cards are fine. In some devices UHS-II cards can actually perform worse than UHS-I cards.

UHS Speed Class (this is the 1 or 3 inside of the U) - This is the minimum write speed. 1 is 10MB/s, 3 is 30MB/s. Both of these should also have a Class 10 marking from the old speed class.

Video Speed Class (V6, V10, V30, V60, V90) - These are the higher speed classes and represent the minimum write speed in MB/s... so a V90 card can write 90MB/s at a minimum.

Nearly any good card is going to outperform its speed class, especially at the higher end.

So, how fast of a card do you need? The max bitrate on all DJI drones available right now that record to SD is 100Mb/s. Bitrates are measured in bits (b) and the card speeds we're talking about are measured in bytes (B), so you have to divide the bitrate by 8 to figure out how many MB/s you need. The answer is 12.5MB/s. To be safe, I'd stick with cards that can support at least 15MB/s write if not 20MB/s. Anything faster than that is wasted on the drone side of the equation. It will not record better, smoother 4K no matter what you want to believe. The frame rate also doesn't matter because no matter what 4K frame rate you're shooting, it's being shoved into the same bitrate of 100Mb/s (12.5MB/s).

I run Sandisk Extreme (not Extreme Pro) cards in my DJI drones and have had zero issues with the card speed ever. They're reasonably cheap as well for tier-1 cards.

Buying a 90MB/s card for a drone that records at 12.5MB/s is a waste of money unless you need really speedy downloads and have the card reader (not your $20 Walmart special) to support it.

 

[LapetusOne]

There are a few things being conflated here, so here's the rundown on what all those markings on the cards actually mean.

SD, SDHC and SDXC - This is just the size of the card, honestly. SD cards topped out at 2GB so we got SDHC which topped out at 32GB... and then we got SDXC which tops out at like 2TB.

Speed Class (this is the number in a circle... the options are 2, 4, 6, 10) - It's the minimum write speed in MB/s (so class 2 is 2MB/s, 10 is 10MB/s, etc.)

UHS (this is the I or II on the card) - This is the UHS level on the card. UHS-II cards have an extra row of pins that require that the slot also be UHS-II. AFAIK no DJI products ship with a UHS-II slot, so UHS-I cards are fine. In some devices UHS-II cards can actually perform worse than UHS-I cards.

UHS Speed Class (this is the 1 or 3 inside of the U) - This is the minimum write speed. 1 is 10MB/s, 3 is 30MB/s. Both of these should also have a Class 10 marking from the old speed class.

Video Speed Class (V6, V10, V30, V60, V90) - These are the higher speed classes and represent the minimum write speed in MB/s... so a V90 card can write 90MB/s at a minimum.

Nearly any good card is going to outperform its speed class, especially at the higher end.

So, how fast of a card do you need? The max bitrate on all DJI drones available right now that record to SD is 100Mb/s. Bitrates are measured in bits (b) and the card speeds we're talking about are measured in bytes (B), so you have to divide the bitrate by 8 to figure out how many MB/s you need. The answer is 12.5MB/s. To be safe, I'd stick with cards that can support at least 15MB/s write if not 20MB/s. Anything faster than that is wasted on the drone side of the equation. It will not record better, smoother 4K no matter what you want to believe. The frame rate also doesn't matter because no matter what 4K frame rate you're shooting, it's being shoved into the same bitrate of 100Mb/s (12.5MB/s).

I run Sandisk Extreme (not Extreme Pro) cards in my DJI drones and have had zero issues with the card speed ever. They're reasonably cheap as well for tier-1 cards.

Buying a 90MB/s card for a drone that records at 12.5MB/s is a waste of money unless you need really speedy downloads and have the card reader (not your $20 Walmart special) to support it.

Wonderful reply, thank you!!!

 

[jointeffort]

Can someone please post an amazon link to purchase the recommended card?

 

[LapetusOne]

I bought this and love it: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extr..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=RCE1A4J4GVJJXVSJTCGZ

 

[Tree_Top_Flyer]

There has been an ongoing problem with counterfeit cards being sold by non Amazon vendors through Amazon.

I would strongly recommend that if you buy memory cards of any kind from Amazon that you only buy them when they are Sold by Amazon and Fulfilled by Amazon. Look for "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com."

Otherwise check at B&H Photo Video, Adorama or Best Buy.

These Ship from and are sold by Amazon.com -
Amazon - SanDisk 64GB Extreme microSD UHS-I Card with Adapter - U3 A2 - SDSQXA2-064G-GN6MA currently $18

Amazon - SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSD UHS-I Card with Adapter - U3 A2 - SDSQXA1-128G-GN6MA currently $30

B&H has the same price
B&H - SanDisk 64GB Extreme PLUS UHS-I microSDXC Memory Card with SD - on sale right now for $18 plus $3.50 shipping


Also from my experience, don't by any type of memory or storage product until you need it; the prices are always going down.