Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent SD card for high-volume professional use
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2019
Staff photographer for a Honolulu-based publisher here. These are probably my favorite SD cards EVER. Transfer rate is fast, never had an error message or lost data. Bought my first one about 9 months ago, now have 5 64gb & 1 32GB Tough cards.
I use these cards in: Canon 5D3, Sony A7R III, Fuji XT3, Fuji GFX 50R, Fuji X-H1. They are the fastest writing SD cards I’ve experienced, consistently. No, I didn’t time it so it’s just a seat of the pants feeling. But they’re very fast. No issues running 4k/60 on the XT3 and buffer clears FAST in high speed drive modes.
Durability wise this thing is literally a wafer of machined aluminum. Its reassuringly solid and jingles like a coin when you drop it on concrete. Its definitely gonna be “tougher” than a plastic SD card but a determined person could still bend one with their bare hands. The real value in these cards (in my opinion) is not the fact that you can submerge them in water or that they are metal. It’s the fact that Sony effectively eliminated the two most common mechanical failure points in SD cards with the Tough card design.
Number one is that stupid “Write Protect” switch. Nobody I know uses it, and if you shoot all day, every day and pull your cards in and out of your camera like 4x - 8x a day....well after a year of daily use (and having never once moved the switch at ALL), the write switch will fail and your card ends up stuck in write protected mode even when it is set to read/write. It happens to our Sandisk, Lexar, and Sony SD cards with switches all the time. It’s pure genius they just ditched it. The Tough cards should last longer because of it, making them a better value in the long run.
Number two are those stupid little thin plastic guide tabs to the sides of the gold contacts on the bottom of the card. With heavy daily use, those little plastic tab things have a tendency to break off. Usually in your Mac’s SD card slot on the worst possible day for it to do so. The Tough cards don’t have them. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner? Your Macbook will thank you. Also, these should last longer for heavy daily users, making them a better value.
If you are a hobbyist, amateur or even low-volume professional user, you could save a few bucks, buy a Sandisk Extreme Pro card, and be just fine. The mechanical failues I’m referring to aren’t going to make you lose the data on your card. And there are other cheaper cards with similar water resistance, etc that would give you similar peace of mind. But if you fall into the “high volume” use category, just expense them already. They’re worth it and will save you a few bucks in the long run.
Yes, they cost a bit more than other cards. And as durable as they are, they aren’t indestructible. But for heavy, daily, professional use they are worth the money and then some, because Sony fixed two mechanical design flaws found on every other brand of SD card I’m aware of. I’ll update if any issues arise.
