In a digital world, long gone are the days of taking photos, sending them off to be developed and eagerly awaiting their return to see what pictures you actually took and if they are any good. These days we all have a phone that is a small and portable entertainment centre, not just making phone calls, but playing games, taking pictures, watching videos and listening to music. To be able to do all these things, we need somewhere or something to store all the data on. Whatever device we are using, from phones to digital cameras, action cams to drones, and tablets to security cameras, we will need to store the captured information and one of the easiest ways of doing that is with a memory card, as unlike cloud storage, no internet connection is required.
There are lots of different types of memory cards including SD, microSD, Compact Flash and PCIe. microSD is probably the most common as it is used in phones, cameras, drones, sat navs, dashcams and more, but some can be prone to damage through water or moisture, dust, different temperatures and of course, because they are so small, getting lost!
Manfrotto design and manufacture equipment for the professional photographic world. That includes equipment such as tripods, camera clamps, camera bags, lighting support equipment and memory cards. Their memory cards are made with professional photographers/videographers in mind and are made to a high-quality, durable and tough rugged standard – industrial strength, reliable, with unparalleled speed.
If you take a lot of photos and/or videos and value them, then a good quality memory card is a must. People are very visual creatures, and the use of images helps capture and remember our most precious memories, so having a reliable storage device that is much more reliable and rugged than cheap unbranded cards you can pick up for a few pounds is a very worthy investment, especially as better quality cards won’t break the bank.
Memory cards are a very good storage system. They take up very little room so are easy to store, they have no moving parts so they are much less prone to damage from movement or dropping and are protected from shock a lot better than hard drive or even CD or DVD media.
Manfrotto kindly sent me one of their 128GB microSDXC (the XC means extra capacity) memory cards from their professional Pro RUGGED range to try out.
The Manfrotto ultra high-speed (UHS) microSDXC cards feature:
- 90MB/s Read
- 90MB/s Write
- V30 – 660X – UHS I
- Perfect for drones, gimbals and action cameras
- Suitable for temperatures -25° C to 85° C
- Fully sealed and moulded to make them waterproof & dustproof
As the microSD cards are tiny, not really any bigger than your thumbnail, there really isn’t too much to say about the physical description except that it looks just like any other microSD you will have ever see, just printed with the Manfrotto name and the capacity of the card. It also comes with a larger microSD adapter so that you can use it either as a microSD or SD card.
Most microSD cards that you probably have in your phone or even digital camera will possibly be a Class 10 card (writes at 10MB/s) or lower. The Manfrotto cards write at a very fast 90MB/s, which is perfect for capturing high definition 4K video recordings. The 128GB version of the Pro RUGGED card will store 31 minutes of 4K video (15 minutes of 6K video), you can halve this for the 64GB version.
If you are using the card to store images, the 128GB card will hold 20,320 photos at 18MP resolution. That should be enough for most people’s needs.
The Manfrotto Pro RUGGED range of memory cards are also one the toughest and most durable memory cards on the market. Not only can they still work in a extreme heat or cold settings (Suitable for temperatures -25° C to 85° C) but they are fully sealed and moulded making them dustproof to protect them and the data stored from foreign debris (dust is a big data killer) and waterproof – they can be submersed in water for up to 3 days (72 hours), so you don’t have to worry about losing your data (although I would recommended backing up the data to another storage system like the cloud, my phone does an automatic backup when I place it on my wireless charger).
If you value the images and videos that you capture then I recommend purchasing a good quality memory card, whether that is an SD card, microSD card, compact flash card or a PCIe card and I can highly recommend the Manfrotto Pro RUGGED cards. I have been using the Manfrotto microSD in my phone to take pictures and videos with no issues. I have also been using it in my laptop to transfer data back and forth and it really does read and write very fast, with no data loss or corruption. If you are recording video in 4K then it is definitely the best speed card for this function but 128GB is the minimum size that you really have for 4K recordings. And the bonus is that the 128GB UHS-I microSDXC card from Manfrotto only costs £44.95 at its full price but is currently on sale with 50% off so is a bargain at only £22.48!
A word of warning when buying memory cards. You should always buy from reliable and reputable dealers as there are a lot of fake memory cards around that will no doubt fail, causing you to lose any data you have stored on it (or in some cases, not even recorded the data in the first place).
If you are looking for a high-quality, reliable, durable and fast memory card I can recommend the Manfrotto Pro RUGGED range. I have used their tripods and phone clamps in the past and have been very impressed with the quality and have no doubts the memory card will be the same.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £44.95
For more information or to buy, visit www.manfrotto.com.
DISCLOSURE: I received this product for free for the purpose of writing an honest and impartial review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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