Lexar Professional 1000x CompactFlash 600x SDHC Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


Lexar, part of the Crucial / Micron group, are known as the professional choice for photographers, and with that they also command a price premium for their products. We find out if it's justified in our review of the latest high speed cards: the Lexar Professional 600x SDHC UHS-I memory card, available as 16GB or 32GB or SDXC 64GB; and the Lexar 1000X Professional Compact Flash card available as 16GB, 32GB or 64GB.

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Features

Key Features

• CF: 1000x (150MB/s)
• CF: Video Performance Guarantee (VPG-20) specification
• SD: 600x (90MB/s)
• SD: Class 10 / UHS-I
• Includes downloadable Image Rescue 4 software
• Lifetime warranty

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Handling

Lexar Professional Compact Flash 1000x Sdhc 600x Rear

Handling - The Compact Flash card is a metal and plastic construction with labels on both sides. The card feels solidly built and does not bend or flex when torsion is applied. As with other Compact Flash cards there is a lip at the back to aid removal from CF slots.


Lexar Professional SDHC 600x Contacts

The weakness of many SD memory cards can be found underneath - with the plastic dividers between the contacts being delicate. This isn't a problem on all cards, but is most noticeable on Lexar cards - these will easily break off, and can lead to reliability problems with the card. This is most likely if you regularly take the card out of the camera to put into a memory card reader - something many people will do to avoid reducing battery life or to avoid using the cameras (often proprietry) USB cable.

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Performance

To test the read and write times of these cards, we used a USB 3.0 card reader and the latest version of CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64. For digital cameras, the write time is the most important aspect as this determines how quickly you can write photos from the camera to the card. The read time is important when you want to copy the photos from the card onto your PC or view them in playback mode on the camera.

CompactFlash comparison MB/s:

SDHC Comparison MB/s:

Value For Money

The 32GB Compact Flash card from Lexar is £185, and is the only 1000x UDMA 7 card currently available making it difficult to find direct competitors, however the closest card we could find, is the 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro Compact Flash card with 90MB/s and UDMA 6 priced at £115. However compared to the price of SDHC cards, it's around 2-3 times more expensive. The 32GB SDHC card from Lexar is £55, with the nearest alternative available, the Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC 95MB/s available for £53. additional url for Warehouse Express affiliate links
 

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Verdict

These Lexar Professional cards offer excellent performance backed up by a lifetime warranty with the CompactFlash offering the best performance and durability of the two. The SDHC offers extremely quick performance, however it is difficult to recommend the card when the connections are so flimsy. Both cards offer quick good value for money as high speed cards and are the fastest cards we have tested.
 

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Pros

Extremely fast read/write times, particularly the CompactFlash card
Image Rescue 4 software included
SDHC card offers good value for money
Lifetime warranty

Lexar Professional CompactFlash SDHC Cons

Flimsy connections on SDHC cards
High price for CompactFlash
Needs USB3 to benefit from these speeds when copying to PC

		1000x CF		600x SDHC
FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
VERDICT