The best readers are cross-compatible with Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Chrome. Extras Today, a card reader is so much more than a basic device for reading memory cards.

After recently, it seems obvious that we all need to move more and more data around, faster and faster. So how to choose which SD card reader for getting pictures and videos off our cameras? Looking on Amazon.com reveals a whole mess of USB 3.0 SD card readers.

From the original on 2017-02-04. From the original on 2016-06-16. How much ram is needed for windows 10. Retrieved 2016-06-22.

Some as cheap as $5, others are more expensive costing $10 and $15. But how do you really know what you’re getting? The average Amazon.com review isn’t all that comprehensive. Three USB 3.0 SD card readers were picked from the pile (all around $10), put under the microscope, and then a bunch of SD cards were thrown at them to see what happened. Surprisingly, each SD reader had its own advantages and disadvantages with no clear winner. Choosing which one will come down to personal preference, mostly.

To get started, here’s a table covering all the basic features of each model: SD slot YES YES YES MicroSD slot YES YES YES Simultaneous SD-&-MicroSD no YES YES UHS-I YES YES YES UHS-II no no YES Activity Light YES ( blue) YES ( red) no Warranty 2-year 1.5-year 2-year Price $6.99 $8.99 $10.71 The Transcend is the cheapest at $7 for black and $8.50 for white. (Sometimes it can be had for as low as $5.) It also seemingly has the least going for it with no simultaneous support for both slots nor support for the relatively new Ultra High Speed 2 (UHS-II) bus.

On the plus side, it does have a soft, blue activity light on it. It’s also narrow enough that it is unlikely to block adjacent USB ports.

(The Anker and Kingston are both much wider and are highly likely to block adjacent USB ports.) The Anker is priced a couple dollars more, but can read and write from both the SD and MicroSD card slots simultaneously (each slot appears on the computer as a separate drive.) It also lacks support for UHS-II bus, but has a red activity light. The Kingston is a few dollars more and seems to be nearly perfect in that it has support for simultaneous use of both SD and MicroSD slots as well as providing “future-proofing” by supporting the relatively new UHS-II bus. The only thing it is missing is an activity light. Benchmarking Two SD cards (SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro) and one MicroSD card (Lexar 633x) were used in testing these SD card readers. All 3 cards are UHS-I capable. The SanDisk Extreme has a maximum read speed of around 72MB by all the readers.

The performance was nearly identical for all 3 readers with a small advantage to the Kingston in blocksizes below 64KB. The results with the Lexar 633x MicroSD card shows that not all readers are made equal. The Kingston is the fastest at 90MB/s, while the Transcend peaks at 88MB/s, and the Anker tops out at 84MB/s. A difference of about 7% from the two extremes.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro shows that again the Kingston dominates over the Anker, but only by 10%, at most. What conclusions can we draw from these tests? For SD cards whose performance falls: • Below 80MB/s, all 3 readers perform the same. • Above 80MB/s, there is marginal (5 to 10%) performance advantage with the Kingston and Transcend readers. Which to choose? They’re all pretty fast UHS-I SD card readers, so unless that extra 5 to 10% performance really matters to you, it mostly comes down to personal preference. With its support for the relatively new UHS-II bus.

No activity light, though., but does not support simultaneous use of both the MicroSD and SD slots. Still, it is nearly as fast as the Kingston, is narrow enough not to block USB ports, and has a cool blue activity light. And unable to really distinguish itself from the Kingston and the Transcend. The only cool feature it has is the rear snap-on cap to cover the cards on the back. That’s kind of nifty in the sense that the MicroSD and regular SD cards are contained in the unit and becomes something like a USB Flash Drive. But other than that, the Anker SD card reader is unremarkable. If you liked this article, please help spread the word using one of the social networking sites below.

Hello again, Pretzel, Thanks for the feedback. Here is a good resource I found (after much searching). I my mind, it very clearly comes down to the LEXAR, SANDISK, or the KINGSTON (for USB 3.0 multi-card readers). Speeds up to 150MB/s were achieved, whereas others peaked at 120MB/s. People don’t realize that the onboard software dramatically can change speeds. 1st limitation = your card’s speed. 2nd = the hardware.

3rd = software efficiency (where the brand name of the reader is often important). Based on my own research, the SanDisk is the most problematic due to very, very easily bent pins and terrible, cheap construction, but on a good PC system performs the fastest with SanDisk cards for sustained speeds — its probably the most attractive, however, the shoddy construction should NOT be supported in my opinion, as its a pricey unit and one bent pin destroys it. The Lexar card does well over-all on a Mac, and best with Lexar cards, it costs as much or more than the Sandisk but some think its ugly.