PNY PRO Elite review: An affordable microSDXC card for extra storage

Just over a week ago, we took a look at an SDXC card from PNY. The company manufacturers memory cards, flash drives, and solid-state drives at slightly more affordable prices than more well-known OEMs.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Our PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card review takes a look at their 256GB UHS-1 microSD Card with read speeds of up to 100MB/s and write speeds of up to 90MB/s. Read on for our full review!

Specifications

The PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card has the following features and specifications:

Format	microSDXC
Interface	UHS-I
Speed Class	Class 10
App Speed Class	A2
Video Speed Class	U3/V30
Capacity	128, 256, 512GB, 1TB
Read Performance	Up to 100MB/s
Write Performance	Up to 90MB/s
Compatibility	• Android smartphones, tablets, action and surveillance cameras, drones, computers • With adapter: Point & Shoot cameras, DSLR cameras, standard & advanced HD-enabled video cameras, and desktops & laptops
Other features	Temperature, shock, magnet, and waterproof

What’s in the box

• PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card
• SD Card adapter

Design

There’s not much to say here; an SD card is an SD card. They’re all the same shape and design. The PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card is black and grey in colour, with the card specifications printed on the front. The included SD card adapter is black, has a microSD card slot, and a locking tab on the left side.

Performance

The PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card is rated at up to 100MB/s read speed, 90MB/s write speed, and is UHS-1 rated. The packaging also indicates the card is good for A2 app performance and V30 video capture.

As I usually do with storage drives and memory cards, I ran it through several benchmarks on their default settings.

AS SSD Seq Read	86.77 MB/s
AS SSD Seq Write	75.88 MB/s
ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Read (max)	88.44 MB/s
ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Write (max)	80.42 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark Seq Read (Q8T1)	91.95 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark Seq Write (Q8T1)	83.62 MB/s

I averaged around 2921 read/1500 write speed during the 4K test, 3020 read/6152 write speed during the 4K-64Thrd test, and 3740 read/1285 write speed during the 512B test during our IOPS test. In practice, this means it falls short of the performance metrics required by an A2 rating for app performance use (4000 IOPS minimum random read and 2000 IOPS minimum random write speed). It does, however, easily surpass the A1 app performance rating of 1500 IOPS read and 500 IOPS write speed. Of note, I performed these tests with the adapter card, so I’m not sure if they’d be different testing the card alone, but I suspect it shouldn’t make much of a difference. Benchmarks are great, but real-world performance is what matters most. Of note, the PNY card did slightly better on the IOPS tests than the Samsung PRO Plus SDXC card we reviewed previously.

I dropped the PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card into my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera with the included adapter. While shooting RAW files in continuous burst mode, I was able to take 23 pictures in about 2 1/2 seconds before the camera would stop firing. It then only took about another 10 seconds for the write operation to complete on the memory card. While copying a 2GB file from my computer to the card, it took about 27 seconds. Finally, running apps off it on a smartphone didn’t seem that much different than running them off the internal storage, so you should be good there even though it doesn’t quite meet the A2 rating from our testing.

Price/Value

The PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card is very reasonably priced for the smaller sizes. Starting at $21.99 for the 128GB version, our 256GB review sample will only set you back $34.99. The 512GB card is priced at $99.99, which is comparable with more popular OEMs. The 1TB version will set you back $194.99, roughly $30 cheaper than other OEMs. With similar performance to the Samsung PRO Plus, they are definitely more affordable.

Wrap-up

If you’re looking for extra storage for your smartphone, security camera, drone, or another device that takes microSD or SD cards, the PNY PRO Elite microSDXC Flash Card offers good speeds at a more affordable price than other more popular OEMs.

Last Updated on March 24, 2022.