Strontium Nitro Plus Micro SD Card

Singapore-based Strontium last month launched their new flagship line of Nitro Plus UHS-I Speed Class 3 (U3) SD and microSD cards. Boasting read speeds up to 80MB/s and write speeds up to 60MB/s, these cards will keep up with 4K Ultra HD recording and playback bandwidth demands. Do the Nitro Plus cards live up to their speed claim?

Strontium sent the 64GB microSD card for review. I have to commend Strontium on designing product packaging that is not frustrating to open. No scissors required. Just an easy tear on the back flap. It’s a welcome relief after having struggled with packaging from so many other brands of SD/microSD cards.

The Strontium microSD cards, which are also available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, come with a USB card reader and SD adapter. Nothing fancy about them, but certainly thoughtful and perfectly functional.

The first order of business is to run speed tests. My test computer is my trusty Retina MacBook Pro, which includes a SD card slot. The Nitro Plus microSD card was tested via their included SD adapter. I used Bonnie++ for benchmarking.

Side note: I’ve been using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for benchmarking previously. Both Blackmagic and Bonnie++ measure sequential read/write speeds, but the latter produces more consistent results. Bonnie++ also does more tests, including random seek tests and other tests to measure filesystem operations.

The following table shows the Strontium Nitro Plus 64GB microSD card’s performance, together with some other microSD cards I happen to have handy.

	Write (MB/s)	Read (MB/s)
Strontium Nitro Plus 64GB microSD	66	89
SanDisk UHS-I 32GB microSD	14	45
Generic UHS-I Class 1 microSD	16	45

As you can see, Strontium’s Nitro Plus 64GB microSD card does live up to, and exceed, their claim of 80MB/s reads and 60MB/s writes. The speeds are quite impressive. It’s actually a lot faster than the minimum performance specified for UHS-I Speed Class 3, which is just 30MB/s.

The Nitro Plus cards are waterproof, though I don’t suggest you test that intentionally. They are also magnet proof and x-ray proof.

Strontium also throws in a free full version of Rerware’s MyBackup Pro Android app, worth US$4.99 (S$6.37) on the Google Play Store. MyBackup Pro can backup contents of your Android smartphone to microSD card or cloud storage (on Rerware’s servers). Backups can be automatically scheduled. The app seems to get a pretty good rating on the Google Play Store, although I’ve not used it personally.

The Nitro Plus line includes both SD cards and microSD cards. As mentioned earlier, microSD cards are available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. They retail at S$32.90, S$60.90, and S$120.90 respectively. The full-sized SD cards are available in the same capacities at the same price, and additionally include 128GB at S$210.90. Unlike their microSD counterparts, the full-sized SD cards don’t include the USB card reader and SD adapter. The Nitro Plus cards are available from major IT retailers such as Challenger.

I usually suggest just getting microSD cards, since they are the most flexible. You can use them in your smartphone and your camera. The latter usually uses a SD slot, but with an SD adapter, your microSD card will work nicely. There is no speed penalty using SD adapters, because they are electrically passive.

Conclusion

Strontium Nitro Plus microSD cards deliver spectacular performance for all your photo and video needs.

Pros:

• Speed is really awesome
• MicroSD package includes USB card reader and SD adapter
• Frustration free packaging

Cons:

• A little pricey

Strontium is currently running a Strontium Shop & Win promotion where you can win up to $8,888 in cash and prizes. The promotion runs from 15 May 2014 to 31 August 2014, and any purchase of Strontium Nitro Plus, Nitro, or Nitro Lite products will entitle you to participate in their Monthly Lucky Draws and Car Decal Grand Draw. Check their promotion webpage for details. There’s still time for the 1st draw!