As expected, as Silicon Power did the same thing with their more expensive 1100X Compact Flash series, the Superior Pro SD card series comes not in a shipping container but rather in a cardboard sleeve with clear plastic insert for the SD card itself. While SD cards are not exactly robust in nature we doubt many will be killed from ‘blunt force trauma’ while in transit making this a minor issue at best. More to the point, many Secure Digital cards come in cardboard sleeves these days so this is not entirely without precedent. It is just disappointing to see on a series called a ‘Pro’ series.
Also like the recently reviews Superior CF 1100X series, the Superior Pro SD media card series does not exactly come with a lot of accessories. In grand total you will get a serial number and download instructions for their decent if not standout recovery software application… and not much else. Unfortunately, this means that the typical SD card buyer is going to have to include the cost of after-market storage/transportation case into their budget. Once again this is a black mark against Silicon Power for not including a darn near de-facto standard accessory. While such an oversight can be forgiven and explained away as a price lowering feature on an uber-expensive model like the 1100X… the Superior Pro SD card is meant for mainstream users at comes at a mainstream price. There simply is no excuse for Silicon Power to have cut this corner and it does tarnish an otherwise decent first impression.
The Superior Pro SD media card series makes use of the original – or ‘full size’ – Secure Digital format. IE it has dimension of 32.0×24.0×2.1 mm and is not meant for phones or tablets that use the mini or micro SD form-factor. Instead this series really is meant for phones and other similar devices that have room onboard for a ‘full sized’ media card. The upside to this is that there is more room inside these svelte plastic chassis for NAND. Just make sure your device can handle its dimensions or you will be sorely disappointed when you get home with your shiny new purchase.
Of course, as this sample is 64GB in size and the capacity options for this series go to 256GB, this is a SDXC compatible Secure Digital format series. Unfortunately, and in a very surpassing turn of events, once you flip the card over you will instantly know it is not a Ultra High-Speed II enabled device. Instead it uses the older, slower UHS-I interface. For those who do not know the difference UHS-II specification added an ‘extra row’ of connectors to boost performance into the stratosphere (relatively speaking). Since this extra row of connectors is missing it is a UHS-I and not UHS-II (or the recently announced UHS-III specification) device.
In basic terms this means speeds are going to be decent but not stellar. This is why the Superior Pro series ‘only’ has a read specification of 90Mb/s and a write of 80MB/s and not 300/260 like Lexar’s high end ‘2000X’ series which is also meant for professionals. Opting for the older standard for a ‘Pro’ series certainly is a controversial choice as it has been awhile since a top of the line series from any manufacture relied upon UHS-I.
By the same token UHS-II acceptance has been slow to say the least with very few mainstream cameras accepting them. Instead UHS-I is still the ‘industry standard’ of choice. What this means is that you are not wasting money on paper specifications that you probably will not be able to take advantage of. Instead when you try and plunk a UHS-II SD card into a UHS-I device… you get UHS-I speeds and the extra cost of UHS-II gained you nothing but bragging rights. Also in its favor is unlike a lot of UHS-I cards these days it does offer a guaranteed minimum write speed of 30MB/s… so maybe Silicon Power is correct as the pros make purchasing decisions based on real-world performance and not theoretical. It still is controversial and eyebrow raising none the less.
Other than the use of the older 104MB/s UHS-I bus Silicon Power really did not make any missteps. Good form-factor, good interface, good NAND. All combine to create a lasting impression that is sure to please… now if they would only start including clam-shell storage accessory and we would be happy. In either case, let’s see what this card can really do.
