INTRODUCTION

   If you happen to own a dash camera then you probably already realize the importance of pairing it with a high endurance micro SD card which is able to withstand both the highest and lowest possible temperatures (some dash camera models get very hot during operation and not just in the summer). Of course, the same exact thing applies for professional photographers who take pictures in very cold and warm places. That being said there are many models currently in the market which claim to be fit for such environments but actually very few of those models are marketed for that specific feature. In April this year Kingston released their High Endurance line of micro SD cards and today with us we have the top of the line 128GB model.

   Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America.

   The High Endurance line by Kingston currently includes UHS-I U1 Speed Class 10 micro SDXC cards in 32/64/128GB capacities (somewhat limited here but higher capacity models should be available soon). All micro SD cards feature an rather impressive operating temperature range spanning from -25 degrees Celsius and all the way up to 85 degrees Celsius and as for performance numbers (clearly not as impressive however) Kingston reports 95MB/s read and 30MB/s write for the 32/64GB models and 95MB/s Read and 45MB/s Write for the 128GB model. Finally, Kingston covers the entire line with a 2-year limited warranty and reports endurance numbers of 5.000 hours for the 32GB model, 10.000 hours for the 64GB model and 20.000 hours for the 128GB model.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE HIGH ENDURANCE 128GB

Kingston uses blister packs for their High Endurance line so you can see the card prior to purchasing it.

A few words about the product along with its 2-year limited warranty are printed at the rear of the package in several languages.

Just the card is included in the blister package (an SD adapter would be nice to have however).

The model name, capacity and speed certification are all printed at the top of the card.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

    Memory cards are pretty much identical to flash drives so to make things easier for everyone we'll be using roughly the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read and write data transfer numbers. The benchmark suites we'll be using for our memory card tests are HD Tune Pro (Read - Write average and max speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read - Write performance), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (4GB Read / Write speeds) and ATTO (Average Read / Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

    As with all our storage reviews all tests are performed on our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a HyperX Predator 480GB PCIe SSD with all updates installed up to the day of this review (for ATTO and Crystal Disk Mark cards are formatted using the NTFS file system – however partitions need to be removed for the write tests of both AIDA64 and HD Tune Pro).

TEST RESULTS – AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS – HDTUNE PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

CONCLUSION

   Kingston doesn't hide the fact that their High Endurance micro SD cards are not the fastest ones out there (the UHS-I U1 Speed Class 10 certification also clears that right from the get go) but still performance numbers of up to 99MB/s in read and 45MB/s in write are plenty for most uses and more than enough for even 4k recording on dash cameras (we performed that test with the DR900S-2CH model by BlackVue which practically records both the front 4k and the rear 1080p feeds on the card simultaneously). The only drawback the high endurance line has (at least for us) is the limited capacity selection since 128GB is not nearly enough for today's demands (especially for 4k video recording).

   Memory card prices have taken a huge dive lately and so currently you can get your hands on the High Endurance 128GB Micro SD card model by Kingston for just USD29.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for just 21.49Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). The state of prices currently is also one of the reasons we’d like to see 256/512GB capacity models in the high endurance line (512GB for like USD90 would be very nice to have) so we do hope Kingston makes that move soon. Bottom line after testing the high endurance 128GB model by Kingston in areas with temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius (-25 wasn't possible at this time) we strongly recommend the entire high endurance line especially for use with dash cameras where temperatures (both high and low) are often a serious issue.

PROS

- Performance
- Temperature Range (Minus 25 / Plus 85 Degrees Celsius)
- Endurance (20.000 Hours For The 128GB Model)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Available Capacities