Welcome to our review of the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card.
Over the years, we at Droneblog have used and reviewed many, if not most, of DJI’s recommended cards. From SanDisk to Samsung to Lexar, we thoroughly test key features such as read/write speed, overall data capacity, durability, and value for the money.
When out in the field, either taking photos and videos recreationally or for paying clients, the last thing you want is to get home and find that the SD card in your drone did not save your media, or the media did save but is corrupt and totally unrecoverable.
Although data corruption can and does happen for a variety of reasons, including the current outdoor conditions when filming, the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card has proven to be dependable.
The Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is a quality card that minimizes the chance of data corruption and performs consistently in the manner and speeds needed to capture the moments you envision.
Who is the Lexar Silver Plus MicroSD Card for?
Like many other MicroSD card manufacturers, Lexar has SD cards for everyone and every budget.
Lexar’s Silver line sits between their entry-level Blue series and Lexar’s high-performance Gold series.
The Lexar Silver line of SD cards targets those who take their videography seriously and are keen on capturing 4K Ultra HD footage, which most higher-end and prosumer drones produce.
For fans of SanDisk and also those on a budget, the Lexar Silver Plus is slightly less expensive than SanDisk Extreme Pro cards of similar capacities.
Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card Use Cases
This year our company recently embarked on a project for a large Florida residential land development company.
The Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card was the perfect card for one of the Mavic 3 Pros used for the construction project.
While the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is a great choice for drones, it can be used in many more devices outside of drones.
These devices include:
- action cameras
- handheld gaming consoles
- cell phones and tablets
- dash cams, and pretty much anything that can record to an SD card
Likewise, aside from just using the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card in the Mavic 3 Pro, we also used it in a pinch with one of our ground cameras. It worked flawlessly in both our drone and Sony camera.
Personal Thoughts on the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card
When looking for SD cards, two things that I consider are the size of the card (storage capacity in GBs) and the read/write speeds.
When it comes to card size, I generally stay in the 128GB and 256GB range. This, in my case, is a safe margin when purchasing and accumulating cards for any of the current or future Autel and DJI drones we own or plan to own.
The Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is the perfect size for the type of drone work my company primarily focuses on; Real Estate and Construction.
Storage Capacity
How much media does 256GB actually store, minus the tech speak?
Below is a comparison chart of the most used and popular sizes of SD cards. This can help in determining the right-sized card for your drone.
This chart is based on the DJI Air 3 and DJI Mini 4 Pro’s maximum 48 MP photo option at 98MB/photo, rounded up to an even 100MB, and the 12MP photo option at 25MB/Photo.
Photo Storage Examples
| Card Size (GB) | 48MP 100MB Photo | 12MP 25MB Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | 320 | 1280 |
| 64 | 640 | 2048 |
| 128 | 1280 | 5120 |
| 256 | 2560 | 10240 |
| 512 | 5120 | 20480 |
Below is a comparison chart of how much storage is used in shooting various lengths of 4k 60fps video footage.
Video Storage Examples
| Video length | Size at 4K/60 FPS – 150 Mbps |
|---|---|
| 60 seconds | 1.09 GB |
| 5 minutes | 5.45 GB |
| 10 minutes | 10.9 GB |
| 30 minutes | 32.7 GB |
| 1 hour | 65.4 GB |
| 5 hours | 327 GB |
| 8 hours | 523.2 GB |
Read/Write Speeds
I mentioned that another very important aspect of choosing the correct card is the read/write speed.
On the front of the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card, there is an image of a bucket-badged U3. This is the UHS (Ultra High Speed) class rating of the card. There is also a V30 on the card. This is the video speed class.
UHS Speed Class 3 has a minimum of 30 MB/write speed. The Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card has a maximum 150MB/s1 write speed. This number and speed is significant, as U3 is the only speed class that can write at the speed required for 4K video.
Even if you are not planning on filming 4k+ video, the write speeds of the SD card were beneficial when I was doing 3-5 frame AEB (auto exposure bracketing) for Real Estate work. The images were written very quickly to the card, without the pauses I have experienced in the past with slower cards.
I’d be remiss to mention the read speeds of the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card, which are a maximum of 205MB/s1.
Because I personally do massive amounts of photo and video editing, these speeds ensure that I am quickly able to transfer files from the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card to my Mac, thus expediting my workflow.
Additional Thoughts
Something I really appreciate about the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is that, like the Samsung Evo Select series, it is a very durable card.
Using drones requires outdoor work, work that can oftentimes get a little rough, to say the least.
The Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is a tough little card in a multitude of areas:
- IPX7 waterproof
- wearproof
- drop-proof
- temperature-proof
- x-ray-proof
- shockproof
- magnetic-proof
- vibration-resistant
All of this protection is wrapped up in a very reasonably priced package, costing less than many of the popular SD cards currently offered, ones I have bought regularly.
To say my company has come to depend on the Lexar Silver Plus 256GB MicroSD Card is an understatement. We completely rely on the card when doing our more rugged shoots, and plan to acquire more for our entire fleet as time goes by.
