Humble SD card may be one of the most scary points of failure for photographers. Consider your entire shoot stored on a delicate plastic wafer: What can you do to protect your images “in flight”? Lexar’s reply with armor gold is to rugged to maximize the SD card format, it is to eliminate the points of metal and failure. But does it still make for a good memory card?
This card is a novel on a format with a long heritage, in a market which has been highly focused on the unique discovery of speed. While still very fast (the second fastest SD card of Lexer), Armor gold The primary mission is the most difficult SD card you can buy. I am shooting with 1 TB version to find out whether this is a gimmick to focus on physical flexibility or is an important feature for working photographers and videographers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-yydtw9urw
Construction and design
The first thing you notice when you handle the armor gold card. Instead of specific plastic shell, Lexer has used stainless steel. The difference is immediate. It seems to be sufficient and solid in a way, with no other SD card-it looks like a metal-frame CFEXPRESS Type A Card, allowing some shooters to become familiar. Importantly, it maintains complete compatibility with the SDXC format and behaves like a regular SD card you are use to use.
Lexar claims that this metal shell has pressure resistance up to 370 N, which is clearly 37 times more than a standard card. While I did not have a hydraulic press job, I have no doubt that it could cope, drop, drop, or even turned in a way as if no plastic could take SD card.
This focus on durability is just beyond the eye -catching metal cover. The card has an IP68 rating, which means that it is sealed against dust and can be submerged in water. For anyone who shoots in the rain, dusty place, or near the sea, it provides an important level of assurance. It has also been rated to withstand drops of more than 16 feet and to work in excessive temperatures.
I feel particularly interesting, however, there are subtle design changes. Lexar removed the delicate plastic connector ribs and, in particular, the right-paint switch. These are two of the most common physical failure points on an SD card, and their removal is a smart design decision. This card has literally terminated some methods that can break a standard card. Of course, if you are a fan of the Right-Protect Switch, you have to look else for your next card.
Specifications and performances
While the headline feature is stability, it is still a high-demonstration UHS-II card. It is rated as V60, which guarantees the minimum continuous writing speed of 60 MB/s. In my trial, it easily handled it, read the maximum speed of 205 MB/s with the lexer advertisement and up to 280 MB/s.
This level of performance is higher than enough to the vast majority of creative functions. I found that there was no problem in recording 4K and 6K video streams without a single dropped frame. For photography, it lived with my camera long, high-speed continuous bursting, cleaning the buffer efficiently. When the time came to lift the files, the 280 MB/s read speed created for a quick and painless process.
This card is V60, however, not like V90 Lexar’s own 2000x lineThis means that this may not be an ideal option for shooting shoots in high-bitrate 8K video formats. However, Sony users will be given better service from CFEXPRESS Type A Card anyway in my opinion in 8K shooting. But for almost every other application, from high-resolution photography to 6K videos, the performance of Kavach Gold is rock solid.
For whom is this card?
The armor gold is in a very specific and important niche. This is a card designed for professionals that give importance to peace of mind to everyone. I see it as a perfect solution for adventure, travel and wildlife photographers who are working in unexpected and rigid environment. Protection against water, dust and effect is a solid benefit when you are away from home.
It is also an excellent option for any manufacturer that often handles its media in the field. Wedding and event shooters who swap cards several times a day and hand over them to assistants or other shooters, they will appreciate strong construction, as this card may be imprinted to carry a better knocking and ding.
On the other hand, if you shoot primarily in a controlled studio environment and your cards can be safe, immoral travel between your camera and your card reader on your desk, the increased durability can be overcome.
price
This brings us to the main idea for many potential buyers, which is the price. Lexar Kavach Gold Card carries a premium for its unique construction. You can find other cards with similar V60 performance levels, such as Lexar’s own 1800x series, For low price.
The question you want to ask is what you get extra cost. You are not paying for megabytes per second with this model; You are paying for peace of mind. For the right user, it is easily worth the premium, especially compared to the real financial or iconic risk of lost images. For a budget-conscious user who is not facing environmental risks, a more traditional card (and a dual-slot system) may be more understood.
Lexar 1 TB Kavach Gold represents the UHS-II SDXC card that looks like a peak of SD card design. It takes this familiar, close-to-surface standard and confirms it against all the common points of all failure, maintaining excellent performance. This indicates that a product is still a place for meaningful innovation in the category that we often provide. While its speed is not the fastest in the market, its physical flexibility seems to be unmatched.
Lexer Kavach Gold UHS-II SDXC is available for purchase In 128 GB, 256 GB, and 1 TB capacity.
What did i like
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Thanks extraordinary physical durability to stainless steel design.
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The IP68 rating provides confidence in harsh conditions.
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A simplified design with a right-appearance switch eliminates normal SD card failure points.
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Perform suitable V60 up to 6K video.
