Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you look closely at the description for this Samsung microSD card, you'll see fine print that states "Speeds may vary depending upon capacity." That's an understatement. After doing numerous tests on several different devices, the closest I could come to Samsung's speeds were 61% on a Gigabyte Aorus gaming laptop/ This is fast for a microSD card, but the 256GB version does not come even close to advertised speeds. PACKAGING: Be warned: The drive comes in a standard SD package, which is incredibly difficult to open. The only way to get to the device is by using a pair of scissors, of which I never have handy. It also includes the standard SD adapter for larger card readers. The card itself is a nice blue with white writing. TESTING: I tested this on several different systems and various interfaces including a Note 20 5G, desktop and laptop PCs using USB 3.2 Type A; USB 3.2, Gen 2, Type C Thunderbolt 4 w/adapter; built-in USB 3.1 laptop card reader and an external USB 3.1 card reader. The fastest speeds I got were around 97-98 MB/s read and around 84 MB/s write (photos attached) via Crystal Disk Mark. A real world test -- copying a 1GB video file from an internal NVMe SSD to this microSD card shows top write speeds around 70-75 MB/s, which is a little below half of the advertised speeds using the 512GB version. MY THOUGHTS: Overall, it's not bad. There aren't many classes of microSD cards that are this fast, but unless you get the most expensive one -- prices at well over $100 -- don't expect to get the advertised speeds. I would still recommend this, but as with most products from Samsung, you're paying a premium just for the name brand. You might get more value from a lesser-known SD card maker. However, if you find value and get peace of mind buying from a trusted name like Samsung, the go for it. It's not a bad deal. ATTACHED PHOTO CAPTIONS: First photo: Speeds tested via Crystal Disk Mark (64 bit) on a Gigabyte Aorus laptop with a 10750h CPU/16GB 2999Mhz DDR4 RAM. Second photo: Speeds tested via Crystal Disk Mark (64 bit) on a Dell Inspiron laptop with an 11800h CPU/16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM. Third photo: Real-world speed test in Windows 10 Pro copying a 1GB video file from a Gen 3X4 NVMe SSD drive to the SD card.