We check out Transcend’s latest memory card!

Transcend has been a popular brand of choice for photographers and content creators for over a decade. They offer good value for money compared to their competitors, and their products have proven to be rugged and reliable.

For their updated portfolio of memory, Transcend has a new line called 300S. The new line of high-speed memory cards—distinguished by its silver color—caters to the growing demands of content creators and smartphone users. The 300S offers up to 95mb/s transfer speeds, which is essential in handling huge files like the ones produced by shooting and recording in 4K.

Let’s talk about the markings on the card

Here are what the markings mean in a nutshell: SDXC indicates it is a high-capacity SD card that uses an exFAT filing system. U3 means that it is a high-speed memory card that can handle 4K video recording and all Full HD video recording formats. A1 means it is speed-optimized for handling large apps like games and video. Lastly, V30 means that the 300S can be used for prolonged 4K recordings—which is crucial if you are recording 4K video.

While the 300S is offered in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities, only the 128GB has an A1, U3, and V30 certification, so it is highly recommended to get this variant if you intend to record high-quality 4K video footage with your action cameras, drones, or smartphones.

How fast is it?

Transcend claims that the 300s is rated for up to 95mb/s read speeds and up to 60mb/s write speeds. Those claims were quite close based on benchmark tests. In fact, the 300s did better than expected when we ran Blackmagicdesign’s Disk Speed Test. After running it with a series of tests, the 300S gave us a 76.2mb/s average write speed. For reference, we got a 63.3mb/s average write speed with the Sandisk Extreme.

Using AndroBench with the Nova 3i as our test bed, the 300S did better than the Extreme in all aspects except for Sequential Read, SQLite Update, and SQLite Delete. The 300S’ sequential read and write performance of 79.32mb/s and 59.95mb/s respectively is close to its claimed read and write speed.

In real-life tests, it took around two minutes to transfer 4.7GB worth of video footage to the 300S.

Is it worth buying?

Like most—if not all—Transcend memory cards, the 300S offers great value for money. The 128GB version is priced at Php 1,650 in Lazada, making it slightly affordable than its closest rival: SanDisk’s Extreme MicroSD, which is priced at Php 1,675 for the 128GB version.