I recently bought a Micro-SD card reader to plug my Micro-SD card in it and make it accessible on PC. I had a doubt before on which one to buy since many of them comes in similar prices and doesn’t really say much in description other than marketing fluff.
So, here’s a small & simple guide to buy micro sd-card reader online in India for someone who are wandering this territory.
Buy one with Dual Support
There is no advantage these days to buy the USB-A only memory card reader since Type-C is a standard for almost every consumer electronic. Since iPhones have Type-C these days and many modern laptops also come with Type-C port, buying one with that keep one of your USB-A slot free and its value for money.
Pick the one with highest Reviews
This is a very general and no-brainer advice, but it doesn’t worth buying anything that has less than ₹500 review these days. You can make an argument that reviews could be fake, but it is a risk to buy something that has no review. Pick the one with max number of 4 stars. Devices like these typically has good or bad review.
Price and Reliability
Unless you are into professional photography, there is not much point of spending over ₹1000. Go with something that cost under ₹500. Prices of card readers usually lies between ₹249 – ₹500. You can buy one as cheap as ₹10 (I am not kidding, I’ve bought one) but they are good for couple of usage. If you’re into photography, you can go with the Lexar’s one, it is recommended by photographers on its review.
Read and Write Speed
I honestly recommend you to not go with promotional banners of flyers. You can look into the reviews for the speed, however that can vary with your hardware. For any modern micro-sd cards that comes in last 5-7 years (UHS1-UHS3), the speed will not be an issue, anything older than that will suffer from lower speed. A USB 3.0 compatible is recommended especially when you have a port that supports it. I glanced down the Amazon, and I found that many Micro-SD card these days comes in UHS1 and UHS3 standard speed (Class 10), the one bought a long time ago also comes with Class 10 UHS-3, there is not much change in this department other than higher storage. All in all, check the reviews and pick the one with atleast USB 3.0 supported SD card reader.
A Standalone Card Reader vs USB Hub?
USB Hub these days comes with Card Reader slot. They often support Micro-SD and SDHC (and its many variants) cards. It is upto you to pick one of them. For long-term and constant usage, I recommend you go with a standalone SD card reader, the one with type-c and USB-A off course. You can fancy yourself with a compatible USB Hub if you need one. Recently, I picked both of them as a separate entity, not just it cost cheaper to me, but it also an assurance that I don’t have to rely on a USB hub for accessing my card. If I had bought an all-in-one USB hub and it failed, I wouldn’t be able to access my card content.
The one I bought
I bought Digitek DCR-007. I am running an entire Linux into it, so I am not able to show you the reading-writing speed of this SD Card reader, but judging by the performance, it is working pretty fine. It doesn’t get hot and the performance doesn’t go down with long time usage. I recommend you buy this. As an alternative, you can grab this (Farraige All-in-1 Card Reader) one as well (check screenshot below).
If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 solution, I recommend you go with Portronic Mport USB Hub. I have used couple of their product and find them pretty good for a price that I paid.
Conclusion
All-in-all you have to buy the one with highest review rating and go with the most updated product that comes with UBS 3.0 atleast. You don’t have to worry yourself with something above ₹500, ₹249 – ₹500 is the sweet spot. You might find them cheaper offline but don’t go with something too cheap, they might not work for more than couple of usage. Card reader is not something you buy everyday for personal usage. They have a very specific use case, and you might not buy them again in 4-5 years unless you bought a pretty cheap one.
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