The Best MicroSD Cards for Your Camera, Switch, and More
Buy one The MicroSD card can be a little intimidating. There are a ton of numbers to consider, a huge number of brands producing cards with similar features and names, and words like Pro, Extreme, and Express are thrown around everywhere.
Long story short, unless you take a ton of photos and videos, and you do it even semi-professionally, where losing those photos could damage your professional reputation, you can buy a MicroSD card from any company whose name you’ve ever heard of. I prefer PNY, SanDisk and Lexar cards. Keep an eye out for the “U” symbol with a 3 inside, or a “V30” on the map for the best balance of speed and price. There are two exceptions to this suggestion:
If you shoot with a high-end camerayou should consider a V60 MicroSD card, if you can find one at a reasonable price. Some cameras have additional video features that you can enable with a faster MicroSD card, so check your manual for more information on whether you need to upgrade.
If you buy a Nintendo Switch 2, you will need an unfortunately more expensive MicroSD Express card. Although you can transfer images and videos from your Switch 2 with most regular MicroSD cards, you’ll need an Express version to use it to run games.
Ability
The amount of storage you need will largely depend on your needs, but there are a few things to consider when debating between 128GB and 1TB. The first is that MicroSD cards are tiny and having to swap them out midstream can be a risky proposition. Costs tend to increase exponentially for 1TB and 2TB cards, but the gap between 256GB and 512GB isn’t that big, so I recommend going up a bit in size.
The other factor is that storage sizes are also separated by different standards, so you need to make sure your device actually supports this larger card. The higher 64GB cards are technically “SDXC” for extended capacity, and are currently the most common type, and you should be able to use them in most modern situations.
Speed
If you want to learn more about MicroSD speeds, we have an article with a full explanation of the different speeds and how they interact, but I’ll also give you a quick overview here.
Each MicroSD card will have its actual minimum sequential write speed indicated by a letter and number on the card. The number indicates the speed in MB/s, with the letter representing the generation. A C10, U1, and V10 are all essentially the same speed, just written differently, so you’ll likely see multiple symbols printed on each card. I recommend checking out the SD Association’s page on speeds with a handy chart showing the full comparison.
In practice, you should go out of your way to find a MicroSD card slower than the V30/U3 at most retailers, although you may find them included with some electronics that don’t require anything more substantial.
