Lexar’s New FLY microSD Card is Made Just for Drones and Action Cameras

Lexar has announced a new, affordable UHS-1 microSD card series that it says is made specifically with drones and action cameras in mind.

The new “FLY” microSD memory cards promise reliable performance and were designed specifically for use in drones and action cameras. Lexar claims they are able to quickly capture, playback, and transfer media files in up to 4K resolution thanks to write speeds of up to 90 MB/s.

On that note, Lexar promises read speeds of up to 160 MB/s on all capacities of the FLY series, which is particularly fast given that the cards are only UHS-1, U3, and V30 rated. The 64GB capacity has the weakest performance of the group, promising only up to 60 MB/s write speeds. The 128GB and the 256GB capacities both improve on that with up to 90 MB/s write speeds.

The company doesn’t provide data on the sustained read and write speeds, however, and stipulates that actual performance may vary. Given that they are only V30 cards, photographers and filmmakers shouldn’t expect more than 30 MB/s read or write speeds.

The benefit of these low-end specifications is that they’re very affordable to produce. As such, Lexar’s FLY series cards are extremely inexpensive: the 64GB capacity costs $14, the 128GB capacity costs $18, and the 256GB capacity costs $29. Considering many photographers are used to seeing prices in the hundreds of dollars for CFexpress cards, Lexar’s asking price is basically pocket change.

Lexar mentions the cards are designed specifically for use in action cameras and drones, and that appears to mean they’re made to be durable — even in “harsh” conditions.

“Specifically made to endure the elements during drone and action-cam photography, the Lexar FLY microSDXC Card is the perfect choice for adventurers, content creators, and drone enthusiasts,” Joey Lopez, Director, Brand Marketing at Lexar says. “With capacity options up to 256GB, users will have plenty of storage space to capture all their adventures, explorations, competitions, and more.”

The cards come with a particularly impressive warranty: 10 years. That’s more than double what is typical among even high-end memory cards. The FLY series also has an operating temperature of between -13 and 185 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 to 85-degrees Celcius) and an even wider storage temperature: -40 and 185 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 to 85 degrees Celcius).

The FLY series is available starting today.