Solid-state memory cards are complicated things, and so are the card readers you need to get your files off of them. The ever-evolving worlds of USB connectors, card types, memory types, and more combine to make card readers show their age almost as soon as they can be developed.
That said, outside of a few circumstances, you likely don’t really need to worry too much, as long as you have a fairly recent reader that’s compatible with the type of card you want to use. For our testing, we used the following readers:
ProGrade SD UHS-II Dual-Slot: This dual-slot, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, UHS-II SDXC card reader can also handle UHS-I, SDHC, and SD cards. It showed fast speeds in testing, but it wasn’t able to eke out the extra speed from some UHS-I cards that the OWC and SanDisk readers could.
SanDisk Professional Pro-Reader SD and microSD: This reader has one SD and one microSD slot, with a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1. It can handle up to UHS-I SDXC cards, as well as SDHC and SD. It costs less than the other readers here, and it’s made to squeeze out faster read and write speeds from UHS-I cards that have DDR memory in them (SanDisk brands this feature as QuickFlow Technology). The Lexar Silver Plus card we tested also seems to contain DDR memory, and it showed faster speeds with this reader and the OWC than with the others we tried it in. We don’t think this reader makes sense for most people because it can’t get the most from UHS-II cards, which have a physically different design with a second row of contacts.
OWC Atlas Dual SD: This dual-slot reader features USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 and supports UHS-II SDXC cards, along with UHS-I, SDHC, and SD. It showed fast speeds with both DDR memory cards and SDXC cards. From our test results, it seemed to get the most speed out of whatever card we put in it.
Sony MRW-G2: This dual-slot USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 card reader has a metal shell and supports CFexpress Type A 2.0, UHS-II, and SDXC cards. However, it didn’t quite get the fastest speeds out of either type of card. It also can’t work the DDR magic that the OWC and SanDisk readers do.
ProGrade CFexpress Type A: This single-slot CFexpress Type A 4.0 reader has a USB-C 4.0 interface that showed very fast results with any of the cards we put in it.
Angelbird PKT CFexpress 2.0 Type A: This reader didn’t have the speed of the other models we tested, but it’s diminutive (2.8 by 1.8 by 0.4 inches), so it’s an excellent option if you don’t mind sacrificing speed for portability. Read speeds in our tests were constrained below 940 MB/s, even when using cards that could move data much faster.
Glyph Production Technologies Capture+ CFexpress Type B USB4: This rubber-clad, single-slot Type B reader showed comparable speeds to the other Type B readers we tested. Glyph says it’s made to withstand rough treatment and to disperse as much heat as possible to prevent overheating.
OWC Atlas Cfx 4.0: This single-slot CFexpress Type B reader comes with a Type A adapter. Its speeds matched what we saw with both the ProGrade and Nextorage Type B readers. Like the ProGrade Type A reader, it uses a USB-C 4.0 interface.
Nextorage NX-SB1Pro: This single-slot CFexpress Type B reader has a USB-C 4.0 interface and showed very fast speeds.
ProGrade CFexpress Type B: This single-slot CFexpress Type B reader has a USB-C 4.0 interface, and it was capable of the same fast speeds we saw with the other Type B readers we used.
