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Cheapest and Legitimate 32GB MicroSD Cards for Android Phones?

T

TheGarbageMan

Lurker
As far as I know, Android phones (Froyo 2.2 and higher) are the only ones that can support the 32GB Micro SD Cards so I was wondering if you guys could recommend me a place that sells the cheapest 32GB cards that are legitimate. I used eBay to buy a SanDisk 32GB MicroSD card from China and tried to copy all the data from my stock 16GB MicroSD on my Droid X but for some reason, when I tried to copy all that data to the 32GB card, it would fail after about ~80% of the data was copied and it would fail on a picture or MP3 subsequently causing me to reformat the card and try it again until the card stopped showing up in Mac, PC. When placed in my phone, it won't boot up at all unless I take the card out.

Using Google Product search, it seems there are some out there for around ~$50 but what brands would you guys say are trustable and places to buy them at for cheap? It seems as if anything made in China or sold on eBay is bad news waiting to happen. I currently have to ship the card back (paying shipping out of my expense) to get a refund and don't want to deal with this again. If you guys have special offers or coupon codes, that would be helpful as well!
 
Sandisk cards are frequently counterfeited (mostly in China, from what I see on the web) - it's very likely that's what happened to you. I recommend Newegg as a source - reasonable prices and great customer service if you have a problem. (I have no connection with them except as a satisfied customer.)

Transcend cards are usually good bang for the buck, but I'd avoid Adata personally. Dunno if either makes a 32 GB offhand.

Cheap cards on Ebay are very likely to be a ripoff.

PS. I have seen a page on the Ebay site that shows pictures of counterfeit vs. real Sandisk labels. Not sure of the URL but you might want to search for it.
 
That card looks incredibly dubious, not even a brand name. :eek:

Your best bet is to look at user reviews at Amazon or Newegg to see what experiences people report with a particular card.

AFAIK Kingston is a reputable manufacturer but I do not know how they stack up to others.
 
You get what you pay for. Buy an actual packages Sandisk card straight from them (as I did) or through a reputable retailer/etailer. If buying through Amazon, make sure it's sold by Amazon and not an affiliate.

They have a 5 year warranty. I bought tx32GB and one went bad. I got a new questions asked RMA replacement. The more data you pack in these and the higher the class speed, the higher the failure rate. As flaky as these things are, I'm not toying around. The 5 year warranty is gold.
 
TheGarbageMan said:
Using Google Product search, it seems there are some out there for around ~$50 but what brands would you guys say are trustable and places to buy them at for cheap?
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No different than any other internet purchase, really. You need to consider the seller as well as the brand. Use Reseller Ratings and similar tools if you don't already have a list of trusted and reputable sellers. For example, I know based on experience over the years and ratings that I can trust Newegg.

Prices that are too good to be true should be instant red flags. If you're using Google Product search then sort the prices and eyeball the curve. It's generally pretty obvious where the questionable seller cutoff is but maybe I'm just saying that based on years of internet shopping experience.

Medion said:
If buying through Amazon, make sure it's sold by Amazon and not an affiliate.
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This is a very good point. Amazon's not the only seller to be concerned about. IIRC Buy.com has affiliates as well. Not all affiliates are questionable but you need to perform separate due diligence on the affiliate.

I do use Amazon a lot since I have a Prime membership but I generally avoid items not sold through Amazon directly unless I can vet the affiliate.
 
SD Card Classes explained. The class is equal to the MB/s transfer rate. So a class 2 does 2 MB/s or 16Mbits/s. A Class 10 does 10MB/s or 80Mbits/s. Its really simple math. But the difference is incredible from 2 to 10.

Also keep in mind that kingston is one of the top 3 memory development companies in the world. If you buy genuine kingston you are going to get a superior product.
 
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