What's the significance of Lexar going away? (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

I didn't learn of the impending doom of Lexar until today. I don't know what to think of it. If someone with more enthusiasm for it comes in and buys the company, that would be good. But what are the odds?

Opinions?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

This is the first I heard that they were going out of business. I do have quite a few Lexar memory cards -- they always seemed to be the best "bang for the buck" for a quality product. If they leave the market, it will certainly give SanDisk less competition, which is never a good thing. SanDisk already seemed high priced compared with Lexar whenever I needed memory cards. I guess there is always Transcend and Kingston as options, too.

 

[DavidJ]

Somehow, I missed this. I have some Lexar cards too and they were one of the better, more reliable brands so them going away isn't a good thing.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Like Seagate (for hard drives), I stayed away from Lexar memory cards for my cameras, so while I won't miss Lexar, less competition is never a good thing if you care about pricing.

 

[JohnRice]

Like Seagate (for hard drives), I stayed away from Lexar memory cards for my cameras, so while I won't miss Lexar, less competition is never a good thing if you care about pricing.

Why did you stay away from Lexar? I have a mix of cards, but with the D500, there are only two manufacturers of XQD cards, and now there will only be one. That won't be good for owners of new, high end Nikons and Sonys. I hope someone steps in. This won't be good for prices. UHS-II cards are already absurdly expensive. They can be more expensive than XQD cards that are twice as fast.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I shoot Canon, and I heard anecdotal stories about Lexar and Canon bodies not mixing well (this was 6-7 years ago), so I stuck with Transcend and Sandisk, and haven't looked back. My friends who owneded Nikon bodies probably have less bad anecdotal stories when using Lexar cards, at least it seems that way over the years.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I shoot Canon, and I heard anecdotal stories about Lexar and Canon bodies not mixing well (this was 6-7 years ago), so I stuck with Transcend and Sandisk, and haven't looked back. My friends who owned Nikon bodies probably have less bad anecdotal stories when using Lexar cards, at least it seems that way over the years.

I shoot Canon, too, Patrick, and have never experienced an issue with a Lexar card. Right now I am using their 64GB Professional 800x UDMA 7 compact flash cards in my 5D3 and 7D2. They work great, and were the best price I could find for quality faster 64GB CF cards. I may see if I can find a couple more at a closeout price.

 

[JohnRice]

I did order a 64GB XQD card, since that one size is about $20 less than usual. It don't see any wide spread deals, though.

Before I got the D500, I don't think I'd ever gotten any Lexar cards. On my previous camera, the D7100, the Sandisk Pro Extreme 95MB was consistently tested to be the fastest. For SD on the D500, the Lexar UHS-II 2000x is consistently the fastest, but they tend to be even more expensive than XQD cards, and half the speed. Not really worth it. The truth is, the D500 is faster than I'd ever come close to needing.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I shoot Canon, too, Patrick, and have never experienced an issue with a Lexar card. Right now I am using their 64GB Professional 800x UDMA 7 compact flash cards in my 5D3 and 7D2. They work great, and were the best price I could find for quality faster 64GB CF cards. I may see if I can find a couple more at a closeout price.

Again, anecdotally, a friend who shot weddings had half a wedding go bad on a Lexar card for him, and from that day forward, he stuck with Sandisk, and I just happened to veer away from Lexar from stories like that 5-7 years ago. I have no doubt there are happy Lexar card users out there too.

 

[JohnRice]

Just received the 64GB XQD card I got during a very brief $20 price drop, but prices seem to be going nowhere but up, up, up. I just can't believe how expensive all the fast cards are. UHS-II SD cards are generally at least $1.50/GB. No SD card should be that expensive.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Out of curiosity, I tried to check prices on the Lexar Compact Flash 800x 64GB UDMA 7 cards that I have. Those are no longer made, and the newer 1033x version are more than twice the price I paid for the 800x cards. I don't really need any more cards, as I also have a few 32GB cards and some older 16GB cards as well as the three 64GB ones. It would have been nice to swap out some of the lower capacity cards, but not at those prices.

 

[JohnRice]

It looks like XQD card prices are starting to go through the roof. I think Lexar inventory is running out, which means Sony is the only supplier now.