Sandisk vs PNY for Flash Memory Cards (SDHC, etc)

So good are Sandisk vs PNY memory cards?

I was out at Best Buy in Leominster today to pick up a few SDHC 32GB card for my camera, 3DS, and a few other devices which use flash memory.

Before heading to the store, I had seen a 32GB card for $17 on their site ( http://www.bestbuy.com/site/32gb-high-performance-secure-digital-high-capacity-sdhc-class-10-memory-card/2300602.p;jsessionid=C0CB0CCFDCB320B10B900C9771DE0D1D.bbolsp-app02-108?id=1218318851702&skuId=2300602&st=pny%2032%20gb&cp=1&lp=3 ). So while there, I asked about the card.

Her exact reply was "On that's PNY, we don't have any in stock."
I went back to the shelf and noticed there were NO PNY on display.

Her final statement was "We don't carry PNY in store anymore. While they offer better protection against file corruption, we were finding that PNY was incompatible with many cameras. There might be a few left over in the mobile phone department."

I went to the department, and found nothing.

However, I'd like to know if this is all true.

Does PNY have a compatibility problem?

I honestly thought if it was an SDHC card and SDHC cards were supported.. brand really didn't matter as long as it wasn't some cheap, no name brand.

So, what's going on here?

Best Buy sucks is what is going on.

I'd say the cards probably come from the same factory, they just slap a different sticker and package on them.

I use whatever card is handy for my stuff, Sandisk, PNY, etc. Never had any problems.

For SD/MicroSD, brand only matters for the sake of upholding the proclaimed class speed (2,4,6,8, or 10).  Equally, or possibly more so, important is the origin of manufacture. Different batches of cards are made in different countries.  Japan is best, then all the strange countries (Indonesia, Korea, etc.), and China is usually at the bottom of the list.  By best, I mean highest quality control, reliability, durability, flexibility, sensibility, hillbilly, and multiplicity.

If you're buying in-store, you can usually see the country of origin on the packaging, otherwise it's almost always printed on the card, even MicroSD. 

That said: I've never had a problem that was the fault of the card, regardless of size, brand, or country.  Even cards that have corrupted (3DS after installing a Mario Kart 7 Multiplayer Patch) seem fine after a format wipe, but I usually demote them from "important data  storage" down to "random MP3s for a portable speaker".

TL;DR: Best Buy Employees are stupid.  Best Buy female employees are even more stupid, as their knowledge usually trickles down from the stupid male employees. /sexist_because_I_can

FINAL: I like Kingston the most.  No real reason, but Sandisk lost points for pre-loading BS virtual CD-ROM (U3) auto-loader partitions onto all of their Cruzer thumb drives.

I prefer Sandisk. PNY products seem and feel "cheaply" made and I've had issues with their USB drives where I had to reformat. Sandisk I never had any problems with ever.

Given the two options, I'd go with Sandisk over PNY all the time.  Most of the higher speed SDHC cards from Sandisk have lifetime warranties on them, so you're covered if it ever goes out.  I just did an RMA with Sandisk for a card that failed and the process wasn't painful.

shrike4242 said:

Given the two options, I'd go with Sandisk over PNY all the time. Most of the higher speed SDHC cards from Sandisk have lifetime warranties on them, so you're covered if it ever goes out. I just did an RMA with Sandisk for a card that failed and the process wasn't painful.

Click to expand...

Don't know about PNY, but yeah, SanDisk's customer support is great. I use a 32 GB SDHC SanDisk card in my 3DS. The first one I got was a bit flaky, so I contacted SanDisk support. I shipped them the malfunctioning card (at their expense, IIRC) and they sent me a new one, which has worked fine ever since.