A closer look at Angelbird cards and readers

Redshark's Content Manager Chris Wells has a closer look into Angelbird's brand new cards and readers.

Data storage is one of those aspects of content creation that is super easy to overlook, and the cost of doing so can be painful.

I’m sure many of us have had a time when you film the greatest thing you’ve ever filmed, only to find after, while wiping the tears away, that the card failed for no apparent reason at all.

Enter Angelbird with its focus on high-performance, durable storage solutions for content creators, photographers, and videographers looking for fast and secure data transfer.

I was sent a couple of cards (SD and CFexpress A & B) as well as their PKT readers to have a play with, using them on a couple of shoots.

Built to last

The excellent build quality is the most apparent thing straight away out of the box; these things feel worthy of their higher price tag, which, when combined with the speeds promised, feels like it could be worth it.

It’s a tiny detail, but even having the card’s details (storage size, etc) on the card itself as opposed to a sticker (which in the past I’ve had a fall off) screams quality to me.

The AKT card readers are solid aluminium and feel like they could take a bullet for me if I needed them to, with a comforting weight to them. Their outer metal shells can reportedly withstand extreme temperatures, shock, electrostatic discharge, and overload, which is welcome and I can imagine would be missed in the rare situations it’s required.

The USB-C cables are also extremely high quality and lock very securely inside the reader’s housing, which I wish I'd had when working in the chaos on the go like at IBC this year.

The readers also have a removable cap (also metal) to hold tight onto any media you put in it if on the go, plus they're colour-coded by media type which is neat and useful.

The reader's minimal design features an LED glowing switch on the top, which offers a coloured helpful indicator of whether the data is being accessed, and can switch on write protection to prevent any accidental formatting or file wipe. 

They promise up to 20 Gb/s transfer speeds, too, which, when paired with the cards themselves, helps you get things off those cards FAST. As with all of those small timesavers, you never realise the value of it until you lose it. They also reportedly work so fast that if in a pinch, you could work FROM THE CARD itself, which is glorious to me.

The readers and CFexpress B cards also have a free engraving option; when paired with their promised longevity, make it seem like a great idea if that is your kinda thing.

Big features on a tiny card

Here's are some top level facts from Angel Bird themselves:

All have Stable Stream, which promises 'uninterrupted Read/Write performance throughout the card's capacity' as well as advanced Thermal Management, both ensuring reliability. Again, all are worthy of an investment when working with data that, when lost, could be catastrophic.

Angelbird clearly believes in its products, offering a 3-year limited warranty on everything (though it needs to be activated within 30 days of purchase). They also offer an in-house data recovery service for double piece of mind.

Using the cards

So, after that impressive deluge of features, how are the cards actually to use?

I used the CF Express A cards with a Sony A7S3 for a recent all-morning shoot involving some long (10-minute plus) takes, which the card recorded with no problem. I alternated between the provided 512GB and 1TB, finding neither got particularly hot, with no file loss or corruption. Honestly it would be surprising if that happened on the first couple of uses.

The SD card's crazy-fast speeds also allowed me to finally do some filming in 10-bit from my Panasonic GH5, essentially giving that 8-year-old camera a new lease on life, which was terrific.

I also did some quick test editing with a few large files directly on the CF Express A card, including the project file, effectively turning the card into a portable project workspace. It all worked as promised, making this great for quick and efficient get 'em done projects where archiving isn't a priority.

None of the cards ever let me down with speed, heat or reliability whenever I used them,

The PKT readers did their job with aplomb, and it was great being able to seal the cards away securely when transporting them (and it was a helpful reminder for me to triple-check all files that had been transferred before reformatting the card).

A minor qualm I have is that the reader's removable lid is quite small and easy to lose, although responsible use will cover that. On the flipside, the way the short USB-C cable locks in place ensures you are much less likely to lose those slippery small buggers.

Like all things in life, you get what you pay for. While Angelbird's products sit on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, its premium features, rugged build and reliability make it all seem a good value, especially when creating data worth protecting.

AV PRO CFexpress A 512 GB is available for $349.99; AV PRO CFexpress A 1 TB is available for $499.99; AV PRO SD V60 256 GB is available for $69.99.

tl;dr

• Angelbird's storage solutions, including CFexpress and SD cards, offer high performance and durability, designed specifically for content creators requiring reliable data transfer.
• The build quality of both the cards and PKT readers is exceptional, showcasing features like engraved details on the cards and solid aluminium construction for the readers, ensuring they withstand extreme conditions.
• Users can achieve impressive transfer speeds up to 20 Gb/s with the readers and experience stable read/write performance throughout the card's capacity, enhancing workflow efficiency during projects.
• Both types of cards performed flawlessly during testing, with consistent speeds and no file loss, while the PKT readers provided secure storage and transport, albeit with a small, easily misplaced removable lid.