MIXZA 128GB microSD memory card

It's been a while since I reviewed a memory card. To be precise, I've only reviewed two: 32 GB and 64 GB cards. This time I decided to try a 128 GB card. I got it to test devices, since prices for cards of this capacity are gradually coming down, and users increasingly want to use them in dash cams, tablets, and so on. Naturally, people ask questions like, “Will it work with a 128 GB card?”
So today, another short (really short) review of a small memory card.


The memory card comes in a large package. There's a lot written on it, but essentially only one key specification is listed: read speeds of up to 80 MB/s.


While getting ready to write this review, I went to the store page to grab the product link and was a little surprised by the search results for “MIXZA 128GB.” As far as I can tell, they all have the same specs and differ only in appearance and, unexpectedly... price.
When choosing a card for this review, I simply searched by capacity, sorted by price, and picked the cheapest one. If I remember correctly, it cost around $40 at the time, so there may be a coupon.


It looks like a perfectly ordinary, standard microSD card. The only difference is the translucent coating on the underside, which lets you see the circuit board traces (the photo has been brightened).
It looks nice, though I couldn't quite figure out what's pictured on it. It looks like a shark, but I'm not sure. :)


I have quite a few memory cards. The photo shows only the ones I use regularly. By coincidence, all my cards follow the same rule: each one is twice the capacity of the previous one, starting at 1 or 2 GB. While writing this review, I realized that each new card is actually larger than the combined capacity of all the previous ones. Progress never stands still.
The cards I use most often are 32 GB and 64 GB. The first is already three years old, and the second is a year and a half old. Both work perfectly. The only card I've had “die” was a 4 GB Team card I bought in a brick-and-mortar store, even though I used it less than any of the others.
I used the CF card for almost a year when I was writing my first reviews. The 32 MB SD card is occasionally used to test devices; I don't mind if I fry it. The 1 GB card is in my main phone, the 2 GB one is in my thermal imager, and the 8 GB card isn't in the photo—it's in my second phone. I use the 16 GB card to test video cameras, and the 32 GB and 64 GB cards for all the other tests.


I used two card readers for the test: a cheap USB 2.0 reader and a Transcend RDF5, which I bought for my review of the Netac 64 GB card. I use both in practice: the small one is more convenient, while the larger one is faster.


The card came formatted as exFAT, and the displayed capacity matches the stated figure (128,000,000,000 / 1024/1024/1024 = 119.2).


Trying to get more information about the card with SD Insight didn't help—the app can't detect it. The smartphone works with it perfectly well, but when preparing the card, it identified it as SanDisk. This isn't the card's assigned name, though: before putting it in the phone, I named it “MIXZA 128GB.” After that, I connected it back to the computer, and the name was blank.


The first test was with h2testw, which can determine the card's actual capacity and give a rough estimate of its average read/write speeds. No issues here: the capacity checks out, and the speed is about 68/74 MB/s for writing/reading.


The memory card is rated SD XC I, Speed Class 1. According to the table, it should provide a minimum write speed of 10 MB/s.


I don't consider myself an expert on memory cards, but I found some other information that says:



I won't dispute either claim, especially since speeds of up to 80 MB/s are advertised, so I'll move straight on to the tests.
First, a preliminary check using CrystalDiskMark versions 3 and 5. The first two tests were run with a USB 2.0 card reader, and the next two with a USB 3.0 reader.
The test with the USB 2.0 reader was just an extra check, and I won't be using that reader again. I call this test preliminary because I put more faith in other programs, especially those that can work with unformatted media.


USB Flash Benchmark showed that the card consistently maintains speeds of 60–80 MB/s when working with blocks up to 64 KB in size.
The screenshot shows two test runs; the first is marked with a dashed line.


Moving on to HD Tune Pro. Although this program is geared more toward HDDs, it also works well with flash drives.
Here, the average read speed was 81 MB/s, which is quite good, though the read graph is noticeably uneven.


The second test also showed a speed of 81 MB/s for reading and almost 76 MB/s for writing, which is quite good.
The results are similar when writing small blocks: speeds remain steady up to 64 KB, then start to drop. With 8 KB blocks, they reach 10 MB/s for reading and about 4 MB/s for writing.


This program wasn't originally designed for working with flash drives either, but since I use it fairly often, I decided to run it here too, just for the record.


The test with Aida was much more interesting to me, since this program works with unformatted media.
1, 2. Sequential and random write speeds.
3, 4. Sequential and random read speeds.

I was quite happy with the results: average sequential write speed was 75.9 MB/s, and random write speed was 67.2 MB/s.
Read speeds were higher: 79.9 MB/s sequentially and 76.2 MB/s randomly.


The specialized programs provided a lot of information, often more than most users need, so the final test is easier to understand, though perhaps less rigorous. First, I copied a file of almost 54 GB from one drive to the flash card, then copied it from the card to another drive.
In this real-world test, write speed was 64 MB/s, while read speed exceeded the advertised 80 MB/s, reaching 82.7 MB/s.


Now I can sum things up.
In short, the card meets its advertised specifications. It delivers not only 80 MB/s read speeds, but also write speeds of 65–75 MB/s, which is quite good.
It's hard to say much about the price. The cheapest option I've seen at an online store here is the SanDisk microSDXC 128GB Ultra, which works out to about $49 including shipping. However, the comments say you might receive a card with a read speed of just 48 MB/s.

For now, the reviewed card's advantage, in my view, is its read/write speed; its drawback is the lack of a warranty. My personal experience so far suggests that the cards I've reviewed before are quite durable—I use them all the time. But in any case, only time will tell.

I hope you found this review useful. This card will probably show up in my tests again, so I'll keep an eye on how well it holds up.