In this blog post, we are going to look at the DJI recommended memory cards and help you select the best SD card for DJI Mavic 3.
All SD cards recommended in this article are DJI Approved and will 100% work with your Mavic 3.
If you are in a hurry, below is my personal selection of 3 MicroSD cards that you can buy with an absolute surety that they will work with your Mavic 3.
- DJI Approved for use with Mavic 3
- Up to 160MB/s read speeds & 90MB/s write speeds
- UHS speed class 3 (U3) and video speed class 30 (V30)
- Rated A2 for faster loading and in-app performance
- Temperature Proof, Water Proof, Shock Proof and x-ray Proof
- DJI Approved for use with Mavic 3
- Up to 100MB/s read speed with UHS-1 interface
- Up to 90MB/s write speed with UHS-1 interface
- UHS-I, compatible with HS interface, Grade 3, Class 10, 4K
- Waterproof, Temperature proof, X-ray proof, Magnet proof
- DJI Approved for Mavic 3
- High-speed, Class 10, UHS speed Class 3 (U3)
- Video Speed Class 30 (V30) performance
- UHS-I technology for a read transfer Speed up to 100MB/s
- Includes high-speed Class 10 card with & SD adapter
Does Mavic 3 need an SD Card?
If you purchased the standard version of the Mavic 3, it comes with just 8 GB of internal storage. For a drone that can shoot 5.1K videos, that’s like 10 minutes of recording.
For all practical purposes, you will need an SD card for your Mavic 3.
If you have the Cine version, you will get 1TB of SSD internal storage in which case, you won’t need an SD card.
But not every Micro SD card is going to work with your Mavic 3. Before you jump the gun and buy one, read the article below to familiarise yourself with different types of SD cards.
At the end of the article, I have a list of all SD cards officially recommended by DJI that you can buy with the surety that they will work with your drone.
DJI Mavic 3 SD Card Requirements
Before you buy your MicroSD card, it is important to consider the minimum requirement of your drone.
Mavic 3 is a flagship drone that records videos in up to 5.1K resolution.
The camera records an enormous amount of data per second and it needs a fast card to be able to write such a huge amount of data in real-time.
As per DJI, the minimum requirement for a MicroSD card that is going to work with your DJI Mavic 3 are:
- The card should be UHS-I U3 (Speed Grade 3) that has a minimum write speed of 30MB/s or above.
- It should be SDXC type card with a capacity of up to 512GB.
First of all, I would highly recommend buying a MicroSD card from the DJI recommended list in this article.
However, if you don’t find any of the cards in your locality or online, make sure the one you are ordering has a write speed of 30 MB/s and is marked “U3”.
Read More: Best SD Card for DJI Mini 3 Pro
How to read the speed class of MicroSD card?
When you look at any SD or MicroSD card, you will see a bunch of symbols and numbers on the top. Each one of them signifies a certain aspect of the card to handle and store data.
To select the best sd cards for DJI Mavic 3 or any other electronic device, it is important to know what each of them means.
Below, I am shortly defining each one of the symbols so that the next time you pick a card, you have a better idea of what you are getting.
STORAGE CAPACITY: This is perhaps the most obvious indicator on any card. It is the total storage capacity of the card. It is usually marked in GBs but if you have a very old card lying around, you might find MB notations on it as well.
Always select a card with a capacity that is enough for everyday use. Also, some devices have an upper limit on how much storage capacity they can read.
The highest recommended capacity card on DJI list is 512 GB.
CARD TYPE: On most modern cards, you will find either HC or XC notation. HC means High Capacity and they come between 4GB to 32GB. XC stands for Extra Capacity and they have a storage capacity above 32GB up to 2TB.
Cards are backwards compatible. That means that if your device can read XC, it can also read HC and SD. But they are not forward compatible.
UHS SPEED CLASSES: This is perhaps the most important notation on any card. The UHS speed class indicates the minimum write speed of the card. There are two classes UHS 1 & UHS 3. They are indicated with 1 or 3 inside the letter U.
UHS Class 1 can write data up to 10MB/s. UHS Class 3 has a write speed of up to 30MB/s. Mavic 3 supports only Class 3 cards marked with U3 symbol.
VIDEO SPEED CLASS: The Video speed class indicates the minimum sustained write speed of the video to the card.
This is used for cards designed specifically for video cameras. Currently, there are five video speed classes i-e V6, V10, V30, V60, and V90.
V6 can have a minimum write speed of 6MB/s. V10 has a minimum write speed of 10MB/s, V30 has 30MB/s, and so on.
V6, V10, and V30 cards are used for 1080p / FullHD recordings, V30 and V60 are the best SD card for 4K video, and V60 and V90 are recommended for recording 8K video.
If you buy a V90 card, it will cover all your devices but if your device only records 1080p, it would be overkill and you can have a much cheaper V30 instead.
APPLICATION PERFORMANCE CLASS: This one is a relatively less known indicator. The Application Performance class can either be A1 or A2.
It indicates how quickly can the card read and write random inputs. A2 class cards give higher performance and higher write speed than the older A1 class cards.
The SanDisk Extreme MicroSD card is an example of the newer A2 performance class with a write speed of 160MB/s. SanDisk claims it’s the world’s fastest card even outpacing integrated storage on older devices.
Best SD card for DJI Mavic 3 (DJI Approved)
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
DJI Approved | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon | |
DJI Approved | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon | |
DJI Approved | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon | |
DJI Approved  | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon | |
DJI Approved  | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon | |
DJI Approved  | Mavic 3 Supported Capacities
| Check on Amazon |
Tips for DJI Mavic 3 memory card selection
Now that we listed all the compatible cards that you can buy for your Mavic 3, the question is which one you should get.
Here are a few practical points/tips that can help you choose a better card for your drone.
- As they say, never put all your eggs in a single basket. The same is the case with your SD card. If you store all your data in one big SD card, the chances of losing it all are high. Your drone can crash or your card can get corrupted. That’s why it is better to buy two 64GB cards than one 128GB card.
- Since your Mavic 3 will be recording 5.1K videos, you should at least buy a 64GB card or above. A 32GB card will work with your drone but it is too small for practical purposes.
- Avoid getting a card from cheap Chinese manufacturers. Always go for a well-reputed brand. Samsung, Lexar, SanDisk, and Toshiba are some of the good names in the market. With cheap brands, you always risk losing your data.
- If your pocket allows, go for a card that has a higher read/write speed, higher video speed rating, and higher application performance speed. You will save time transferring huge files from your drone to your PC. If you use the same card with other higher-spec devices, it will give you better read/write performance.
If you have a card and are not sure if it will work with your drone, leave a comment below and I will evaluate it for you and give you accurate recommendations and suggestions. Happy flying :)