256GB Kingston Canvas Go Plus Review – Affordable microSD Storage for 4K Videos

Unboxing the Kingston Canvas Go Plus microSD

Starting off the Kingston Canvas Go Plus review with the unboxing, it comes in a simple plastic-covered packaging with the memory card seen in clear view. You also get to see the name, storage capacity, and features listed, though you would need an understanding of the jargons used to get a full understanding, such as UHS-I, V30, and Class A2. 

Inside, we found the following items: 

• microSD to SD card adapter
• The 256GB Kingston Canvas Go Plus microSD card itself

Specifications

Capacities	64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Standard/Class	Class 10, UHS-I, U3, V30, A2
Performance	170/70MB/s read/write (64GB)170/90MB/s read/write (128GB-512GB)
Dimensions	11mm x 15mm x 1mm (microSD)24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm (with SD adapter)
Format	exFAT
Operating temperature	-25°C~85°C
Storage temperature	-40°C~85°C
Voltage	3.3V
Warranty/support	Lifetime

Test Bench

CPU	Intel Core i9-13900K
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Cooler Master MasterGel Maker
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 HERO
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	Kingston FURY RENEGADE RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)
Storage	Samsung SSD 980 PRO 256GB (Boot) Kingston NV1 1TB
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 1250 V2 Full Modular 1250W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 23H2

Looking for a USB flash drive instead? Check out our Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C review by clicking right here.

Performance

Starting off with CrystalDiskMark, the 256GB Kingston Canvas Go Plus managed pretty decent scores. We couldn’t get close to the 170MB/s read speeds but the 90MB/s write speeds appear to be accurate, which is what is more important. You’ll likely see slightly better scores with the higher capacity variants but generally, this is quite a realistic expectation of its performance.

A similar pattern can be seen in AS SSD. The write speeds may be a little slower but its still within expectation, and if you’re confused about the 4K scores, that is to be expected since it involves small chunks of data written in random locations, and reading / transferring multiple small files would naturally be slower than handling smaller amount files that are larger in size.

We’re starting to see a pattern of consistency as we move to Anvil’s Storage Utilities, with read speeds peaking out at around the 90MB/s mark while the write speeds peak out slightly under 90MB/s. For a memory card, the speeds across the board are satisfactory.

Lastly on ATTO Disk Benchmark, we get an even deeper breakdown of the 256GB Kingston Canvas Go Plus’ capabilities. It unsurprisingly starts out slow because the size is too small to make use of its full potential but it starts to peak out from the 256KB mark. Both read and write speeds are consistent with the previous benchmarks.

Kingston Canvas Go Plus Verdict

The Kingston Canvas Go Plus microSD might not have reached its advertised read speeds but it’s still pretty fast for a memory card. Furthermore, I’ve had no issues recording 4K footage on the DJI Pocket 3 as well as the Sony ZV-1 II, proving that it’s fast and consistent enough to handle 4K video recordings even up to 60FPS, which can be quite a data-intensive process. If you need a reliable memory card solution for your content creation endeavors, look no further, especially with prices going from RM100 to RM150 on Shopee and Lazada.

At the end of our 256GB Kingston Canvas Go Plus review, I award this microSD card with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Kingston for sending us this memory card for the purpose of this review.