The good old saying of "You Get What You Pay For" pretty much sums it up: After using the 32 Gb Micro P2 for just a over a year, it started to fell apart. Prices were about half the cost to series F P2 and in some cases even cheaper in the 2nd hand market. Back then I thought P2 will be phased out in favor of Micro P2. It appeared too good to be true with Micro P2. Was about to completely get rid of P2. Glad I didn't. I experienced similar "adhesive falling apart" problem on the Transcend 64 Gb SDHC and Kodak 2 Gb (for metadata) cards last year. The write protect tabs would fall off then the actual SDHC would peel off gradually. I inquired more to Panasonic about the problem w/ SDHC and they all said not to worry on Micro P2. It's just not possible for Micro P2 to fall apart. For both cases, the super strong glue just won't hold together after a period of time and/or # of insertion and removal cycles. Lucky I got all data off. This was under normal average use. Nothing out of the extreme. My main use is the P2 media. Micro P2s are just for supplemental use.
That 32 Gb Micro P2 was mostly used inside the climate controlled studio for a year. An average of 3-4 uses per week. Lots of insertion and removal cycles from the cam, to a MBPro SDHC, iMac, and external USB3 stand alone readers. It was not used under extreme such as putting it in a wallet or pocket where physical pressure are even greater for the fragile SDHC media form factor. I suspect lots of insertion and removal cycles really stressed out the card. It is probably something that can't accurately simulated in a lab environment. Not sure how R&D can help to improve on this for future SDHCs.
I gave SDHC/Micro P2 benefit of the doubt but it failed. Maybe I have a bad batch of Micro P2 cards. But it's not comforting to continue with SDHC/Micro P2. Still sticking to the P2. The oldest cards (16 Gb) I have is about 8 years and it's still in use as of now. Traveled to about 8 countries. 4 were the most humid. I placed in my pocket, wallet, rear pocket and virtually all physically abusive conditions that I can throw at it and they still work in 2015! Have quite a few E series from 2010 era and they're solid. And recent F series are well made as well after 3 years of heavy broadcast TV workflow use. Hmm, no plans to upgrade to PX-270 or PX-380 with Micro P2 slots as the primary media.
I'll contact Panasonic to see if it's still under warranty repair. So much for their claim of being 10x more robust than the typical SDHC. What a joke. I'm having second thoughts about couple of other 32 Gb & 64 Gb Micro P2 that I have. Probably may have to get rid of them in favor of P2 if more of the Micro P2s start to break apart. Quality P2 media may soon become a relic of the past in favor of short term disposable media in the next decade if this keeps up.
Attached are images of the broken 32 Gb P2 for ref:
That 32 Gb Micro P2 was mostly used inside the climate controlled studio for a year. An average of 3-4 uses per week. Lots of insertion and removal cycles from the cam, to a MBPro SDHC, iMac, and external USB3 stand alone readers. It was not used under extreme such as putting it in a wallet or pocket where physical pressure are even greater for the fragile SDHC media form factor. I suspect lots of insertion and removal cycles really stressed out the card. It is probably something that can't accurately simulated in a lab environment. Not sure how R&D can help to improve on this for future SDHCs.
I gave SDHC/Micro P2 benefit of the doubt but it failed. Maybe I have a bad batch of Micro P2 cards. But it's not comforting to continue with SDHC/Micro P2. Still sticking to the P2. The oldest cards (16 Gb) I have is about 8 years and it's still in use as of now. Traveled to about 8 countries. 4 were the most humid. I placed in my pocket, wallet, rear pocket and virtually all physically abusive conditions that I can throw at it and they still work in 2015! Have quite a few E series from 2010 era and they're solid. And recent F series are well made as well after 3 years of heavy broadcast TV workflow use. Hmm, no plans to upgrade to PX-270 or PX-380 with Micro P2 slots as the primary media.
I'll contact Panasonic to see if it's still under warranty repair. So much for their claim of being 10x more robust than the typical SDHC. What a joke. I'm having second thoughts about couple of other 32 Gb & 64 Gb Micro P2 that I have. Probably may have to get rid of them in favor of P2 if more of the Micro P2s start to break apart. Quality P2 media may soon become a relic of the past in favor of short term disposable media in the next decade if this keeps up.
Attached are images of the broken 32 Gb P2 for ref:
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