The Professional's 6-Bay Data Hub
The Lexar Professional Workflow WF800 is a modular, high-speed data transfer station designed for creative professionals. Its core appeal lies in its customisability, allowing users to mix and match various card readers and SSD storage modules to fit their specific workflow, all connected via a single high-speed Thunderbolt 2 or USB 3.0 interface.
Build Your Ideal Workflow
The true power of the WF800 is its modularity. Select different modules for each of the six bays below to see how different configurations can serve various professional needs. This interactive tool helps you discover the most efficient setup for your projects, from photography to high-resolution video production.
Configuration Analysis
Your selected configuration will be analysed here. Start by choosing modules for the bays above.
Performance: The Shared Bandwidth Reality
While the hub is fast, it operates on a single shared Thunderbolt 2 or USB 3.0 controller. This means the total bandwidth is divided among active modules. Use the interactive chart below to see how transfer speeds are affected when ingesting from a single card versus multiple cards simultaneously, a common point of contention, especially for Mac users.
Understanding the Numbers
When transferring from a single high-speed card like CFast 2.0, you can expect speeds approaching the theoretical maximum of the media and interface. The controller dedicates most of its resources to that single task, resulting in a very fast offload.
Reliability and Value Proposition
The WF800 is a professional tool with a corresponding price tag. Its reliability is generally high, though experiences vary by module. Here we analyse the factors contributing to its cost and what user reports say about its long-term durability.
Long-Term Reliability
The Hub Itself
The six-bay hub is widely regarded as a robust and reliable piece of hardware. Failures of the main unit are uncommon, with most users reporting years of trouble-free operation.
Reader & SSD Modules
The individual modules are the most common point of failure. Professional reviews and user forums indicate that after heavy, prolonged use, certain reader modules can fail. However, the modular design is an advantage here, as a single faulty reader can be replaced without scrapping the entire system.
Justifying the Expense
Modularity & R&D
Developing a modular ecosystem is costly. The price reflects the research and development required to create a flexible system that caters to a niche professional market.
Thunderbolt Licensing
At the time of its release, manufacturers had to pay significant licensing fees to Intel/Apple to use Thunderbolt technology, which added a premium to the final product cost.
Niche Professional Tool
This is not a mass-market consumer device. It solves a specific and critical problem for a small segment of users who are willing to pay for efficiency, customisability, and speed in their professional workflow.
Final Verdict
The Lexar Professional Workflow WF800 remains a clever solution for a specific problem. For professionals juggling multiple card formats, its modularity is a powerful feature that can genuinely streamline a data-wrangling workflow. Its biggest drawback is the shared bandwidth, which prevents it from being the absolute fastest option when offloading multiple cards at once.
If your work demands maximum simultaneous ingest speed, six separate readers on dedicated ports might be faster. However, if you value organisation, customisability, and a tidy workspace, and can work around the shared-speed limitation, the WF800 is a compelling and reliable, though expensive, professional tool.