The card offers the advantage of being able to record video and time-lapse sequences with the need for an external power source (i.e. a USB battery pack) Video recording via the card has the same limit as recording with a battery pack supply - 10 seconds. That's OK as it can be fun stitching together 10 sec clips with an editor app., so there's no real advantage offered by the card. Time-lapse is a diffent matter. Using the card you're limted to a maximum of 30 minutes after which the camera writes a video file and shuts down. By contrast, using the basic camera with a USB power source, the only limitations are the capacities of the SD card and the USB power source. From my point of view a 30 minute duration clip isn't very useful for time-lapse. I've recently made a 6~7 hour continuous recording using the basic camera in Mode 4 powered by a USB pack. If video without the need to be carrying a USB pack is important to you, then that makes the card worthwhile - otherwise, for me it's not that useful.