Stephan,

perhaps wearing out the camera's usb and am going to pick up a card reader

I think you make the right decision, but for the wrong reason
There is no "free lunch", you trade off wear and tear of the card slot against wear and tear of the USB connector.
But for a number of other reasons, using a card reader is a better approach than using USB straight to the camera.
It's usually less clumsy, you don't have to have the camera handy, with a good reader it's sometimes faster, you can handle multiple cards more easily, etc.

Regards,
Bill

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