Any recommendations for a good card reader?

[sjl]

Having discovered a new way to make a 1.25 GHz PowerBook slow to a crawl (put a 1 GB Sandisk CF card in a PCMCIA adapter, plug it in, and transfer 1 GB of images across), I'm in the market for a CF card reader. Having a preference for firewire over USB when it comes to large data transfers, I have (it would appear) two choices locally: one from DataFab, and one from Lexar.

Anybody have any experience with either of those? I'd not expect there to be a great deal to it by and large, but still, it's nice to know that I'm not likely to be buying a lemon. It'll also help when I get the money together for a faster CF card. (Extreme III would be nice, but I suspect I'll end up with Ultra 2. Oh well.)

Thanks.

 

[efoto]

Having discovered a new way to make a 1.25 GHz PowerBook slow to a crawl (put a 1 GB Sandisk CF card in a PCMCIA adapter, plug it in, and transfer 1 GB of images across), I'm in the market for a CF card reader. Having a preference for firewire over USB when it comes to large data transfers, I have (it would appear) two choices locally: one from DataFab, and one from Lexar.

Anybody have any experience with either of those? I'd not expect there to be a great deal to it by and large, but still, it's nice to know that I'm not likely to be buying a lemon. It'll also help when I get the money together for a faster CF card. (Extreme III would be nice, but I suspect I'll end up with Ultra 2. Oh well.)

Thanks.

I've had no problems with the basic SanDisk USB2.0 CF reader, and all I use are Lexar CF cards

It's only $20 at Staples and many other retailers, and while it's not FW it transfers very fast and consistently compared to a cheapy I used (which actually fluctuated in xfer speed). If you really feel the need for a FW one, I'd get either Lexar or SanDisk branded readers. I've read more issues with third-party readers than with either of those....and both work well with the other's CF cards

 

[jelloshotsrule]

i've heard good things about the lacie 8 in 1 media reader (usb 2) and i plan to pick one up shortly.

 

[bousozoku]

i've heard good things about the lacie 8 in 1 media reader (usb 2) and i plan to pick one up shortly.

That should be good since it's about twice as expensive as the same thing from other manufacturers.

Mind you, I use it for only a couple hundred 3.3-4.0 MB images at a time, but I use either Stratitec or SimpleTech USB 2.0 readers, or the one in my Epson all-in-one, if I'm home.

All transfer reasonably quickly and, while there could be USB conflicts, I've not had trouble with the card readers.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

That should be good since it's about twice as expensive as the same thing from other manufacturers.

so your card readers cost 10 bucks? fair enough

 

[puckhead193]

i have a scan disk one that's USB... no complaints.

 

[sjl]

I've had no problems with the basic SanDisk USB2.0 CF reader, and all I use are Lexar CF cards

It's only $20 at Staples and many other retailers, and while it's not FW it transfers very fast and consistently compared to a cheapy I used (which actually fluctuated in xfer speed). If you really feel the need for a FW one, I'd get either Lexar or SanDisk branded readers. I've read more issues with third-party readers than with either of those....and both work well with the other's CF cards

Heh. I'm happy with my SanDisk CF cards, although I do need to get some faster ones down the road.

Thanks for the tip ... looks like it'll be either a USB Sandisk reader, or the Lexar FW reader. Much appreciate it. Where'd I put that credit card ... (and for the record, pricing from somebody in the US isn't much good to me, given that I'm in Australia. )

 

[Rocky3478]

I've had no problems with the basic SanDisk USB2.0 CF reader, and all I use are Lexar CF cards

It's only $20 at Staples and many other retailers, and while it's not FW it transfers very fast and consistently compared to a cheapy I used (which actually fluctuated in xfer speed). If you really feel the need for a FW one, I'd get either Lexar or SanDisk branded readers. I've read more issues with third-party readers than with either of those....and both work well with the other's CF cards

Seconded. It's the best one for the price. Plus, that's what I have, and it works really fast and well!

 

[cgratti]

I bought a $7 card reader from ebay, and it LOVE it...

Best $7 I spent in a while.. Using it over a year now and its a 7-in-1 reader..