Memory-Card Reviews

I purchased a smartmedia card adapter for use with my laptop about 3 months ago. The adapter functioned well for the first couple of months, however, without warning the adapter failed. My computer does not even know that the card has been inserted. Needless to say that I was very disappointed at the short life span of the adapter. I would strongly recommend a different brand adapter if you need one for your smartmedia card.

If you own a digital camera The PCMCIA Smart Media Adapter is one of the best investments you can make. This little device will save you hours of time when you go to down load your photos. By the time you find your conector cable and get it hooked up you can have a 32 MB Smart Media Card full of photos down loaded to your computer and be back out on the beach or ball feild taking more photos. This compact device not only saves time, it will also save you money on battery purchases. No more extended periods of time that you camera has to be on while your pics are slowly flowing though the cable. The only regret I have is that I purchased my PCMCIA adapter directly from the manufacturer's website and I paid over $100.00 more for the same type product. (Feels like I got Ripped Off) From now on I will always get my digital needs from AMAZON.COM

I use this with my PowerBook G3 (bronze) and it works great. Saves lots of time downloading pictures. Easy to use. When inserted, it acts just like a hard drive, or an inserted floppy disk.

WHEN THE WRITINH/READING SPEEP DOSE MATTER TO YOU

1. FAST: This is my third SD car and this card is much fast than my other two SD cards(viking &Toshiba)

You need a card which can read and write fast so you dont miss any shot when taking pictures.

2. Courty of orgin : This card is made in Japan

My previous experience with SimpleTech's 128 MB SD card was what drove me to buy the same brand, but double the MB's. There is nothing but good words to say about SimpleTech's SD cards. They are dependable. The brochure it comes with says not to let the battery run down or you might risk losing the data or have it get fragmented. That hasn't happened in my camera at all. There are cheaper SD cards out there, but why risk losing important data? Dependability is worth the extra 20 or 30 bucks.

Got this one after returning a Sandisk 256 Mb Ultra II SD card (died after a few days of very minimal use), and this one works great. No problems since buying it a couple months ago. Using in in a Minolta Dimage Z1.

These are the slowest cards I have. On my Dimage 7Hi, to write 8 rapid shots to file, it takes:

On my Lexar 32x card: 27 seconds

On my Viking 256 card: 34 seconds

On my Sandisk 512 card: 45 seconds

Thats quite a difference if you want to take rapid photos. On a single shot basis, my camera has a big enough buffer that I do not notice.

I bought this card about 6 months ago, and so far I've been overjoyed with its reliability and performance... I've taken it on vacation overseas, and it's taken a good pounding as well as having been exposed to excessive heat (Arizona summer), and excessive moisture (Scandinavian summer).

I have a couple of other regular Sandisk cards, which I'm also very pleased with, although they're very slow. This card was a very pleasant improvement over the regular SanDisk cards with regards to speed. There's even a kinda chic look to it in my mind. The card is reasonably fast, although not impressively fast. It should do well for most users though.

I've so far taken several thousand pictures with it, with my Canon Powershot S200 and my Canon PowerShot G5 camera. Not even once have I had an image corruption or any other type of problem. It always comes through for me. I also have several friends that have used this card, there among one professional photographer. None of them have ever had any problems either, and they all swear by Sandisk cards for one simple reason - they are the most reliable CF cards around.

Pros:
* Durable and EXTREMELY reliable
* Good capacity

Cons:
* Not all that fast - I'd say middle of the road. It seems to be about 2-3 times faster than a regular Sandisk card though.

I mean - what good is it if you've got the fastest card in the world, but you keep losing pictures? That won't happen with this card.

Based on that, I would highly recommend this product (and any other Sandisk CF card for that matter).

I recently purchased this card to complement a new Canon Digital Rebel dSLR camera. I have never had the opportunity to use CF cards in the past, so this review may not relate to seasoned users. Still, my impression is that this card is quite fast and is a bargain this speed/capacity.

The new Ultra IIs have just been released and might be worth the upgrade, but my camera buffers just fine and I can shoot in single-shot mode with *very* little lag between shots. I've purchased SanDisk's CF I/II card reader to complement and this is an amatuer photographer's dream setup. By the way, my camera says it can take 157 shots with this card at the Fine JPEG/largest size. Highly recommended!

I purchased the camera as a gift for my husband in July of 2002. As new parents, we expected that we would want a camcorder to record important moments in our children's infancy and toddlerhood. We have not been able to do so, as the camera has been out of commission or in the repair shop for most of the time we've owned it.

In September of 2003, after approximately 15 total hours of normal use, significant digital noise / pixel distortion and a "head cleaning required" message began to appear. We followed the prescribed procedure and cleaned the video heads with a MiniDV cleaning tape. The problem was not corrected, so we sought repair of the camcorder (to the tune of $240). A rebuild of the drum assembly, supply and takeup reels was performed by a JVC-authorized repair center.

Since then, we have recorded less than two hours of tape, and the digital noise problem has again reappeared. Some research suggests that we are not the only ones who have had this difficulty with our JVC camcorder. Since my difficulties, I have found hundreds of consumer comments that suggest that this and several other models of JVC digital camcorders and DV recorders are riddled with digital noise problems.

I have never been so dissatisfied with such a major purchase and am currently seeking a full refund from JVC. Wish me luck.

This is an excellent camcorder.

The 920U (this camcorder) is much better than the 720U/820U. The earlier versions had a constant buzz on the recorded audio that appeared to come from the DV tape motor. The 920U is very quiet and the audio is crystal clear.

Video quality was much better, too, with sharper colors probably due to the improved lens. (The colors on the 720U/820U were washed out and dull.) On the 920U, I couldn't tell much difference between real life and recorded video in well-lighted conditions. Also, the viewfinder is color whereas the 720U/820U have B&W viewfinders.

Zoom is smooth and well-positioned. The menu is easy to use. Overall the ergonomics of the camcorder are excellent.

The 3.5" LCD is VERY nice. I'm definitely hooked on that feature.

...

I used it for the first time during my vacation with my family to Southern California last December and it satisfied me very much. The manual is really easy to follow. It felt good in my palm during action. I took some pictures because the 920 is also equipped with memory card. I really proud of this camcorder...

The product installed and worked flawlessly on XP. Little did I know but it does not support or fit CF Type II cards like the IBM Microdrive that I bought it for. OOooooops!!! This means that I'm going to have to buy another to support my Microdrive. But it works great for my 128 and 32Mb CF Type I cards so I'm keeping it anyhow. Be sure you are using a Type I CF card and it'll work like a charm, even on XP. The beautiful thing is that I didn't need to install any drivers or anything else to get it to work, it just works.

I put my Sandisk 128 MB CF card into the adapter and pushed it into the laptop PCMCIA slot. I had a hard drive! Nothing else to do!

Compared to a 100MB Zip drive, this is a great way to transfer data from notebook to notebook. However, the CF cards are expensive. So don't use this for permanent storage. Buy a CD writer for that.

I am a software consultant. I go to a client-site, draw stuff on the whiteboard and when I'm done, I take a picture of the board with my digital camera. Then take the CF card out, put it in the adapter and stick the adapter in a notebook and the image is ready to transfer.

No software to install and no hassel.

That's what I like.

it's so cheap and works effectively.. what else can you ask for?

I have had one of these for weeks and have had Hell's own time trying to get it to work with Win2K. When it is kind enough to let itself be installed, it stops woring when I restart. I got complex instructions from SanDisk support involving a registry edit and it failed again. Now they are telling me I need to use it with a powered hub. I bought one, and I will try it, but for now it is an expensive paperweight.

I have a digital camera that uses CompactFlash, and a Palm that supports secure digital cards. I wanted something that would enable me to read both formats. This product came to the rescue. It works with no hassles on both MacOS X and Windows XP. It is compact as well, I can put it in my camera bag and bring it anywhere.

So two things happened that [were bad]:

1) I bought a laptop, not realizing that it didn't have a floppy drive.

2) My digital camera came with a secure digital card that was WAY too small to be useful (16MB), and I immediately replaced it with something practical. Now what to do with that tiny little card?

Needing a way to transfer files at home and at work, I bought this great little card reader. I love it!!

The set up was a little shaky; I couldn't get get it to work and it kept crashing my computer. After about 10 minutes of this, I put the card back in the camera, reformatted it, and PRESTO! Works great, and with XP required no set up software. I can hardly believe something this useful is also so [inexpensive]. I guess they figure they'll make money selling bigger cards.

This thing is fast and works well however for my next reader I will be getting one that does both Compact Flash and Smartmedia. Most cameras nowadays are Compact Flash so that limits the usability of this device unless all you're going to be using it for is Smartmedia.

I like this adapter! It works as advertised and the pcmcia card is better to carry around than the cable. The reason for only 4 stars: I asked a question via their website (warranty activation). The automated response promises contact within 24 hours, but havent heard from them in for 3 days. I will try again.

I have had this reader for 8 months. I have not had any problems with it at all. Good buy for a smart media reader.

I bought this chip for my digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 950. In web mode, you can store about 1000 pictures on it, and in high resolution mode (about 2 MPixels) you can store about 50 pictures. It worked fine out of the box in the camera. The only problem as noted by others here, is that no case is included to hold the card. Considering the plastic case that came with my camera must have cost a fraction of a cent to produce, I think SanDisk should include this in future product offerings. It's very annoying that they didn't include it. Since all of these cards pretty much work the same, I think price should be the main determination of which one to buy.

I have a cannon S100, and I have been taking up to 170 photos in medium quality (enough to print a 10x8" high quality picture). You can be a day taking pictures without being worry about memory.

Bought this card along with my Elph S100. This size card fits plenty of shots at a good price. I have had no problems with it. Yes, it does not come with a case but all I need is one case. Given the size of my camera and the storage space, I actually did not care to have a case.

Ok, if you are interested in this product, I'll assume that you already own a Rio, so I guess I can't try to talk you out of that.

GOOD - Small, easy to carry around, cheap compared to OTHER flash memory manufacturers.

BAD - Expensive compared to CD-R, MD, etc.

UGLY - Bad memory clusters will cause skips over time.

Basically, if you have a Rio, and need more memory, this is the stuff to buy. Don't try and find Camera flash cards, and figure out how to use them in your Rio. That would not only be a nuscence, but also would end up costing you more. If you don't own a Rio, and are considering buying one, take a look at my reviews of the PMP300 and the PMP500.

- E-Mail me at nairos@home.com if you have any questions -

I purchased the Rio 500 and love it. It is the coolest things since sliced bread, BUT. I travel a lot for work and use a Win 95 laptop. The Rio 500 does not support the USB uploads from or to a Win 95 machine. This stinks. All in all though, I think that the Rio 500 is a great toy.

My wife even thinks so.

A Rio with only 32mb is pretty hard to enjoy since it can only hold about eight songs at once. With the extra 32mb smartmedia your Rio can hold about as much music as a cd. Another good thing is that with the price of the Rio going down, it costs less to get the Rio PMP300 & a flash card than to buy a 64mb mp3 player.