Lexar vs Sandisk vs Kodak

[poohbear]

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[JC Johnson]

Mike

After watching several new groups I have come to the conclusion the "better" makers/sellers are all about the same.

Having said that I am opting for the Lexar 80mb 4x(p.n. CF080-235), with a built-in USB gizmo?? I was going to get two(2) 48mb cards, but haven't found many complaints about catastrophic failures that can't be fixed by a format. I do not plan to keep pics in the camera for any length of time. Lexar also has a 5yr warranty.

I have found 2 e-stores selling them at $180 - $186. That works out to $2.33+- per MB. About as cheep as u can get and it has it's own USB gizmo.... At the best resolution on an S-10, that works out to be about 130 shots. More than a enough for me. If you step down to a mid range resolution, you could be pushing 1000 pics for a vacation or party. Matter of fact, I think the S-10 only has a three(3) digit pic counter and will stop at 999.

Even if you go for the 32mb($78 - $84), you're still saving the cost of a USB gizmo.

Jim

PS: I say gizmo because these cards come with a built in USB chip set. All you need is the JumpShot cable and drivers. Alternatives gizmos could be external readers, as your asking about, attached to your PC. A laptop PC card slot. Serial cables,,,,,,,

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the
one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar
though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[Hutch]

Check out http://www.onsale.com for the Lexar 4x USB cards with the "gizmo", Jump Shot reader included. $120.99 for the 48mb and $187.99 for the 80mb. I purchased 80mb cards from them and they were delivered ahead of schedule. Their prices are great, but higher than I paid a couple of weeks ago and seem to be going up daily. All were delivered ahead of schedule and I have been very happy with them.

After watching several new groups I have come to the conclusion the
"better" makers/sellers are all about the same.

Having said that I am opting for the Lexar 80mb 4x(p.n. CF080-235), with
a built-in USB gizmo?? I was going to get two(2) 48mb cards, but haven't
found many complaints about catastrophic failures that can't be fixed by
a format. I do not plan to keep pics in the camera for any length of
time. Lexar also has a 5yr warranty.

I have found 2 e-stores selling them at $180 - $186. That works out to
$2.33+- per MB. About as cheep as u can get and it has it's own USB
gizmo.... At the best resolution on an S-10, that works out to be about
130 shots. More than a enough for me. If you step down to a mid range
resolution, you could be pushing 1000 pics for a vacation or party.
Matter of fact, I think the S-10 only has a three(3) digit pic counter
and will stop at 999.

Even if you go for the 32mb($78 - $84), you're still saving the cost of a
USB gizmo.

Jim

PS: I say gizmo because these cards come with a built in USB chip set.
All you need is the JumpShot cable and drivers. Alternatives gizmos
could be external readers, as your asking about, attached to your PC. A
laptop PC card slot. Serial cables,,,,,,,

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the
one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar
though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[DerekW]

Sandisk makes the Kodak CF's, so paying more for the Kodak name may be throwing money away. As for the "USB" stuff, I already have both a laptop and a CF/PCMCIA/SM reader for my desktop, so I don't need to pay extra for that. On the road, I offload to the laptop, so PCMCIA works just fine for CF (with the adapter -- about $7). Paying extra for Lexar's supposed speed increase is deceptive. THe CF itself is not "4X" or four times faster, but rather, the controller portion of the CF. Overall speed increase will be minimal (maybe only 20-40% faster), and 40% of 2 seconds (for the S-10) is only eight tenths of a second. The only time that will be useful is if you're trying to take photos really fast, and the S-10 already has a huge built-in buffer to allow you to take multiple shots quickly, both in burst and regular mode.

The Imaging Resource did a speed analysis of several CF's and that's where I got my info. BTW, Sandisk guarantees their CF's for 100 million read/write operations.

• Derek W.

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the
one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar
though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[Mike]

I think everyone misunderstood my question. I meant card readers and not the flash cards themselves. I already have two 32 mb microtech compact flash cards. I am interested in buying an external flash card reader for my desktop and wanted to know which one to get. Thanks.

After watching several new groups I have come to the conclusion the
"better" makers/sellers are all about the same.

Having said that I am opting for the Lexar 80mb 4x(p.n. CF080-235), with
a built-in USB gizmo?? I was going to get two(2) 48mb cards, but haven't
found many complaints about catastrophic failures that can't be fixed by
a format. I do not plan to keep pics in the camera for any length of
time. Lexar also has a 5yr warranty.

I have found 2 e-stores selling them at $180 - $186. That works out to
$2.33+- per MB. About as cheep as u can get and it has it's own USB
gizmo.... At the best resolution on an S-10, that works out to be about
130 shots. More than a enough for me. If you step down to a mid range
resolution, you could be pushing 1000 pics for a vacation or party.
Matter of fact, I think the S-10 only has a three(3) digit pic counter
and will stop at 999.

Even if you go for the 32mb($78 - $84), you're still saving the cost of a
USB gizmo.

Jim

PS: I say gizmo because these cards come with a built in USB chip set.
All you need is the JumpShot cable and drivers. Alternatives gizmos
could be external readers, as your asking about, attached to your PC. A
laptop PC card slot. Serial cables,,,,,,,

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the
one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar
though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[jimb]

Mike,
I'm using sandisk usb cf reader, work well with microtech and sandisk memory.
I don't think there is much difference in the readers.

I take about 2 minutes to read a full 48mb card, lot faster than a camera serial port.
They sell for around $35 to $40 online. check out 20-20consumer.com for prices.
I got my from onsale.com
Jim

After watching several new groups I have come to the conclusion the
"better" makers/sellers are all about the same.

Having said that I am opting for the Lexar 80mb 4x(p.n. CF080-235), with
a built-in USB gizmo?? I was going to get two(2) 48mb cards, but haven't
found many complaints about catastrophic failures that can't be fixed by
a format. I do not plan to keep pics in the camera for any length of
time. Lexar also has a 5yr warranty.

I have found 2 e-stores selling them at $180 - $186. That works out to
$2.33+- per MB. About as cheep as u can get and it has it's own USB
gizmo.... At the best resolution on an S-10, that works out to be about
130 shots. More than a enough for me. If you step down to a mid range
resolution, you could be pushing 1000 pics for a vacation or party.
Matter of fact, I think the S-10 only has a three(3) digit pic counter
and will stop at 999.

Even if you go for the 32mb($78 - $84), you're still saving the cost of a
USB gizmo.

Jim

PS: I say gizmo because these cards come with a built in USB chip set.
All you need is the JumpShot cable and drivers. Alternatives gizmos
could be external readers, as your asking about, attached to your PC. A
laptop PC card slot. Serial cables,,,,,,,

I am looking to buy a compact flash card reader and am undecided bw the
one offered by Lexar, Sandisk and Kodak. I like the looks of the Lexar
though. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[DerekW]

I think everyone misunderstood my question. I meant card readers and not
the flash cards themselves. I already have two 32 mb microtech compact
flash cards. I am interested in buying an external flash card reader for
my desktop and wanted to know which one to get. Thanks.

I used a Sandisk CF reader with no problems (USB). I think most CF readers (USB and Para port) will work fine as long as you have Win98 (preferrably second edition). I traded in my Sandisk for a Seiko Intruments reader that reads PCMCIA and smartmedia. Sandisk (and most CF readers) will not read CF type II, like the microdrive. Best bet is to get a PCMCIA reader. That way it will read CF-I, CF-II, and smartmedia (with adapters - mine came with the CF adapter) and also read PCMCIA for any other PCMCIA cards you have. As a bonus, I can use my v90 56K laptop modem (PCMCIA) in the reader because it effectively adds a PCMCIA slot to your desktop PC.

• Derek W.