Reading mode: Light Dark

Which one to buy???

Go to last post
C

Chocka

New member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
NL
Instead of having several CF/SD cards, I think its very easy to have something what can back-up my CF/SD cards. So I started to find out whats is on the market. As well I took my time to buy a digital SLR (about 2 months), I started 3 weeks ago to find out this problem.

The big problem is that there are less review information on those products as you can find on this site before you buy a digital camera. The second base problem is always that if you ask what to buy on a forum, to get information what will be objective and reliable. Because someone like green and the otherone like red. Yes, I have to filter the overkill of

information, I already used to that. After 2 months compare and reading a lot of reviews and forums, I bought a Nikon D50 with a Tamron 18-200 mm. So I thought to do the same before I buy a storage device as back-up for my CF/SD cards.

So my search started at Google and find the several names for what I looking for:
  • Image tank
  • Photo bank
  • PMP: Portable Media Player
  • PSD: Portable Storage Device
I looked further and further. So that have now a list of several products which agree with my wants. Money is not the big issue, if I have to pay 10-20 € for a better device thats no problem. Of course how more GB's or more possibilities the device has, the more it will cost. I also make a bid on Ebay on a Vosonic V6230 80GB, new price 329 €, but this one is second hand and if I can win it for about 200 €, I can be happy with it for the time being. But if not I have to look further.

But as I said to make the final dissicion I try to look further of there any objective and reliable reviews, which can help me before I buy one.

Of course any manyfacturer want to pick some corn from this market. But which one will be better, for example because the manyfacturer is longer on this market and have more experienced in the use of those products or has a better name. For example at the end I choosed A Nikon in stead of a Panansonic, not that a Panasonic is worse but the Nikon is better.

The list so far:
  • Transcend 40GB 160 €
  • Storvision 40GB 139 €
  • Vosonic 2160 40GB 145 €
  • XS-Drive 40GB 135 €
  • Smartdisk 40GB 149 €
  • INOI HD182 40GB 140 €
  • Canyon 20GB 126 €
  • Smartdisk 20GB 129 € (fotochute)
I donnot think it will be a 20GB. Yes, there are smaller but the price difference with a 40GB is too small, that I will have more value with a 40GB than a 20GB. Beside that a 20GB device has no cardreader insite.

For the remaining 40GB devices, it will be hard to choose. I found out so far that the differences for those devices is:
  • The read and write speed
  • Battery life and the use which battery (penlites or lithium)
As you may understand, I am not an impulsive buyer. I rather take more time to buy a good product, than to buy just something and see what it will be.

Hopefully there is someone who can help me further or has the same problem but has come further than I do at this moment.

Looking forward to your replies.

Best Regards

Chocka
 
You're list is missing a couple of the best proforming products made... The NextoDI ND-2300 and the CompactDrive PD70X.

The NextoDI ND-2300 has a CF card slot, and a USB OTG (hosting) port. It can transfer up to about 50GB on a single charge of it's internal Lithium battery. It transfers at speeds up to about 16MB/second well above most other PSDs on the market (all those that you've listed). It's realtively small and light, has a easy to operate one button design, etc...

The only other competitor in terms of speed is the CompactDrive PD70X... This has many differnt types of cards slots, including both CF and SD. It's unique from any ohter PSD, in that it uses four AA batteries as it's primary portable power source, althoug Alkaline cells really dont work well, but recharbable NiCD or NiMH work fine). It transfers at speeds very simmilar to the ND-2300... It's considerably bigger and heavier then the ND-2300, however some people don't seem to mind that.

I personaly feel the ND-2300 is a better designed product, however many people like the feature set that the PD70X has, and choose it anyway. For the most part both are reliable, but from my obervations from reading fourms like this, the PD70X seems to have a few more then the NextoDI products do... but this is a very hard thing to judge since it's impossible to know exactly how many users either has, and/or how many users are complaing vs. those that never say anything, etc...

If your looking at PSDs you'd not be wise to overlook either of the PSD's I've spoke of here... Also be aware that the PD70X is also known by the name HyperDrive HD80... I won't recomend the HyperDrive product at all, simply because the distributer seems to be ht and miss in terms of customer support... and unless they should ever improve their operation I can't say anything good about them.
Chocka said:
Instead of having several CF/SD cards, I think its very easy to
have something what can back-up my CF/SD cards. So I started to
find out whats is on the market. As well I took my time to buy a
digital SLR (about 2 months), I started 3 weeks ago to find out
this problem.

The big problem is that there are less review information on those
products as you can find on this site before you buy a digital
camera. The second base problem is always that if you ask what to
buy on a forum, to get information what will be objective and
reliable. Because someone like green and the otherone like red.
Yes, I have to filter the overkill of
information, I already used to that. After 2 months compare and
reading a lot of reviews and forums, I bought a Nikon D50 with a
Tamron 18-200 mm. So I thought to do the same before I buy a
storage device as back-up for my CF/SD cards.

So my search started at Google and find the several names for what
I looking for:
  • Image tank
  • Photo bank
  • PMP: Portable Media Player
  • PSD: Portable Storage Device
I looked further and further. So that have now a list of several
products which agree with my wants. Money is not the big issue, if
I have to pay 10-20 € for a better device thats no problem. Of
course how more GB's or more possibilities the device has, the more
it will cost. I also make a bid on Ebay on a Vosonic V6230 80GB,
new price 329 €, but this one is second hand and if I can win it
for about 200 €, I can be happy with it for the time being. But if
not I have to look further.

But as I said to make the final dissicion I try to look further of
there any objective and reliable reviews, which can help me before
I buy one.

Of course any manyfacturer want to pick some corn from this market.
But which one will be better, for example because the manyfacturer
is longer on this market and have more experienced in the use of
those products or has a better name. For example at the end I
choosed A Nikon in stead of a Panansonic, not that a Panasonic is
worse but the Nikon is better.

The list so far:
  • Transcend 40GB 160 €
  • Storvision 40GB 139 €
  • Vosonic 2160 40GB 145 €
  • XS-Drive 40GB 135 €
  • Smartdisk 40GB 149 €
  • INOI HD182 40GB 140 €
  • Canyon 20GB 126 €
  • Smartdisk 20GB 129 € (fotochute)
I donnot think it will be a 20GB. Yes, there are smaller but the
price difference with a 40GB is too small, that I will have more
value with a 40GB than a 20GB. Beside that a 20GB device has no
cardreader insite.

For the remaining 40GB devices, it will be hard to choose. I found
out so far that the differences for those devices is:
  • The read and write speed
  • Battery life and the use which battery (penlites or lithium)
As you may understand, I am not an impulsive buyer. I rather take
more time to buy a good product, than to buy just something and see
what it will be.

Hopefully there is someone who can help me further or has the same
problem but has come further than I do at this moment.

Looking forward to your replies.

Best Regards

Chocka
Click to expand...
 
Glenn, thanks for your advice.

The CompactDrive PD70X looks a nice device, but two problems:
  • It weight 455 grams
  • With a HD of 40GB it costs 230 €, that is about 80-90 € more than the devices on the list
The NextoDI ND-2300 looks also nice, but has also some problems I see:
  • It has only a CF port, so not compatible with SD
  • Yes the speed very nice, but I donnot think I will pay about 40 € more because of the speed. It means if I pick some device from my list it may takes 3-5 minutes longer to back-up my CF/SD cards.
So in total I will not put those two devices to my list
 
Chocka said:
The NextoDI ND-2300 looks also nice, but has also some problems I see:
  • It has only a CF port, so not compatible with SD
Click to expand...
The Nexto ND2300 will accept a card reader connected to the the usb port and the newer SD cards that have the usb connection built in, plug directly into the Nexto's USB port.

I just came back from a European trip where I stored my own images (CF cards and my wife's and a friend's images (SD cards), the machine worked exactly as advertised. Charged it once during the two weeks, )probably did not need to), and had around 24GB on it.

The operation is straightforward and it feels quite solid in build, aluminuim case, I am very satisfied.
 
Speed is important... Not just because it saves you a few minutes longer, but because taking a few minutes longer on each card, means your batteries will go dead after fewer GBs have been transfered. If you always going to be near power while you transfer, perhaps this is not really a issue, however most people would like to be able to transfer as much as possible on a single charge. The only practicle way to transfer more data on a single charge (and keep weight down) is to transfer as fast as possible.

Another person already responded... but the ND-2300 will transfer from SD cards, when you use the USB OTG port to connect a SD card reader. This may be less then ideal for users who use SD cards, but it is possible, and is still probably lighter then the PD70X...

Another area where speed becomes really nice is when you start to download all your data when your back home. Many PSDs will barely transfer at 5MB where the Nexto will do probably close to 25MB/second... Or said another way, the Nexto products are probably nearly as fast as internal hard drive would be.

I own a slow PSD too... and well once I got a Nexto product, the old Vosonic was put away and has not been used...
Chocka said:
Glenn, thanks for your advice.

The CompactDrive PD70X looks a nice device, but two problems:
  • It weight 455 grams
  • With a HD of 40GB it costs 230 €, that is about 80-90 € more than
the devices on the list

The NextoDI ND-2300 looks also nice, but has also some problems I see:
  • It has only a CF port, so not compatible with SD
  • Yes the speed very nice, but I donnot think I will pay about 40 €
more because of the speed. It means if I pick some device from my
list it may takes 3-5 minutes longer to back-up my CF/SD cards.

So in total I will not put those two devices to my list
Click to expand...
 
Smartdisk Photobank looks identical to Mapower Map-MM-33-A enclosure. In the US it used to be sold on Newegg for like $40. You can still find them in some small online stores.
 
PD70X - Love it as I do not need to veiw my photos til I get to my PC
I have the 40 gig one and never filled it.

Would be easy to change to 80gig or carry extra HD as they are just the ones for laptops and reasonable priced.
--

_
( '
/ ) )
' '
KimR

'The very fact that I find myself in agreement with you other minds perturbs me, so that I hunt for points of divergence, feeling the urgent need to make it clear that at least I reached the same conclusions by a different route.'
 
Thanx for your comments, but after a lot of reading and (re)searching, I bought the Vosonic VP8350. Great machine, may be not as fast as the Nexto or PDX70 but now I can see even RAW photo's (Nikon NEF) with it.
 
Can you change the internal battery by yoursels of the nextodi?

arguros
 
Sure you can... you need a screwdriver(one the size that comes with it), you take the front and back cover off... disconnect the battery, replace it.... It's a single LiPoly cell, with a basic two wire connector. It's not a battery that is commonly available at the local store, but it is not that hard to find one that will work.

It has the ablity to use a external battery, this can easily be replaced with no tools... They are suposed to be making a 4 cell AA holder that can also be used to power the ND-2300, I haven't heard much more about this however.
arguros said:
Can you change the internal battery by yoursels of the nextodi?

arguros
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top