Mr. Flash

TonyK_in_Texas · Mar 25, 2002

Hi all,

I got my 256MB CF from Newegg.com today. I came up showing only 137 shots available. My first 256MB CF from them has a capacity of 140 images.

In looking at this in Windows Explorer I see a difference of 4MB between the two cards and neither one is a full 256MB.

I know for HD, the industry practice is to state unformatted capacity so a XX GB HD will actually be less formatted than XX GB.

My question is does anyone have 2 CF cards from Mr. Flash and if so, what the sizes as reported by your OS is?

Thanks,
--TonyK

Alan Mead · Mar 25, 2002

I only have one Mr. Flash 256 card and it shows 139, which I thought OK because my 128 card, not a Mr. Flash, shows 70 available. Have you tried formatting the card with the camera?--Best Regards,Alan

TonyK_in_Texas · Mar 25, 2002

Camera, computer (which I've never done before but what the heck) and nothing.

I believe this to be a variance and am wondering if I need to return it for exchange or refund.

Thanks,

Alan Mead said:
I only have one Mr. Flash 256 card and it shows 139, which I
thought OK because my 128 card, not a Mr. Flash, shows 70
available. Have you tried formatting the card with the camera?
--
Best Regards,
Alan

--TonyK

Sheryl B · Mar 25, 2002

Tony, don't know how much info. I can provide. I own one Mr. Flash 256MB CF card and one Kingston 256 MB card.
Per Windows explorer:

MR. Flash reported 248MB free after deleting all pics & if re-formatted reported 249MB

Kingston reported 244MB before & after re-formatting

Sheryl

TonyK_in_Texas said:
Hi all,

I got my 256MB CF from Newegg.com today. I came up showing only
137 shots available. My first 256MB CF from them has a capacity of
140 images.

In looking at this in Windows Explorer I see a difference of 4MB
between the two cards and neither one is a full 256MB.

I know for HD, the industry practice is to state unformatted
capacity so a XX GB HD will actually be less formatted than XX GB.

My question is does anyone have 2 CF cards from Mr. Flash and if
so, what the sizes as reported by your OS is?

Thanks,

--
TonyK

TonyK_in_Texas · Mar 25, 2002

So the variation I am seeing might be normal. I mean we are talking about the same difference of 249MB to 244MB.

The poor soul answering the phone said it was defective and I informed her that I had years of experience and before returning the product I wanted to check with the forum and find out what our deviations where.

It looks like my card may be good after all.

I used it and will post an image here soon under a ORF and MF topic heading. I was playing with both at the same time and have some observations to make.

Thank you for checking.

Sheryl B said:
MR. Flash reported 248MB free after deleting all pics & if
re-formatted reported 249MB

Kingston reported 244MB before & after re-formatting

Sheryl

TonyK_in_Texas said:

Hi all,

I got my 256MB CF from Newegg.com today. I came up showing only
137 shots available. My first 256MB CF from them has a capacity of
140 images.

In looking at this in Windows Explorer I see a difference of 4MB
between the two cards and neither one is a full 256MB.

I know for HD, the industry practice is to state unformatted
capacity so a XX GB HD will actually be less formatted than XX GB.

My question is does anyone have 2 CF cards from Mr. Flash and if
so, what the sizes as reported by your OS is?

Thanks,

--
TonyK

Click to expand...

--TonyK

Joe Hoddinott · Mar 25, 2002

While we are on the subject - I've been eying the Mr. Flash 512MB ($185) which seems to be a good deal. I have no experience with these cards. Are they reliable? I'm looking to replace a few 340MB microdrives with solid state cards and these have a nice price. Thanks.--Regards,Joe H.---------------------------------------www.biggerboatstudios.com

Sheryl B · Mar 25, 2002

I've used the Mr. Flash smart media cards for a year in my Oly C2100 with 1000's of pics taken. In Nov I began using a Mr. Flash CF card in my new E-20. I've never noticed any difference in performance between Mr. Flash brands and SanDisk and Kingston.

Sheryl

Joe Hoddinott said:
While we are on the subject - I've been eying the Mr. Flash 512MB
($185) which seems to be a good deal. I have no experience with
these cards. Are they reliable? I'm looking to replace a few
340MB microdrives with solid state cards and these have a nice
price. Thanks.
--
Regards,
Joe H.

---------------------------------------
http://www.biggerboatstudios.com

mike · Mar 25, 2002

Try http://www.newegg.com and search for the Mr. Flash 512 CF card-- about $185 plus $5 shipping. I have several of them. So far performance has been flawless and newegg has been very efficient at filling orders.

Joe Hoddinott said:
While we are on the subject - I've been eying the Mr. Flash 512MB
($185) which seems to be a good deal. I have no experience with
these cards. Are they reliable? I'm looking to replace a few
340MB microdrives with solid state cards and these have a nice
price. Thanks.
--
Regards,
Joe H.

---------------------------------------
http://www.biggerboatstudios.com

TonyK_in_Texas · Mar 25, 2002

Hi Joe,

I've had one for over 6 months and really like it. I ordered a second this last week and I am attempting to determine if I have what would be considered a normal variance in mfg.

I would recommend them. My first card has paid for itself several times over now and still going.

Thanks,

Joe Hoddinott said:
While we are on the subject - I've been eying the Mr. Flash 512MB
($185) which seems to be a good deal. I have no experience with
these cards. Are they reliable? I'm looking to replace a few
340MB microdrives with solid state cards and these have a nice
price. Thanks.
--
Regards,
Joe H.

---------------------------------------
http://www.biggerboatstudios.com

--TonyK

Aron Hsiao · Mar 26, 2002

TonyK_in_Texas said:
Hi all,

I got my 256MB CF from Newegg.com today. I came up showing only
137 shots available. My first 256MB CF from them has a capacity of
140 images.

Tony,

a lot of memory makers have production set up to use different actual memory silicon in different runs of the same product, depending on the "raw materials" available at any given moment on the memory spot market.

The difference in capacity you are seeing could therefore be due to electrically different memory types being used in your cards even though they are sold to the consumer as the "same" product and share the same model number at Mr. Flash (because they have very similar capacities). This is all just a hunch, but I would suspect that if you actually pried your CF cards apart, you might find that inside they are using physically different flash chip(s) or chip(s) from different manufacturers, possibly even different card layouts, thereby resulting in slightly different final specs.

This is how the "cheap" brands keep prices down -- they're willing to vary their product slightly based on the raw materials available on the market at any given moment. For what it's worth, I use Mr. Flash 256MB cards and they give me an 1:4 capacity of 139 shots per card.

-Aron

TonyK_in_Texas · Mar 26, 2002

Thanks Aron.

My original Mr. Flash gets 140 and the new says 137 in 4:1 JPG. I almost returned it this evening because of Newegg.com's customer service.

I am going to use the flash on Wednesday and Thursday heavily and see what shakes out. I am not anticipating any issues with it and will probably keep it. It gets me a second 256MB for under $90 and a little variance is not such a bad thing as long as it is dependable.

Thanks again for the response.

Aron Hsiao said:
TonyK_in_Texas said:

Hi all,

I got my 256MB CF from Newegg.com today. I came up showing only
137 shots available. My first 256MB CF from them has a capacity of
140 images.

Click to expand...

Tony,

a lot of memory makers have production set up to use different
actual memory silicon in different runs of the same product,
depending on the "raw materials" available at any given moment on
the memory spot market.

The difference in capacity you are seeing could therefore be due to
electrically different memory types being used in your cards even
though they are sold to the consumer as the "same" product and
share the same model number at Mr. Flash (because they have very
similar capacities). This is all just a hunch, but I would suspect
that if you actually pried your CF cards apart, you might find that
inside they are using physically different flash chip(s) or chip(s)
from different manufacturers, possibly even different card layouts,
thereby resulting in slightly different final specs.

This is how the "cheap" brands keep prices down -- they're willing
to vary their product slightly based on the raw materials available
on the market at any given moment. For what it's worth, I use Mr.
Flash 256MB cards and they give me an 1:4 capacity of 139 shots per
card.

-Aron

--TonyK

Joe Hoddinott · Mar 26, 2002

Thanks for the replies. I'll give the 512 a go... it's the best price I've seen yet.--Regards,Joe H.---------------------------------------www.biggerboatstudios.com

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Mr. Flash

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