SimpleTech 256mb CF: Very Sloooow!

Rodneyk said:

...

So if you do decide to do this I would highly recommend that you
clearly label the new card as a "value" card and the high
performance card as a "Pro", "performance", or "elite" card so that
it is clear what you are buying.

Click to expand...

Neal Martin said:

Thanks James for getting this whole thing started. I checked out
if my card with similar #s could be a problem.
Got this ret. email w/ better directions for the return. Turns
out you have to call their tech support for an "RMA Number" Here's
Abbot's ret. email to me:

Here is the link to our RMA site. Yes, you probably have one of the
affected cards. To ensure you are completely satisfied, return the
card and
we will send you a replacement. We can't be sure if you have an
affected
card until we test the card here in the factory. Please refer to
the web
address below and follow the instructions for the return of the card.
Thank-you for your purchase of SimpleTech products.
http://www.simpletech.com/warranty_policies/consumer/c_warranty_rmaservice.html

Neal Martin

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J. Roberts said:

TheVikingGuy said:

Yes, my philosophy is that cards are cheap now (whether it is $95
or $115 dollars). I would think that at this point people would
prefer to pay a little more for a quality product for just $15 -
$20. Afterall, you are going to own the card for years to come and
you don't want to be stuck with something that frustrates you
everytime you try to use your digital camera.

However, the lower priced cards (even by a few dollars sometimes)
tend to get the sales. Sure, we have very loyal customers that
purchase for the performance (such as yourself) but it is the small
minority.

Any other comments or opinions?

J. Roberts wrote:

Click to expand...

I am going to buy a Viking 256 mb card this weekend, based on the
review on this website. If Viking decreases performance to offer a
cheaper price, I would no longer purchase Viking products.
Unfortunately, most people are cheap and only look at cost.

Click to expand...

James Mcafee said:

Could SimpleTech have changed the speed of their 256Mb CF?

This week I received 2 SimpleTech 256Mb CF from Buy.com (SimpleTech
part number STI-CF/256), identical in look to the reviews by Phil
Askey and Rob Galbraith.

My first impression in my D30 was that it was slower than my 1Gb
Microdrive. Then I tried it in my D60. I could barbaque a chicken
in less time than it took to write a burst of RAW.

So using the methodologies of Rob and Phil, I tested the speed with
both JPEG large/fine and RAW. This included formatting the card for
each test. The battery was fresh, etc.

I confirmed consistently that the write speeds were 50-60% of the
rates that both reviewers calculated, corrected for file size (my
subject was essentially black, and the actual file sizes were much
smaller than the reviewer's, about 1.5Mb for the JPEG and 5.3Mb for
the RAW). The actual data rate averaged close to 700Kb/s. The time
it took to process and write an 8 burst RAW (5.3Mb ea) was 76
seconds!

Has anybody else come across this?

Click to expand...

James Mcafee said:

Could SimpleTech have changed the speed of their 256Mb CF?

Click to expand...

Al Goldis said:

Dana Jacobsen said:

I received two of the same cards (SimpleTech 256MB) from
Amazon.com. I just tested a burst of 8 RAW files, then timed from
red light on to red light off. Sorry -- only single second
resolution.

SimpleTech 256MB 80s for 54.2MB = 694 k/s
Lexar 4x 80MB 59s for 54.1MB = 939 k/s

This is in a D60. I tested the ST card twice and got identical
results (690k/s).

As you'll note, we both get about 700Kb/s, while Rob's numbers are
about 1200Kb/s. The wimpy Lexar 4x beats these numbers by a good
margin.

The good part for me is that the cards were cheap and the way I am
currently taking pictures it isn't a problem -- the D60's buffer is
nice and I've been using JPEG instead of RAW. In my two days of
owning the D60 I truly have never had a problem. But then I'm
coming to the D60 straight from a film camera and have the "every
shutter press costs money" thing to overcome.

James Mcafee said:

Could SimpleTech have changed the speed of their 256Mb CF?

This week I received 2 SimpleTech 256Mb CF from Buy.com (SimpleTech
part number STI-CF/256), identical in look to the reviews by Phil
Askey and Rob Galbraith.

My first impression in my D30 was that it was slower than my 1Gb
Microdrive. Then I tried it in my D60. I could barbaque a chicken
in less time than it took to write a burst of RAW.

So using the methodologies of Rob and Phil, I tested the speed with
both JPEG large/fine and RAW. This included formatting the card for
each test. The battery was fresh, etc.

I confirmed consistently that the write speeds were 50-60% of the
rates that both reviewers calculated, corrected for file size (my
subject was essentially black, and the actual file sizes were much
smaller than the reviewer's, about 1.5Mb for the JPEG and 5.3Mb for
the RAW). The actual data rate averaged close to 700Kb/s. The time
it took to process and write an 8 burst RAW (5.3Mb ea) was 76
seconds!

Has anybody else come across this?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

J. Roberts said:

TheVikingGuy said:

Yes, my philosophy is that cards are cheap now (whether it is $95
or $115 dollars). I would think that at this point people would
prefer to pay a little more for a quality product for just $15 -
$20. Afterall, you are going to own the card for years to come and
you don't want to be stuck with something that frustrates you
everytime you try to use your digital camera.

However, the lower priced cards (even by a few dollars sometimes)
tend to get the sales. Sure, we have very loyal customers that
purchase for the performance (such as yourself) but it is the small
minority.

Any other comments or opinions?

J. Roberts wrote:

Click to expand...

I am going to buy a Viking 256 mb card this weekend, based on the
review on this website. If Viking decreases performance to offer a
cheaper price, I would no longer purchase Viking products.
Unfortunately, most people are cheap and only look at cost.

Click to expand...

Jim C. said:

Jim C. said:

Jim C. said:

J. Roberts wrote:

Click to expand...

I am going to buy a Viking 256 mb card this weekend, based on the
review on this website. If Viking decreases performance to offer a
cheaper price, I would no longer purchase Viking products.
Unfortunately, most people are cheap and only look at cost.

Click to expand...

I hope there is no rebate on that deal. Viking was notrious last
year for not making good on their rebates. Just do a search in the
Storage & Media forum and you'll see what I'm talking about. It
got very hot and heavy with alot of ill will towards Viking.

Jim C.

Click to expand...