Customer Reviews

Dazzle DM22000 Hi-Speed Universal 8 in 1 Digital Media Reader/Writer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a horrible product that you should avoid at all costs! I have wasted a great deal of time trying to get it to work properly. Its drivers run in the Windows 16bit emulator (they didnt even bother to write 32 bit drivers for it for w2k or XP)
So when it crashes (which is frequent) the 16 bit emulator takes all of the cpu time! Then the stuff wont un-install, so you have to figure out where it is running in the registry and remove it by hand! One of the WORST products that we have ever bought here!

This product works well when it works, but all too often it does not work. The Win2k driver, even when installed carefully, often fails to recognise media. I am a computer professional, and I tried various tactics; I can now make it work, but it is complicated, fiddly, and ridiculous. Phone and email support are useless (gave up after 45 minutes on hold on the phone, even when email questions are accepted and acknowledged no reply ever arrives). Avoid this product.

Have had massive problems with two of these readers that I bought for work. One of them repeatedly disappears from my computer after I read and remove a card, and I have to reboot to bring it back. The other has somehow corrupted two Smartmedia cards and made them unusable. Zio supposedly has a firmware upgrade but so far has not actually sent it, nor is it available on their website, not to mention they said you can only install it with a Win98 system... Avoid this product, by all means.

Use of this product has resulted in the unusability of my two smart media cards in the past 24 hours. The company's FAQ page in their tech support page states that this is due to old firm ware. I cannot find a solution to this problem online.

I bought this reader a number of months ago because it was cheap and portable. I have never been able to get it working consistently on my Windows 2000 system. When I insert a memory card of any type, Windows 2000 tells me I have improperly removed a USB device from the system and the drive icons disapper in Windows Explorer. To get the reader working, I have to stop the USB device manually, then hope the system "refinds" it and adds the drives to Windows Explorer. When the reader IS found by the system, no problems, but getting there is a headache! At worst, the drivers send the UMONIT.EXE (USB monitoring) process pegging at 99% CPU usage and my system is unusable until I manually stop it. I have especially had trouble getting it to work with SanDisk OEM SD memory cards.

I have reinstalled the drivers and hardware more times than I can count, to no avail. I contacted technical support months ago and they sent me down a couple of silly paths that weren't helpful. I now see that the Dazzle website no longer has information for this product. Their knowledgebase only points to Pinnacle's website...

I can't vouch for performance with other Windows OS's, but if you have Windows 2k, BEWARE!!

This card reader has worked perfectly for me from the time I first plugged it into my computer.

Some may not be aware that WinXP and Win2000 (with Service Pack 4) already have Microsoft's USB drivers included in them. So if you are running either of these systems, do NOT install the supplied drivers as they may actually reduce the performance of the device. Try it BEFORE you install any drivers, if it works, then DON'T install them. I have read that you may limit the speed to USB 1 or cause other problems if you install unnecessary drivers; probably you should use the supplied CD only if you are running Win98.

I have used the reader/writer with CF cards up to 512 MB and SD cards up to 1 GB and have had no problems whatsoever; I cannot speak for other media types. Make sure you are inserting the card the right way which is not so obvious: CF cards go in with the label side up, same as in your camera, but SD cards with the label down, and of course with the electrical contacts on the leading edge. This model does not have any indicator lights that show when a card is inserted properly, but I got such a good deal on it I can't really complain about that.

Re some of the complaints in other reviews: the guy who says he put a CF card in sideways and couldn't get it out must be talking about SD cards which are much smaller; I tried and it is impossible to insert a CF card to the point of losing it. Another guy complained about an issue with an unsupported card type. These complaints are totally unfair. If your garden hose got chewed up because you ran over it with your new lawnmower, would you blame the lawnmower manufacturer because they didn't tell you not to do that? If you do something dumb, take responsibility for it yourself, don't blame the manufacturer.

I used this card to download files form my Smart Media Card to the PC and that worked well. The problem started when I deleted all the files form the card. Thereafter the camera refused to recognize the card and kept shutting itself down. The camera would not even format the card. However the camera works with any other card not used on this card reader. Formatting the SM card did not help.

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The Zio web site ZioCorp.com under the FAQ section for Multi Function Readers has the following information:

Q I downloaded my pictures to my computer using the 8 in 1 reader and when I put the card back into my camera it no longer works. I get a format error. Formatting it in the reader does not solve the problem.

A - This is due to old firmware that will need to be upgraded. Please email our Technical Support department at techhelp@ziosupport.com to initiate the RMA process. Your media will need to be formatted as well and our support team can assist with that.

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The company did not care to respond to my e-mail.

I have two of these that I use on my Macintosh systems and they work great. They appear to be better built than similar priced devices that I have previously purchased.

I've had this for a couple of years now, and it's worked reliably for me with a 2gb microdrive, and a CF card.

I wish it was a little faster at reading, but it could be the microdrive itself - 2gb is a lot of data, and I tend to download hundreds of pictures at a time.

The included stand is worthless.

I've used it on two XP Pro machines, and haven't had to do any installation other than plugging the cable into a usb port. It's easy to work with. The memory cards show up under "my computer" as extra hard drives.

I note people have reported problems using it with smart media cards, and wouldn't advise using this reader with them.

Works fine under Win2K but the problems are mechanical. The vertical stand is useless. Also, do not insert a CF card sideways!!! It will slide in and rattle around forever, until you remove the two screws under rubber feet to retrieve it. Note to Dazzle engineers: block the naive user from inserting the card sideways!