Customer Reviews

Eye-Fi 4 GB Explore Video SDHC Wireless Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-4EV

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I got this card for two reasons, the geotagging and the ability to just turn your camera on and have all the pictures uploaded automatically.

The geotagging works when there are Wi-Fi signals nearby, as the card uses those signals and a database to identify where it is. This feature seems to work well with that limitation. My problem with the feature is that the geotagging only works though if you wirelessly upload the pictures. Which leads me to the second issue.

The wireless upload is exceptionally slow. You get no indication on your camera that the upload has started or if there are any problems. You can sign up for email, SMS or Twitter updates, but it would be nice to see this on the camera. The upload is very, very, very slow. I had 100 pictures and it took over 2 hours. My camera batteries depleted themselves twice during this process.

It would be much better if you could still use the included SD/USB adapter to upload your pictures and retain the geotagging information.

With a 4GB SD card only costing $15-20 these days, you are paying at least an $80 premium for the wireless uploading and geotagging. I wish those both worked a little better.

The main purpose that I bought this product is for its geotagging feature. However, the limits of its ability to geotag photos are not made clear, and required me to do some in depth research. It does not use GPS to geotag, but the skyhook network, and therefore it is necessary to be in range of wireless networks (thus, it would not geotag photos taken in Yosemite). ALSO, the geotagging data does not appear to be embedded in the photo on the memory card, because if the photos are uploaded to your computer via the camera or the included card reader, the geotag data is not attached to the photo. The only way to have the geotag data attached to the photo is to upload the photo wirelessly through the Eye-Fi browser interface. Once I realized this, I accepted that I had already purchased it and wanted to make the most of the card. However, it would behoove Eye-Fi to be MUCH MORE CLEAR AND PRECISE in its marketing of the product and statement of its capabilities.
The other, though less important, reason that I bought this card is because of its wireless upload capabilities. However, again, Eye-Fi does not make clear the specifics of how this is achieved, nor the limitations. Uploading from the card to either your computer or the web service of your choosing can occur in two ways: while you are in range of a network which you have pre-configured the card for with that network's credentials; or when in range of a Wayport access point (at a cost of $15 per year, 1st year is free with some Eye-Fi cards) or open networks. As it says on my Eye-Fi manager settings:

"Wayport, Inc. offers Internet access at over 10,000 retail locations, including McDonald's restaurants, hotels and airports. Open Networks offer free Internet access and do not require you to load a browser welcome screen. By enabling this option, you are allowing the card to search for and connect to these types of networks. When connected, your Eye-Fi card will securely upload your photos to your computer or online destination."

However, there is no indicator on your camera as to whether or not the card is able to connect to any given network or photos are being uploaded, without having your computer to check the Eye-Fi Manager software.

In conclusion, as long as you perform your due diligence and know what to expect when purchasing this card, it will greatly satisfy some users. For other users, it is not the right device.

Hi All,

I have been using EYE-FI cards for a long time and love the features that they offer. There is no easier way to take a picture/video and upload it to your computer from a wireless network (both in your home, office, or at wi-fi hotspots). They utilize Wayport Hotspot Access for outside of the home/office and Skyhook Wireless for Geotagging.

The cards have been offered, without video, in the 2gb model for a very long time and have been my personal favorites...however 2gb is just not enough sometimes...considering the umpteen numbers of mega-pixels these days. I was very excited when the 4gb came out and offered video to boot.

When I say expectations - as in the title of this review - you have to realize that this is a 3rd party tool that works in all Cameras that accept SD cards. That being said it does not have the ability to interface with your camera's screen to give you updates as to what it is doing and when it is uploading. There is a bit of blind faith required to know that it is working....and worst case scenario is that if it didnt make the upload, the picture is still on the card and can be removed normally via the sd card adapter. Also, the fact that this card has wireless on it and does support geotagging is an awesome feature that will allow any camera to become gps aware...yes you need to be in an area that has some sort of wi-fi so that it can find where you are. Its not a true geo-tag feature.

Battery life will be an issue for most of the people that buy this card. Why? Simple answer is that it uses your camera battery to power the wi-fi portion of the card when it is uploading to your computer. If your camera is set to super duper high quality then yes, images will take a while to transfer to your computer, they even take a while when connected via usb. Wireless is slower then connecting your camera to your computer - so you must anticipate a delay factor and battery usage.

The video upload feature is also amazing but you must realize that video files are much larger then images and will also be slow to transfer via wireless to your computer...they will also put some extra load on your camera's battery.

All that said, I believe that this card offers a unique feature set and for the extra cost is a viable method for shooting photos and video and getting them on your computer. Yes, you are paying a $80 premium for this functionality...but it is worth it if you are interested in the features that this card provides. Remember that it will also upload your photos to your favorite photo/video sharing site (flickr etc).

Eye-Fi has recently allowed the ability to maintain one account and multiple cards...so you are now able to have a number of cards linked to one account so that they all upload as per your settings.

Note: This card comes with one year of hotspot access included, however you can add the feature to any eye-fi card for $14.99 per year from their website.

5/5 in my opinion....please do comment and let me know if I can answer any questions.

Background you can skip
This review is from a duped buyer that ordered this 4GB Explore card.
Upon arrival the card would not be read in my Nikon D90 (gave the infamous CHA message which refers to unreadable SD card media) nor my iMac nor my Windows 7 machine. So I went online and entered the Eye-fi website. There I found an email address for support and wrote about the fact that the car did not read. No answer after 24 hrs. 48 hrs pass and I write them again. In the meanwhile I enter their self-help forums and find to my surprise that there are quite a few frustrated posters on there dealing with non-working cards. I mean, hundreds of posts...
While I leave a post there, asking the forum moderator where I can get an RMA as support does not respond, I get responses from Eye-fi employees telling me to format the SD card. GREAT ADVICE, especially after telling them in the first place that the item does not READ on any device. I get no response when I retort that there is nothing to format if the card does not read. No response... time passes. I write again to the forum, posting my support query and asking for help on this expensive item. Again, there seem to be quite a lot of frustrated / duped consumers on there and by the number of posts these cards are POOR quality.
Finally, after 5 business days I get an email back: " we will close your support request as you have not responded to us". A total cop-out as I never received any response, nor did they show me one. It was also not in my junk-folder so a cheap way to get the consumer to take the blame "since I did not respond". The story goes on an on, but to make a long story short. THEY NEVER HELPED, NEVER OFFERED TO REPLACE THE ITEM NOR ANSWERED ANY QUESTIONS. And it took them 5 days.
I hope that you are lucky and receive a working item, because if not, check out the eye-fi website/forum for the barrage of problems. This company launched a gadget that is , quality wise, not ready at all. Secondly, they are not staffed at all to deal with issues nor do they seem willing to provide after-market care.
I finally found the seller of the item willing to replace it with a working one. And here is what I found:

Key findings:
- This card uploads either via the internet and then back to your PC when it is on or directly to a location via your wireless-g. That is a problem, why? Because a 5MB picture or a much larger video takes FOREVER. I shot 45 pictures at a party and it hijacked my internet upload bandwidth. When I switched off the internet relayed upload it still took several minutes per picture
- It drains batteries FAST! You have to leave on your camera to have it wirelessly upload the pics and that drains the batteries fast. Especially with the slow upload speeds this thing NEVER seems to finish an upload before the batteries are empty
- IF you have a disrupted upload (e.g. because of empty batteries) then it never seems to pick back up. I could NOT, for the life of me, get it to re-try uploading until I cleared the card
- The relayed upload shows ALL of your pictures to the eye-fi employees and they, without asking, will look at them. I know because of forum comments. I value my privacy and they should have asked permission to view peoples photos
- The software, sometimes and sometimes not, is quirky. Sometimes it would show photos being loaded to my network drive and sometimes it would sit idle for 30 minutes and then upload 1 picture, even though there are 20 or so on the card. Then it uploads 3 in a row and finally it tends to gets stuck on one of the pictures. My point: it NEVER EVER seems to work smoothly as intended. I have never been able to just click and walk aay to find my pics on the drive. Either the software crapped out, the batteries were drained, my internet was hogged for 4 hrs (relayed upload with 1.5/768 adsl is a bad combo) or the uploads got interrupted, this thing never functions fully. And this is the replacement.

My recommendation
I know that it is appealing to have a little card like this promise hands-free, worry-free operation of your pics, but it does not. In the end I am GLADLY back to spending 3 minutes to pull out the card from my D90 or Canon Vixia to upload via aSD slot on my computer. The wireless implementation is a cute idea with the worst type of implementation. The company, when your item fails (and odds seem to favor that), appears to care very little about your ordeal and openly ignores you.
I recommend buying one, if you cannot help yourself, and get a squaretrade warranty or so on it. Those are like 7$ and if it then fails you can simply get a refund rather than going through the nightmare I went through.
BAD !

I had asked for a Eye-Fi card for the holidays and I got 2. I received a 4gb Explore that I used in my pocket point & shoot (cannon 1000) and a 4GB Pro that I use in my Cannon Rebel.

I have not set them up to upload to anywhere but through my home network to my Mac laptop but this is just what I need it to do now.

I have it set to upload them right to my iPhoto directory and as soon as I get back to my machine and open iPhoto it imports all the uploaded pictures right into my library.

I especially love my Eye-Fis for 2 reasons.

1) I don't have to keep taking my card out and plugging it into my computer. I tend to be forgetful and have once or twice taken my camera out but forgotten to put the card back in (pre eye-fi). Additionally not having to plug something additional into my laptop is a plus since my cats think any appliances or wires hanging off my computer are obviously toys for my 2 cats. ;)

2) When I am home, I can take pictures of my cats around the house and keep my laptop nearby and open and see the files being down loaded right away. Its a smaller quicker view but sometimes I can tell if the shot was especially awful or actually decent.

I am even thinking of getting my mother one this year. She is especially computer illiterate and never downloads her pictures onto her computer. I can set this up for her and this way all she would have to do is turn on her camera and computer and let the devices do the work.

It would be nice if the upload preview was larger.

I do enjoy my cards and recommend them highly.

I since have also gotten a 8GB faster card for my new Lumix and love it both with my computer and shutter snitch and my ipad1 - great in the den taking pictures of the cats!

I have ordered 2 of these cards during the past year; the first one completely failed from a Eye-Fi known hardware flaw, which Eye-Fi offered to make right and replace the card, the second card was inoperable on arrival. I thought I had done something wrong with the second card but the Eye-Fi technical support rep confirmed that the card was dead hardware and needed to be returned. Amazon and Eye-Fi were helpful in orchestrating the return - my dissappointment was in getting two failed units out of two purchases. I cannot believe this was random. In my view this product is not ready for prime time.

I am not sure how I had no clue that this existed until I saw it on Amazon. I love photography and utilize my photos for paintings as well by downloading them, playing with the colors, then painting my subjects onto large canvasses in acrylic. I HATE plugging in my camera to the back of the computer after finding my cable cord and fiddling with uploading them. I can't exactly say why this is a pet peeve but let's just say it sometimes takes me months to do via my procrastination because it's just a chore I don't much care for.

Yet not once did anyone ever tell me I could download them wirelessly, effortlessly, and without using any technology brainpower whatsoever.

Oh thank you ye photography Gods.

I have a Nikon D90 (as well as a few other caameras but this is the one I uploaded my photos from for this review) and I just placed the card in the camera, played with some photos, and SHAZAM...like magic they wind up on my computer. Ok well not really magically but it felt like it...wirelessly and without any effort they were uploaded. For me it took no time at all and used next to no camera battery but maybe it depends upon your camera or battery...I'm not sure about that.

Photos can also be geotagged which is pretty nifty especially if you travel a lot. You can automatically tag where they are taken...it will do it on it's own by finding nearby wifi spots and then when uploaded they can be organized by location if desired. That way you can also search for photos easily by location too. You can view photos on a map and I alaso wirelessly uploaded photos to facebook.

I can't touch on how well it does with videos as well...I dont currently use a video camera...I'm all about the still lens...what can I say? :-) And, as for that, this is not only something that worked effortlessly, easily, and took away my least favorite camera chore, but I'm also gonna order a second one for my parents for their trips and grandchild photo uploads.

CONCLUSION: I feel lucky to have gotten this as I've never seen a commercial or ad for it and in all seriousness, I'm thrilled with it. It worked great with my camera and quite frankly I'd never travel without it now.

Worth Noting: I just read some of the other reviews and I think it worth noting that some who had issues didn't flip the box to the back and read the "what's required" on the back. So, just so it's clear when you order, this is what's required for it to work...it's a little hard to complain about an item we buy for a computer or camera that doesn't work with what we have unless we read the box regarding its compatiblility. :-)

Wi-Fi network compatible with 802.11 b/g
Broadband internet connection
SDHC compatible digital camera
Computer with Windows XP/Vista or Mac os x 10.4, 10.5
Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari

I've bought the Eye-fi for 2 reasons: geotagging and wifi upload to my computer.

Geotagging: Eye-fi uses technology from a company called Skyhook Wireless to do the geotagging. Skyhook basically maps all wifi routers position using GPS, and Eye-fi detects which wifi routers you're close too and translate that to a GPS location using Skyhook database. You can check Skyhook coverage on their website, but it covers well most of USA metro areas. It works well only urban areas. About half of the pictures have very precise geotagging, while the rest are up to 50 meters off the real position, and about 20% don't get any geotagging, probably because it was taken away of any wifi signal. A few pictures had completely wrong geotagging however. As the pictures with completely wrong location I took close to some cruise ships, I suspect Eye-fi may have detected some wifi signal on-board some ship, as it mapped the picture also closer to sea, but about 2000 miles away from the real location. I've tried using real GPS tagging before using an iPhone application, but while the iPhone GPS was more precise on open areas, it didn't work at all near high buildings, like on a recent trip to New York. Overall I like Eye-fi good geotagging capabilities.

Wifi upload: I'm using it with a 12Mpixel camera, so each photo has about 4Mb in size. Upload is slow (about 10 seconds/picture), but tolerable. If I have less than 20 pictures to upload, I simple leave the camera on near my wifi router and wait for 3-4 minutes, otherwise it's better to take the Eye-fi card off the camera and plug it in the computer or any SD powered-port. Convenient for few photos, not so convenient for hundreds of photos when you return from a trip for instance.

Eye-fi recently released a new version called Pro X2. It main advantages are faster memory (Class 6) and "endless memory", as it is able to erase the picture from the SD card after it is uploaded. The current Eye-fi cards cannot delete the picture automatically, and that's a major drawback.

Pros:

- good geotagging, but not perfect (expect good tagging on more than 50% of your photos)
- wifi, very convenient for few (less than 20) pictures. More than that, you may prefer to connect the SD card to the computer, or you will wait forever

Cons:

- current version don't have "end-less memory", i.e., it doesn't erase picture automatically from card after the upload
- current version is a bit slow transfer... if you take many photos in a row, you may notice some lagging in the camera to write the picture to the SD card

I try for about 3 hours to setup the settings of this card, on it's buggy software, I feel like I work on the bundle dell or hp software that runs slow and crashes even on high performance computers.

Be begin to hate this product only because of the software, let's see what will be next when I hope will finish set it up.

I purchased this thinking it would be very convenient for my wife when taking all the pictures she does and has to wait for me to upload to the computer. It isn't compatible with a wide range of camera models, check out the Eye-Fi to make sure it will work for your camera before purchasing. Thank goodness that Amazon has a nice and easy return policy so that I didn't waste my money on a product that I couldn't use.

I do not know if it worked or how well, but the software installed quickly and easily on my computer, the deal on Amazon was too good to pass up.