Eye-Fi Explore X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Photo & Memory Uploads EYE-FI-8EX

by Eye-Fi

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003DX3O6I
• Item model number: EYE-FI-8EX
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

With the innovative Eye-Fi 8GB Explore X2 SDHC wireless memory card, you get faster Wi-Fi transfer speeds for photo and video uploads from your camera to your computer and an online site of your choice. The card's built-in, powerful wireless capability and Class 6 read and write speed provides effortless upload of your photos--even while traveling. And the Explore X2 automatically records the location of each photo, so you'll never forget where your pictures were taken. The Explore X2 works with most cameras on the market today, including Canons, Nikons, Casios, Sanyos, and more.

Overview The Eye-Fi 8GB Explore X2 Features: Fast wireless transfer of your photos and videos from your camera to computer or favorite online site over Wi-Fi. Photo and video sharing while traveling; one year of free hotspot access to thousands of locations in the U.S. 8GB memory capacity combined with next generation, Class 6 read and write speeds for faster performance. Photo location automatically captured on each image. Endless Memory Mode automatically frees up space on your card after media is safely delivered to your computer. Streamlined photo organization. Quick and easy set-up.

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Wireless Photo and Video Transfers from Your Camera With the Explore X2, you get Class 6 read and write speed supercharged with 802.11n wireless transfers, so you can quickly and easily upload your latest images to your computer and favorite online site. Simply turn your camera on within range of your Wi-Fi network and your photos and videos are automatically transferred to your computer and favorite online sharing site such as Picasa, Flickr, or YouTube--there's over 25 sites to select from. And, by setting up a text message, email account or Twitter alert, you'll automatically receive a message when your images have uploaded.

Hotspot Access for Photo Sharing While Traveling Now, you don't have to wait until you're home to share your images with friends and family. Simply upload your photos from a café, hotel, or airport while you're on the road. The Explore X2 includes one year of free Hotspot access to keep you connected from over 10,000 Wi-Fi locations in the U.S. No cables, no hassles, no delays.

Shoot and Store Loads of Photos The Explore X2 has a whopping 8GB of storage for all your media. It stores up to 4,000 photos or three hours of video.* *[NOTE: 500 photos/GB based on a 7 megapixel camera with a file size of 1.9MB/photo. Video estimates are based on 5 Mbps rate. The actual number of photos and minutes will vary depending on camera model, resolution, compression, usable capacity, and other factors].

Photo Location Captured on Each Image The Explore X2 can detect surrounding Wi-Fi networks and add location information to each picture. This means that each photo you shoot will contain the location of the shot, so you'll never forget where your pictures were taken. Just take the picture and after wirelessly uploading to your computer, the photo will be labeled with the place where it was taken. It's that easy.

Endless Memory The Explore X2 can free-up space for you after pictures are safely delivered. You will never have to worry about running out of space.

Photo Organization Made Easy To help you stay organized, the Explore X2 gives you the option of uploading photos and videos to specific folders on your computer (PC & Mac), or even directly into iPhoto (Mac only). You'll save time and eliminate frustration by easily finding that great shot.

Simple Set-up Set-up is simple and takes only a matter of minutes. Easy-to-follow instructions are provided with your Explore X2 card.

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Requirements SDHC-compatible digital camera Computer with Windows XP/Vista/Win7 or Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 100MB of free space Wi-Fi network compatible with 802.11 b/g/n Broadband Internet connection What's in the Box Eye-Fi 8GB Explore X2 SDHC wireless memory card; Eye-Fi software; USB card reader; and Setup Guide.

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Comparison Chart

MEMORY CAPACITY
4 GB
8 GB
WIRELESS UPLOADS
Photos & Videos
RAW
COOL FEATURES
Online Sharing
Geotagging
Hotspot Access
Ad Hoc Transfers
X2 ENGINE
SDHC Class 6
Endless Memory Mode

Product Description

Eye-Fi Explore X2. The 8GB Eye-Fi Explore X2 wirelessly uploads photos & videos directly to your computer or favorite sharing site. Get Class 6 speed enhanced by 802.11n wireless capabilities. Map your adventures with automatic geotagging, plus upload on the go with hotspot access. Get the 8GB Eye-Fi Explore X2 Class 6 SDHC memory card.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast Class 6 at a reasonable 8GB storage space.., March 31, 2010

By 

Nimravus (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eye-Fi Explore X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Photo & Memory Uploads EYE-FI-8EX (Personal Computers)

Update 6-25-10: Please see below this review for a question I answered about the EyeFi's Geotagging feature. Thanks.

First off, one limitation to this particular model forced me to return it:

This one does not transfer RAW images or transfer directly to a computer, this was MY FAULT because I didn't read.

I take RAW images so the one I need to get is the Eye-Fi X2 pro which will transfer RAW and directly to a computer via WiFi.

So, I took this out of the package and popped it into my laptop's SDHC slot and it asked me if I wanted to install the software. Simple install, took seconds. I configured the wireless router WPA2 security settings with ease and it was connected.

The Software lets you choose from 25 online companies to upload the pictures to, as well as the ability to simultaneously download to your computer (via your WiFi router, not directly from Camera to Computer).

I chose to download pictures and video to both my backup HDD and to [...]

I took it out and popped it into my Canon T2i which now has the Eye-Fi menu support, and took some pictures. The T2i immediately flashed the Eye-Fi connection icon and showed that it was transmitting. Within seconds, a popup from the tray icon on my computer indicated which file was being transfered with a thumbnail of it.

The 802.11n is alot faster than the previous model Eye-Fi card's b/g. When it finished transferring, I verified that it indeed uploaded to my MobileMe account and it was on my backup HDD. Then, Carbonite immediately took over and started backing up the pictures from my backup HDD to it's online backup servers.

So in a nutshell, I took the pics and without doing anything it uploaded to my MobileMe account and my External HDD. Then Carbonite backed up from my External HDD to it's online backup. Bamn, 4 copies (SDHC card, MobileMe, HDD, Carbonite) for secure, backed up pictures without really doing anything.

I love this. I will be getting the Eye-Fi X2 pro 8GB just for the RAW picture transfers and Ad-Hoc mode (Camera to Computer direct transfer). If you do not take RAW or you will be using your wireless router for the transfer, then the Explore X2 is fine.

UPDATE: I got 2 of the X2 Pro 8GB cards and wrote a review about it also.

UPDATE: I've been using this in my Compact Point-and-Shoot through some battery cycles and I have noticed a difference in battery life. Its significant enough for me to take notice, I am getting about 2/3 the battery life by using this Eye-Fi. That is understandable I guess because it is transmitting via WiFi.

Also, the card does get much hotter than a standard SDHC card so it does start to warm up the camera more than usual. This shouldn't affect anything.

So be aware that this will shorten battery life, carry a spare and make sure both are fully charged before going out to take pictures.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Amazing!!, May 3, 2010

By 

Impetigo (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eye-Fi Explore X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Photo & Memory Uploads EYE-FI-8EX (Personal Computers)

This is really a fantastic product and something that I had been waiting for a long time. I just got this on April 30, 2010, and have had a few days now to play around with it.


The Good:
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1. Technology

This device is just fantastic and the engineers at Eye-Fi really deserve to be commended! Basically, what this device does (for those who are not quite clear on the concept), is it turns your camera (check compatibility on their website) into a wifi-enabled device that can upload photos directly (via wifi, not ad hoc -- you need Eye Fi Pro X2 for that) from your camera to your computer and/or favorite internet photo hosting site (picasa, snapfish, fotki, photobucket, etc.).

This is how it works: you first connect the card to your computer using the supplied USB SD card reader and install/download the software (require internet connection obviously). Then you configure the software (including login info for your online photo hosting site), which is fairly simple. Then, when prompted, you remove the Eye Fi card and put it into you camera and take a test picture which is then uploaded to your computer (PC or Mac) and internet photo hosting site. After this test photo, you are ready to use it anywhere! You can 'add' up to 32 wifi networks via configuration (through the computer).


2. 'Configurability'

You can set the card (via the software) to upload photos in several configurations. First, is automatic uploading of ALL photos on your camera to your computer AND internet photo hosting site. Second, is uploading of ALL photos on your camera to you computer and SELECTED photos to your internet photo hosting site. Third, is uploading SELECTED photos to your computer and SELECTED photos to your internet photo hosting site. The way you select which photos to selectively upload is by using 'protect' (or similar function) on your camera to select each photo you wish to upload.

For automatic uploading settings, the camera (after turned on, or after taking a picture) will automatically connect to the wifi/hotspot network and start uploading. If you turn off your camera or leave the network area, the upload stops of course but will resume automatically when you return to a wifi/hotspot network area. Awesome!

I should also note that the engineers have really thought this product out well, so that when you are out of the house (and your home wifi network) and upload some new photos to your internet photo hosting site, when you go home your camera will upload those photos to your computer (but will not 're-upload' any of those photos to the internet). So, it does keep track of which photos you uploaded to your computer and internet photo hosting site and upload just those that have not been uploaded yet.


3. Integrated Features on Certain Cameras

My recently released camera (Canon SX210is) has Eye Fi integrated into the interface (under the 'tools' section), which lets you check if Eye Fi is connected to your wifi or a hotspot wireless network, and if it is uploading or not. On the LCD display it also has a wifi icon that shows if you are connected and when it is uploading (the wifi icon's waves animate to indicate active photo uploading). Also awesome is that the camera will not turn off until all photos are uploaded (but the camera lens will close and the LCD will turn off while uploading if it is battery save setting).

We tested the card on our older Canon SD870is and it does work just as well, but it does not have the wifi icon or network connection info so you don't know if it's connected and/or uploading photos, but it worked just fine uploading photos automatically to the internet.

I would say that the integrated menu/LCD features are very beneficial and to be honest would not really enjoy using the Eye Fi on a non-integrated camera.


4. Hotspots

This is a really cool feature, because your camera will automatically upload photos to your internet photo hosting site when you are in one of the Hotspots used by Eye Fi (Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes and Noble, etc.), and there is no need to log in to these networks, it just automatically connects and starts uploading (based on your upload configuration settings). It's great! Note, the Eye Fi X2 Geo/Connect to do not have Hotspot access, but this one (Explore X2) and the Pro X2 do have it. There is one year of Hotspot access included with the Explore/Pro X2. Afterwards, it is something like thirty-five bucks a year (for Hotspot access). Non-Hotspot access to wifi networks is for lifetime I believe.


5. Geotagging

It's cool to geotag your photos automatically using this camera. The Pro X2 and the Geo X2 also can do this. The Connect X2 cannot.


6. Flexibility

The Eye Fi computer software configures each Eye Fi card, so that you can take out the card and use it in another compatible camera without having to do any sort of reconfiguration. This is very convenient and allows you to use one card with multiple cameras.

The card also has a feature (which I have not tried out yet) where it can automatically delete photos from your card that you have already uploaded to your computer and/or internet photo hosting site so that you never have to delete photos yourself from the card. Seems like a useful feature.


7. Organization/Convenience

You can configure the Eye Fi card to automatically create date-based folders on your computer and internet photo hosting site for uploaded photos, which is extremely convenient.


8. 8GB Storage Capacity

Nice 8GB of storage is a decent amount. The Connect X2 has 4GB and the Pro X2 also has 8GB.


9. Upload Speeds

I should mention that the uploading speed that I've tested at home (802.11G) and at Hotspots (McDonalds) has been speedy considering that it is wifi uploading. When I used it at home and at Hotspots, it took about 15-30 seconds for a 2-3MB photo to upload. Not tremendously fast, but fast enough given the wireless network constraints. With the Pro X2 you can upload directly and wirelessly (via ad hoc) to your computer.


The Could Be Better:
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There is almost nothing about this card that I can complain about. One thing that I have not checked yet is if this card can be used with public wifi networks that are not part of the 'Eye Fi-compatible Hotspots' without adding that network to your card (which requires configuring the card in the card reader connected to your computer), say at a library, school, etc.

For 'Eye Fi integrated cameras' it would be great if you could detect networks and actually use the camera's buttons (eg. type passwords) to log on to non-Hotspot public or private networks so that you can basically use it on the go on even more wifi networks.


Summary:
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This product (Eye Fi X2) is incredible, and unless you need RAW photo uploading or ad hoc transferring capabilities, the Explore X2 should suit your needs. I plan to buy a couple more for my family!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, still has improvements to be made., October 28, 2010

By 

E. Lines - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eye-Fi Explore X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Photo & Memory Uploads EYE-FI-8EX (Personal Computers)

When I first heard about the Eye-Fi cards I was intrigued to say the least. I had heard about the possibility of having cameras with wireless capabilities long before these were introduced but as soon as I heard about that possibility becoming a reality I knew I had to have one. Originally the price was prohibitive for me but I got a great deal on mine and the standard prices have already come down a bit.

I'll start with the cons because at days end I do like the card so I want to leave you with a positive outlook.
CONS:
The subscription to have your photos uploaded to the internet only lasts for a year, then you have to start paying a subscription fee.

There are many holes in the Geotagging feature. I would rather it used satellites rather than WiFi to geotag but this technology will only continue to gain traction and improve their network and I can't wait for that to happen.

In order for it to work properly through your camera alone it absolutely rips through your camera battery especially when trying to transfer videos.

I haven't yet figured out how to use it as a regular memory card. It will still save the pictures but as soon as the card gets power it starts spooling your images to wherever you tell it to put them over your wireless network. So if you try to plug it into your computer to try to get the images off normally they might double up on your hard drive.

PROS:
when it works the geotagging feature is sweet and that will work for the lifetime of the card.

At the end of the day it is still a fully functioning 8GB SD card.

The feature set of the card is pretty spectacular. You can set up different networks for it to work with and you can also use the lock feature on your camera to pick only certain pictures that you want uploaded to your favorite photo sharing site.

Lastly, the customer service, from my limited experience, has been incredible. I called up and got a very friendly guy who was more than happy to help and didn't treat me like I had never seen a computer before. He listened to my problem before trying to prescribe a standard solution that might only apply to the biggest of novices. And on top of that I got an email instantly documenting my call so I didn't have to take down an issue number or something on a scrap of paper that would inevitably get lost.


So there you have it. Some of the pros are actually tied in with the cons like I'm sure the WiFi tagging network will improve rapidly. And that's what I think about the Eye-Fi Explore X2.