Customer Reviews

Lexar Media 1 GB Compact Flash HSS (40X) CF1GB-40-278

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

 

 

Before you purchase this card, make sure that your camera supports the Write Acceleration Technology. I purchased Lexar's 40x 256MB card (with Write Acceleration) about a year ago for my Minolta DiMage 7Hi camera, and realized my camera did not support the new technology. The CF card still worked, but there was no increase in speed over other cards.

I checked Lexar's website, and it said that my camera does not support the Write Acceleration technology. The link is here: http://www.lexar.com/digfilm/wa_cf.html

Current (as of this review) cameras supporting WA technology:

- All Kodak Professional cameras and pro camera backs, such as the DCS Pro Back 645, DCS Pro Back Plus, DCS 720x, DCS 760, DCS 760m and DCS 14n

- Nikon D1x, D1h, D-100 (Requires camera firmware upgrade by Nikon. See Nikon's web page for more details) and D2h

- Sanyo DSC-MZ3

- Sigma SD-9

- Sigma SD10

- Pentax *ist D

- Olympus E1

Lexar USB Card Reader (included):

- Works only with Lexar CF Cards. Attempted to use with SanDisk and Kingston CF Cards but did not work. Should not be a problem if you only use Lexar products. However, if you do, consider buying a separate card reader.

For a full breakdown of how many pictures you can take with different card capacities, go to http://www.lexar.com/digfilm/capacity_chart.html

I bought the Lexar 1GB 40x CF card to use in my Nikon D70 digital SLR camera. Originally I had a 256MB CF card but that one would not support high-speed write so I couldn't take full advantage of Nikon's 3fps continuous mode. The Lexar 40x CF card simply works, and now I can shoot burst pics at the D70's 3fps speed without any problems.

I have always liked Lexar's flash memory products, as I've never had a single problem with the dozen of them I've owned (CF, SD, MS). Lexar's cards are also compatible with a wider range of products than Sandisk or Viking. The only other flash brand I totally trust is Panasonic, but they only make SD these days.

If you have a digital SLR the 40x speed should be enough. I don't know of any current d-SLR that really takes advantage of anything higher than 6mbps.

I had read somewhere that the Lexar Media Compact Flash HSS was optimized for the Canon S50. I have noticed that it saves files much faster to my S50 than my other brand name CF card. I have had a couple of instances of "unknown files" being saved to the card, but I'm not sure if that's a problem with the camera or the card and in any case I haven't lost any photographs.

I also use an 'el-cheapo' card reader to unload images into Photoshop Elements and it works great with the Lexar card.

This was a great card, but as of Jan. 2008 it is far outperfomed by other cards, but its price has not dropped to reflect this. It is perhaps worth $15.

Before purchasing a compact flash card, check the manual of the product you'd like to use it with. Some products are finicky about write acceleration (WA) technology, which may be why other reviewers are having problems. In addition, watch out for WA cards that exceed the capabilities of your product, because you may end up paying extra for speed that you cannot take advantage of. This flash card was recommended by the manual of my Nikon D70 digital SLR camera and I've been extremely happy with it. I'm able to fire off RAW images continuously and have yet to experience a buffering backlog or a write error.

This card failed and needed to be returned to Lexar. It's been there two weeks already; online support suggest it should arrive this week. There's no good reason it should take longer than a day to test the card and send a new one. (Not to mention I'm out the cost of sending it their via Fedex).

This is the only memory card device I've ever known that's failed. That include my own collection of devices (over a dozen), and probably hundreds of other cards owned by friends and relatives.

I bought Lexar because it was a premium brand with a good reputation. In my opinion, at least, that reputation is not deserved.

UPDATED:

I finally received the replacement card, only to find it was defective as well! So much for QA at Lexar.

After complaining loudly to technical support, things improved somewhat. They took back the card (again), but this time at their expense (they provided a Fedex acct number) and shipped a replacement card overnight. I'm still not thrilled, but if you complain enough, you'll get reasonable service.

Still 1 star, still not a great card, but at least their service department deserves recognition for trying.