Customer Reviews

SanDisk 4 GB Extreme IV CF Card with FireWire Reader Bundle

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was really excited about this bundle because of the large card capacity, professional performance, and the super-high speed reader bundled with it, all for a reasonable price.

However, I had to return the product. Why?

Because the Firewire reader requires a *powered* connector (the reader draws its power from the computer, it does not have an independent power supply). The device will connect to either a FireWire 800 9-pin connector or to a FireWire 400 6-pin connector, but NOT to a FireWire 400 4-pin *unpowered* connector, which is what most laptops have (Apple MacBooks excepted).

That in itself is not the reason for the poor rating I gave this product. The reason for the poor rating is that nowhere is this mentioned on Amazon's product description page.

This bundle is a good value. There is an oddity in that the card reader is apparently FireWire 800 as well as FireWire 400, yet is not so labeled explicitely. I don't know why they do not trumpet this, because FireWire 800 is the fastest interface I have ever seen on a card reader. FireWire 800 is roughly twice as fast as USB 2. Both cables (400 and 800) are included with the card reader, and the fine print mentions both FireWire standards. Also, the claimed download rate accords with SanDisk's current FireWire 800 reader (which can be purchased separately without the bundled card).

The included Compact Flash card, Extreme IV 4.0 GB, is the favorite of our photography circle. It has a record of flawless reliability, and reads so quickly to the buffer, that overruns are not a worry. That is my experince with the Sony Alfa-100, firing at fast bursts while shooting birds. There is a great difference in card performance, and the Extreme IV is a real champion. The capacity is also what one needs when saving RAW files.

If you get the reader and card together, you are assured of a compatible system. We are very satified, having used the SanDisk cards and reader with Sony and Canon DSLR cameras.

If you use Windows XP SP2 and want to take full advantage of this amazing Sandisk product, you need to read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 885222. It explains how Firewire was crippled by SP2 and provides a patch to correct the problem. I hope this helps you!

Wow, what an improvement in my photo work flow. I tested the fireWire reader with the Extreme IV card. I shot 250MB and downloaded to my computer with these results:
1) Old USB card: 8 minutes
2) New SanDisk fireWire reader: 7 seconds.

Yup. Minutes became seconds. When downloading the full 4-GB card, that is a savings of two hours.

I don't know about you, but when I've finished a shoot, I want to see my pictures right away. I no longer have to wait two hours, but rather just two minutes.

I am a happy camper. Maybe this card/reader combo can do the same for you.

This sanDisk deal is a good value. The card is rugged and the reader is noticeably faster than a USB2. Highly recommended.

The reader is 3x faster than my old USB 2.0 reader and 10x faster than the built in CF card slot on my computer. I actually tested transferring about 500MB of data from the 3 different devices. The Extreme IV card is only about 15% faster than my 2GB Extreme III card. However, the reader is lightning fast as stated above.

Sandisk say compatable with PC(including Vista) and Mac. I have both at home, worked flawlessly with the MAC, extremely fast. My Dell PC does not recognize it. I also bought a firewire card for my Vaio laptop, same story, Vaio does not recognize it. Took it to Circuit City, their tech support tried it on 3 different PCs on the floor, did not work.

This combo is FAST. From my Macbook Pro w/ 7200rpm 160GB drive, I got the following speeds:
read: 37.0MB/sec FW400, 38.0MB/sec FW800
write: 33.1MB/sec FW400, 34.0MB/sec FW800

So as you can see, almost no improvement between FW800 and FW400, but does it matter? That's the fastest read/write I've seen from a CF card and reader.

Make sure that you have a compatible FireWire port connection on your computer. The reader comes with two cables, but they are not always compatible. I have a Dell Ispiron, and the device does not connect to the FireWire port.

I'm thrilled I bought this product. It's fast and is easy to use with my MacBook Pro.