Customer Reviews

SanDisk ImageMate All-in-1 Flash Memory Card Reader

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I do not like the software that comes with many digital cameras that forces you to connect the camera to your computer to transfer your photos. The card reader built into my computer does not read the newer SDHC cards, so I needed an external card reader.

Installation could not have been simpler: plug one end of the supplied mini-USB cable to the reader and the other to your computer. Wait until a message shows the device is ready and you are done. No drivers to install, no setup program, just plug it in and you are done. The small size allows it to easily fit into a laptop case for travel or share with other computers at home.

Despite what some people have posted about this reader not working properly with their operating system, mine is performing flawlessly with Vista. What is more, I find this reader is faster than the one built into my computer.

Strongly suggested for fans of digital cameras and other devices with removable memory cards. As a bonus, it can also read the micro-SD card from my GPS without needing to find that pesky adapter that is always getting lost.

I recently purchased a Canon Vixia HF100 camcorder and knew the files would be HUGE, so I was looking for the fastest SD card download set up I could find.

I initially bought the Lexar Pro UDMA Dual-Slot Reader and a SanDisk 16GB Extreme III 30MB/s SDHC card hoping for at least 20MB/s performance.

Alas, the Lexar reader only gave me 10MB/s performance on this SDHC card (see re-test later for 18MB/s)

So I then purchased this SanDisk All In One Reader (SDDR-189-A20) and I achieve 17MB/s, which is much faster than I ever had before, however no where near the 30MB/s advertised.

According to [...]:
Unlike the ImageMate Multi-Card reader, the ImageMate All-in-One doesn't include support for the proprietary data timing mode found in SanDisk's Extreme III 30MB/s Edition SDHC. This means it doesn't deliver an extra speed boost when paired with one of these specific cards.

So I then purchased the Multi-Card reader (SDDR-199-A20), which is basically a 1 slot version of the 3 slot SDDR189.

On my Dell XPS600 with Windows XP SP3 with Norton IS2009 turned off, downloading a 1GB movie takes
55 seconds - 18MB/s - on the SDDR189 and the Lexar (close enough to rank together)
41 seconds - 24MB/s - on the SDDR199
43 seconds - 23MB/s - from my USB 2.0 hard drive
31 seconds - 31MB/s - from that same hard drive via firewire 400 ()
10 seconds - 95MB/s - from my external esata hard drive ()

Considering that a typical download is 2 to 5 GB, we are talking about saving several minutes here.

I like the Lexar reader a lot. Even more-so now that my initial test of 10MB/s proved to be faulty. I perceive it to be of better quality and I like that it protects the slots from my kids who have already bent the pins on another CF reader by jamming something into the inviting slot. I like the simplicity of having just two slots. The included usb cable is too short to reach my desk, however it is a standard cable and easily replaced.

I like the speed of the SDDR199, however I wish it read CF cards as well (our primary camera is a Canon 40D), so that I can use just one card-reader. On the SDDR189, the magnetic stand is a joke, however on the much smaller SDDR199, it works well. My computer sees it immediately and I find it to be very responsive.

I am going to keep the Lexar and the one-slot Sandisk 199 at the desktop using the same cable and throw away all the other card readers that have proven themselves to be highly unreliable, slow to respond and not worth their cheap price.

The SDDR 189 is a very good compromise and I will keep that one for my back pack so I can read all various card types with reasonable speed. The magnetic stand on this rather tall reader is a bit of a joke however, so the back-pack makes even more sense over the desktop in this regard. The Transfer button also seems very flimsy, but I doubt I'd ever use it anyway. Yet another bonus is that I have been able to upload photos/music directly to the microSD card in my ATT Fuze, rather than searching for the SD adaptor first.

I would love to see someone make a firewire (or esata) SD/CF reader because I read that Firewire CF card readers are getting about 30 to 40 MB/s.

I am somewhat disappointed that Canon (and everyone else) seems to be moving away from the CF format to the SD format as we knew from day one that the CF specification allowed for a much faster data transfer and that files will only get bigger.

I have been using the older SanDisk ImageMate 12-in-1 card reader for years, happily reading my Compact Flash, Memory Stick, and SD cards. Then, one day I bought a newer, larger capacity SD card (also SanDisk), and found that the 12-in-1 would not recognize it.

A Google search revealed that the protocol for reading the higher capacity and/or higher speed cards that are now on the market was somehow different from what the 12-in-1 was designed to handle. SanDisk's website allowed that there was a firmware flash upgrade available for the 12-in-1 that would allow it to read memory cards with the newer protocol, but unluckily my particular reader was old enough that there was no flash available for its serial number range.

I bought a nice looking all-in-one reader made by IOGear (their "56-in-1 Memory Card Reader/Writer"), and it worked with the new card, but the transfer was agonizingly slow. It took almost an hour to transfer the 8GB card's contents to my computer. Extrapolating how long the older Sandisk 12-in-1 took to transfer a 2GB card, this was a ridiculously long time. Another Google search revealed that this reader, and some others, were notoriously slow...I should have Googled before I bought!

The same search suggested that the new SanDisk ImageMate All-in-One Reader/Writer was a speed demon, so I ordered one from Amazon (no local stores carried it, interesting enough).

The new SanDisk reader works well. The cards plug in and can be removed easily enough, the reader transfers data at a reasonably fast rate, etc. However, I find that SanDisk really fell down in the ergonomics department with this product. Apparently, the whole design group was stoned out and tripping to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and thereby designing their new card reader to look like the black monolith. Whereas the 12-in-1 had a nice appearance, docking into a stable desk stand, with ample room around the card slots for text and diagrams to show which kind of card goes into which slot, the new All-in-One looks cheap and flimsy (although it actually feels solid), is held onto a tiny desk stand base with a weak magnet so that it falls off too easily, and is so thin that the text and diagrams are illegible.

The older 12-in-1 could be undocked from the desk stand and laid flat on a table, or used as a hand-held device. The same is true for the new All-in-One, except its smaller footprint and slick surface makes it harder to use laid flat on a table, and its shape makes it unpleasant as a hand-held unit.

The older 12-in-1 had a nice array of colored LEDs to indicate that the reader was communicating with the computer over USB and that each slot was busy transferring data. The new All-In-One does not have anything to indicate that it is plugged in and ready, but does have LEDs to show slot activity. However, these are tiny pinpoint blue LEDs that seem to be sunken back into the plastic, and I find them hard to see unless I look closely. And, since they are next to the slots, the card itself may obscure its LED when viewed from some angles (the older reader had the LEDs grouped up on top where they were both attractive and highly visible).

While this reader certainly functional, it serves as a poster child for poor ergonomic design. The designers apparently wanted a slick looking design, but did not think through the functional aspects of the ergonomics.

I ended up returning this reader because of its inability to read a SanDisk 16GB micro SD card (mSDHC) in the mSDHC slot. SanDisk technical support confirmed that the SDDR-189 has a flaw in it's mSDHC controller where it cannot handle the initial power up of certain current generation mSDHC cards. The workaround offered was to utilize a micro SD to SD adapter and place it in the SD slot of the reader. This worked but essentially made the reader purchase pointless as the intention was to do away with mSD to SD adapters, being able to natively read mSD, SD, and CF media on hand. There are no fixes planned for the SDDR-189's mSDHC controller, so for now it's either go with another vendor or wait to see what the next generation of SanDisk reader offers.

Other reviewers have noted the overly lightweight design and two handed operation, one to hold the unit on the stand and the other to remove the media. In addition, I found that the mSDHC slot required the card to be inserted so far that there is very little exposed material of the card left to grasp when trying to remove it from the reader. The slot is not spring loaded to allow for a push release, so what you have is a minuscule edge to pinch onto with your fingernails. The other media slots (SD and CF that I used) did not have this problem, leaving a reasonable amount of card material to grasp.

I nearly filled my 16GB card on my Honeymoon. When I connected my camera directly to my Mac the transfer time it gave was measured in hours!! Very sad. I ran over to a local retailer and the kindly man there put this product in my hand. I took it home, installed it in seconds and it transferred over about 13GB of Raw files in under 5 minutes. I'm using the SanDisk 16gb Extreme® III 30MB/s Edition SDHC High Performance Card and I think this is the first product I've used that really capitalized on its abilities.

The whole point of a device like this is for it to be fast and easy. It was both. In the box you get a metal stand, a USB cable and the black reader. The reader attaches firmly to the stand with a magnet. The USB cable plugs on the back and into your PC/Mac in a second. I didn't have to install any drivers or anything. I stuck my card in the slot and the blue LED came on. I got the customary Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only) icon I always get on my desktop and it was easy to drag and drop my photos just where I wanted them to go. When I was done I ejected the icon and pulled my card from the slot. So easy even a caveman.....

One final thing that I cared about: It accepts both SD and Compact Flash cards. Many of the digital SLR bodies out there take Compact Flash memory cards and I didn't want to need another card reader cluttering my desk when I finally break down and get the Nikon D700 12.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) I have been lusting for.

This is a "premium" high-speed card reader, that handles every card you can throw at it.
It does all that, and has been a very reliable product for me.

Let me make this easy for you:

PROS:
Does what it's supposed to.
Quality product from a well-known name, at reasonable Amazon price.
Might look very pretty, depending on your taste.


CONS:
Small printing on slots hard to read. (go by slot size. Easier.)
Slots unprotected. Dust, bugs and food could get in.
Slots can be a little tight at first. Especially MicroSD cards.
Might not look pretty, depending on your taste.


Fair enough?

I own this one (the all-in-one) and the smaller "Multi-card reader" version.
Both work fine. Quick. Especially quick with fast (class 6 , class 10) cards.

As for the controversial and much maligned metal stand...
Eh. It's there. When it's sitting in the stand, I suppose it looks "cool" when people are visiting.
The stand doesn't offend me, but it's all about marketing. Has nothing to do with function, one way or another.
It's a non-issue.

If I had to nit-pick something, it would be the glossy black finish.
Glossy black, just like on a car, shows every speck of dust, draws fingerprints, and scratches very easily.

Simple Solution!!!

Run a Scotch-Brite pad over it, and give it a nice Mat finish.
Takes 30 seconds. ** POOF ** no more fingerprints.

One Last Word:

I want to give a respectful nod of thanks to those reviewers who took the time to measure the data through-put of this reader
compared to others, and to drive interfaces. Excellent and informative work, and most importantly, prevented me
from having to do the same thing, which would give me the vapors.

-Berk

A good card reader with separate slots, e.g. no combination of SD/MS/XD into one slot. Reads the mini and micro SD formats without adapter which is convenient. Possesses average speed performance and has not had a problem with a wide variety of brands and types of cards.

Some problems with the finish quality, the metal plate that sticks to the magnet on the stand peeled off within the first day of use, and the transfer button at the top came off pretty easily (could be snapped back into place).

One note does not accept CF Type II cards (Microdrives). I would have rather have gotten SanDisk SDDR-89-A15 ImageMate 12 in 1 Reader (Silver/Black) after using the Imagemate All In One Reader, because of better quality and support of CF Type II cards.

As a flash card reader, i didn't have much expectations from this product. The feel is of plastic. The tri-pod base stand is unique, allowing the device to magnetically grip onto it. After the first day of usage, i woke up to see that the device had fell off the stand, and the magnet that is stuck on the underside of the device remained on the stand. This exposed the sticky tape that is used to keep the magnet on the device. I replaced the magnet simply by putting it back over its original place on top of the sticky tape. The tripod has 3 rubber feet which keep it well in place.

The vertical design i believe is Sandisk's fatal flaw. The USB adapter has that small bulky portion right near the end that connects to the device, which really can put some weight strain on the the unit standing up. This is what caused my device to fall off the stand with the magnet still stuck to the stand. Having that piece rest on your desk eliminates the problem, but i find it kind of obtrusive. You only need about 5 inches of desk clearance to have the bulky end of the cable rest behind the unit.

Inserting a memory card activates a blue LED which is a neat feature. It blinks when data is being transferred, however not in relation to its speed.
The transfer button i assumed was a quick transfer button, but after installing the software, i realized its just a hot key that runs a program of your choice, or browser. The button does not transfer your photos for you automatically. I did not read the product info very carefully, though i have to admit the product description was slightly misleading at Sandisk's webpage. It gave me the impression that it could be used as a transfer button, but in reality its a program button.

This device works just fine for transferring my digital photos. There is a plethora of flash drive support. The design is unique and cool. It saves a lot of space on your desk. The price point is a little high for such a device, but it really comes down to your taste. I prefer Sandisk, and this unit has all the support i may possible need. Transfer speed is fast enough for me. 400mb of photos only took about 10 seconds to transfer. This is not a tested speed, only an estimate.

I bought this card reader about six months ago. It was very easy to use, nice and fast to download but then suddenly quit working for no reason. I bought this because I figured it would have quality to last. I would not recommend buying this only because after a period of time you may risk going to use it as I did and it not working. I was very disappointed that it didn't last.

This memory reader works well with compact flash, SD, and SHD memory. It works with XP and Mac OS 10.4, providing quick response and transfer. It is flat and easy to carry. Forget about the stand. The reader will not stay in the stand if anything hits against it or the cable pulls. So be prepared for the nixs and scrapes that the reader will get from being slid across various surfaces. It doesn't affect the functionality of the reader.