Customer Reviews

Viking 1 GB CompactFlash Card (CF1GB)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have used 2 of these 1-Gig cards for the last 6 months, and have filled them each to capacity several times using my Canon Powershot G3 (4 megapixel) & G5 (5 megapixel) cameras without a single problem. However, because I shoot exclusively in the RAW format, which produces pictures that are much larger (in filesize) than the highest-quality jpegs, differences in memory card speed are much more noticable, and this Viking card is considerably slower than the faster (and more expensive) cards offered by some other companies. If you shoot mostly jpegs, you probably won't notice a difference, and you get excellent value for the money.

After upgrading from a 3.2 megapixel digital camera (canon S20) to the 4.0 megapixel (canon s400), it was time to eliminate the somewhat useless 16 MB, 32 MB, and 64 MB Compact Flash cards from my arsenal of digital photography gear.

I have kept 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB compact flash cards, but have found the Viking 1 GB compact flash to write and read quickly (in part on canon's new image processing and buffering in the S400 powershot camera).

Although I debated using a multispeed USB enhanced "digital film" product, for the price this Viking CF card is the best value currently (12 June 2003) available given the rebate and free ground shipping at Amazon.com.

I would recommend this product to other digital photographers, especially with the latest 4 and 5 megapixel cameras.

I sold a 512MB card that was rated at 25x and purchased this card as a replacement. I notice *NO* difference in speed when I use this card with my Nikon D100! It is rated at 13x/16x read/write however I find that it works well within my needs. I recommend this card and plan to purchase more of the same. I tend to be loyal to a brand that I have come to trust, and this is one of those brands!

I got this Viking 1GB CF card for cheap at my local Staples a month ago because they had a huge rebate offer, making this dirt cheap. I got it as a backup card for my Nikon D70 digital camera. I've been very unhappy with it, after using it on my trip to Vegas last week.

First, it's SLOW. Like other digital SLR cameras, the Nikon D70 can take 2 or 3 pictures per second, but when the memory card is slow, the camera slows down to 1 picture per second. With my workhorse Lexar 1GB 40x CF card, I can do 3 pictures/sec easily, but with the Viking, I could barely do 1 pic/sec, which frustrated me a lot when I tried to shoot the dancing fountain in front of Bellagio.

Second, this card seems to be unreliable. I've taken over 2000 shots on my Lexar and haven't had any problems, but with the Viking, 4 of the 80 shots also I took with it became corrupted. Ok, this was a one-time thing, but I had had problems with Viking cards before ("you get what you pay for", alas), and apparently their quality assurance has not improved.

Third, this card is very power hungry, to the point of being ridiculous. With my Lexar in my Nikon D70, I can take hundreds of pictures per charge. When I was in Vegas, I had a freshly recharged battery in my camera when I put in this card, and the battery went out after only 50 pictures! I just couldn't believe it. I don't think any other factor contributed to this, as it was almost 60 degrees in Vegas at the time (~7 pm) and the weather was great. I popped in my spare battery (also fully charged), and after 20 shots or so the battery lost one of three bars. I was very unhappy with this. Of course, the reliability problem mentioned above was even worse.

Viking is the value brand of some company which I can't remember which one. Trust me on this: get a reliable memory card, because you don't want to risk losing data, esp. important data.

I really hate writing a reveiw that isn't 4 or 5 stars, but feel I really have to w/ this product. It's only "average", at best.

To start with, it's writing ability is not all that fast. I've had memory sticks write faster and the other CF cards that I own, write faster than this particluar model. It's still fast enough, don't get me wrong. But if you want to capture a large series of photos (say a football game, a race, etc), this card is not the one for you. It will do fine for other things.. music, etc.. but not fast photography.

The next thing is has me wondering if it's a fluke or if it will repeat itself (am still testing). I went out Sunday, shooting and used this card exclusively. There's about 15 pictures that 'vanished'. They did not write to the card, for some reason. The camera was on, and everything and I know I took the pictures.. but when I returned home to process them, they weren't there. I have NEVER had this happen to me before w/ any camera or media that I've used. As I said, I'm still testing to see if it was a fluke or something repeatable... but I have to ask, are your pictures worth that chance?

Maybe it's just a bad card.. but I've purchased tons of different media cards, and this would be the first that was bad. I guess I still have to test out Vikings ability to process problems.

Just keep these things in mind when purchasing this one.. Maybe a slightly different card would be a better answer to your needs.

I bought the Viking 1 GB compact flash card to use in my Canon EOS 10D Digital Camera and I have not been disappointed. The Canon 10D shoots up to 3fps and the Viking flash card is fast. When both writing and on readback, the compact flash is quick and the camera never has to wait for the reading/writing. In addition, the Viking card provides a true 1GB of storage. I'm very pleased with the flash card and probably will buy a another one.

The first time I used this card, it had card errors. 1 or 2 missing pictures. I reformatted it and kept using it without additional issues, but eventually it lost all my pictures on one shoot. I contacted Viking's 24/7 technical support, but they were closed, and I sent in the card for 24 hour replacement and received a replacement four business days later.

Though I am in the market for another 1 gigabyte card, and the Viking is presently the best price. I will not buy it.

I used this card for about a week. I used it to store and listen to mp3 music. After about a week the card just died on me. I could not read from it or write to it. Could not format it with either my pocket pc or a usb card reader. I had to send it back for a refund. If you get a good one I suppose this would be a great value, but I'm hesitant getting another.

Works fine, until you get about 200 or so pix on the card (this number varies), then the camera says 'card error' after having written one or two zero-byte files. All photos were recoverable, but the card was no longer usable until re-formatted. Result - I didn't think I needed to pack another card, so was unable to continue taking pictures on a trip with the family.

Also, with my Canon Powershot S110- a more devastating error, in which the entire card became inaccessible, again after about 200 pictures. Had to purchase PhotoRescue to get the pix back (told it to ignore the FAT table during recovery). This also 'fixed' the card, but the process about 4 hours to complete.

This is just a bit too much of a hassle for normal use.

If you need a faster card you will probably need to pay a premium. If you don't need the speed, then Viking may be your best buy.

I have been using Viking for over 2 years without complaint. I have 3-1GB and 2-512 MB Viking CF cards. I'll buy another 1 to 3 GBs of Viking cards as the price drops. I need more storage space.

I use a Canon A80 (only JPEGs), Canon D60 & Canon MkII. Never found CF card speed to be a problem for the A80 shooting JPEG. There are times that I need to wait 15 to 30 sec for the D60 memory to unload some of the 4 or 5 pictures just taken shooting RAW. Not many times though.

On the other hand the 1DMk2 has a large in camera memory buffer to hold pictures as it writes to the CF card. The Viking card has never been a limitation for the MKII.

Check your real needs. If you must have faster, then the Sandisk 1GB Ultra may be for you. I'll stick with Viking performance and save on cost.