Customer Reviews

Viking InterWorks IntelliFlash - Card reader ( SM, PC Card, CF ) - USB

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I purchased this card reader as soon as I saw it on Amazon.com. I have had it now for about two months and continue to enjoy it on a daily basis for many different uses.

1. I use it with my digital camera to transfer images to my computer via the compact flash slot. Viking is completely accurate when they state it transfers information about 50 times faster than the method supplied with my digital camera.

2. I use it to transfer large files between my laptop and desktop via the ATA Type II slot. I am constantly creating presentations on my laptop (larger than can fit on a standard floppy drive) that I need to download to my desktop at home. It is a lot faster than my old method of needing to email large files between my laptop and home desktop, or needing to burn a CD-R to transfer the data. Now I can transfer data at 1.5 MB per second (according to the Viking literature) conveniently.

3. I also enjoy the convenience of using the card reader to transfer my MP3 files from my home computer to my MP3 player via the SmartMedia card slot.

This combo card reader that reads all three form factors (ATA Type II/PCMCIA, Compact Flash, and SmartMedia) was an ingenious idea. The ability for Viking to keep the price so low is also amazing!

P.S. It took about 1 minute to install this USB device on Windows 98. Nothing complicated, just plug it in and insert the included Viking CD-ROM.

I Highly recommend this product!

I quite agree with others here about the setup and use of this product. It installs so fast, I wondered if I'd made a mistake. When running, it sets up 2 new drive letters (on my computer drives E: and F:) Thereafter, your flash cards can be used just like a floppy disk can. Very neat and easy.

Now for the bad part. The first one I purchased worked fine, but the eject button never popped out, so I had to use fingernails and patience to extract the card each time. No problem--I'd just return it for a new one (and Amazon is great about returns.)

But the second one - Yikes!! To make a long story short, whenever I copied files from my card, the reader would delete about half of my files. Deleted. Gone. History. After I lost some irreplacable photos of my kids, I got mad but experimented with what became a blank card. Yep, every time I would select some files and copy them, the last half would disappear forever.

Now I don't know about you, but when a product has such a major problem as this, I'm not too understanding. My confindence was gone. I didn't want to risk seeing if the third one would be the charm.

I won't use this product again.

Anyone with a digital camera knows that transferring images from camera to PC via serial port is a tedious business - when it works at all. It is painfully slow (taking me nearly an hour to move a mere 16MB card's worth of data), and often irritatingly finicky in accepting the connection. Did you plug in the cord first, or turn on the camera first? Did you boot the special software first, or plug in the cord? Once you got the thing running, though, a download seemed to take forever.

As a result, I've had my eye on the Viking IntelliFlash for a long time, and when I ordered a 64MB card, I knew I had to have it. It has, so far, exceeded my most optimistic expectations.

The device itself is smaller than I expected, about the size of a deck of playing cards. It has only one cord, permanently affixed to the back of the unit -- no power cord. Nice. There are two slots for the media in the front, a couple of discrete ready lights on the top, and a very subtle silk screened Viking logo. It's an attractively designed peripheral.

It comes with a CD. The software installation was very simple, with the usual few caveats for installing USB devices. Reboot and your Viking IntelliFlash is good to go.

Once the drivers are installed and the unit is plugged into a USB port, Windows sees the IntelliFlash as two new removable drives (in my case, D: and E:). Two drives because the IntelliFlash handles both Smartmedia and CompactFlash in separate slots. These new "drives" show up in Windows Explorer or 3rd party file managers. To transfer digital pictures (the only experience I have had), you take the card from the camera and stick it in the IntelliFlash. You then open the appropriate drive for your media and there is your data. Move the files with your favorite method - cut and paste, drag and drop, or menu commands.

That's the beauty of this device. Media on your card looks just like files on a disc. So, instead of proprietary software to suck the data through the narrow straw of your serial port, you can manipulate the data like any other files on your computer.

Oh, and being USB, it's hot-swappable. To prevent dust from drifting into the slots I keep it in my drawer. When I'm ready to look at pictures, I pull it out, plug it in, and wait ten seconds or so until Windows recognizes the connection and displays my new favorite drives, D: and E:. I open My Computer, navigate to Drive E:, copy the files over to My Pictures in drive C:, and I'm done. What used to take an hour (and sometimes a few cuss words) now takes less than a minute.

This is really a great little device, and it works so well that it goes way past luxury gizmo toward real necessity. I would encourage anyone who has to move data from flash media to a PC via serial to make this purchase. I have had zero trouble, and great results.

If you have a digital camera and have purchased a larger CompactFlash card, you need this product! I have a Nikon Coolpix 950 and a SanDisk 128 MB Compact Flash card and discovered that serial port downloads of digital photos from the camera to my PC were going to take FOREVER! Since I had a newer PC with a USB port and an operating system that claimed to have USB support, I thought I'd give this a try (this was my first experiment into uncharted USB waters).

Let me tell you, it works great! The software installed easily into Windows 98, downloads are amazingly fast, and it hasn't crashed my system yet. True, you do have to remove your CompactFlash card from your camera when you want to download pictures, but that's easy. The time you save will more than make up for the additional step. This purchase is a no-brainer - just get it and you won't be sorry.

This device reads Smartmedia [which is what I use it for] Compact Flash and ATA Flash Cards.

One barely needs to look at the User's Guide - this USB device is so easy to set-up. On a Mac, the software install is very quick. Once complete, the next and last step is to plug the unit into a USB port on your CPU or to a powered USB hub. That's it!

Once a SmartMedia card is inserted into the reader, it mounts on the desktop (Mac), just like a floppy, zip or any other storage device. This is super slick! To move the data, one simply drags and drops to a folder. But, it gets better: the data transfer is FAST! Wow! I copied a 4MB TIFF image from a SmartMedia card to a G3 in a blink of an eye. For digital cameras and other devices that use SmartMedia, this USB reader is superb - and at a nice price!

This product is idiot-proof to install and even easier to use. Quality of hardware and software has been well thought out and works effortless. Highlt suggest it to people with digital cameras for uploading files onto your P.C. This product appears as a new drive on your P.C. and interfaces as one. You don't need luck to use this item, just enjoy it !!

I'm using this product with my Canon ELPH digital camera. It is really convenient to be able to pop a flash card in and download all the pictures at once. I only have a few nits...For some reason, the drive doesn't work if there are other items plugged into USB ports at the same time. The other thing to keep in mind is that if your camera has a USB connection to begin with, the pictures will download pretty fast, so you don't have to worry that much about battery life (translation: your money may be better spent on higher capacity compact flash cards). Other than that, it's a great product.

I don't know how I lived without this unit. It provides very fast transfer of images, preserves the batteries in my camera, and allows me to work from within any software package without using any special software (e.g., I've never had a software issue with this, unlike the special camera softwares).

A very nice feature is that this unit can handle any kind of memory (other than Sony memory sticks); many competitors can handle just one or two. BTW, this unit even works with microdrives as long as you use the type II compactflash adapter that should come with the drive. My only real complaint is that using the adapter for compactflash memory cards is a bit inconvenient as you must insert the card into the adapter and then insert the adapter into the unit - no big deal but its an extra step.

This is pretty essential, especially if your memory cards exceed the low end (8-16mb). Its a great value, flexible in that it suports almost all memory types, and its reliable. You'll be pleased when you buy it.

The software installed with no problems. I plugged it in and turned the computer back on and I was in business. I downloaded 15 pictures in less than 15 seconds. It's fast. No more waiting and no more dead camera batteries. I use WinME, and had no problems. Don't know how I lived without it. If you have a digital camera this is a must have product.

I have looking for a compact flash reader for a month and doing every research I can. This 3 in one card reader (Compact Flash, Smart Media and ATA) is gem. It works like a dream. On top of that this gives you a flexibility of carrying the compact flash adaptor to use in your lap top.

Great value and an excellent product!