Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsCompact, efficient and well designed
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2008
It took some time for this reader to be in stock at amazon.com, but it was worth the wait. The ATP ProMax card reader is a great and inexpensive solution for most needs. It reads CompactFlash I and II (including UDMA), SD, SDHC -- a lot of older readers, be they built into computers or external, still aren't compatible with this faster SD card --, micro and miniSD, MMC and MMCplus/HC, MMCmicro and MS/MS Pro Duo.
Since my older laptop and my desktop don't read SDHC cards, and since they don't have CompactFlash slots, I thought I'd give this reader a try. The first thing I liked about it was how small it is: 2.6 inches (6.6 cm) long, 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) wide and 0.5 in. (1.3 cm) thick. It weighs next to nothing. The USB 2.0 connector is built into the reader and swivels out freely, meaning no extra cables and also that the connector is protected when not in use. All this makes the ATP card reader a very good traveling companion.
There are no instructions with the reader, but its use is intuitive:
1. Swivel the USB connector out and plug it into an available USB port in your computer or USB hub.
2. Windows, both XP and Vista, will recognize it (the "Found new hardware" message, which is only displayed the first time you connect the reader to a machine). It installs each of the reader's card slots as a separate removable drive.
3. Insert the card you want to read into the corresponding slot. The different slots in the reader are clearly identified. Once a card is inserted, a purple light goes on in the reader. If there is no card or if it isn't properly inserted, the light will shine red.
4. If you don't use a program to read or import card content (my photo software recognizes and imports images automatically), go to Windows Explorer and find the drive which corresponds to the kind of card you have inserted into the reader. Then just do whatever you want to do -- import image or sound files, transfer content to the card, etc.
File transfer speeds are very good and the whole process is fool-proof and hassle-free. The packaging states that the reader is also compatible with Mac OS 8.6/9 X+, Linux and older versions of Windows, and I don't see why it shouldn't be. I'll try the ATP reader with CF UDMA cards and will update this review if needed, but right now I'm very satisfied with it. Intelligent design, fair price and good performance go a long way with me.
