All-in-one Memory Card Reader?

[Andaho]

It's about time I bought myself an all-in-one memory card reader, but there's so many cheap and nasty ones out there and I can't find any recommendations...

Anyone have a recommendation on which one to buy?

[Pob255]

What exactly are you after? 3.5" or 5.25"?
just a card reader? or with other features?

many of the cheap ones are fine.

For an all singing and dancing one the Akasa all-in-one controllers are very good
http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?t...el=AK-ALLO2-BK
also includes usb, audio, firewire, esata (assuming you have the headers) and a fan controller.

[Andaho]

What exactly are you after? 3.5" or 5.25"?
just a card reader? or with other features?

many of the cheap ones are fine.

For an all singing and dancing one the Akasa all-in-one controllers are very good
http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?t...el=AK-ALLO2-BK
also includes usb, audio, firewire, esata (assuming you have the headers) and a fan controller.

oops, sorry... external... for SDHC +micro+mini +sonyMS etc... one that will support every card I'll ever come across

there's so many cheap and nasty looking ones out there like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-ALL-1-...ht_3319wt_1092

The Kingston 19-in-1 doesn't seen to support much in comparison to cheap ones, and has a pointless slider on it :S

[this_is_gav]

I doubt you'll find one which includes SDHC, SD Micro and SD Mini all in one - they normally rely on the adapters you usually get with the smaller cards.

This one looks good: Akasa Elite Card Reader.

[peterb]

The Kingston 19-in-one (apart from the pointless slider!) works well, but doesn't do Smart Media (or XD)

This cheap one from 7 day shop does XD and the more common ones. (But not smart media)

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=108547

If CF is really important, the best one I have come across is this - really fast, but only does CF and you need a PC express slot.

http://www.usbnow.co.uk/PCMCIA,_Expr...duct_info.html

Based on the performance of that, you might want to look at

http://www.usbnow.co.uk/PCMCIA,_Expr...duct_info.html

But again needs a PC express slot and doesn't do CF. (And I haven't tried it_

Or this

http://www.usbnow.co.uk/p28/UC-506_-...duct_info.html

At the price you can't really go wrong!


If speed and future is important

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=111814

USB 3 but limited card capability (aimed at the photographic market)

Or this

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=110421 (24 in 1)

and then back to the cheap and cheerful

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=111905

If speed isn't that important, and you really want a universal reader for occasional use, I'd go cheap 'n' cheerful. If you are going to be using it frequently, then it is probably worth paying a bit more for a branded item, but then for the price of a more expensive version, you could by two cheap 'n' cheerful.

[SiM]

Make sure you get a sdxc compatible one, otherwise it will be obsolete soon!

[Andaho]

wow, thanks for so much feedback guys

I had a good look around and I've ordered this one - it doesn't have a CF slot, but I don't think I'd ever need one... it does however have a dedicated slot for micro SD The picture is weird, I was expecting it to be bigger, but it's just photographed with the reflection below, it's about the size of an old USB stick (back when 128MB was a standard size), and has a cable folded underneath that is about 3cm long.

and WOW to SDXC! I'd never heard of it before! - it promises in the near future 2TB of storage on a micro SDXC card! and transfer speeds of up to 312MBps!!!! WOW! - if someone handed me one of those today I'd feel like I had been frozen for 10 years and woke up in the future!