Any good Compact Flash Readers - Fast & Affordable

Oxford_Matt

Oxford_Matt

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I am looking to buy a Compact Flash Reader, however I want somthing fast reliable and affordable.

Any i should avoid? Or any recommended?

Many thanks
 
I have a Jessops one which will read six different types of card.
I use it to read my extreme 111 60MB/s CF card,and it works well. I think it was around ten pounds.
 
Thanks Guys, I thought Firewire was a thing of the past??
 
What interfaces do you have available? If it's just USB2 then forget about fast, there ain't no such beast.
 
I'll 2nd the Lexar one, i've got it and its about as fast as you can get with usb2 and it supports udma cards as well
 
beanbandit said:
I was about to order one of them as my current reader won't read my new SDHC cards. But then I noticed that Amazon have the new USB3 version up for pre-order. Only the 2nd USB3 card reader I've seen advertised. So going to pre-order and see how good USB3 really is.
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Is USB 3 going to work on current USB 2 PC's and Notebooks??
Not sure if it will just be a software/Driver update or its a hardware change.

I remeber thst USB2 did not work on older computers.

:shrug:
 
Oxford_Matt said:
Is USB 3 going to work on current USB 2 PC's and Notebooks??
Not sure if it will just be a software/Driver update or its a hardware change.

I remeber thst USB2 did not work on older computers.

:shrug:
Click to expand...

I've found USB2 to work fine with my PowerMac G3 on the USB1 ports. I now have a USB2 PCI card so I can actually transfer stuff at a rate of knots :p From what I know USB3 is meant to be backwards compatible, but obviously only at the speed of the port you're using it with. I'm tempted to try a Firewire card reader as I have a 6pin FW socket on my MacBook and two of them on my PowerMac so I may as well put them to use.
 
Thanks for the info.
I will do a bit more homework before making any decisionns.
 
I've a Sandisk CF reader and am very pleased with it :thumbs:
 
I've pre-ordered the Lexar USB 3.0 reader, will report back with my findings when it arrives. I have two Sandisk Extreme 60MB/s UDMA cards and a friend has an Extreme Pro 90MB/s one so will test with both on USB 3.0 and report back with speeds if it's useful.
 
Lexar pro cf sd udma for me as well for me, very happy with it.
 
Sebastian said:
This reader came up second after Lexar in few independent reviews.
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Do you have any links to these independent reviews that include actual speed measurements? Or do they all just quote the press release (which is, I assume, the source of the 'up to' 32 MB/s claim)?
 
hollis_f said:
Do you have any links to these independent reviews that include actual speed measurements? Or do they all just quote the press release (which is, I assume, the source of the 'up to' 32 MB/s claim)?
Click to expand...

I will Google for them for you if I will have some free time. Or you can do it yourself?
In the mean time, have a look at Amazon comments :)
 
i bought a Sandisk firewire 800 CF card reader awhile ago (when i had my 40D) and it was blazing!!
but after getting my 5dii the speeds i get by connecting the cam to the laptop is comparable to the card reader.

but both these methods are faster than ordinary external card readers! imo
 
Sebastian said:
I will Google for them for you if I will have some free time. Or you can do it yourself?
In the mean time, have a look at Amazon comments :)
Click to expand...

I tried googling it. Any test that actually measures speed doesn't seem to have tested the Hama reader, except one where the Hama failed the test totally. As far as I can see none of the Amazon reviewers have actually tested the speed. They just say it's 'fast'. As far as I know their previous experience of card readers my be limited to USB 1.0

Still, I'll have my own in a few days, so I'll run it on CrystalDiskMark. I'm still guessing it'll come up as a paltry 25 MB/s slowcoach. Still, at least there'll be one accurate review on Amazon.
 
Thanks again everyone for all the input.

I would be interested in the USB 3 Results as I guess lots others would.
 
Oxford_Matt said:
Thanks again everyone for all the input.

I would be interested in the USB 3 Results as I guess lots others would.
Click to expand...

No problems - can also do some comparative tests with the USB2 Lexar reader as my mate already has one of those. I'm hoping the new model can approach or even meet the speeds of the Lexar Firewire 800 unit as that's generally regarded to be the fastest currently available.
 
You name it I've had them and all were broken, some in a far shorter time than I care to recall and the Belkin never even got off the ground :shrug:

Well, all except the Kingston Media Reader. I bought two a couple of years ago and the second one is still in it's unbroken blister pack.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-M...Y2DQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299318094&sr=8-1


The latest model has a different style of extension cable though I presume the difference is purely cosmetic.


Hope this helps


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I'm amazed that more manufacturers aren't releasing USB3 readers as USB2 has really had its day now and just isn't fast enough for most peripherals.

I already have an external WD USB3 hard drive and it flies - the limiting factor is the speed of the drive itself, so I have high hopes for the new Lexar reader coupled with a fast CF card.
 
I think the reason for lack of USB3 peripherals is going to be the lack of USB3 on computers in the market, I'm sure it will pick up (as will Thunder Bolt) as more computers are equipped with the newer technology.
 
Yeah well prior to Sandy Bridge it seems only the high-end motherboards had USB3 on them. Whilst the 67-series chipsets still don't natively support it, it seems that most manufacturers are fitting USB3 controllers and ports to virtually all their Sandy Bridge boards, although the uncertainty over the big Intel recall won't help adoption.

I think most manufacturers of high-speed USB devices will start introducing USB3 variants soon.
 
I've just bought an Icybox docking bay for my new pc. It's a bit of a pain connecting all the cabling, but it's got card readers, USB2&3, esata and audio connector for headphones and mic. Obviously no good if you want portability, but if not I'd recommend it (only had it for 5 days, so I can't tell you anything about life time reliability).

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/icy-...r-with-audio-mic-4x-usb-20-1x-esata-2x-usb-30
 
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Well I've just had an email from Amazon saying the Lexar reader has been delayed and they don't know when it'll arrive.

On the upside, the price has dropped to £23 :)
 
Vertigo1 said:
Well I've just had an email from Amazon saying the Lexar reader has been delayed and they don't know when it'll arrive.

On the upside, the price has dropped to £23 :)
Click to expand...

Was going to be ordering one of these this week so bit annoying that's it's been delayed. But the price drop is nice, £11 cheaper think I will still order this week just to make sure I get it at that price. Can't see any details if this comes with the USB3 cable. May just order one to be on the safe side :)
 
I suspect it will. Both the USB3 peripherals I've bought so far have done.

Amazon are now quoting 1-4 months for delivery so god only knows when this will be released. It's also conspicuous by its absence from Lexar's own site, which isn't encouraging.
 
Just out of interest, what sort of transfer rate (in MB/s) do you get out of these USB3 capable card readers (when reading from a very fast card, of course)?

Cheers
 
Vertigo1 said:
I suspect it will. Both the USB3 peripherals I've bought so far have done.

Amazon are now quoting 1-4 months for delivery so god only knows when this will be released. It's also conspicuous by its absence from Lexar's own site, which isn't encouraging.
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Then I may hold off from buying a cable. I did notice the delivery quotes and lack of any information on Lexar's website. Amazon US doesn't have it listed either. Very strange.
 
highpriest said:
Just out of interest, what sort of transfer rate (in MB/s) do you get out of these USB3 capable card readers (when reading from a very fast card, of course)?
Click to expand...

No-one knows as there aren't any USB3 UDMA CF readers available yet. In theory they should be capable of maxing the card itself out, so 60-90MB/s with the fastest CF cards.

With both my USB3 external hard drives, the limiting factor is the disk itself. The 2.5" one averages 70MB/s and the 3.5" one manages over 110MB/s so USB3 is more than capable of those kind of speeds.
 
Vertigo1 said:
No-one knows as there aren't any USB3 UDMA CF readers available yet. In theory they should be capable of maxing the card itself out, so 60-90MB/s with the fastest CF cards.
Click to expand...

Then the bottleneck will move, from the card reader to the disk inside the PC. Most SATA hard drives are going to be limited to around 60 MB/s write speed.
 
hollis_f said:
Then the bottleneck will move, from the card reader to the disk inside the PC. Most SATA hard drives are going to be limited to around 60 MB/s write speed.
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Most recent hard drives are more than capable of exceeding 100MB/s transfer rates so the CF card will be the limiting factor first I think.

TBH anything will be better than my current Sandisk non-UDMA USB2 reader, which just about manages 18MB/s and thus takes around half-an-hour to offload a 32GB card!
 
Vertigo1 said:
TBH anything will be better than my current Sandisk non-UDMA USB2 reader, which just about manages 18MB/s and thus takes around half-an-hour to offload a 32GB card!
Click to expand...

The Belkin I got recently (this one) hits 30 MB/s when transferring files from a 35 MB/s (233x) card. Not bad at all IMO.

Cheers
 
Thanks for this thread. Been looking for a good CF card reader too. :thumbs:
 
Thumbs us from me too. Also waiting for more usb3 kit, my hard drive amazes me how quick it is!
 
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