CF Cards .. the others!

Techy Guy

Techy Guy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
489
Name
Rob
Edit My Images
No
All the CF cards (mostly 4Gb) I have are made by Sandisk and live up to their reputation of reliability etc but I want to buy a bigger card or two, maybe 8Gb or 16Gb and to keep costs down I'm looking at alternative makers, particularly Lexar, Integral, Kingston and Transcend. Anyone had any problems with these, any to avoid like the plague? Any other suggestions? I keep missing the odd bargain Sandisk that pops up on this forum, maybe just have to be quicker!

Thanks
 
I have used Sandisk, Transcend and Kingston. Have only ever had issues with one card and it was a Sandisk.

You pays your money and you takes your chance, they can all fail regardless of the brand.
 
Yeah totally, I had a friend who recently bought a load of Lexar cards. One failed on him after a short while and he ended up returning/exchanging it. Just goes to show!

I tend to use Transcend - based on cost, and the fact I have dual card slots as backup.
 
Don't like to tempt fate :-) but Sandisks have never failed me. Got to get them from a reputable source though, as there are many counterfeit Sandisk CF cards out there!
 
I had problems with sandisk cards also. I'm now using Samsung card and I've yet to have any issues with them.
 
Somersetman said:
Don't like to tempt fate :) but Sandisks have never failed me. Got to get them from a reputable source though, as there are many counterfeit Sandisk CF cards out there!
Click to expand...

:plus1: I use Sandisk & Lexar up to 32Gb both CF & SD. TOUCH WOOD!!!!:runaway:Ive not had any issues with any of them but I agree with Greg about buying from a reputable source.
 
i had a 16gb scandisk fail on me and wee overwrite switch on the side fall off a scandisk 16gb card not the same card ,that was sd cards
 
Used sandisk for years without issue....... i Think nowadays where you buy the cards can be an issue. There are lots of fakes out there, especially on eBay, and for a time on Amazon, especially other sellers that use Amazon to fulfill their orders, it seems real cards got mixed up with fakes, so it was pot luck whether you got a pukka card or fake, so that too good too be true price probably is.......
 
Even the top brands will throw up a failure now and then.
From personal experience I've used Lexar Pro cards for years now without any problems BUT I always carry a spare just to be on the safe side.
 
hoochy1 said:
i had a 16gb scandisk fail on me and wee overwrite switch on the side fall off a scandisk 16gb card not the same card ,that was sd cards
Click to expand...

I've had write protect tabs fall off Sandisk SD cards too. They do have a ridiculously long warranty though, which is something to think about. It's unlikely however, that Sandisk make the plastic case mouldings for the cards themselves though, so the only reason I've no experience of this happening with other memory cards is because I don't have many other makes of SD card. I've never had an issue with a Sandisk CF card however.

A 30 year warranty for the extreme plus and extreme pro series isn't to be sniffed at though. SD and CF will be obsolete by the time the warranty runs out... hell, all my gear, and possibly myself will be too :)
 
theurbanclown said:
You'll read horror stories about all brands. Not many people post in forums to say how amazing their CF cards are!
Click to expand...
This applies to all mass-produced consumer goods across all sites where reviews can be posted. Quality control of manufacture is a variable - there will always be 'duds', yet out-of-house statistical analysis is more or less impossible. However a rough feel of general brand performance can be cobbled together from personal experience and reading others' comments, even if it's akin to rumour.
 
A lot of big name photographers will tell you that you've got to use the big brand cards for ultimate reliability. I reckon a lot of them say that because they get free stuff from those brands.

I seem to have ended up using mostly Transcend cards, but I'm careful only ever to buy them from reputable sellers and I use H2testw.exe to do a full read/write verification on them before they go in my card case. It's a great little program and it tells me what the real speed and capacity of a card is, so I can spot a fake and send it back. So far, I've never had a fake and I've never had a card failure.

Mind you, there's a reason that pro cameras generally have two card slots...
 
iv'e been quite happily using a couple of these for the last year or so with no problems
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=08Q8SZJ6H80RQPDRFRVM

iv'e a few various sized kingston cf cards used over the years and had no issues

if you want something quicker for not a lot of money try these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-CompactFlash-Ultimate-CF-16GB-U3/dp/B0042VSTZQ

as already said any manufacture will have some failures but i think kingston have been around long enough and have a decent enough reputation
 
Techy Guy said:
I'm looking at alternative makers, particularly Lexar, Integral, Kingston and Transcend.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I've owned cards with all those labels and never had any problems. But in 16 years of using CF cards in cameras I've not had a single one fail.
 
Techy Guy said:
All the CF cards (mostly 4Gb) I have are made by Sandisk and live up to their reputation of reliability etc but I want to buy a bigger card or two, maybe 8Gb or 16Gb and to keep costs down I'm looking at alternative makers, particularly Lexar, Integral, Kingston and Transcend. Anyone had any problems with these, any to avoid like the plague? Any other suggestions? I keep missing the odd bargain Sandisk that pops up on this forum, maybe just have to be quicker!

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi Rob,

I've used Sandisk and Lexar cards and been very happy with them and would certainly recommend them. I have used other brands previously - a Wilkinson Cameras own brand and never had a problem...
 
Maybe slightly off topic but I wanted a SanDisk extreme UHS-1 SD card and noticed the 16gb variant had a faster write spread over the equivalent Sandisk Extreme 8gb. No idea why, but both the vendor and SanDisk themselves had this specified on their websites.

Edit. Only the 8gb Extreme UHS-1 has 30mbs write speed and 16, 32 upwards all have 60mbs write speed.
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for all the re-assurance and recommendations. Will go with a non-sandisk card this time, no doubt it will be fine.

Shak, certainly odd spec range there, good info to know though, thanks.
 
The Sandisk broken read/write tab happened to me too. A pattern emerges...

Yes they do have a long warranty but you have to post them back to Croatia at your own expense (if the retailer won't help of course). Not worth it for the cheaper SDs.
 
Last edited:
Ordered a Kingston 16Gb 266x CF card from MyMemory for only £13.49, seems a bit of a bargain, free postage too. Will see how that goes, should be plenty fast enough for my D300 even at max fps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top