Not an expensive item, but might as well get it right the first time....

Is there a difference between readers? I've been using a direct connection.

Thanks.

Yes, there is. The cheaper ones tend to be slower.

-- Olaf

There's a huge difference between USB2 and firewire. I got out on a road trip without my firewire from Sandisc and could only find a USB2. Bought it and used it, but tossed it in the trash the moment I got home. Firewire seemed to be 3 or 4 times faster. The Sandisc Extreme is our pick of the litter. The cable disconnects from the reader for easy stowing while traveling, yet is long enough for desktop use. Best $60 you'll ever spend.

I'll second Hank's comments. The Sandisk extreme firewire reader is better than several different USB2 units I've had. I love it.

I'll agree that the Sandisk Extreme is a good reader, and most computers these days (and all Macs) have a Firewire (1394) port. The Extreme comes with both Firewire 800 and FW 400 cables.

Let me add that, for the absolute fastest transfer speeds, this reader requires the latest Extreme IV cards.

All of this is moot if you don't need fast card-to-computer transfer speed. Then any reader is fine, and the $15 USB 2 version available at the local big box store is fine.

If anyone wants a real eye-opener, shoot with and download from one of your original CF cards. I keep a handful of older 1gbs rattling around in my case, and was forced to use one recently when a shoot ran over-long.

Wow!! Did it ever slow down write speeds on my camera, and it took about twice as long to download 1gb from it than it took to download 4gb from an Extreme III card.

There may not be all that much difference between a III and a IV, but we're spoiled. Just try your oldest CF cards once again to prove it to yourself.

You can also go the internal route, depending on your computer. I use an industrial SATA 2 CF card reader in a 3.5 slot, through a SATA 2 PCIe card. Total cost of about $120. It's fast and I use Ultra II's.

Thanks guys, the Sandisk it is. I've been using Delkin CF Pro UDMA cards, but it sounds like my next card will be a Sandisk Extreme.

There's a rebate on the Extreme Firewire reader at the moment, which makes its price reasonable.

How much of its vaunted speed depends on having a FW800 connection? With FW400, is it still significantly faster than the (otherwise excellent) Extreme USB2 reader?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

I tested the Extreme reader when it arrived. Using the Ultra II card (not the much faster Extreme IV), Firewire 400 and 800 were almost exactly the same, and both were significantly faster than my Sandisk USB 2 reader. Tests were done on my Macbook Pro laptop and my G-5 dual tower.

I had expected the FW800 to be faster. I assume that I'm up against a read speed limit of the card itself. I need to get a n Extreme IV card to test.

RG's database actually shows the Extreme USB2 reader as being faster than the firewire version for the non-UDMA cards I'm using (Ridata 150x 8GB).

It's apparently only with the newer UDMA cards that the firewire version has a marked advantage. But even there, some newer UDMA-capable USB2 readers, like the Lexar, hold their own. In fact, the Lexar USB2 reader beats the Sandisk firewire unit with some of Sandisk's own Extreme III cards.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Fw800 is noticeably faster with Extreme IV -cards, but not so with Extreme III.

Interesting. Something new must be going on, because that's certainly not the case with my older cards. I've always heard claims that USB2 is "as fast as" fire wire, but when you read the fine print, it's only burst speed and not for sustained transfer. Side by side the USB2 readers I've tried take 3 or 4 times longer than my older firewire reader, and the new Sandisc reader is considerably faster than my old one.

Not disputing you, rather I'm saying that if the claims are true, then USB2 users finally have something useful. The old stuff was rotten.