Memory Card Reader Recommendations?

[Amy]

I've had it with my SanDisk 12-in-1 card reader. It'll read some of my SD cards, but not others. (My SD cards are SanDisk and PNY, so I'm not using some weird off-brand cards.) It's not the SD cards, because I can connect the camera to my computer and transfer the pictures that way just fine when the reader doesn't work. I already sent it back to SanDisk once, they sent me a brand new one (still in the blister pack), and it does the same thing. No problem reading any of the CF cards from our other cameras.

I told DH that I want a new card reader for Mother's Day. Any recommendations? Is there a reader that reads SD cards only? I did a quick internet search this morning and it seems that most readers are multi-format. Think I'll have better luck with another brand of multi-reader? Sony? Panasonic?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've gone through half a dozen readers including name brands and junk brands. I've yet to find one that I've liked that has lasted. I'd be willing to pay a hefty premium for a really good quality reader.

 

[Groucho]

I dunno, I have no problem with the cheapest ones.

I have this Philips SD-card-only one, currently $4, which I got for free (w/free shipping, too) on "Black Friday" last Thanksgiving. It works great and is tiny, my wife keeps it in her little camera bag about with her SD600. I use a cheap multi-reader that fits in an unused floppy slot in the front of my PC.

I'm not sure what I would want the little Philips one to do that it doesn't do perfectly. Obviously it's no good for xD, CF, or MS cards, but for SD cards, it's perfect.

 

[Amy]

I've gone through half a dozen readers including name brands and junk brands. I've yet to find one that I've liked that has lasted. I'd be willing to pay a hefty premium for a really good quality reader.

Sounds like I'm not the only one having problems!

I dunno, I have no problem with the cheapest ones.

I have this Philips SD-card-only one, currently $4, which I got for free (w/free shipping, too) on "Black Friday" last Thanksgiving. It works great and is tiny, my wife keeps it in her little camera bag about with her SD600. I use a cheap multi-reader that fits in an unused floppy slot in the front of my PC.

I'm not sure what I would want the little Philips one to do that it doesn't do perfectly. Obviously it's no good for xD, CF, or MS cards, but for SD cards, it's perfect.

Figures - the cheapest ones are the best! Shipping is $6.93, and this still comes in around $10.

We'll see what DH comes up with on Mother's Day. THanks for your opinions!

 

[photo_chick]

I have had my CF reader since 2005. It was $6 I think. Never had any problems. It gets used daily. I actually don't know the brand, it does not say on it. I have an older Lexar reader that works great too. It is a little slow, I have had it since 2000 when I got my first digital p&s.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Maybe I'm just cursed. It's not like I'm trying to do anything fancy with them. I just want to stick a card in, copy from it, and take it out. My last one was a Sandisk one, but when I put it on the stand after a trip, the USB connector broke.

My current one is a Kingston. It's doing OK, but when I import a 4 gig card in Lightroom, I usually get about 5 pictures that don't read properly. When I read them again, there is no problem. This happens with SD and CF cards, so I don't think it's a problem with the cards.

I've had other ones that sporadically fail to appear in Windows. In those cases, it's just as likely that Windows was at fault, but the bottom line was that it didn't work.