UPDATE - March 2, 2010: This review was originally written for the 4 GB class 6 SDHC card, but the reviews have been grouped for all class 6 SDHC cards in the 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB sizes. All the cards should perform similarly since they are all class 6 and all made by Transcend. However, I will have to check which cards I have used hands on. I believe I only own the 4GB and 8GB cards. I will update the review further. If you have concerns regarding the 16GB or 32GB sizes, you should seek out the reviews tagged with the product links from those cards.
The Transcend 4GB SDHC CARD (Class 6) is a great card for the price. I was at first a little skeptical about the brand, but I buy way too many memory cards to ignore a good price when I see one. And I'm happy to report that I've experienced decent performance and reliability issues with this card. That's as compared to other cards I own including SanDisk, PNY and Kingston.
As long as your devices are compatible with the SDHC format, this card is a good buy. 4 GB is a nice size though I do prefer 8 GB capacity for high capacity storage.
The class 6 speed is the fastest speed available in mass market SDHC cards. Class 6 guarantees minimum transfer speeds of 6 MBs, but I've gotten speeds up to 20Mbs! That makes this card perfect for storing pictures in RAW image formats.
The Class 6 speed is on par with the Sandisk Extreme III cards that on average are about $15 to $20 more per card. If you don't have an SDHC reader, you may opt to get the package with a reader included to download your pics. If not you can just transfer your pics directly from your camera with your card still inserted. An SDHC card reader can be bought separately if your PC doesn't have a compatible slot.
General SDHC and SD Card Tips
There are a few tips that I've learned the hard way through buying TOO MANY different memory cards.
1. Make sure your device is compatible with the card! Even in regular SD cards, some older electronics aren't compatible with that large of a size (2 GB). In terms of SDHC cards, make sure your camera or other device is SDHC compatible. SDHC is different from regular SD and only newer devices tend to have built-in compatibility
2. Once you install this in your camera or device, you will generally want to format the card with your compatible device's interface. That is because the standard formats for certain devices, particularly Canon, are different from the factory installed format
3. Just like your devices, most computer SD card readers are not compatible with the SDHC format. So use a card reader or download the pictures via USB connection to the camera with the card still installed.
4. For some reason, placing the card in the locked position allows some older laptops to still read it. This is just to be used in a pinch however, and it won't apply to all systems
5. If you did not properly format your card, you may be able to save things to it and then have them "disappear." If this happens to you, make sure you use the software recovery tools BEFORE you try to save anything else to your card. That way, you can retrieve your images without over-writing them.
6. Make sure you know what you are going to use this card for. Once you have set up everything and ensured it's all compatible, you still have to decide on speed. If you are using this for storing RAW images instead of JPEGs or HD video, step up to the faster class 6 speed format if you can afford it.
7. If you are going to pay more for a faster speed, make sure your device can benefit from it. I've read, for example, that Kodak cameras are set to a fixed voltage and cannot go faster than standard speed. So the extra cash spent on Class 4, 5, or 6 is basically wasted.
Conclusion
It's great to have several extra cards on hand just in case. This 4 GB card is a nice performer. If you have a high capacity camera (10 Megapixels or more) and are storing videos or RAW images, the extra cash for the 8GB card is worth it. Or you may want to step up to the larger 16 GB size that is now available.
Enjoy! Transcend 4 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS4GSDHC6
This SDHC card is the fastest one in its price range but it may cause your images to be lost.
I use two of this in a Canon SD750. After the first use, all of the images were lost. (But thank God, I could rescue them with Lexar Image Rescue 2, a program better than its competitors) Then I formated the card(s) in the camera(s) with "low level format" option several times and there has been no problem after that so far.
I can suggest these points to potential owners of this card:
1- Use it very carefully, make backups if possible.
2- Format it several times before the first use with "low level format" option.
3- If you loose your images, don't panic. At this situation, It is very important not to take anymore pictures. If you take pictures after this point, you can overwrite your lost images and there can be no chance to get them back. Connect your card to your computer with a card reader (SDHC Compatible) and rescue them with Lexar Image Rescue. - Transcend - 4gb - Sd Card - Sdhc'
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