Needed two readers for two PC's. Could not decide on the IOGear 56-in-1 or the Kingston Media Reader. Both about the same price and with mostly good reviews. So, I bought both.
Both do the job, but the IOGear is better.
Why: IOGear is a simple design with easy access ports and a mini-USB port (cable supplied). Kingston has a silly sliding insert design that serves no benefit and a VERY short, near useless, full-size USB cable built in (comes with extension). IOGear comes with very useful little download application that labels each port as to card type in Explorer. No such application with the Kingston. Both are essentially the same size. In principle, the IOGear handles more card types, but that may just be a type-counting difference.
Both work well, but the IOGEAR is a more polished design at same price. IOGEAR 56-in-1 USB 2.0 Pocket Flash Memory Card Reader/Writer GFR281 (Silver)
It's simple. It doesn't load or require a driver on any system I plug it into. It's a perfect, tiny device that reads every card I throw at it.
Bonuses are that the cable separates from the reader (prevents breakage and makes it easier for trips). It's small and flat (smaller than a deck of cards), works on every computer - and its faster for transferring photos than any camera connected directly to a computer.
There are 56 different cards supported with the 5 holes to insert memory cards. Many are supported by inserting the memory card upside down - which may have been a problem for one reviewer. Be sure to read the instructions or wince at the tiny markings by each hole. And be sure your card isn't meant to be inserted upside down (like an SD card) before giving up.
I bought this to read and write to larger SDHC cards and it work as needed.
It worked on a 4gb and 8gb micro SDHC cards. It worked with an SD adapter AND it also worked with the microSDHC side slot on both of them.
I also bought the Kingston 133x CF card in 4gb and 16gb. It worked fine for the 4gb , BUT did not recognize the 16gb card. The 16gb card worked fine when used with a cardbus to CF adapter.
I like the fact that the cable is not attached and it uses a standard miniUSB cable (included). It feels well built. I have been using it for over a week now.
This little reader is very convenient and easy to use. After I purchased a printer that would read but not write to memory cards I was disappointed in the printer - but this little reader is great for transferring files from my memory cards as well as transferring files to memory cards like for my digital photo frame. Works great so far! I thought at a reasonable price too!
The reader handles most of the flash cards used in cameras today. It is very small and comes with a detachable cord that is long enough for most computer users. I bought it because my previous card reader could not handle SDHC cards. It did.
The Iogear 56-in-1 arrived promptly and works flawlessly, the only problem I have is that when plugged in, my magicJack stops working. I also downloaded the Iogear software for the driver assigned free install. MagicJack did not work prior to install of software or after, this must be a software/hardware conflict with a reboot to make MJ work again after removing Iogear.
BEWARE - this reader does not want to recognize 16GB Kingston cards. No problem with smaller CF cards, but I need support for the 16GB and above. So this reader is going back to the store tomorrow. Also there are no status/activity leds.
Copying a SanDisk Extreme 16GB rated at "60MB/s" (UDMA3) gets copied to the hard disk of my MacBook Pro (Intel) in roughly 58 minutes. Assuming that the reader is limited by the USB 2.0 bandwidth (reasonable assumption), this should limit the reading speed to about 20MB/s, which would require around 14 minutes to copy, not 58. Therefore, there's a problem with either the controller on this reader, or maybe some Mac incompatibility.
Please note that other reviewers confirm my problems, so this product is clearly not functioning properly with Macs. I would suggest looking for some different product instead if you desire speed. - Card Reader - Multi-card Reader - Memory Card Reader - Sd Card Reader'
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