Costco Transcend 8GB CF Card mini-review

[Nortelbert]

Ordered this card on Friday from Costco online and received it today. The cost was $160 CDN (~$135 US)

The card was able to handle everything the Rebel XT threw at it, taking 14 JPEGs without pausing, and clearing out the buffer quickly enough to take further shots. Copying from the card to the PC was on average 25.6 MB/sec and from the card to itself via file copy was about 5.6 MB/sec. From the PC to the card was about 6 to 8 MB/sec.

Overall, not bad for the price. Capacity at the XT large JPG is "999" and RAW is 937 shots. My guess is the large JPEG capacity would be about 2800.

[cskn0125]

Thanks for that. Ive been wondering about transcend cards.

I'm not sure if it is just me, but CF cards seem to be a little more pricey here in Canada then compared to what they are in the US. Luckily, i have only purchased one "more expensive" card, so i can indulge on the cheaper prices the US places have.

[Nortelbert]

I think that NewEgg has this card for about $84.00 plus a modest amount for shipping.

See:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820208050

Enjoy! Lon

NewEgg doesn't ship to Canada :-)

[Trackside]

WOW and to think I was going to drop by Costco and pick up a 2 gig for $40. Glad they were out of CF last time I went. Thank you both for the review and link. I've never heard of newegg.com before.

Anyone order from them before?

Also, what's the deal with these 120x hybrid cards? Is it like USB 2.0? Are they as reliable?

[coreypolis]

Hey Ross,

Newegg is very very reliable.
As for the card, I haven't tried them so I can't say for sure.

I see you're from the PacNW, theres a bunch of us getting together at the end of the month, the details are in the member get together forum if you're intrested.

[mwt]

Newegg is very reputable

[Orogeny]

I agree with the others, Newegg is not only reputable, they have very good prices. People who build their own computers are very familiar with Newegg.

Tim

[superdiver]

I have 2 transcend 4GB cards and they work great....am going to order more cards.

[inthedeck]

zipzoomfly.com is another good e-tailer, though, again, not sure if they ship to Canada. And their prices are a bit better, for parts, and the like.

[Ogrt48]

I actually have 2 2GB Transcend cards on the way to me from NewEgg. Ups says they'll be here Monday. They were only like $15 per card. The 8gb card looks like a good deal but I don't trust more than 2gb of photos to one card.. If I ever took 8gb of photos and the card messed up and corrupted them or something..omg.

[purelithium]

I love using my Transcend cards, they are my main cards. I haven't had any problems with the brand ever. I'm probably going to buy a couple 2gb to add to my storage.

[superdiver]

I am having trouble deciding to get either 4 4gb cards or 2 8gb cards for my trip to Belize...

Help me decided....

[purelithium]

This is a common SOP around here:

Get a bunch of smaller cards. Less chance of loss of data if a card is corrupted. Plus, the 4gb cards are a very convenient size to back up to DVD right out of the camera.

[coreypolis]

This is a common SOP around here:

Get a bunch of smaller cards. Less chance of loss of data if a card is corrupted. Plus, the 4gb cards are a very convenient size to back up to DVD right out of the camera.
actually this is very wrong.

The more you insert and remove cards, the more likely they are to fail. The majority of failures happen because of this. When was the last time you heard of a card that just died?

There is also recovery software that works flawlessly the majoirty of the time. Just look at the recap of the Luminous Landscape Antarctic trip and you'll see.

[rwong2k]

actually this is very wrong.

The more you insert and remove cards, the more likely they are to fail. The majority of failures happen because of this. When was the last time you heard of a card that just died?

There is also recovery software that works flawlessly the majoirty of the time. Just look at the recap of the Luminous Landscape Antarctic trip and you'll see.

Hmm, interesting, right when I'm about to get eitehr 2x4gb or 1x8gb, interesting point of view
thx!

[purelithium]

actually this is very wrong.

The more you insert and remove cards, the more likely they are to fail. The majority of failures happen because of this. When was the last time you heard of a card that just died?

There is also recovery software that works flawlessly the majoirty of the time. Just look at the recap of the Luminous Landscape Antarctic trip and you'll see.

No, there is just the same amount of risk doing this with larger cards, as with smaller cards. It's in the WAY you remove/insert the cards, not the number of times. If you follow proper procedure, you will be fine, but there is always some time you forget, don't have time to follow correct procedure, etc. it WILL happen. I would rather it happen with smaller amounts of data, than with large amounts of data. Even though there are great recovery software options out there, they aren't always 100% at getting your data back.

I feel safer having smaller amounts of data lost than a huge 8gb card of 1000+ images.

[coreypolis]

No, there is just the same amount of risk doing this with larger cards, as with smaller cards. It's in the WAY you remove/insert the cards, not the number of times. If you follow proper procedure, you will be fine, but there is always some time you forget, don't have time to follow correct procedure, etc. it WILL happen. I would rather it happen with smaller amounts of data, than with large amounts of data. Even though there are great recovery software options out there, they aren't always 100% at getting your data back.

I feel safer having smaller amounts of data lost than a huge 8gb card of 1000+ images.
simple math, if you have 4 2gb cards your remove them 4x as often as 1 8gb. The chance of somehting going bad is 4x more likely

People have been saying this since the 128mb card was standard. Don't go to 256, don't go to 512, don't go to 1gb.

I've been shooting digital for 7 years with several bodies, and lost a total of 6 images, that was user error for opening the door before it wrote a burst.

Even if something happens, most likely you'll get it back, and you save space by nit having multiple cards, and more importantly save money by buying larger cards.

[purelithium]

What I'm saying is that data loss is NOT from NUMBER of removals. It's the WAY you remove them. You are making an argument that has no basis. Show me tests that say number of removals equate to more data loss. I've never seen it.

Sure people have been saying it since 128mb. We've HAD to move up in size, because of increase in storage requirements with image size. It's a balance between number of shots on the card and risk, it's all up to the individual.

[coreypolis]

What I'm saying is that data loss is NOT from NUMBER of removals. It's the WAY you remove them. You are making an argument that has no basis. Show me tests that say number of removals equate to more data loss. I've never seen it.

Sure people have been saying it since 128mb. We've HAD to move up in size, because of increase in storage requirements with image size. It's a balance between number of shots on the card and risk, it's all up to the individual.
the more times you do it, the more likely you are to do it in properly ;)

Becuase you have and 16gb or a 1gb doesn't change how you do it.

Everytime the size increases, many successfully use them without a problem.

who decides how much is safe? its completely arbitrary just like "walk around" focal length. Telling someone to buy lots os small cards has no basis either, the chance of a full card failure (without user error) and no recovery is so small you'd need a microscope to see the percentage.

[Savagebasher]

But the chance is still there. I have yet to see someone report that they lost photos due to being a jackass about inserting or removing the card.

[superdiver]

When people say "follow proper procedure to remove and insert cards", what exactly IS proper procedure for doing this.

I have only been shooting my CF camera for a year and a bunch of P&S before that and have never had a problem loosing data. But I have no idea what is the right way and what is the wrong way...

[purelithium]

To Remove:
Turn off the camera. Wait a couple seconds, remove the card.

To Insert:
Turn off the camera. Wait a couple seconds, insert the card.

Same is with a reader on your computer. Make sure you "eject" the card from your OS first, make sure to wait until the ejection process is finished before actually removing the card. Also I would make sure to format the card In-camera first before using it, to start with a fresh filesystem.

[rwong2k]

I'm leaning towards 2x 4GB card since like someone else has mentioned it fits a dvd easier to back up. Then again I use my Epson p-2000.