PD70x available soon

[jray]

The replacement for the PD7x is just around the corner. It looks like a winner...

RG forum PD70x post (http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB10&Number=336564&Searchpage=1&Main=326422&Words=pd70x&topic=&Search=true#Post336564)

[KevC]

Lookin' good :) June, just in time for my birthday :D

[shiningstardv]

It looks like a good product and replacement of the PD7X, however its little pricey for me. The unit itself without a hard drive is about $150. That seems a bit ridiculous, as you still have to buy a decent sized laptop hard drive, which will run you a little under $100.

I just bought one of these "X-Drive VP2160 (http://www.xs-drive.com/xsdrive2plus/index.htm)"s for $84...seems much more reasonable. It may not be as good, but it gets the job done almost as well. That's what I'm taking with me to unload my 20D RAW photos during my 2 week trip to El Salvador this summer.

[jray]

Keep in mind the initial price is almost always MSRP if the product is in demand. In addition, one of the firms selling the PD70x is also their largest distributor. Distributors almost always sell at MSRP if they want to be able to sell to retailers. It's hard to get a retailer to buy a product in quantity when the company selling to them is also their competition.

The retail price on the PD70x is about $20.00 U.S. more that that of the PD7x. Give it a few months and prices will start becoming competitive with other such products.

[Kostyanych]

Ooops, I didn't find who is selling PD70x.... :(

[Osmium]

I just got mine from JAL in Melbourne. See: http://www.compactdrive.com/ for a list of countries and the distributors.

I fitted mine with a 7200rpm Hitachi drive. I already had the drive. A note in the manual says that cache size is more important than rotational speed. My drive has an 8Mb cache.

Just to test: A full 2Gb 40x Lexar CF card (236 raw files) copied in 5 1/2 minutes. I think the CF card might be the limiting factor here.

I like the new unit. The design changes make sense - the manufacturer has obviously been listening to the customers.

[arpi]

looks like the manufacturer has stop making them

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ( March 2005 )


We are sorry to announce that we have discontinued the supply of Compact Drive PD7X. This is due to the fact that PD7X has high failure rate and thus we are unable to keep up good customer support on this product.

see here (6-11-05):

http://www.compactdrive.us/

[tommykjensen]

looks like the manufacturer has stop making them



see here (6-11-05):

http://www.compactdrive.us/

That message seems to be a hoax. Have a look through this long thread

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=61953&highlight=www.compactdrive.us


More specifically pay attention to this


Official Statement regarding compactdrive.net (18th March 2005)

EastGear (Singapore) Pte Ltd is the Manufacturer and International Sales Representative of the CompactDrive PD7X.

It has come to our attention that several websites that claim to be the distributors of CompactDrive have stated to have “discontinued the supply of CompactDrive PD7X” due to “high failure rate”

The statements can be seen at:

www.compactdrive.net
www.compactdrive.info
www.compactdrive.us
www.compactdrive.jp
www.compactdrive.co.nz
www.compactdrive.co.uk
www.compactdrive.com.tw

We wish to state for the record that ALL of the above domain names and websites are owned by one single entity, the former New Zealand Distributor for CompactDrive PD7X which goes under the trading name of CompactDrive International Co. Ltd / Top International Limited / Heard Park Group of Companies (here from referred to as Heard Park)

Heard Park has no point in time represented any distribution channels for the CompactDrive PD7X other than within New Zealand itself. Heard Park have been sanctioned previously because they insist on misleading consumers and companies by pretending to be distributors of other countries (namely United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan) and parallel importing into these countries when their distribution area is only limited to New Zealand.

We hereby denounce all statements made by Heard Park as totally false and erroneous. We wish to state for the fact:

That till this very day, Heard Park has not returned a single unit to the manufacturer for repair due to failure of any kind.

The manufacturer has always listened to end users feedback and kept in close contact with our distributors. We have never “given up or ignored” issues pertaining to the unit’s reliability. In fact, the CompactDrive is one of the most reliable portable storage device in the market. Till this day, no user has ever lost any images or data as a result of any systematic reliability problems.

As recent as 11th March, 2005, Heard Park was still in correspondence with the manufacturer to export stock to EU. The order was delayed indefinitely due to disagreement in payment issues.

As of Christmas 2004, Heard Park has a very low stock count and has not reordered since. They have complained about poor business due to increasing competition from other distributors in the region and on the Internet.
We urge all discerning readers to see past the product discontinue statement as a veiled attempt to discredit and tarnish the product and product brand name and at the same time, to promote a competing product.

The CompactDrive PD7X was never discontinued at any time. In fact, all other distribution channels around the world are enjoying brisk and healthy sales of this product. The CompactDrive PD7X continues to be the fastest selling portable storage device in Asia, Europe, US and the rest of the world.

The CompactDrive continues to be one of the best portable storage devices in the market. It has the world’s fastest transfer speed as well as longest battery life in the market. In fact, the CompactDrive PD7X recently won the prestigious DIMA (Digital Imaging Marketing Association) 2005 Innovative Digital Product Award, at the recent PMA (Photo Marketing Association) International 2005, held in Orlando, the biggest photo equipment trade show in North America.

[the.digital.guy]

Buy the Epson P-2000!!!!
You will not be disappointed.

[arpi]

tommykjensen thanks for the heads up

i just took a look a the registry and the website www.compactdrive.us was made in september 2004 by PAUL YU PO CHEN who lives in New Zealand. but www.compactdrive.net is from someone in New Zealand too (same date - I haven't looked anymore). I wonder what is the story behind and what is going on.

[Osmium]

It's horses for courses. If you don't need, or are unable, to review the images on the storage unit, then the PD70X is a very good solution. In my situation, which is taking photos of stage productions, I get around an hour of photo taking followed by a 20 minute interval and then into the photos again. That 20 minute interval is where I need to upload my CF cards as quickly as possible. No time to review the pix.

The PD70X is definitely an improvement on the PD7X. More solid construction (eg: metal hinges on the cover). Regulated power to the hard drive. And it's fast. If I had to have one niggle, it's the combined thumb wheel/push button control instead of simple push buttons. I guess I'll get used to it - haven't had it long enough - it might even prove to be a better solution!

[Osmium]

Regarding the "no longer in production" fiasco, it seems to have been sour grapes on the part of the New Zealand distributor. I don't have any hard facts but reading between the lines of all the comments: apparently they were trying to build an international presence for the supply of the PD7X when their original distribution space was New Zealand based.

There were already established distributors in Europe, Asia and the US and noses were bent out of joint because of the NZ company's web activities in those regions. There was obviously an argument between the NZ company and EastGear which resulted in the NZ company spitting the dummy and posting what it did. Reprehensible behaviour.

[phidong]

I bought and reviewed this unit here: http://www.phidong.com/archives/000405.php

:)