CF Card Readers

I'm looking for a good reliable, fast, cheap, CF card reader. I know those 3 usually can never be grouped together, and everything only has 2 of those 3 features, so you would have to pick your poison. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had input on what kind of card reader I should get. It would be helpful to be specific.

Cheap and Reliable would be best. Fast would just be a luxury. As long as the reader doesn't break my Sandisk Extremes haha.

Thank you all in advance for the input.

You should be able to pick up a decent enough USB 2.0 card reader from your local department store - they're on sale locally for $12. Branding varies wildly...

depends what you mean by cheap and what options you have on your computer ?
cheap and super fast - sandisk or lexar expresscard reader, or cheap and not as fast - sandisk firewire reader, or cheap and a lot slower - sandisk usb2 reader all been reliable for me

I use transcend P8 card readers

http://ec.transcendusa​.com …product_memory.​asp?Cid=13

Sandisk Extreme Card Reader.
20-25 bucks.

I have bought 3 card readers now. The first was a Belkin and it just broke within the first 4 months. Getting it fixed under warranty cost more than replacing it.

I then bought a Lexar RW022 USB2 card reader for $18. It's pretty fast, but I would spend the extra few dollars for the RW035 Professional model (about $31)

The pro model reads the UDMA cards and is about 50% faster than the cheaper lexar model. They do sell a FireWire 800 model that is extremely fast but you have to have the correct hardware interface to support it. I don't as I have a PC and my firewire is only 400.

I use the pro model with my desktop and lug the other one with my laptop for when I am on remote and want to backup the photo's taken to a hard drive. I think that model should fit you needs.

Matt.

$12 from Amazon. Kingston card reader. 4.5 stars with almost 300 reviews. I own one. Its been rock solid for me. I have an internal reader I use more now but I used to use this Kingston and still use it on anything other than my desktop.

Choose Amazon as the seller, not buy.com

I got mine at Walmart. It's a Targus brand. It's USB powered and comes with it's own USB to mini USB cable, which is great since I can use the same cable to connect the camera to the PC. So aside from the Canon one, I now have a spare.

one thing that i kinda miss is the fact that i can plug in a SDHC right into the slot in my laptop when i had the XSi... the CF on my 7D does not have a dedicated slot...

The Kingston card readers are very good. So are the SanDisk ones I gather.

I can't think how many CF card readers I have gone through between 2001 and the end of last year when finally I bought two Kingston readers. Only used one so far and I am pleased to report it seems to be bulletproof.


Cheers

Sorry, noob question incoming.
Are these card readers faster than just plugging your camera into the computer?

Rayne wrote in post #10359558
Sorry, noob question incoming.
Are these card readers faster than just plugging your camera into the computer?

Faster, more reliable transfer as its a drag and drop/copy paste operation. You dont waste camera batteries being hooked up, and you dont need to have the canon utility installed if you dont want to. Other than that no real benefits

camera direct is usb2 interface, so its only as fast as that, firewire or expresscard is a lot quicker

Makes sense, thanks for the quick answers.

The 19-in-1 kingston looks like a great deal. I think I will pick one of these up. Thanks for all your input guys!