Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R16600CWPGJSBP Bottom line: You put the card in, press the button, the contents are copied to the device hard drive. It's reasonably fast, easy to use, and reliable.
I use a portable media reader/storage device for one thing - to backup a card as soon as I remove it from my camera. The backup happens with the drive in my pocket and I've already put another card in my camera and resumed shooting while the backup is underway.
This drive is ideal for that purpose.
Transfer Rates and Battery Life:
To measure transfer rate I started with a fully charged drive and used four cards; a Sandisk SD Ultra, a Sandisk SD Extreme, a Sandisk CF Ultra, and a Sandisk CF Extreme. Each card was loaded with the same 2 GB mix of JPGs, raw files, and a few video clips. (Turns out it doesn't matter what you have on the cards, it will copy any kind of file. It even maintains any folder structure from the inserted media card.)
It took 6:12 to transfer the 2GB of stuff from the CF cards and 8:00 to copy from the SD cards. To put it another way, you can transfer data 30% faster from CF cards. (It's the cards, not the drive. There's a reason those expensive cameras still use the bigger cards :) )
After finishing with the four transfers, 8GB total, to measure timing I wanted to see how much more the drive could do on a single battery charge. The SD card was the last one in the drive so I kept using it to do repeated transfers until the battery died. Turns out it did six more full transfers and then conked out 12% into the seventh. All told, I was able to transfer 4 GB from CF cards and 16 GB from SD cards. Since the battery drain is almost entirely dependent on how long the drive is actively copying data I probably could have transferred at least 24 GB total if I stuck to CF cards. Another way to look at this is getting well over an hour, closer to an hour and a quarter, for run time on a single charge.
One last though about these drives... OK, it's not the last thing as you can see from all the stuff that follows. It's possible for these drives to pay for themselves without you ever actually using them. It's happened to me a few times where someone has seen me use the thing and asked about it. Some people are impressed by photographers who are careful enough to have a device like this. That could be a factor in their selecting you over someone a little less careful. (Nice thing about the new version over my old one is the display is *much* brighter and more easily noticed in these situations.)
Now, if you don't mind sticking with me for a few more minutes I'll hop on my...
Memory Card Size Soapbox:
I have an issue with filling large cards to capacity. Memory cards go fail. That's one of the reasons for getting one of these drives. However, they can also fail while they are in your camera. If you store your entire event on a 16GB card and it goes bad... I try to keep my cards to around 2 GB full before swapping them out. Granted, any of them can fail too but then I've only lost a part of a job/vacation rather than the whole thing.
OK, now the last thing. Remember my old Wolverine drive? It took almost 19 minutes to transfer the same 2 GB card that this drive did in a bit over six. You gotta love progress.
BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.
Click Here to see more reviews about: PicPac II 11-in-1 High Speed Memory Card Reader and 250 GB Storage Device 7625
Product Description
Wolverine PicPac II 11-I High Speed Memory Cards Reader and 250 GB Storage Device
Product Details
- Color: Black
- Brand: Wolverine
- Model: 7625
- Dimensions: 4.70" h x .90" w x 3.10" l, .50 pounds
- Hard Disk: 250GB
Features
- Eliminate the need to buy many memory cards, backup thousands of photos without a computer
- Built-in high speed memory card reader, one touch operation
- Pocket size and light weight
- Battery powered - copy up to 15 GB on a single charge, USB Plug and Play - PC and MAC compatable
- Accomodates Compact Flash, MicroDrive, Sony Memory Stick, Sony MS Pro, Sony MS Duo, Sony MS Pro Duo, Secure Digital (SD)
- Also accomodatesSecure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), Multimedia Card (MC), Micro SD and XD Card
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