Difference between CF and SD

[macdog303]

I know that cf is faster but does that mean it drains the battery.
Which is better to get i want the one that is more battery efficient and cheaper.
Thanks!

[Duwenbasden]

>Which is better to get i want the one that is more battery efficient and cheaper.

Battery Efficient: SD
Cheaper: CF.

Your choice.

[0gopogo]

CF is not faster than SD. If anything, SD is faster. Anyway, in an Axim it does not matter.

[twmiller]

I run both at the same time. It doesn't seem to effect my battery life.

[0gopogo]

Same here. I believe a good bit of folklore surrounds this issue.

[stevenator65]

they both work well but cf is cheaper and comes in bigger capacities.

[BobSchaefer]

At what size is CF cheaper than SD? Looking at newegg, I see SD being cheaper on the 1 and 2 gb level. Now I agree that once you get to larger capacities, right now you have to go CF. But saying CF is cheaper doesn't look right to me.

Oh, and as far as speed is concerned, I can see where that comes from, SD is serial and CF is parallel when it comes to transfers. However, I don't know which is faster in actual use.

[MacIver]

CF is not faster than SD. If anything, SD is faster. Anyway, in an Axim it does not matter.

Wouldn't the speed be dependent on the individual cards? EG: 50x, 120x.

My 2Gb cf is a standard Sandisk; it was cheap, and I had the feeling that it was a waste of $$$ buying a faster card. My working theory was this: is it worth spending the money on a fast card, (which are meant for professional photographers), when the Axim has to have a limit on read/write access speeds, if so, what is the limit? ... I tried to get a straight answer from Dell (three calls and 50 min. later) they basically didn't understand the question... Which was simply; "what is the read/write speed of the x51v, for SD & CF cards?"

Well, I know it takes a while to put a movie on my CF card (pretty much all i use it for), but when it's in my card read device, it's much faster... that clinched it for me! The axim is slow at writing to the CF card. I have all my apps on SD, so I can't say it's faster or slower... when using the same card speed. My SD is a 2Gb A-data 50x, (got it cheap too!) and it seems pretty zippy.

While playing movies, the CF has no hesitation, so the read speed is just fine... and i'd imagine that'd be the same for programs storage on the CF. My second theory was; do the larger number of pins mean that a equally rated CF card would be faster than the smaller SD? I honestly don't know...

[MacIver]

I know that cf is faster but does that mean it drains the battery.
Which is better to get i want the one that is more battery efficient and cheaper.
Thanks!

Not so sure a CF would be more or less drain on your power... but a microdrive would absolutely pull more juice; moving parts.

[0gopogo]

Wouldn't the speed be dependent on the individual cards? EG: 50x, 120x.

...

Of course; but who in his or her right mind would compare a 50x CF with a 120x SD? A valid comparison can be done only between cards by the same manufacturer and of the same class e.g. SanDisk Extreme III CF and SD. Formatting and capacity should be the same also.