generic SD memory cards. any good?

ImajinMyFX · 08-31-06, 10:55 PM

i've seen a bunch of different brands of SD cards on the internet. i was previously a sony clie owner and the only memory sticks that were compatible with the clie are the official sony ms and the one from sandisk. ... im new to the axim and i was just wondering if you guys would recommend the generic brand or should i just by the sandisk brand in the first place.. thanks.

aximbigfan · 08-31-06, 11:57 PM

no. dont go with anything generic. i can almost garentee you that they will fail with all of your data on it after a few moths. stick to the popular brands such as sandisk,lexar,transend,a-data,pny and i know theres a few missing but i recommend the lexar cards, veryy well built..

chris

rcab · 09-01-06, 12:00 AM

I would buy from some of the internet stores that have a good reputation. Even on their sites they have some generic brands. Buying from non-established vendors may lead to purchasing knock off cards. I have bought other brands than sandisk. I have bought several cards from www.zipzoomfly.com and they have been other brands.

gadgetnerd · 09-01-06, 02:20 AM

I would reccommend against buying from Sandisk. I had a lot of crap from their cards with my old X5, they're expensive, not very good, and they're the most frequently counterfeited.

Go to Newegg.com and choose the cheapest card of your capacity range, it will do fine as long as it's rated above 50x for speed.

ddlloyd · 09-01-06, 03:57 AM

i have several sd cards from different manufactors, kingston, san disk, and several generic cards.......never had a problem with any of them.:approve:
i think that some memory is just defective. there is probably a higher defective rate among generic memory than say san disk. but you just roll the dice and hope that you do get screwed.:rolling:
i guess it comes down to price, if there is big difference then go i would go with the generic but if the difference is small, then go name brand.

Have fun

Mokubai · 09-01-06, 05:37 AM

I've got a bundle of generic cards that I've never had problems with, my current 2GB CF card is a generic card and it is doing well.

ABF is right though, but only to an extent. With generic "noname" brands you do get are taking a bit of risk because they are built by the lowest bidder using cheap parts that may have failed a test to be first quality goods.

But a lot of the time it is simply chip manufacturers selling old stock off on the cheap so that they can make newer and better models and the people who make these cards snap them up.

Most, but not all, generic brands are perfectly good. As I said you are taking some risk, but not so much that you should worry about it.

lostjak · 09-01-06, 07:20 AM

I've bought some Kingston from a guy on ebay I got 1GB CF for $10 they arrived last week & seem fine. Last night I bought 2 more 1GB CF & got them for $3 each and 2 - 2 GB CF for $15 each. I was nervous because he has several bad feedback but like I said the first 2 arrived and work great. I will probably put movies or music on them which I back up anyway so if they fail I will have learned a lesson. Someday I will buy a 4gb microdrive but I am more nervous spending $50-70 for something like that.

Spud387 · 09-01-06, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by lostjak

I've bought some Kingston from a guy on ebay I got 1GB CF for $10 they arrived last week & seem fine. Last night I bought 2 more 1GB CF & got them for $3 each and 2 - 2 GB CF for $15 each. I was nervous because he has several bad feedback but like I said the first 2 arrived and work great. I will probably put movies or music on them which I back up anyway so if they fail I will have learned a lesson. Someday I will buy a 4gb microdrive but I am more nervous spending $50-70 for something like that.

Ya you have only had those for a week, give it a couple more and they will fail on you

gadgetnerd · 09-02-06, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by lostjak

Someday I will buy a 4gb microdrive but I am more nervous spending $50-70 for something like that.

Wow, cheapskate. Avoid microdrives. Flash is better in every respect, except for vast numbers of write cycles. If you were to run, say, Windows off a Flash drive, the flash would be dead in under 6 months. In a PDA where you write to it at most 2 times a day, though, it will last well over 100 years.

Look at my MyPDA for my memory cards.

09-02-06, 03:29 AM

Microdrives have their place, but I wouldn't use them for program storage - I use mine to hold backup files and videos.. stuff which I've replicated elsewhere. But they're damned cheap, and tend to 'live' longer than flash cards can, given proper treatment.