danl

Hello, quick question. I'm looking to buy a high end CF card for my axim. 1GB of either the Sandisk Ultra II or the Lexar 80x. I want to use it with my canon digital cam as well as the axim. My question is: is the axim's CF writer/reader fast enough to take advantage of these cards? Is the cradle USB 2.0 and does it really reach those speeds? Or do I need to invest on a fast usb 2.0 card reader/writer?

dan500

Originally Posted by danl

Hello, quick question. I'm looking to buy a high end CF card for my axim. 1GB of either the Sandisk Ultra II or the Lexar 80x. I want to use it with my canon digital cam as well as the axim. My question is: is the axim's CF writer/reader fast enough to take advantage of these cards? Is the cradle USB 2.0 and does it really reach those speeds? Or do I need to invest on a fast usb 2.0 card reader/writer?

i think its 1.1 as active sync dose not support 2.0

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grapeape

Unfortunately even the low end CF cards exceed the capable speeds of the axim so you wont see any difference at all on the PDA. On the camera depending on the cameras speed it can make a huge difference. A usb 2.0 reader/writer and a fast card will make a difference when transfering files without active sych, which is very handy for large file transfers like movies etc.

flipcody

As grapeape has said, there will be very little difference in the Axim. Even in your camera there will be little differences unless you do continuous shooting. On cheaper cams the differences are even smaller. With Canon even their Digital Rebel is reletively slow writing to CF Card, the 20D and up are fast. If you use a USB 2.0 card reader there are substanstial differences. This is the way to go for transfering lots of stuff to and from a larger card like 1 gb. You can save tons of time. A USB 2.0 card reader runs about $20 US.

Here is a chart which rates speeds of CF cards to computers on this page:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...?cid=6007-6133

As you can see the Sandisk Ultra II, Sandisk Extreme, and Sandisk Extreme III all are faster than the Lexar 80X. The 80X is still great memory though. I imagine that you can pick up Ultra II cheaper than 80X and it is faster.

Keep in mind that there is still first edition Lexar 80x media floating around. As you can see in above chart the first edition 80X is way down chart, it is substantially slower than second edition. The cards look the same. There is a number stamped on the edge of the memory and it ends with "A4B6" if it second edition. Some of the second edition packages also have red tape on them. If you buy 80X insist on confirming it is second edition before buying. Lexar refers to the second edition as "enhanced 80x" but packaging is same.

By the way I have both Ultra II and 80X and they are both great memory.

Good luck!

AlfCheesey

I'm a little confused by this.

I have two cards :
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB Sandisk I 2004/4/6 11.111MB/sec
Kingmax SecureDigital Platinum (66x, I think), I think it's around 11 MB/Sec.

USB1.1 is 12 MBPS, and Wifi 802.11b is 11MBPS

So what's the hold up? and how would having a UBS2.0 card reader (480MBPS) enable you to write to the card faster than 11MBPS?

flipcody

Alfcheese,

USB 1.1 is up to 12 mbps. That is the maximum. It never sustains that speed. The average speed you get from a 1.1 reader varies with readers but will never average 12 mbps, it will be significantly lower. I had a 1.1 reader before I had a 2.0 and the differnce is huge.

All people checking speeds of CF cards with readers these days are using firewire or usb 2.0 reader. The above chart was done with a Lexar FireWire CompactFlash reader, model RW019. He claims that is the fastest reader they have tested.

With your Ultra II card you would see a very significant difference when transfering files. I imagine it would be significant with SD card as well (I'm not as familar with their speeds).

If I have time later I will run some test for you with my 1gb Ultra II.

Hope this helps!

AlfCheesey

Thanks, flipcody. I was trying to transfer a 1GB DVD I'd ripped last night. I had to give up in the end, as the progress bar had hardly moved.

Time to buy a USB2.0 card reader!

Jaimito

Originally Posted by flipcody

As grapeape has said, there will be very little difference in the Axim. Even in your camera there will be little differences unless you do continuous shooting. On cheaper cams the differences are even smaller. With Canon even their Digital Rebel is reletively slow writing to CF Card, the 20D and up are fast. If you use a USB 2.0 card reader there are substanstial differences. This is the way to go for transfering lots of stuff to and from a larger card like 1 gb. You can save tons of time. A USB 2.0 card reader runs about $20 US. Here is a chart which rates speeds of CF cards to computers on this page: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...?cid=6007-6133 As you can see the Sandisk Ultra II, Sandisk Extreme, and Sandisk Extreme III all are faster than the Lexar 80X. The 80X is still great memory though. I imagine that you can pick up Ultra II cheaper than 80X and it is faster. Keep in mind that there is still first edition Lexar 80x media floating around. As you can see in above chart the first edition 80X is way down chart, it is substantially slower than second edition. The cards look the same. There is a number stamped on the edge of the memory and it ends with "A4B6" if it second edition. Some of the second edition packages also have red tape on them. If you buy 80X insist on confirming it is second edition before buying. Lexar refers to the second edition as "enhanced 80x" but packaging is same. By the way I have both Ultra II and 80X and they are both great memory. Good luck!

Nice find. Interestingly, the data you mention is not the same when it is used in a camera. Look at http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...?cid=6007-7303

On a Canon 20D, Lexar 1GB 80x is faster than 1GB Sandisk Extreme, when writing JPEGS. It is only slightly slower when writing RAW. I guess how the device interacts with the card is just as important.

I use a Lexar 80x CF, and a Sandisk SD. I dont think the speeds are noticeably different. Size matters, though.