Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 2 Flash Memory Card with USB Card Reader (Red) TS8GSDHC2-P2E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 2 Flash Memory Card with USB Card Reader (Red) TS8GSDHC2-P2E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] Review

This bundle should be ideal for anyone who can use a large but relatively slow SDHC card and needs some easy to use interface with a computer.

I ordered this item for 2 reasons:

- It was part of a lightning deal and, at about two bucks per GB, it's not a bad deal at all.
- For the USB adapter. With no reviews, I had no idea what to expect but, now that I'm using it, I find it quite useful - my laptop lacks an SDHC slot.



FEATURES AND USABILITY

The included SDHC card, while sufficiently large to hold a large collections of pictures for a digital photo frame is not exactly 'speedy'. 'Class 2' guarantees transfer speeds of at least 16 Mbit/s - or 2 Megabytes per second - which is about 13x in CD-ROM speed rating equivalent. As far as I know, this is very much the lowest class rating for SD cards. Class 4 (twice as fast), class 6 and class 10 are available but, of course, they are more expensive.

In other words, the card is large, inexpensive and slow. It's EXACTLY what I need in a photo frame (don't mind 'slow' there) but I would not use it to shoot movies or even pictures if I was expecting to do 'burst' shots.

It's worth noting that the card comes formatted as FAT32. This is what most cameras would like to see but some Microsoft operating systems may not allow you to reformat and some older cameras may not be able to recognize anything over 4GB. My Windows 7 laptop could read the card through the included USB adapter. As for formatting it, there are public domain formatting utilities out there that would allow you to do it under XP, Vista or Windows 7.

Finally, the adapter, which is the main reason I bought THIS specific is perfect for its purpose. It would interface with the computer and treat the card as if it were yet another drive. If the adapter's white and red color with a blue activity light weren't clashing so brutally with my laptop's black, I would have call it 'perfect' but, since it's only going to be plugged in when you need to copy files to/from an SD card, I am almost okay with the color.

The adapter or 'card reader' was recognized by the computer as soon as it was plugged into an USB port with the SDHC card inserted. It should be noted that Transcend advises never to insert the adapter into an USB port unless it has a card inserted or the adapter might end up damaged.



PACKAGING, CONTENTS AND WARRANTY

It was not easy to take the card and the adapter out of the near-bullet-proof plastic enclosure but a pair of powerful scissors did the job, eventually but not without cutting some of the included paperwork.

Besides the card and the adapter, there is a very generic, credit-card size 'manual' that comes with the usual warnings - don't touch the connectors, don't bend the card and so on.

The lifetime warranty statement on the card (whose lifetime?) will have Transcend replace or repair your item if you still have your receipt and you don't do anything from a long list of activities and nothing that's on a long list of possible happenings happens to the card. In other words, it's meaningless.

There is also a 2 year warranty on the card reader that is described as a 'comprehensive worldwide 2-year limited warranty' with details at Transcend's web site. I'm not taking it seriously so I didn't look it up.

Finally, there's a card inside the package that promises 'free software' in the form of a 'photo recovery' tool from Transcend's site. It would install on the card itself if you go to the site with the card plugged in and have it download directly into the card. If it installs successfully, you should be able to recover some deleted photos and even photos lost because the card was formatted by mistake. I chose not to download the tool because I'd have no use for it but it's good that it's there.



MY RATING

I like this bundle for its price, the card's relatively large capacity and for the included card reader. I do not like - but I'm not bothered much - by the card's somewhat low speed and I do not appreciate the largely meaningless 'lifetime warranty' claims used to market the product.

Since the product does very much what I expect it to do, a 4-star rating - means "I like it" - is fair.

Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 2 Flash Memory Card with USB Card Reader (Red) TS8GSDHC2-P2E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] Feature

• Lifetime Warranty
• Compatible with all SDHC-labeled host devices (not compatible with standard SD)
• Easy Plug and Play installation

Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 2 Flash Memory Card with USB Card Reader (Red) TS8GSDHC2-P2E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] Overview

Transcend’s SDHC card is based on the SD 2.0 standard that support the FAT32 file system format. Fully Class 2 compliant, the card features fast data transfer speeds (guaranteed minimum write speed of 2MB/s) and satisfies the high-capacity demands of today’s SDHC devices such as high-end digital cameras or digital camcorders. With impressive transfer speeds and enormous storage capacity, users can get the very best pictures, store entire music collections or even complete full-length high quality movies.

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 24, 2010 06:16:04