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Eye-Fi Eye-Fi X2 Pro 8gb

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
3	9,040	Tue February 3, 2015

Recommended By	Average Price	Average User Rating
67% of reviewers	None indicated	6.00

supersize

Description:

I used a Eye-Fi Pro X2 for some days and this are the things i remember

Pro:

-Easy Hot-Spot-Setup (b/g)
-Fast Jpeg transfer ( around 5sec)
-Good RAW transfer (around 14-17sec)
-Good "overall" performance
-geotag works quite well und fast
-very much/fast Firmware updates/improvements

Contra:
- i was unable to set up an AD-HOC n-draft transfer
-i was unable to set up any AD-HOC transfer (tried with 2 Laptops)
-stops transfer when new photo is send to the card by the camera
-support-forum is near "non-existent" a request has not even answered in more then 2 Weeks
-becomes very warm over time when "bursting" raw photos to the laptop

Additional:
A 1min K5 Video(around 500mb) took a bit more than 6min to be transfered to the laptop.(That why i would like to have n-draft)
You can insert different photo-stocks like flicker or so to upload the photos directly to your account to keep people up to date about your work.
I used it together with FTP-Software and a Server to send the pictures as fast as possible to my girlfriend, to judge me and my macro shoots properly

When you are in a bigger city with a larger amount of public access-points or several access-points of a certain carrier you can configure the card to use these access-points to send the pictures to a Eye-Fi online-storage or photo-stock site(like flicker).
You can even use you Login-Username/Passwort for non-public Access points which are provided by some carriers (eg. Telekom in Germany)

Conclusion:
For me, in my home-studio it is very good and usable, but, i am a bit disappointed that i doesn't worked out with the ad-hoc n-draft transfer, but i think it will be "fixed" later by firmware or you need some special/distinct setup to make it work.
I would buy one in a blink of an eye, but for me as a student it is too expensive.
The overall usability is very good and reliable but you have to take in consideration that when you are shooting a lot and don't have much breaks the transfer will be delayed!
I testet the range of the x2 and together with a LinkSys WRTG 45GL I managed to get 20-30m, a stronger Accesspoint or a better antenna would extend the range very much(for the guys 30m aren't enough)

Price History:

Author:

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Docrwm

Veteran Member

Registered: September, 2010

Location: Somewhere in the Southern US

Posts: 12,285

Review Date: February 3, 2015

Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 8

Pros:	Easy to use, fast for JPGs
Cons:	Slow for RAW

My son's FIRST FTC Lego team uses a P&S to capture their work flow for their engineering notebook. It has the Eyefi card installed and the jpg's load directly into the server for the team. Setup was easy, transfer is reasonable for the jpg's, and it really speeds up the processing and incorporation of the photos into their ongoing documentation of their development process. Its addition to their workflow significantly enhanced the quality of their notebook and increased their visual documentation of the 3D parts, CAD process, etc. I've been assisting with it since September and we've had zero issues. It's pretty slow with RAW images from either the K5iis or K3.

oeriies

Inactive Account

Registered: March, 2011

Posts: 121

Review Date: December 26, 2011

Not Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 2

Pros:	It works, sort of
Cons:	painfully slow for DNG files

I received an Eye-Fi 8GB Pro/X2 as a present and thought it would be a nifty addition to my gear. On the positive side It can be configured reasonably quickly, works on my K-5, and has many desirable features including geotagging and the ability to upload photos to the cloud on a public Wi-Fi network or to a teathered smart phone or tablet. But it can take upwards of a minute to transfer a single DNG file. I typically come home with a couple of hundred shots in the K-5, so this rate of file transfer is totally impractical -- not only would the process take close to forever, it would discharge the camera battery in the process. One use and done for me.

kangeroo82

Senior Member

Registered: April, 2010

Location: Arlington, VA

Posts: 128

Review Date: April 4, 2011

Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 8

Pros:	Wireless tethering, geotagging, compatible with 25+ photo sharing sites, customer service, free 1-year hotspot service, convenience
Cons:	speed, public networking problems, buggy software

After entering into the Eye-fi contest, I decided to take the plunge and buy the 8GB Pro+Wifi version anyway. So far, the card has done everything I expected it to do in regards to wireless tethering and geotagging my photos (albeit slower than wired tethering).

I am currently setup to upload both JPG and RAW files onto my computer and also, selectively share certain photos to my Flickr account (on a Pentax K-r you just have to view the photo, press the down arrow, select the protect option (key symbol on the top right), and confirm). In addition, I have set it up to automatically load all new photos into Adobe Lightroom, which gives me a full sized screen shot of the photo I take in (somewhat) real-time. The wireless tethering only works if you keep your DSLR on long enough to upload the photos, which can take minutes depending on the size (I use a Wireless-g network). Keeping your camera on will drain your batteries faster than you are used to and will force you to consciously not turn off your camera after you are done shooting (bad habit!). I absolutely do not recommend uploading videos since you are better off just inserting the SD card into your computer.

You get a free 1-year subscription to hotspots around the US and certain parts of the world. For most users, this will not be a huge plus since they will be working in their own private wifi networks. Also, I was able to use my phone as an additional tether to my phone plan (AT&T Palm Pre Plus) just in case I have a photo I really want everyone to see. If you are at an event, public wifi networking can be a problem since you need your Eye-fi card and computer to add a private network and this can become a little frustrating. I hope that Pentax can come up with some sort of interface to correct this hindrance (I think Canon has a user interface already set up for the Eye-fi in-camera).

Basically, the cost is a little hefty, but buying a camera with the added features of geotagging and wireless tethering far outweigh it. The card is capable of doing many things that were not initially possible with the Pentax K-r. I knocked the card down a couple of notches because of public networking problems, existing bugs with the software, and transfer delays. Customer service (call them instead of emailing) was pretty responsive and knowledgeable, which makes me feel that this company can move forward with my business.