[Marc Langille]

Marc, That's a deal if you got that much more for only $5 more. Here in Greece, it's a very different story. The high speed cards such as the Extreme III, which is about all you can find here, is very much more expensive that the standard onces I mentioned earlier. I know prices are falling every month and it may not a big deal, but last year when the high speed 2 gig cards were over 75 euro (Extreme III), I picked up 2 Kingston standard 2 gig cards for 30 euro each. I think today, the prices are a very different story than that of even 12 months ago with these cards.

Jason

Jason, now I understand your reference (to Greek pricing) - my apologies for the misunderstanding!

(As a reference, here in the US I picked up the Lexar Pro 2GB 133x cards for $44.95 each about 6-8 months ago. Most 133x cards were $39.95 at the time.)

Best Regards,
Marc

[Jun Park]

I have been using Transcend 150x 2gb cards for a long time without a failure, I have also used PQ1 8gb SDHC cards also without a problem. The only card that ever failed on me was a SanDisc card. So in other words my less expensive cards have done better than my more expensive Extreme III card did. I honelty feel as some reviewers do that falsh memory is at the point that the failure rate is as good or as bad as any other card. Where people come up with facts about failure rates is a mystery to me.

I'm a little puzzled as to how my personal experience was transformed into "people com[ing] up with facts about failure rates..." I wonder if this was due to a hardware failure on the new server.

[ricosuave]

clicky for class 4

[joelw135]

I'm a little puzzled as to how my personal experience was transformed into "people com[ing] up with facts about failure rates..." I wonder if this was due to a hardware failure on the new server.

I sorry I didn't mean it to come out like that. I just meant that most cards out there that are not conterfiet have about the same failure rate as the more expensive cards. And I of course am leaving out performance.

[séamuis]

I use a set of 2GB PNY XLR8 133X cards and they work great, but I keep a set of bargain basement 1GB SanDisk cards for backup and I have had 0 problems with them, but I don't use them very often.

[yeedub]

Actually the 6MB/s rating is just a rating within the current SDHC standards. Many cards surpass their rated speed by a lot.

I have the following cards, a 8GB SDHC by Patriot and rated at Class 6, 8GB SDHC by A-Data and rated at Class 2, and a 1GB SD by Kingston, rated at 50x.

Class 6 SDHC

Class 2 SDHC

50X SD


As you can clearly see, I'm hitting an average of 17 MB/s with this card, much greater than the 6MB/s rated speed. And to top it off, having a single memory card is much more convenient than multiple small 2GB cards.

Tests were done with Core 2 Duo E2180 @ 3.4 GHZ, 2GB RAM, 150GB Raptor HD, Windows Vista Ultimate, just in case it may matter.

[Marc Langille]

Thanks for the information! This clearly shows that it's across the board in terms of what the card is capable of. As per my original post, I indicated that 6MB/sec. the minimum speed that is guaranteed for a Class 6... YMMV...

Still wondering why all of the card makers simply cannot post the speed(s) it's guaranteed to work at... ? As you and I both indicated, the best option is to check the specs. There is the other reason why I will not (yet) go past 4GB - easier to dump the contents of a card to a single DVD as a backup procedure.

BTW, that's the card manufacturer that I've had a 75% failure rate with: Patriot. They had the first 2GB 133x cards at a reasonable price in 2006. I think the cards are great, but I dislike having to keep sending them in for replacements. I wish having larger capacity cards would resolve the issue: unfortunately their plastics are the problem, not the speed. They were not built with heavier use in mind.

Again, thank you for posting this! As you correctly indicated, the issue is not across the board, I suspect it's specific to some lesser brands.

Regards,
Marc

[harv3589]

I just bought my first 2 Sandisk Extreme III cards, hope they work out good...I have an ATP Pro SDHC 4GB card as well but it actually is a replacement for one that did crap out on me...not a good feeling when you loose your pics. Luckily I had downloaded copies onto my father in-laws computer while on holidays in Australia visiting him.

[Glen_S]

This is a good thread, I've bought a few cheap SD cards for my point & shoot, but just purchased a K10D and wan't to get some cards that will let me use the full potential of this camera, particularly to try and get the 3fps when taking sports pictures. Right now I am looking at two deals at best buy, a 2 pack of sandisk Ultra II for C$49 or a single 2gb Sandisk Extreme III for C$39 - both are $20 off their regular price.

Is there going to be a noticeable difference in performance between these two?

[SpecialK]

And to top it off, having a single memory card is much more convenient than multiple small 2GB cards.

Convenient, maybe, though it is not difficult to change cards when there is a short break in the action. It is a bit risky to put all your electronic eggs in one basket, though.

I do the reverse. I start with my 1 gig Ultra II cards (have 4 or 5), then progress to the 2 gig Lexar Platinum II (have 2, bought on vacation "emergency") and then 4 gig Kingston Class 6 (have 2) if I am really pressed for space.

[rparmar]

I determined the same as SpecialK and got 2x 2GB cards at 150x instead of one larger card. I figure two cards is all I'll ever need -- one can be shooting while the other transfers. On location where 4GB is not enough I'd be dumping files down to some sort of hard drive... easier than buying endless fiddly bits of memory I'm thinking.

In reference to European prices, they certainly can be something! On the ground in Ireland two Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD cards would set me back 100 euro. I bought a pair of faster OCZ cards over the internet for 32 euro including delivery.

[AgentFixer]

Wow...what an eye opening thread to help unravel the smoke and mirrors marketing plan. I currently don't have any need for blazing speed as i'm more of a hobbyist and enthusiast and my budget is limited, but I do like tech stuff and tech specs know this will help with decision making for future purchases.