advice on CF brand

[meinthai]

Hi

I'm looking at buying some new CF cards.  It seems a choice between Kingston ultimate 32GB or Sandisk ultra 16GB.

Speeds and volume are the same but Sandisk is twice the price at times.  I see some reviews on Amazon from a couple of years ago saying that there were problems and errors with the Kingston. 

has any one had any bad experiences with the cheaper Kingston? Or are there any other reasons not buy the cheaper option?

Thanks for any advice and tips

[prestonpalmer]

I would recommend sticking with Sandisk. ALWAYS buy big brand name cards, and ONLY cards with lifetime waranties. You will be happy with the Sandisk CF's. Adorama has a 2 pack of 16gb Sandisk 60mbps cards on sale for $120 for 2 of them.  Great value.

[neuroanatomist]

I use only Sandisk.  Others swear by Lexar.  Still others are happy with Kingston.  I suppose if you ever have a card fail on you, you'll never use that brand again.

[Orangutan]

Regardless of what brand you buy you should find a way to test the card thoroughly.  I'm fortunate to have the computer skills to construct my own tests, which I typically run around 30 passes.  Why?  Think about what could be wrong with a new flash card, be it CF or any other package.

• Could be a counterfeit made with inferior flash chips that work fine a few times, then die
• Could have a major manufacturing defect that causes the whole card to fail catastrophically
• Could have minor defects that affect a limited number of cells

If the card survives 30 passes of a decent test then the probability of outright failure is pretty small.  Also, for small defects, the controller in the flash card will "map out" bad cells as it finds them, and 30 passes should be enough to eliminate nearly all bad cells.

No, I have no engineering data to prove that 30 passes is adequate, but it's much better than putting my trust in a fresh, new flash card, regardless of brand.

I tend to buy Transcend, which is a well-regarded budget brand.

[fotoray]

I would recommend sticking with Sandisk. ALWAYS buy big brand name cards, and ONLY cards with lifetime waranties. You will be happy with the Sandisk CF's. Adorama has a 2 pack of 16gb Sandisk 60mbps cards on sale for $120 for 2 of them.  Great value.

+1 for SanDisk

[sb]

I've had no-name cards fail on me and I was furious. Kingston cards are as close to no-name cards as it gets. (Possibly even worse than A-data) Meanwhile  I've never had a Sandisk failure.

Once when I thought my Sandisk failed, it turned out I screwed up by formatting it accidentally and shooting new pictures over the old stuff . Thank god for Sandisk recovery software which came with my card - it recovered most of it, and now they have a customer for life.

I hear Lexar is also quite good, although I've never personally used it.

I would also choose to go with smaller cards, just for additional security. If one of my 4GB or 8GB fails it's not the end of the world, at least I'll have some pictures on the other cards. But if my single 32GB fails with all the pictures on it, I'd probably swallow all my lenses and jump in the river :-)

If what you're shooting is really important (i.e. you're getting paid lots of money for it and putting your reputation on the line) then don't screw around, get the good stuff.

[kubelik]

one more vote for Sandisk.  used a bunch of their CF and SD cards alike, none of them have ever failed me.

[EYEONE]

I will say that Sandisk is the best, clearly. But to keep cost down I went with a Transcend 600x and it has worked just fine. After I have pictures safely on my PC I'm sure to format the card. Sometimes that can make all the difference.

[KurtStevens]

+1 for transcend.

Sandisk is good, the price is high.  I bought a 16gb 400x card from Transcend for around 45 bucks.  Hasn't failed and I can unload a full card with a no name card reader in about 5 minutes.

I did have an older transcend card (x133) that had seen some heavy use from a bunch of different cameras pull an err99 on me.  Only lost about 30-40 photos ( I believe).  Rest of the card was untouched.

[dash2k8]

I use Sandisk and actually had a card go bad on me once, but it was because a colleague used a crappy no-name card reader on my (at the time) too-fast 60mb/s Extreme III and fried it. I took it back to the shop and they gave me a brand new one on the spot. The lifetime warranty made a huge impression on me.

[EELinneman]

I've used SanDisk for a long time, but have noticed that their performance wasn't up to snuff on my 5D II, recently bought a Lexar 16GB 600x and have had no problems.  Check Adorama and B&H frequently as they seem to put cards on sale often.

The Lexar came with recovery software and a lifetime guarantee.  Quite happy with it after 6 months or so.

[ecka]

I use Sandisk and actually had a card go bad on me once, but it was because a colleague used a crappy no-name card reader on my (at the time) too-fast 60mb/s Extreme III and fried it. I took it back to the shop and they gave me a brand new one on the spot. The lifetime warranty made a huge impression on me.

The thing is that "The Lifetime Warranty" works for the lifetime of the product. If the product is discontinued by manufacturer then the warranty is over.
I use a single Lexar CF PRO 16GB 300x UDMA card with no problems. Lexar provides 10 years warranty and I'm perfectly happy with that .

[Flake]

Sandisk for me too, but be careful where you buy from.  You need a PCI express reader on your laptop to be able to read the cards manufacture data showing if it really is what the label claims it is.  There is a great Ebay guide on how to spot fakes here: http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/FAKE-SanDisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001456526

The more expensive cards have two chips, memory & an interface, the cheaper ones do the same with one, it really does come down to getting what you pay for!  Also if you buy a CF card buy the makers reader with it as they tend to work that bit quicker.

[leGreve]

I'm in the Sandisk camp as well... The only brand I've had 0 problems with. Currently I have two 16gb 90mbs and they are superb.
I think cf cards are probably one of the last peripherals where I wont compromise my choice. 

[macgregor mathers]

I'm in the Sandisk camp as well... The only brand I've had 0 problems with. Currently I have two 16gb 90mbs and they are superb.
I think cf cards are probably one of the last peripherals where I wont compromise my choice.

All companies, Sandisk included, have products which fail after sale.

I bought a sandisk disk-on-key someday noon, and by evening it failed. As it's a good brand, the disk-on-key was replaced that same evening.

Same with Intel - a P4 failed while I was installing Windows XP. The store owner argued that the processor passed tests in the store and my CDs were scratched, but once installation failed from the store's CD, I got a new one the next day.

Which goes back to what already written in this thread -

1. Buy a card with a warranty, so you'll get a replacement in case it's defective.

2. Test the card before you use it to take any important photos on it.