The Sports Photo Guy

With Windows Vista SP1 finally providing respectable copy speeds, though still below the potential of the FireWire 800 & UDMA interface, it’s time to evaluate FireWire 800 CompactFlash card readers.  I put entrants from Lexar, SanDisk, and Delkin through their paces.

Interestingly, there’s little difference between the three in average speed; so little that I’m reluctant to declare a “winner” on the basis of speed.  The average throughput of the 15 different UDMA cards tested differs by less than 1% among the three.  (Important note: Tests were conducted under Windows Vista SP1.  Although a significant improvement in file transfer speed was made with SP1, Vista still lags noticeably behind Windows XP.  FireWire 800 transfer speeds below are probably 5-8 MB/sec lower than they would be under Windows XP.)

The Lexar CompactFlash Reader (FireWire 800), model RW034-700, is unique in that it is stackable and can be “daisy chained” with other identical units.  (I use three of these readers myself stacked together at my primary work station.)  Priced at $80, it is the most expensive of the three.  In addition to a standard FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) cable, it comes with a second, smaller cable for connecting to another reader in daisy chain fashion (perfect for stacked units).  Average throughput among the 15 cards tested was 33.3 MB/sec.  Most cards averaged 34-35 MB/sec with the Pretec 4GB 233x card being the slowest at just 26 MB/sec.

The SanDisk Extreme FireWire Reader, model SDDRX4-CF, is a small metal-clad unit with a soft rubber base.  It includes both FireWire 400 and 800 cables (all FireWire 800 devices should be able to connect to a 4-pin FireWire 400 port with an adapter or appropriate cable) in the box.  It has a street price of $60, and an average throughput of 33.5 MB/sec.  The Hoodman RAW 2GB card hit 37 MB/sec while the Pretec 4GB 233x card again brought up the rear at 27 MB/sec.

The Delkin Devices FireWire 400/800 Reader, model DDREADER-39, is contained in a small plastic housing with molded FireWire 800 cable permanently attached. A 9-pin to 6-pin (800 to 400) adapter is included in the package.  The Delkin reader appears identical to the Hoodman UDMA FireWire and USB readers (except for color and markings) and I suspect both are manufactured by the same factory in Taiwan.  (If anyone can offer reasonable belief that they are substantially different, I’ll be happy to test a Hoodman-branded unit.)  With a street price of around $80, this unit also reaches speeds of 33.5 MB/sec.  Several cards hit 36 MB/sec average speed with the Pretec 4GB 233x card clocking 27 MB/sec at the low end of the scale once again.

It’s hard to declare a “winner” on specs like these.  For sheer price/performance ratio, the SanDisk is the best choice.  The stackability of the Lexar is a definite plus, however, especially for those of us who use tools like Photo Mechanic that can handle ingesting multiple cards simultaneously.  Units appearing identical to the Delkin/Hoodman FireWire readers can be had on eBay for around $60 as well (although I am not endorsing such units, not having tested them personally).  Compared to transfer rates (under Windows XP) of 22-26 MB/sec for UDMA-enabled USB 2.0 readers, though, the FireWire 800 trio provides ample performance improvement to justify their cost.