Two weeks ago, I picked up a SanDisk ImageMate 12-in-1 Reader/Writer from BestBuy, pretty much as an impulse buy. It’s function is both straightforward and fairly obvious; it reads and writes to different memory cards. Apart from no longer having to dig up the sometimes proprietary USB cable shipped with digital camers, what could this device be useful for?
SanDisk ImageMate 12-in-1
First of all, it will speed up the transfer of images from your memory card to your computer. Many digital cameras, including the Canon PowerShot S60 that I have, only use USB 1.1 as their connector to the computer. The SanDisk ImageMate, as well as most other readers on the market, uses USB 2.0 that is theoretically 40x faster. A second reason is to save battery life. One of the most power consuming tasks for a digital camera is reading and writing to the memory card. By physically transferring the card from the camera to an always plugged in, self-powered reader, you can save the power in your camera’s batteries. Finally, it’s also a useful tool if you plan on working with photos in general as no matter what format card is given to you, you can get the photos off of it (as long as the reader understand it).
So how does the ImageMate 12-in-1 perform? Well. I’ve only had use for it on CompactFlash cards but for the most part, it’s worked very well. Additionally, on the Mac at least, no drivers are needed: simply plug the USB cable into your computer and insert a card. iPhoto launches automatically and you can then just import the images. One thing to remember, you’ll still need to “eject” the card once done or else you could potentially damage the information on it. This is an easy task to accomplish in iPhoto 5 now that any mounted volume has an eject button listed next to their name.
One caveat though; I’ve run in to a couple of situations where the computer didn’t recognize the memory card once inserted. After jiggling the card around or unplugging and replugging it back into the reader, the problem is usually solved. This leads me to believe that using the stand included is only useful if you make sure that the reader is snuggly fit in it. My solution: when I’ve pulled out the memory card, I simply push down on the reader to make sure that it’s fully connected.
I’d definitely recommend this product but wouldn’t suggest overlooking cheaper options if they’re available (the reader cost $40 at BestBuy). Ordering online is perhaps the best method as you save on sales tax and usually can find a better deal at either Amazon, NewEgg, or even Dell.
Copyright © 2000 - 2007, Aram Kudurshian. All rights reserved.
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