In the past, I bought a Transcend 8GB SDHC card for my Canon SD1000 camera. I recently bought the Transcend 16GB SDHC for my new Canon SX20IS. Both cards work very well and I've had no problems with it so far. I wanted to take this opportunity to update my review since my original review was also posted (by Amazon) for the 16GB card. This is because the only difference between these two cards is the different capacity. So, if you're in the market for an affordable high quality SDHC card, this may be the one for you. Sorry, I kind of sounded like a used car salesman right there, didn't I? I assure you that I don't work for Transcend. But, here's why I think this card is awesome:
Pros:
-Affordable!
-Large capacity
-Class 6 read/write speed (which is very fast... but is no longer the fastest class available)
-Lifetime warranty (at least that's what the package says :)
-Transcend is a reputable company that's been making memory products for a very long time. ( I swear to the tech Gods that I don't work for them!) Other reputable and reliable memory card companies include Kingston and PNY. All three of these companies have been making memory chips for many, many years.
Cons:
- I can' really think of any "Cons" about this card. But here's the 2 closest things I can come up with right now: (1) "Class 6" is no longer the fastest speed available and (2) This card does NOT make coffee for you in the morning, do your dishes for you, give you compliments when you're having a bad day, or magically improve your photography skills.
IMPORTANT SPECIAL NOTES ABOUT SDHC MEMORY CARDS:
-SDHC cards are not compatible with most older SD cameras, SD devices, or SD card readers.
-SDHC cards are rated by speed using different "classes". There are currently 4 data transfer speed classes available for SDHC cards. These classes are "class 2, class 4, and class 6, and the new class 10. For example, "Class 2" would have the slowest read/write speed while "Class 6" has the fastest read/write speed. So if you have a device in which speed may play a crucial role, make sure you buy a higher "class" SDHC card. Please note that this SDHC card no longer has the fastest read/write speed available. There is now a new class, called "Class 10". Class 6 has a minimum read/write speed of 6MB/sec... while Class 2 has minimum speed rating of 2MB/sec, and Class 4 is 4MB/sec. Starting to see the pattern?
SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "SD CARDS" AND "SDHC CARDS?
SDHC is basically an upgrade to the older SD cards. The reason they upgraded it was to achieve greater data transfer speeds AND capacity than previously possible with normal SD cards... and to do this, they had to redesign the card (which is why it's not compatible with normal SD devices). This was necessary because digital cameras and digital video cameras these days have higher resolutions, which equate to larger file sizes and faster data transfer needs.
Now that many digital cameras also can record HD video, you may consider getting a larger capacity card because video takes much more space than photos. The size of the video varies from camera to camera depending on what resolution and video compression the camera uses. If you plan on taking lots of video (especially HD video), I would consider getting at least a 16GB card. Check your camera specifications to see how many minutes per Gig of memory your camera can capture ...to gauge how big of a memory card you'll want to get to meet your needs.
Special Note on regular SD Cards:
If you primarily take casual photos and don't need a exceptionally fast read/write capable card, you should know that newer cameras that take "SDHC" cards will also work with older normal "SD" cards. These older cards are cheaper than the new SDHC cards, so this may be something to consider. So to sum things up, newer cameras will take SDHC and regular SD cards, but older cameras that use SD cards may not be able to use SDHC cards. This is because newer technology is usually made to be compatible with older technology (the technical term used to describe this is "backwards compatibility") ... but older technology may not have the hardware necessary to run newer tech (technical term used is "obsolete"... just kidding! ;)
I hope I haven't confused everybody by going into this much detail, but I can't help being the nerd that I am. If you are confused, don't hesitate to comment on this post and I will try my best to answer your questions. Also, any feedback is always welcome!
Conclusion: Buy the card if you have a new device that uses SDHC. It rocks! (This message has been approved by the "Duke of New Mexico") Transcend 16 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E
UPDATE - March 2, 2010: This review was originally written for the 4 GB class 6 SDHC card, but the reviews have been grouped for all class 6 SDHC cards in the 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB sizes. All the cards should perform similarly since they are all class 6 and all made by Transcend. However, I will have to check which cards I have used hands on. I believe I only own the 4GB and 8GB cards. I will update the review further. If you have concerns regarding the 16GB or 32GB sizes, you should seek out the reviews tagged with the product links from those cards.
The Transcend 4GB SDHC CARD (Class 6) is a great card for the price. I was at first a little skeptical about the brand, but I buy way too many memory cards to ignore a good price when I see one. And I'm happy to report that I've experienced decent performance and reliability issues with this card. That's as compared to other cards I own including SanDisk, PNY and Kingston.
As long as your devices are compatible with the SDHC format, this card is a good buy. 4 GB is a nice size though I do prefer 8 GB capacity for high capacity storage.
The class 6 speed is the fastest speed available in mass market SDHC cards. Class 6 guarantees minimum transfer speeds of 6 MBs, but I've gotten speeds up to 20Mbs! That makes this card perfect for storing pictures in RAW image formats.
The Class 6 speed is on par with the Sandisk Extreme III cards that on average are about $15 to $20 more per card. If you don't have an SDHC reader, you may opt to get the package with a reader included to download your pics. If not you can just transfer your pics directly from your camera with your card still inserted. An SDHC card reader can be bought separately if your PC doesn't have a compatible slot.
General SDHC and SD Card Tips
There are a few tips that I've learned the hard way through buying TOO MANY different memory cards.
1. Make sure your device is compatible with the card! Even in regular SD cards, some older electronics aren't compatible with that large of a size (2 GB). In terms of SDHC cards, make sure your camera or other device is SDHC compatible. SDHC is different from regular SD and only newer devices tend to have built-in compatibility
2. Once you install this in your camera or device, you will generally want to format the card with your compatible device's interface. That is because the standard formats for certain devices, particularly Canon, are different from the factory installed format
3. Just like your devices, most computer SD card readers are not compatible with the SDHC format. So use a card reader or download the pictures via USB connection to the camera with the card still installed.
4. For some reason, placing the card in the locked position allows some older laptops to still read it. This is just to be used in a pinch however, and it won't apply to all systems
5. If you did not properly format your card, you may be able to save things to it and then have them "disappear." If this happens to you, make sure you use the software recovery tools BEFORE you try to save anything else to your card. That way, you can retrieve your images without over-writing them.
6. Make sure you know what you are going to use this card for. Once you have set up everything and ensured it's all compatible, you still have to decide on speed. If you are using this for storing RAW images instead of JPEGs or HD video, step up to the faster class 6 speed format if you can afford it.
7. If you are going to pay more for a faster speed, make sure your device can benefit from it. I've read, for example, that Kodak cameras are set to a fixed voltage and cannot go faster than standard speed. So the extra cash spent on Class 4, 5, or 6 is basically wasted.
Conclusion
It's great to have several extra cards on hand just in case. This 4 GB card is a nice performer. If you have a high capacity camera (10 Megapixels or more) and are storing videos or RAW images, the extra cash for the 8GB card is worth it. Or you may want to step up to the larger 16 GB size that is now available.
Enjoy! - Memory Card - 16gb - Sdhc - Frustration-fre'
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