compactflash readers

Got this "free" from Amazon recently, when I bought a Sandisk CompactFlash card. As some of the other reviews said, it was easy to hook up and worked great right out of the box. However, after using it a bit more, I have come up with a couple small issues. (NOTE: I have a Canon Digital Rebel 6.3MP camera and usually shoot large JPEGs.)

- The memory card reader is relatively slow at reading the large files generated by the camera. The JPEG files from the Digital Rebel are typically between 4 and 6 MB and they can take 10-15 seconds to display. This isn't much a problem during a slide show, but when you want to jump ahead it makes it difficult because the device seems like it isn't responding. You'd think with Sandisk being the current king of fast flash, that the reader would be quicker.

- The card reader cannot (or will not) read files larger than 5.3MB. You get an error on the screen saying as much, if you try. My pictures aren't typically this big, but depending the picture they can be, which is even more irritating because some pictures from a given card will show up while others won't.

- Another warning for those that use high quality digital SLRs etc, is that this camera reads ONLY JPEG files. It does not display RAW files, nor can it extract the embedded JPEGs. Of course, I didn't expect it to do so, but this may not be clear to other potential buyers.

Obviously, I could shoot lower quality (but if I spend that much on a camera, why would I?) or I could convert the images to smaller files on the PC (but this eliminates the ease of use factor). I think if I had paid for this product rather than receiving it free, the above issues might give enough reason for me to return it.

I just love this nifty little gizmo! The set-up is extremely easy-just plug it in and all necessary cables are provided. Then you just plug in your flash card (or flash stick or other-it takes several kinds) and you are now viewing your digital images on your own television! Instead of everyone standing around your small computer screen, you can see your images on your large TV screen.

You can either let the images run via the slide show, or take control and move through your images at your own pace. The remote lets you rotate pictures, and even niftier--it lets you zoom in. The zoom in feature keep the image clear.

The best feature is that you can pack this gizmo up and take it with you. We just returned from an Alaskan cruise (with a ton of digital pictures). So I took this viewer over to my parents, plugged it into their TV and they were able to see all our pictures while sitting back in their easy chairs. No photo's to pass around and around--just sit back in comfort and enjoy!

I would highly recommend this product--it's great!

I use a 512MB Sandisk CF card in my Canon S45 camera. I put several pictures on the card, of varying sizes and qualities. None of them displayed onscreen, and even the Preview option showed a sort of colored fuzzed-out picture instead of a thumbnail view. This is the biggest piece of junk I have ever used, thank goodness it was free. I wonder why, they're probably unloading them, or the free ones are all secretly 'refurbished' or something. Shame on Amazon.