What is the best HC Card reader.
 

I recently bought a couple of Hi capacity SD cards only to find out my card reader won't read the HC Cards.
Does anyone recommend a good all round card reader that will read some of the latest cards, the maximum size I have at the moment are 2gb Compact flash but want to get some larger ones in the future. I want one that will read the new 16gb cards and is still downward compatible..

Stop it...you know using just the one card will end in tears :p
The Sandisk own brand Extreme readers can take the HC cards. I seem to remember there was also a Hitachi branded multi-reader Curry's sold (don't know if they still do), cheaper than the Sandisk (and looked it too, unfortunately), which I used when the Sony and Panasonic rep's were 'selling' their wares with silly size flash cards.:rolleyes:

I would probably have a look on the Calumet website too

This one would seem to do what you want at very high speed (useful if you're dealing with huge cards).
http://www.picstop.co.uk/Multi-Card-...lot-USB-Reader
I have no direct experience of this device. Picstop do a wide range of multi-card readers, I'm sure there's something they will do that meets your needs.

Thanks Duncan. There are lots of cheap ones out there that say they will read all cards, the one I have now is supposed to but it won't read the hi capacity 4 gb sd.

You could say I am getting prepared for having to buy larger cards.;);) a very big birthday coming up.

I love my vosonic. A 60GB HD with inbuilt card reader. Means I can take shot after shot on 1GB card as it fills up swap in another 1GB card and put filled one in reader. A portable 60GB HD also comes in handy when on holiday pre-loaded a few movies or mp3 files. Sits nicely alongside the laptop.

Guess the nearest thing nowadays is something like this:
http://www.memoryforless.co.uk/store...nt%3Dfirefox-a

More than price, I believe it is more important to find out how new your card reader is.

Technology is rapidly growing and a lot of new things are not backward compatible. I got a no name card reader recently at very low price that does a good job for me. Key thing is just to get a few different brands and see which one is made for you, as long as you are protected by "No question asked return policy" to return the rest after the test, that is common here with most major big chain shops.

As for CF and not SD, my other solution is those PCMCIA bus-card adapters that virtually reads any kind of my new or old microdrive or compact flash memories so well and in fact is generally faster that USB connection. I believe they exist for SD too but you may need to research on that.

In reality I prefer CF to any othe kind of memory (Not because I am Canon-ist, but because it is simply better with more capabilities, proven by the test of time). Wish all these companies could agree on one platform for the sake of customers, instead of thinking of their own benifites all the time.

Thank you Walwyn, Sassan, I bought the last card reader 12 mths ago because it was a slow USB 1 and couldn't read my 2gb CF cards, the one I have now which is Advent won't read anything above that so now I have to start looking again.
In the very near future when the price drops a little more I will be looking at getting the Canon 50D and will need higher capacity cards, I think my best bet is to buy a card of the capacity I want now and then buy a reader, if it doesn't work then I will be able to return it.

I have had no problems reading my 8Gb Sandisk Extreme IV card with an a Sandisk ImageMate 12 in 1 card reader.
I have owned the card reader now for a good couple of years and it reads anything I throw at it.

Thanks Steve, another one to look at. My last reader the advent wasn't one of the cheap ones so am a bit gutted it won't read large cards.

Absolutely correct.
Same here with me. Using this since 2005 without any problem.