SD - Any better/worse than others?

[Serendip]

I've read so many posts, and been to so many sites looking for cases, screen protectors, and everything else I MUST have for my day old T/E, that I can't keep anything straight any more.

I've learned the difference between SD and MMC, and since I'm used to Memory Sticks that have that little lock, I'm sure I'll stick with SD cards.

I've read posts saying that Panasonic is best (can't find the cards, other than 256mg and up) and SanDisk isn't, and SanDisk is all over the place.

Are there any that are worth avoiding like the plague, any that are worth going out of the way for?

Also, any sizes that seem to have more or less problems? I'm thinking I would get a 64 or 128, based on price - it's for apps (okay, okay, ames and databases) that I don't want taking up RAM space (a habit I got into thanks to an 8mg Clie) and not photos or mp3s.

Also, the ones that are Palm brand say they are pre-formatted ; is it a big deal to format the cards? I guess I'm really asking if it's worth spending more for the Palm cards.

Thank you - I really do appreciate the help!

[CWolf]

The Palm comes with a Card tool for formatting so no, it's no big deal.

I am not sure about makes of card, sorry.

As for the advantages of SD - well one which some people miss is speed. The SD card has 9 points of contact and te MMC only has 7. The SD cards are slightly faster - a must if you are running apps from the card with something like PowerRUN or Zlauncher (or both!).

[Serendip]

Thanks!

I did read that the SD are faster, but then read that the speed has less to do with PDAs and more with cameras, which gets confusing - good to hear that it's not just "hype".

I do use ZLauncher - thanks for the confirmation that SD is the way to go!!

[Da Lady]

In general, you will a lot more positive reviews about the OEMs -- namely, Toshiba and Panasonic (the inventors of SD). While SanDisk has essentially flooded the in-store market (after all, you can't buy Panasonic 512mb SD at Staples) -- they therefore tend to get more negative reviews, since there are simply more users of SanDisk out there. (By the way, SanDisk CF are more that adequate; it is the SanDisk SD that has the less than stellar reputation). Even if you search PPC boards, you will find the same positives about Panasonic and negatives about SanDisk.

Having said that, you will find the speeds and reliability slightly faster with Panasonic and Toshiba.

The only real question is, do you want to spend the extra money, for speed and reliability that you may never actually see nor need.

Kingston and Lexar are good in-between brands that will also serve you well.

I would suggest that if you want 512mb and 1gig, you go with either Lexar or Panasonic (although I'm not sure about the U.S. availability of Lexar or Panasonic 1gig yet). Lower mbs, go with the less expensive SanDisk.

[yorrick]

Sandisk, Kingston, Kingmax, Lexar are not makers of SD cards per se. They buy from several manufacturers and brand it with their labels.

For example - Kingmax only sources SD cards from only two manufacturers Japan. I purchased one and the T3 tells me it is a Toshiba SD card ... pity it wasn't a Panasonic... :)

Sandisk cards made in China - so the quality is not as good... :(

You will need to do your research on third party SD card producers since this will eventually determine which country they are manufactured in.

From my research of SD cards - here are the possible countries which they come from (and please correct me if the info is wrong!)

Panasonic - Japan
Toshiba - Japan

Kingmax - Japan (Panasonic or Toshiba)
Kingston - Taiwan
Lexar - Taiwan or China
Sandisk - China

[Ni+Mh]

SD cards are 4 times faster in terms of reading speed as per compared to MMC, and they're usually blue and they have this little yellow coloured latch at the side to enable write protect.

Anyhow I'd strongly recommend that you stay away from the chipset Sandisk, and only stick to brands such as Toshiba or Panasonic.

The question is, how can one tell which chipset it is ? Simply place the SD/MMC card into the Palm's expansion slot, go to 'card info' and bingo, it'll display who the manufacturer is.

[spvwolfy]

I personally will not touch a Sandisk SD card for any price! I only buy Panasonic.

[bryus]

My experience with SD cards is like this:

I bought a 256MB Dane-Elec card from New Egg last year when I bought my TC. It had a Toshiba chip and was terribly slow.

I bought my wife a Zire 72 this month and got her a 256MB SanDisk card with a rebate. It is a Toshiba also but has ok speed.

Then I bought myself a new 256MB Lexar 32X high-speed card. It is a Panasonic card and is very good.

The SanDisk got a VFS Mark score of 245 with decent write speeds. The Lexar has 279 score but has twice the write speeds.

The Lexar was $89 and the SanDisk was $45.

You will pay more for the faster cards but you get what you pay for. The difference between a poor and great card can mean several minutes during a backup or saving a file.

[MarieC]

I have a 512 mb SanDisk and a 64 mb Panasonic. The SanDisk is a whole lot faster than the Panasonic (VFSMark on the SanDisk : 557, on the Panasonic: 248).

The SanDisk had a very bad press at the time before PalmOne released its patch for the T3. Since then, I haven't heard about any particular issues involving those cards, even if I agree that Panasonic and Kingston make the better quality cards.

So far my SanDisk has worked flawlessly and is a great deal faster than the Panasonic, so I'm quite happy with it.

[Vidge]

Originally posted by spvwolfy
I personally will not touch a Sandisk SD card for any price! I only buy Panasonic.

Ditto! I just bought a 512 Panasonic and will likely get a 1gig when they are released. The VFS mark on my card is 561 (with 327M free).