Transcend 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6E Review.
"Great affordable SDHC card" 2008-03-29
By D. Truong (New Mexico)
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")
"My Canon loves the 8 GB SDHC card" 2008-01-16
By Klondike Kid (Alaska)
I recently purchased a Canon Powershot A720IS digital camera that is capable of recognizing and using up to 2 TERRABYTES of memory card (in the future) so I wanted to get the largest memory card I could install for now. I wanted to use the camera both on dry land and with an underwater housing for shooting stills and video on dive trips. Camera specs said an 8 GB SDHC card would record one hour of hi res video at 30 fps. Or nearly 2300 hi res stills at 8 megapixels.
A test of the Transcend 8GB SDHC card in the camera ended up shooting 70 minutes of full screen, 30fps digital video that could not be distinguished from my DV camcorder video quality. Playback from the memory card to the TV was so fast & efficient there was never a single "stutter" on the screen. The card speed is genuinely FAST as advertised. Low level formatting of the card allowed for very acceptable rapid-fire sequential still photo shooting speeds when light levels were bright enough that the flash was not needed/used. Something like 2 photos every 3 seconds. Files were flawless in display, both for stills and video.
This product was significantly lower in price than the Kingston 8GB SDHC card I originally bought with the camera. I've used both interchangeably and cannot see any different in the speed or capacity and quality of imagery is identical. For the money I'll stick with Transcend and am looking forward to getting their 16GB card once the price drops substantially below the $100 mark. That would provide nearly 2 1/2 hours of video on my still camera or 4600 highest quality stills. I'm afraid my camcorder will be collecting dust much of the time. A big advantage to video on the card is there are NO MOVING PARTS, e.g. a mini DV tape cassette and camcorder or VCR playback unit needed to dump the video and stills to my Mac for editing and burning DVDs. I just stick the card in the MicroMate USB card reader, plug it in the computer and bingo, ready to sort thru and dump to the hard drive. Since the card is formatted by a Canon camera it automatically boots up the Canon Viewer software too. That should work the same for other brands of still cameras formatting this chip.
"Excellent Mini Hard Drive equivalent" 2007-12-12
By Coticon (Rome, NY USA)
This card is able to hold a complete DVD movie, thousands of songs/photos, or just serve as a backup device for one's files.
It operates very well - I now have purchased 3 and with each use its value becomes more apparent.
One word of caution - even though most laptops and systems have an SD card slot, older computers may not be able to recognize or write to this card. Make sure your system has the ability to read SDHC configured products.
If you do not have an SD slot you can purchase an tiny SD reader (very inexpensive) that plugs into your USB port.
"Reliable card, good speeds!" 2008-12-05
By David Downing (Dallas, Tx)
Transcend 16 GB SDHC SD Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]
I have 4 of these cards that I use in my Panasonic HMC-150, a professional grade video camera. I've run read/write tests on all of them and they get about 14 MB/s write speeds and 17.5 MB/s read speeds. Never encountered any errors! These cards are the best bang for your buck, and the frustration free packaging is awesome.
"Huge capacity and excellent value" 2007-07-05
By Paul Laing (Boston, MA)
I wanted to take advantage of the video capability on the Canon SD800IS digital camera and required a large memory card. Given the way memory requirements increase over time I opted for the largest available. I also wanted a fast memory write speed. The Transcend 8Gb SDHC Class 6 card was the best value available.
So far this card has worked flawlessly.
By D. Truong (New Mexico)
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")
By Klondike Kid (Alaska)
I recently purchased a Canon Powershot A720IS digital camera that is capable of recognizing and using up to 2 TERRABYTES of memory card (in the future) so I wanted to get the largest memory card I could install for now. I wanted to use the camera both on dry land and with an underwater housing for shooting stills and video on dive trips. Camera specs said an 8 GB SDHC card would record one hour of hi res video at 30 fps. Or nearly 2300 hi res stills at 8 megapixels.
A test of the Transcend 8GB SDHC card in the camera ended up shooting 70 minutes of full screen, 30fps digital video that could not be distinguished from my DV camcorder video quality. Playback from the memory card to the TV was so fast & efficient there was never a single "stutter" on the screen. The card speed is genuinely FAST as advertised. Low level formatting of the card allowed for very acceptable rapid-fire sequential still photo shooting speeds when light levels were bright enough that the flash was not needed/used. Something like 2 photos every 3 seconds. Files were flawless in display, both for stills and video.
This product was significantly lower in price than the Kingston 8GB SDHC card I originally bought with the camera. I've used both interchangeably and cannot see any different in the speed or capacity and quality of imagery is identical. For the money I'll stick with Transcend and am looking forward to getting their 16GB card once the price drops substantially below the $100 mark. That would provide nearly 2 1/2 hours of video on my still camera or 4600 highest quality stills. I'm afraid my camcorder will be collecting dust much of the time. A big advantage to video on the card is there are NO MOVING PARTS, e.g. a mini DV tape cassette and camcorder or VCR playback unit needed to dump the video and stills to my Mac for editing and burning DVDs. I just stick the card in the MicroMate USB card reader, plug it in the computer and bingo, ready to sort thru and dump to the hard drive. Since the card is formatted by a Canon camera it automatically boots up the Canon Viewer software too. That should work the same for other brands of still cameras formatting this chip.
By Coticon (Rome, NY USA)
This card is able to hold a complete DVD movie, thousands of songs/photos, or just serve as a backup device for one's files.
It operates very well - I now have purchased 3 and with each use its value becomes more apparent.
One word of caution - even though most laptops and systems have an SD card slot, older computers may not be able to recognize or write to this card. Make sure your system has the ability to read SDHC configured products.
If you do not have an SD slot you can purchase an tiny SD reader (very inexpensive) that plugs into your USB port.
By David Downing (Dallas, Tx)
Transcend 16 GB SDHC SD Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]
I have 4 of these cards that I use in my Panasonic HMC-150, a professional grade video camera. I've run read/write tests on all of them and they get about 14 MB/s write speeds and 17.5 MB/s read speeds. Never encountered any errors! These cards are the best bang for your buck, and the frustration free packaging is awesome.
By Paul Laing (Boston, MA)
I wanted to take advantage of the video capability on the Canon SD800IS digital camera and required a large memory card. Given the way memory requirements increase over time I opted for the largest available. I also wanted a fast memory write speed. The Transcend 8Gb SDHC Class 6 card was the best value available.
So far this card has worked flawlessly.
