Kingston 16 GB SD4/16GB Secure Digital High Capacity Card Reviews

• Kingston 8GB Class 6 SDHC Card and 2 GB SD - Great Price and Performance, But Check Your Compatibility!!!

  
  By A17BUUBOU0598B on 2008-05-01
  I came here to post my review for the Kingston 8GB Class 6 SDHC Card. Then I realized that several products and reviews had been collected on this page. I actually own and use all the products listed here except for the 4 GB SDHC card from Kingston. I do have other 4 GB SDHC cards, just not that one. I will try to list as much info as possible to help all those shopping for one of these Kingston memory cards.
  
  The 2 GB, 2 GB Elite Pro, and 2 GB Ultimate Cards
  
  The 2 GB regular SD card from Kingston is pretty comparable to the Sandisk card, which I also own. It's a steady performer at a good price, still only around $10. Just for the sake of clarity, the technical details speed rating of 5 MB/sec read speed and 1.5 MB/sec write speed applies to the basic card. The Elite card is 50x, giving you up to 10 MBs read and 5 MBs write and the Ultimate card basically doubles those numbers.
  
  The only criticism I can list about the basic 2 GB card is that in my Nikon camera I definitely notice the lag after taking pictures. That was the original reason why I stepped up to the Elite Pro and Ultimate Cards. With the Elite Pro I experienced only a mild improvement in the performance, but the Ultimate really gave me a noticeable improvement.
  
  Is it worth it to buy a faster 2 GB card for twice or three times the price? I would actually say "NO" and here's the reason why. 2 GB used to be a lot of storage, but now 8 GB is the benchmark. 16 GB SDHC cards are soon to become common too. Most people who are buying 2 GB cards are doing so because they are basic users or have older devices that can't use larger SDHC cards. For that reason, few people will want to pay the extra cash at the 2 GB size. Get the basic card if you just need the largest compatible card.
  
  My SDHC specific review points
  
  As long as your devices are compatible with the SDHC format, 8 GB is the way to go. Granted 4 GB is a nice size too, but most users who need cards that are SDHC compliant are probably using it for RAW image storage on high end cameras. To me 8 GB capacity on this guy makes it perfect for high capacity storage.
  
  The class 6 speed is the fastest speed available in mass market SDHC cards, meaning that you would have to step up to much more expensive professional rigs to improve upon the speed of this 8 GB card. Class 6 guarantees minimum transfer speeds of 6 MBs, but I've gotten speeds on the order of 20Mbs writing and reading! Those are real world numbers I have been able to get. It should be noted that I buy a lot of external hard drives with USB 2.0 speed ratings of 480MBs that have actual production speeds of less than this guy! That makes this card perfect for professional photographers storing pictures in RAW image formats.
  
  The 8 GB SDHC Class 6 is on par with the Sandisk Extreme III cards that are about $15 more per card on average. If you don't have an SDHC reader, you may opt to get the package with a reader included to download your pics. Sandisk SDSDRX38192 Extreme III SDHC 8GB Card with MicroMate Reader
  
  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
  
  I've had good luck with all my Kingston memory cards. If you only can go up to 2 GB based on your device limits, save the cash and stick with the basic card. If you can use SDHC, the 8 GB SDHC card is awesome as long as your device is SDHC compatible. An SDHC card reader can be bought separately if your PC doesn't have a compatible slot. Make sure you review your needs; 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.
  
  Enjoy!
  
  
  

• Two cards died within a month of purchase

  
  By AKY7AZV7TJXD4 on 2007-05-20
  I purchased two of these cards for use with my Sony 700SD IS camera. Within a month, both were completely dead. I have had no such problem with Sandisk or PNY cards. To make matters worse, Kingston denied my mail-in rebates for these cards.
  
  These cards are cheaper than others for a reason. Do yourself a favor and buy a better brand. Saving a few bucks on these isn't worth losing pictures.
  
  

• Just Get It...You'll Love It!!!

  
  By AG3XKSY6YWH95 on 2007-06-16
  I bought this for my Canon digital camera. The camera shoots photos up to 8Megs and does high-resolution video as well. I originally had a 256MB San Disk SD Card in there because that used to be considered a BIG memory card. It worked fine, but I was constantly pulling it out to dump the photos or videos onto my computer so I could take more. At an event where I was taking lots of photos, I would literally run off to dump the card and I would limit my use of the video since it takes a lot of memory.
  
  I finally bought this Kingston card because I saw it on sale. It works fine as well and I can't tell you how nice it is not to have to constantly be worried about whether I've got enough memory left and will miss a photo or video shot! This thing has so much memory that at times when I'd usually be thinking about dumping the data onto my computer I find I can still take hundreds of photos or lots of video (after all, it's about 10x more memory)! This has really been a big improvement for me and I'm really glad I bought it.
  
  With the price of memory these days this card is extremely affordable. If you're working with anything less and/or ever worry about having enough memory in your camera, I would just go ahead an invest in this. It's really worthwhile!
  
  NOTE: I'm writing here about the plain Kingston 2GB SD card. I've noticed Amazon sometimes groups reviews of similar items so you might see this posted under one of the premium or high-speed Kingston 2GB SD card listings. My only comment is that I've never noticed any significant lag or delay using this in my digital camera for either photos or video. If it's there compared to the premium cards, I can't tell the difference. This includes when there are few photos on the card and when the card is almost full. YMMV.
  
  

• 2GB Elite Pro SecureDigital Card

  
  By A27EMHJ82PIMZM on 2006-06-10
  Purchased for my Canon SD700 is. Very quick compared to the standard SanDisk that I used w/ my old Optio S. Speed makes a world of difference when recording videos, scrolling through pics via the camera LCD, etc... I was hesitant to buy considering there were no reviews but I'm glad I took the low investment plunge. Great price & definitely does the trick.
  
  

• Lost photos and videos on Kingston 2GB SD card

  
  By A1B21MO4KQO84S on 2007-09-08
  I bought this card a few months ago for my Casio Exlim Z55 camera. The price was attractive for a 2GB card and it came with a card reader. Like other reviewers, the card was fine in the beginning. However, the card is now corrupt and I have lost some precious memories of my baby captured since February 2007.
  
  Recently, we took a lot of photos and some videos during a family vacation in Hawaii. After taking a photo of my 1 year old son, my camera suddenly returned an error saying that it was unable to display the image. After that, whenever I tried to take a new photo, my camera would capture the photo, flash the photo in the display for a split second, and then return the same error. I was only slightly concerned at the time because I was still able to review previous photos and videos I had taken. I waited until I got home to troubleshoot.
  
  When I got home, I was able to read the SD card in my macbook ONCE. When I tried to read it a second time, it could not recognize the card. I then tried to read it on my Windows PC. I was unable to see my photos or videos. I ran a couple of DOS commands and saw that the card had 500MB occupied on it, so I suspected my photos were still in there somewhere. I quickly googled for cardrecovery software. (I purchased something from www.cardrecovery.com for about $40. It scans your card and then allows you to preview the photos before you purchase the software. However, you cannot preview videos.) Luckily, I was able to recover most, if not all of my photos. I was not as lucky with the videos as they were all cut short. I was only able to recover incomplete footage. It wasn't until I ran the software that I realized I was missing more files than I knew about. When I first turned on my camera in Hawaii, my photos went back to May. Turns out I was missing over 100 images dating back to February! There were videos of my son when he was learning how to crawl. The sad part is I was only able to recover much shorter versions of the videos, but it is better than nothing. Also, I was able to recover a lot of photos.
  
  At this point, I have not formatted my card. I am waiting to call Kingston Tech Support to see what they'll say. I originally emailed them from the Kingston website and received this response:
  
  "For a replacement and data recovery contact tech support by phone at 800-435-0640, M-F, 6am-6pm PST and ask for level 2."
  
  I am hoping that somehow they can help me recover my videos completely. Before Kingston, all I used were SD cards from SanDisk (1GB and smaller), which I never had problems with. I don't think I will ever buy Kingston again.
  
  
  
• 2GB Elite Pro SecureDigital Card
  By A20386VPL1I7EI on 2006-08-31
  Ordered this card to store MP3 files. It would not let copy files total size little more then 1GB, it would error out "I/O error". Both quick and regular format did not help, tried 3 times. Requested replacement, and 2nd card practically had same issue. After copying about a gig of files, it would error out "connection lost". Also tried it couple of times. I formatted card and noticed after formatting it shows only 950mb free on empty card?!
  
  
• A Great Value
  By A2MTG6712AHQE2 on 2007-09-01
  This is not noticably different from other name brand memory cards. It works exactly the same as any other quality card that I've tried; some of them costing 2 or more times as much. I've tried them in my notebook, desktop, camera, LG-Env, LG-Chocolate, and Motorola Razr with no problem. I will definitely be buying more of these soon.
  
  
• The price IS too good to be true; mine was a lemon
  By A1EXGER73RZGNJ on 2007-07-16
  I bought this with my Canon a570. The camera is fantastic, but the card is another story. It worked fine at first, but a month later, I went to India and now half of my pictures are missing, replaced with a question mark and a message that says 'unidentified image'. Now the card doesn't hold anything, I get a message that says 'memory card error'. I'm going to spend a little more for a more reliable brand this time.
  
  
• Reliable Performace + Great Price!
  By A2013JDMPUV6D9 on 2007-09-13
  This review is for the Kingston 2GB Secure Digital Memory Card (SD/2GB). I received this memory card free as a bonus from Amazon when I bought my digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8K. I have been putting this chip through its paces for weeks now and I have to say it holds a LOT of pictures and is extremely reliable. I have not had any issues with my camera loading images into the memory nor have I had any problems pulling them back out onto my pc. For around 20 bucks, this is a fantastic memory card at a great price... I highly recommend this product!
  
  
• Great card, reliable too
  By A3KTTW7UVZ8WIA on 2008-02-27
  I've bought some of these cards for my various Canon P&S cameras, and gifted some too. Never had a data problem, ever. I've always bought them from Amazon.com (with amazon.com as the seller, not a third party).
  
  I use one of the cards in an underwater housing-enclosed camera. Another in a camera I reserve for rough use when my DSLR might be in jeopardy from rain, snow, etc. They work great for long movies as well as hundreds of photos.
  
  I haven't had a single Kingston SD card fail me yet. I look for Sandisk, but very often Kingston offers more performance for the price and honestly, I'll go for whichever is cheaper at the time. I like inexpensive, but not at the cost of quality. Kingston is a very reliable alternative to Sandisk if the price happens to be better.
  
  
• Excellent - complete compatibility with several devices
  By A1XY3SJZLJIXSI on 2008-02-08
  Despite what some nay-sayers have said on several review sites, I ordered several different kinds of 2GB MicroSD cards for myself, my wife and kids' phones. I tried MP3 functionality on each of the devices (Blackberry 8300 Curve, Blackberry Pearl, and Motorola RAZRs with the different cards.
  
  The Kingston works great and I use it in the 8300 now on a daily basis. There are no compatibility problems with any of the MicroSD adapters on the phones that I tested. It's a great deal and a great product.
  
  
  
• Works with my curve!
  By A2PSD2R9A1CXG7 on 2008-01-29
  I use SanDisk Extreme IV high speed CompactFlash cards on my Canon DSLR camera and have been happy with their performance. So when shopping for a microSD card I started with SanDisk, a brand I trust. However, I wanted to test the possibility of using my BlackBerry 8310 Curve as my primary mp3 player. Seeing that this microSD card was significantly less expensive than the SanDisk cards, I went with Kingston.
  
  The Kingston 2GB microSD memory card works well with my Curve, however I noticed that the Curve limits the file size transfers. Initially to save music, I needed to remove the card from my Curve and transfer files directly from my computer. This is where the adapter, which converts the microSD card to full-sized SD card, comes in handy. After removing the Curve's battery, I simply popped the microSD card into the adapter and used my computer's SD drive.
  
  Since removing the Curve's battery is annoying, I did some research and found what the issue was with the Curve. There is a setting that may need to be changed to allow music file transfers. Go to "Settings", then "Options" to click on "Media Card." Set "Mass Storage Mode Support" to ON. Additionally set the "Auto Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected" to YES or PROMPT. After changing the settings, I have no problems transferring music from the PC to the Curve or vice versa. If you still cannot transfer files, check the mapped drives on your computer, the first available drive is automatically used for the Curve's memory card. At home this is my F drive while at work it is K. If any other device is mapped to that drive, the Curve's memory card will not be recognized.
  
  PROS:
  Good price
  Reliable card
  
  CONS:
  None
  
  
• Great product
  By AIOL5HXU74G5K on 2006-11-07
  I bought this memory card for my camera sd500. At first, I was very dispointed when I only see 1gb on my laptop. After googled around, I realized I need to update my laptop sd reader driver to recognized sd card that is over 1gb. I'm able to see full 2gb after driver update. Just make sure you update your device/laptop firmware/driver first.
  
  
• More Kingston Junk
  By A8P9VTK9C1KQ0 on 2007-06-08
  Worked for 3 weeks, then "memory error" occurred. Have not heard back from Kingston yet. Unreliable. Junk. Looking into SanDisk
  
  
• Works fine in my VX8600
  By A1E4W89H9PM51S on 2007-06-12
  Nice card, nice price. I got this card and a 1gb card for the price of Verizon's 1gb card. Save your money and buy one of these!
  
  
• Outstanding SD Memory Card
  By A3HCSQN3VAS1X5 on 2007-02-01
  I bought the 2GB Elite Pro Kingston card about 6 months ago, plugged it in, turned it on (in a Canon S3IS), and it has worked flawlessly. At full resolution, it will pack 706 images onto the card. It is fast to record and to read back. I just returned from Thailand with the card full of images that are excellent. I will very soon by another 2GB Kingston SD card.
  
  
• Wonderful Memory Card for an Awesome Price
  By AWM1SL1PYY3A3 on 2007-08-04
  2GB for a card that can be used in your cell phone, as well as in a digicam (because of the supplied adapter). This is a wonderful product for a wonderful value. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone wanting to get a mini SD, or even a regular SD card!
  
  
• Benchmarks and specs tested
  By A2D0O3V7N168L4 on 2007-04-22
  The stated specs for this SD card are read 5MB/sec. write 1.5MB/sec. I have posted benchmarks on this unit in the images section. This is a quick rundown of the tests low level read is about 60X (9 MB/s). The SD card can move a 1mb file in at 2133 KB/s. Those interested in using this card for readyboost should look elsewhere as it is to slow on multiple card readers for the task. This is what windows says about readyboost in its logs "device will not be used for a ReadyBoost cache because it has insufficient read performance: 1688 KB/sec."
  
  
• Bad experience with this SD card
  By A24LVPGWZLO9JY on 2007-07-24
  Please do not buy this product. It worked well for just a few weeks (3 or so) and then right in the middle of our Las Vegas trip when I had almost 1GB of pictures taken on that day, with 1 more GB to go it just died. It gave a memory card error and my camera was unable to read or write into it. I plugged it into my computer and the computer failed to get any data out of it too. I bought a new SD card and my camera worked just fine. So I lost all the memories of our trip in just a second. I got an RMA from Kingston where they replace the broken card but you are responsible for shipping it to and from them. The total shipping cost would be approximately 10$. I am not sure whether its worth it because you might get another card that might die again on you when other brands are available for just $20...
  
  
• What can I say, its a micro SD card.
  By A25EPLCBAOLY67 on 2007-12-27
  SD cards have gotten to the point that writing a review seems like writing a review for a wrench. There isn't much to it. It works, and it works well. I bought this card for my Palm Centro.
  
  
• Another Taiwan junk card, Kingston 2GB-S
  By A3ERC1PSZ6KL8U on 2007-05-28
  The Chinese and Taiwan SD cards have been bad for years, yet companies like Kingston and plenty of others still are selling them as OEM's. Check the forums for the plethora of problems people have. If you want to be frustrated by the pictures you have taken on your vacation being corrupt and unuseable, then get one of these cards. If on the otherhand you want to be able to use and enjoy the pictures you have taken, then get one from Japan. How do you know you have a Japanese card? It says so on the back, and the manufacturers won't tell you or just don't know as it depends on where they got the latest batch from. Shameful junk and a company like Kingston should really know better. Avoid like the plague unless you know its origin.
  
  
• Nice for the price
  By ASKH6TPNTTAFS on 2007-06-26
  Pros: High capacity, works well, good price, seems to be fast. No complaints.
  
  Cons: Be aware that not all SD card readers understand the HC cards (and you need to be sure your camera etc. is compatible as well). Microsoft support is spotty, driver updates are coming - someday. If you want something faster than connecting your camera to the PC, get a reader that specifically supports the HC format.
  
  
• Works with Samsung SYNC phone
  By A9RRG7YL9LPCL on 2007-07-06
  Bought this memory part for my Samsung SYNC phone. It works very well with the phone, just make sure you push the memory card all the way into the phone until it clicks. I had to use a dime to push it in all the way. Lots of storage. Comes with regular SD adapter to use with my PC. Windows Media Player saw it as a "syncable" device, and I easily saved music to the part. No need to buy a Samsung SYNC USB cable if you have this part with the regular SD adapter. It is also 1/2 the price I paid at the AT&T store for the same size part when we first bought phones.
  
  
• Good idea but card was bad...
  By A1JHQGH4W8SQ15 on 2007-07-29
  I thought this 2GB card was going to be just what I needed... but it never worked. I eventually got a replacement from Kingston but only after a grilling from there tech folks because they said they did not support the use or their 2GB cards in the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx unit I was using... I however was going on the advice of the Garmin website. I got the replacement and it has worked fine out of the box.
  
  
• Kingston 2GB Micro SD in Garmin Vista HCx
  By AQFLMFB0TVB6P on 2007-09-02
  This card works great in my Garmin Vista HCx. The City Navigator NT maps consume about 1GB which leaves plenty of space for topo maps and tracks. 1GB would not be enough. If buying a Garmin GPS, get the 2GB, it's worth the extra couple of dollars.
  
  
• Works Like a Charm!
  By A268OS0J4D1A5O on 2008-01-30
  I bought the Kingston 4gb micro SDHC card for my Blackberry 8830. At the current time, my particular Blackberry cannot accommodate a card larger than 4 gb, due to OS software that is not yet up to speed. The Kingston card is every bit as good as the more popular brands, with the exception of having a lower price. Be aware that using the included SD adapter is great...HOWEVER, if your laptop or desktop SD reader is not rated to read HC (high capacity) cards, then you may not be able to view the contents of the card or make changes using your computer(s). This happened to me, so I purchased a $10 USB SDHC card reader, and now I can use these higher-capacity cards in both my older laptop and desktop SD drives. Of course you can transfer data via a direct connection with your cell phone, for example, but it usually takes longer to do it that way.
  
  
• Things to consider if you're getting a 2GB card
  By A1DDHGA1HL2T34 on 2006-11-12
  I purchased the 2GB Elite Pro SD card but found out that my older SimpleTech FlashLink card reader is not able to recognize the card under WinXP SP2 with and without the most recent SimpleTech drivers. I don't have another card reader for my computer, but the pictures recorded on it by my digital camera can be viewed on my PDA so I assume that it's the card reader. Shortly afterwards, I also discovered that Kingston makes a combo kit that includes their USB 2.0 SD/MMC reader for a bit less in price than the card alone.
  
  I also noticed the ATP line of 60x and 150x SD cards. I have no experience with their products, but their SD cards are potted versus placed in a plastic shell. They tout their cards as being more rugged and waterproof. I'm very careful and have not had any flash cards fail on me, but with the rising capacities and smaller form factors, I will consider the ATP cards in the future.
  
  
  
• Good, fast, card for the money.
  By A2UOHALGF2X77Q on 2007-04-05
  I picked up this card to replace a slower 1GB card I have. I've used it in 2 cameras, and it works fine in both. It is definitely faster than the standard
  speed SD cards that I have. I'm sure it's not as fast as some of the newer cards that are out there now, but it is a good compromise of price and performance.
  
  
• Great Product, Great Price
  By AZ0JU4PXHA49P on 2007-04-10
  What can I say, this is a memory card, it has a ton of space for digital camera usage, and it works exactly like it's supposed to. My camera takes better than 1 picture per second at over 4MB/picture and there doesn't seem to be any lag as a result of the memory card. I highly recommend this product.
  
  
• Geat Deal!
  By APGKXDODANKJR on 2007-04-14
  This card is great! It works really well in one of my mp3 players, and in my digital camera. I switch cards all the time between my electronics, and this card seems to hold up from my computer to any device. For 2GB, this price can't beat it. Other brands are twice as much for less memory. I recommend this card.
  
  

• Transcend 16GB SDHC CARD (SD 2.0 SPD CLASS 6) with Compact Card Reader
• Transcend - Flash memory card - 4 GB - Class 6 - SDHC

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