current "best" compact flash card reader?

[Racer X]

I also use SD cards, but they are less important. I have USB 3 on my MBP and my cMP 3.1 tower.

[oscilloscope]

Lexar USB 3.0 reader works well.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1..._dual.html

[macphanatic]

I have a ProGrade dual slot sd card reader that uses USB C. Got it from B&H.

Here's the link to the ProGrade card readers

[AllGold]

I don't know about "best" but this one works great: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1...html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7pbNuL7a6gIVAdbACh248wBjEAQYASABEgKsE_D_BwE

[Racer X]

I'm just done with cheap no-name readers, that's all.

[Buzz]

Maybe "current" closer to 20 years ago....


The Lexar "Barney" FW400 CF Reader of Your Dreams....

According to Rob Galbraith, maddeningly/glowingly, early in this century...

"Judging by the number of Lexar FireWire CF Digital Film Readers we've seen in circulation, it must rank among the most popular with professional digital photographers. Lexar's marketing muscle, and the fact that this was one of the first FireWire card readers to come to market, seems to have translated into a lot of Lexar FireWire CF units out there.

Actually manufactured by Datafab out of Taiwan, and sold by a number of different vendors including Lexar, we're on our fifth unit of this reader now. Our Unity Digital version died a long time ago, as did a variant from ADS Technologies. And, we've also gone through two from Lexar Media to date. So, if our experience is typical, this isn't much of a testament to the product's reliability.

We suspect that continually stuffing this reader into our laptop bag has put too much strain on the non-removable cable, since all four of the deceased units showed excessive wear at the point where the cable enters the reader (we try to only carry readers with removable cables now for that reason). And to be fair, the several units of this reader we've had longer, and used harder, than any other model in this report. Still, the failure rate has been high. If you're considering the Lexar FireWire CF Digital Film Reader, you might be well-advised to park it on your desktop and leave it there.

Countering reliability concerns is the fact that we've rarely, if ever, faced a compatibility problem with this reader: it seems to mount and transfer photos from just about any brand and model of card, including the several dozen cards that make up the CompactFlash Performance Database on this site.

The Lexar FireWire CF Digital Film Reader ships with a non-removable, 45 inch (114 cm), 6-pin FireWire cable."

I had the same experience as Rob, travel unit didn't fare as long as hoped, and Lexar replaced it. Desk unit, nary a glitch. Good current current recs were posted above.
==

[Racer X]

I remember those, as well as Hubzilla. I have a gen 1 Hubzilla.

[AllGold]

Yeah, 2001 called. It wants its FW reader back. miley12:

I had one of those. Everyone who was working at the time had one at some point. IIRC, there was another problem with that reader--or more precisely with the combination of that reader with certain CF cards. Most cards were fine but If you inserted a card with a certain controller version, the card would almost instantly get fry-an-egg hot. X(