PQI USB 2.0 Travel Flash 6-in-1 Reader > Reviews > It works and is cheap ... but so are many others

Author's product rating:   

Ease of Use	Very Easy
Quality	Good
Durability	Excellent
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Simple and functional
Disadvantages:	No indications of which drive is which, no XD - card support

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have Compact Flash and SD memory cards at home, which I use in a digital camera, in a mobile phone and as removable storage for my work. There are many drives like the PQI that handle several flash memory types. Among multi-format drives, 6-in-1 is not many, but it covers the most popular formats:
SD/MMC, CompactFlash type I and II, Microdrives, Memory Stick and Smart Media. The only real omission in my view is the XD card format, used for a small number of digital cameras. As I don't need XD and don't know anyone who does, this was not a problem for me.

The drive was £8.99 from Ebuyer in April and I think that price has fallen since. It was cheaper than the popular brands at the time. This is a USB 2.0 device, meaning that it can transfer data much more quickly between the memory cards and your PC (or Apple Mac). My computer only has the slower USB 1.1 capability, which this device (and any other USB 2.0 device) is compatible with. The faster speed only becomes essential if transferring many hundreds of MegaBytes of data while in a rush, which I rarely do.

Installation:
The reader comes with a dinky mini-CD containing drivers and manual. There is a leaflet with quick installation instructions. The drivers are not needed for Windows XP or ME - you just plug it into the USB socket. In my experience the same effectively works for Windows 2000, if you just plug it in but don't install drivers, it complains about empty drives but works fine anyway. New drivers and firmware upgrades (including for XP and ME) are available on manufacturer's website - useful if, like me, you cannot insert smaller than usual disks into your CD-drive.

What happens on your computer:
Four removable drives appear, with no indication of which is which. This can be confusing, as the windows explorer window does not always make it clear which one(s) has a memory card inside. On the other hand, it is possible to have, for example, CF and SD cards inserted at the same time.

What it looks like:
It has a raised curve design as pictured on this site, or is also sold black with non-curved design. The slower USB 1.1 version has a PQI label on the top right and lacks the curved groove design.
It has an embedded USB cable that tucks away, useful for travel as well as plugging into hard to crowded USB sockets with little room either side. An extension lead is also supplied.

There are two LEDs, indicating connection (power) and if data-transfer is in progress.
The device is about the same size as an audio cassette (96 x 63 x 13mm) and weighs about the same (55g). The snug black leather jacket is well-made.

My only wish is that these devices be made with spring-loaded click-in-click-out insertion of the cards, so you know when it is inserted properly and don't have to worry about it falling out. I have only seen that on my mobile phone though, and not on any memory card reader, so I can't complain.

The manufacturer's product site is:
http://www.pqimemory.com/products/usb2.asp
where they also give the maximum capacity it can read for each type of flash memory card.

---- Added 15th July:
In line with my slogan, I have managed to make the reader have problems: I downloaded the firmware upgrade from the manufacturer and, since then, the drive cannot be stopped from the windows taskbar and is not subsequently recognised if it is plugged in again. The computer needs to be restarted for it to be recognised. So, if you have Windows XP, don't download the firmware upgrade is my advice.