First and foremost, you can't go wrong with StarTech's products. They do amazing work and produce quality peripherals.
I use SD cards all the time for photography and need a dedicated port on my PC for them. In the process of building a new PC, I realize no new (good) cases really come with an SD slot and if they do they are sketchy at best, so I needed something like this to add to a case that had expansion bays. With a 5.25" adapter from the same company, I was able to get this installed and working easily.
The black color is great as it matches most modern cases. Since StarTech is based in North America, the experience of actually using this device is well thought out for a western mindset. The text labels makes sense, the design is intuitive, and—again—the quality is impeccable.
Love that this supports the new UHS pins for next-gen SD cards on the left slot. I don't have any or devices that support them, but I bet I will someday and be happy not to have to get a different reader/adapter or settle for slower transfers. Because of the UHS SD slot, this technically has 2 full-size SD card slots which is super nice for transferring data between them or just pulling files from both simultaneously. The Micro SD slot is wonderful too (no adapters needed) and I appreciate the support for legacy CF and MS cards (though... TBH, I don't plan on ever using them). I really didn't need an additional USB port on the front, but I can see it being handy for many users.
Lots of cheap imported media card readers seem like they use old technology and the fact that this is only one of a handful to use full USB 3 for all slots is kinda mind boggling. So many readers have a USB 3 header cable for the USB ports, but then utilize only USB 2 for the card reader part causing bottlenecks in transfer speed. Not to mention some of those other card readers cost basically just as much as this one!
If you need a memory card reader, don't bother with the cheap crap out there unless you know you don't need the quality or speed. This one will provide top-notch transfer rates, great compatibility, and solid construction that I trust will last for years to come.
| Standing screen display size | 3.5 Inches |
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