I would be surprised if most mytreo.net members didn’t use their Treos for music or movies. The ability to use a Treo as a media player is one of the main benefits of having such a versatile device. As soon as you start using your Treo as a media player you’ll quickly find that you have filled your memory card no matter what size it is. Soon you will find yourself regularly changing the media files on the memory card. When you’re regularly moving more than a few megabytes of files you will find that the quickest way to put a large amount of data onto your Treo’s memory card is to use a card reader.

If your experiences are anything like mine you’ll find that each new gadget you buy uses a different format of memory card. My first card reader did not support xD cards so guess what memory card format the new camera at work uses? So I bought another card reader to access xD cards. Next I get a nice new Treo 680 and find it supports the new SDHC cards; great that means I can buy a massive 8Gb card. However, I soon find out most SD card readers can not access SDHC cards, so I guess that means I’m in the marketplace for another card reader that can read all the card formats I own.

By happy coincidence I had the opportunity to review the SanDisk ImageMate 12-in-1 card reader.

According to the SanDisk webpage this reader should be just the thing I need as it supports;

1. CompactFlash Type I
2. CompactFlash Type II
3. SD Card
4. miniSD
5. MultiMediaCard
6. RS-MMC
7. Memory Stick
8. Memory Stick PRO
9 Memory Stick Duo
10. Memory Stick PRO Duo
11. SmartMedia
12. xD

This list is fairly comprehensive and after reading the instruction booklet I was happy to find it also supports SDHC and miniSDHC cards. So whatever Treo you have I am fairly certain this reader will support its memory card.

The card reader supports USB 2 so if you have a newer computer you can benefit from the quicker data transfer rates. It is also compatible with the older USB 1.1, so it will work with older computers, albeit with a slower data transfer rate. If your computer works with removable flash drives you will find that the card reader works without the need to install any additional software (drivers are included for Windows 98). I tested the card reader on several Linux and Windows machines and found it was automatically detected and worked well on all of them.

Included with the reader are two cables; a short USB to USB mini cable and a longer cable connected to a cradle that allows you to use the reader vertically.

The unit has a power LED to let you know it is connected and green LEDs to show when each of the card slots are active. The card reader feels well made and robust. I get the feeling it’s the sort of accessory that will last you for quite a few years. I have noticed with some cheaper card readers that when you insert the memory cards they aren’t held very securely by the reader, often leading to corruption of data and the need to reformat the card. I had no such problems with this reader, it securely held all the card formats I tried.

Included with the card reader are two additional pieces of software; Adobe Photoshop Album (Starter Edition) and SanDisk TransferMate. Photoshop album allows you to organize your photographs on a Windows PC. If you’ve used the free google program Picasa or something similar, you’ll know the sorts of things you can do. If you have no photo album software and a collection of disorganized photographs, then this is a useful piece of software - but it isn’t the sort of software I would pay for.

Those of you with keen eye-sight probably noticed the button on the card reader. This works with the SanDisk software TransferMate to allow you to copy the contents of the inserted memory card into a selected directory on your PC with a press of the button on the card reader.

The problem with TransferMate is that it appears to be an all or nothing approach. Do you want to backup your entire memory card very often? I don’t. If it allowed me to copy predefined folders on the memory card at the touch of the button it would be useful. I backup my Treo to the SD card so I occasionally copy onto a PC the backups from the SD card. If TransferMate could be customized to do this at the touch of a button I might use it. As it stands, the software will probably be uninstalled the next time I clean my PC.

If you are looking for a high quality card reader that can access the majority of memory cards currently available, this is a very good option. At $39.95 it isn’t the cheapest card reader available, however, this one feels really well made and not only comes with a two year warranty but supports high data transfer over USB 2. The only negative issue I have with the card reader is with the gimmicky nature of the TransferMate software. If it were more adaptable it would be a really useful bonus feature, but as it is I don’t think I’d ever use it.

Related Links

Buy SanDisk Imagemate 12 in 1 Card Reader

Cheap Memory Cards

Discuss Accessories in the Treo Discussion Forum

Filed under: Accessory reviews