Zio Dazzle USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Universal 8-in-1 (dm2200dl) Memory Card Reader - Cheap and Fast
Written: Sep 09 '05 (Updated Sep 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, fast, easy to use, compact
Cons: Useless rubber stand, error messages, looks different from picture
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend this reader as an inexpensive, yet capable memory card reader. It is cheap, fast and versatile.
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| dkozin's Full Review: SmartDisk Hi-Speed Universal 8-in-1 (DM-22000) |
I have bought the Zio Corporation Dazzle 8-in-1 Hi-Speed card reader (dm2200dl) for close to $12 at Dell.com. They routinely come with $5 rebates, but I was unable to submit one since the rebate requires that you submit it within 21 days from the purchase date, but the reader was shipped 3 weeks after I placed the order.
Getting Started
The reader arrived in a blister pack that was easy to open. Once I opened it, I discovered that the reader is black in color with no bezels of other colors (unlike the photos on various web sites, including the one I got it from).
The reader is rather compact and has a durable USB cable attached to it. It also comes with a hard-rubber stand that lets you place it vertically. In theory. In reality, the USB cable is so heavy and the device is so unbalanced, I got rid of the stand right away and placed the reader in its other operating position, which is horizontally.
The reader also came with a manual and a CD with drivers and software. I connected the reader to the USB 2.0 port of my computer.
Usage
The manual states that you have to install a driver on operating systems other than Windows XP. I have Windows 2000 SP4 and did not have to install a driver (but Windows 2000 versions with lower service pack versions might require a driver installation).
Once the reader was connected, the green light illuminated on it and my Windows found new hardware. Two removable drives appear in Windows Explorer (or My Computer if you are so inclined) and other applications.
The reader has two slots with each accepting several types of media. The smaller one accepts SD cards, MMC, Memory Stick, MagicGate Memory Stick and Smart Media. The larger one is for Compact Flash Type 1 and 2 as well as IBM microdrives.
There is no eject button; you just plug and unplug the cards by inserting or pulling them out the reader slots. Sometimes (until you remember) it is difficult to figure out which way the card is supposed to go in and you just have to try it. I inserted Memory Stick cards wrong way several times before seeing that I have to remove and rotate them around. At least there are only 2 ways to insert any card as long as you remember that the part with contacts should go in.
The reader has a green LED that lights up when the reader is ready or blinks when card access occurs. The two slots appear as two separate drives in Windows. When you insert a card into one of them, the directory structure appears on the drive and you can read, write from the drive (including copy and move operations) and even format it. I personally prefer to format the cards only if I have to and only in the camera.
Uses
The two major usage areas for this reader is reading files (images) from memory cards used in digital cameras and using it to copy/move/archive computer data. I use it for both, mostly with Secure Digital cards.
The use with digital camera files has a couple of benefits over using the USB port of the camera. It never requires camera driver installation. It conserves the camera battery. And it can be much faster.
Performance
So far, I have used this reader with Memory Stick and Secure Digital cards (mostly with latter). The reader uses USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface and is much faster than most digital cameras in transferring data. The digital camera I used often do not go faster than 800 KB/s (although some can go as fast as 4,000 MB/s).
I discovered that I can read fast SD memory cards at 5 MB/s and write to them at 3 MB/s. The tests were performed with a Sandisk 512 MB SD card and a Kingston Elite Pro 1GB SD card. You might be able to do even better, depending on your computer and cards you have.
Issues
So far the only issue I had was the error message that told me I removed the card too early and some data might have been lost. That is even though I removed it after the green LED stopped blinking. There was no data corruption, however and I have not noticed loosing any files.
Recommendation
I highly recommend this reader as an inexpensive, yet capable memory card reader. It is cheap, fast and versatile.
My Reviews of Digital Cameras
Canon:
Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon Powershot S1 IS Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A520 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot A510 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S500 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot S410 / Digital IXUS 430 Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD200 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD300 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD400 5-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Canon PowerShot SD500 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 6x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2 5-Megapixel Digital Camera with 6x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ4 4-Megapixel Digital Camera with 12x Optical Stabilized Zoom Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 4-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 Digital Camera Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ2 Digital Camera with 12x Leica Lens and Optical Image Stabilizer Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1 Digital Camera with Optical Image Stabilizer and 12x Leica Lens Review
Olympus:
Olympus Camedia C-765 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera with USB and ED Lens Review
Olympus Stylus 410 4-Megapixel All-Weather Digital Camera Review
Olympus Camedia D-580 / C-460 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-565 Zoom Digital 4-Megapixel Camera Review
Olympus D-575 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Olympus D-595 Zoom Digital Camera Review
Sony:
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P200 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S40 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T33 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T7 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 Digital Camera Review
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W7 Digital Camera Review
Fuji:
Fuji FinePix A345 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix A350 Digital Camera Review
Fuji FinePix F10 Digital Camera Review
Others:
Kodak EasyShare Z740 Digital Camera Review
Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Digital Camera Review
Pentax *istD Digital SLR Camera Review
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
Reviews written: 838
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About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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