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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 207
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CF and battery drain- this is gonna be long but lots of CF q
I am growing increasingly frustrated. I want to purchase a new 256mb CF card to replace my Mr. Flash battery sucker, and I can't seem to get any solid reasons why one CF would be better than another for my machine, as is evident from my letter:
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Subject: CF cards and handhelds
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Hello,
I was hoping someone could help me. I am a member of several PDA boards on the net. The growing concern with CF cards and handhelds has us all puzzled. (Many of us also own digital cameras.)
I have read over your sites, as well as several other CF manufactures, and no one seems to be able to sort this thing out. People on the boards are getting frustrated and starting to hold off on buying CF cards until we can get some clear answers.
The problem:
I presently own a Casio E-115. I have a 256mb Mr. Flash CF card, a 128mb Kingston CF card, an 80mb, 16mb, and several 8 mb Lexar's.
I and many many others (Ipaq, and Jornada owners as well) have noticed a significant power drain problem with some machines when using Mr. Flash CF cards (256mb and possibly 128mb).
The concern is...is this power drain caused by all large CF cards? Only with certain PDA's? I notice that Lexar, as well as Kingston, and Sandisk are all compliant with your organization's specs.
"Power � Typically consuming less than five percent of the power than that required to operate 1.8" and 2.5" disk drives, CF cards run at 3.3V or 5V with a single power supply. This makes them ideal for a range of current and next-generation, small-form factor consumer applications."
Mr. Flash even has this exact verbage on their website. (The battery drain results for board members are not clear with Viking yet.)
I have had no problems with my Kingston, or my Lexars. In fact I feel the Lexar is a more solid CF card, but since I only own the smaller ones...I too am hesitant to make another purchase of a larger card until I can find out more info. My Mr. Flash has caused a VERY significant drain in the power of my Casio.
Frankly people would like more info on why there is a such a price difference in the more well known names, as opposed to Mr. Flash (and generic cards). Some people are attempting to conduct their own informal tests to compare, with varying results. We would like substancial info to ase our opinions on, rather than a few random user comments.
We also would like to know if the 4X, 8X, 16X etc. write speeds noted on the Lexar's are important for handhelds...or just for digital cameras.
Please someone clear this up for us. I am desperately in need of a CF solution, to replace that 256mb Mr. Flash, as are many others with Xmas money in hand. 
Thank you for your time, we will be waiting to hear from you both.
Sincerely,
Lotto (and many pda board members)
P.S. Mr. Flash did not have a contact email address on their website or I would have CC'd them in also to hear their explanations.
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Here's the response from Lexar (name withheld to protect...um...name withheld):
Hello
the Lexar cards when in Standby Mode the card draws 1ma, in the write mode it's about 50 to 60ma depending on the capacity of the cardl, also the write speed of the cards will depend on the camera being used the camera must be in the pro series range like the Nikon D1 D1 X D1-H Canon 1D and the Kodaks 720 camera they can take full advatage of the write cycle sped of the lexar cards.
regards
Lexar support
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Now I don't know about anyone else...but this helps me near nil, since I can't find the sleep currents drawn by Mr. Flash, Sandisk or Viking anywhere.
I have read their sites to death. Assuming he 'meant'(yes I know what assuming does to me) sleep mode draws 1ma and write mode 50-60ma...the Kingston's rates similar:
"Sleep/Standby Current 0.5 mA (typical) 2.0 mA (max.)
Read/Write Current 45 mA (typical) 75 mA (max.)"
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The Compact Flash Association
The CompactFlash Association is a non-profit, mutual-benefit corporation that promotes adoption of CompactFlash as a worldwide, ultra-small, removable storage and I/O standard for capturing and transporting digital data, audio and images and performing I/O functionality such as modems, Ethernet, serial, BlueTooth wireless, laser scanning, etc. The CFA, which makes the CompactFlash and CF(logo) trademarks and CF & CompactFlash Technical Specification available royalty-free to member companies, is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA.
http://www.compactflash.org
Basic compact flash info:
http://www.compactflash.org/info/cfinfo.htm
Compact Flash FAQ:
http://www.compactflash.org/faqs/faq.htm
This site also has links to all major manufacturers of CF cards. (Interesting to see which ones meet their standards.)
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Here is a Digital Film Comparison:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediacompare/
Some interesting forums as well as pages of comparisons (mainly for interest of CF as digital film)
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Interesting info on a Ridata CF card...highly rated on digital photog forums (anyone know if that also is superior for pda's?)...reasonable prices, lifetime warranty, and fast delivery they say...from australia. (Again no sleep mode draw data)
https://ssl.ocean.com.au/powermarket...ient/store.asp
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Jason Dunn's site offers Aaronix...which could be any of the big names...but does say 'Sleep/Standby: 1 mA/0.5 mA'...starting to sound like a trend for the big names...do generics have the same?
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And this site is just for fun....see what happens when you wash your CF cards:
http://www.quiknet.com/~frcn/Clean.html
My only question is...why does a Lexar card say Kingston inside?
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Viking says they use Lexar technology...so are they comparable cards?
I only have more questions now *sigh*. Can anyone fill in my blanks?
Oh yeah...one last question...why do most pda sites seem to be avoiding sorting through this mess for us and getting us some clear answers from these manufacturers? Anyone willing to take them on?
*steps off soapbox* If you got this far...you have some questions too
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