Hi there,
I'd love to get a Sonnet Qio (because I use SxS cards for a Sony, as well as the CF cards I'm about to start using with my XF100), but it's too expensive. So what's the best card reader to get for my CF (Sandisk Extreme) cards?
Need to connect to either my MacBook Pro or my Mac Pro.
Thanks for any advice,
Malcolm

I'm using a Moshi cordette ultra. It's USB, reads three types of cards, and also serves as a 2-port USB hub.

It's pretty peppy.

I have the FW800 sandisk reader. While not cheap and a one trick pony, it screams and has been reliable.
I also have a sandisk multi card reader that is USB and does every format of card I've run into.

My favorite though is my Nexto which is by far the fastest transfer and gives me a secure backup on location without a laptop. I can also collect footage from other cameras that use sd And CF cards which makes it really handy. Back in my studio, it's transfer is over esata which blows the fw800 reader away speed-wise.

I have the FW800 sandisk reader. While not cheap and a one trick pony, it screams and has been reliable.
I second that! I can offload a full 32GB card in 12 minutes to my computer when using FW800 on the computer. :)

Its performance its the fastest on the market and outperforms USB big time. (Sonnet Qio is probably faster but comes with another price tag.) Sandisk don´t make it anymore, so the only way to get it today is on eBay or if any dealer has it in stock. I doubt that any dealer has it in stock though.

I have the Lexar FW800 CF reader. It works very well.

thanks everyone... just ordered the SanDisk Extreme reader from amazon.
I appreciate the advice.
Malcolm

My favorite though is my Nexto which is by far the fastest transfer and gives me a secure backup on location without a laptop. I can also collect footage from other cameras that use sd And CF cards which makes it really handy. Back in my studio, it's transfer is over esata which blows the fw800 reader away speed-wise.Similar to the NextoExtreme ND2700 is the Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA device which looks good at just $249 for the bare device to which you can add your own 2.5" drive HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA (casing only) (http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-Casing-Only-p/hdcsu-000.htm)

That looks very interesting. You could just get two of those and offload each card twice for safety...

I think the Nexto is extremely expensive for what it is. Does it have any support for RAID (multiple drives)?

I initially made the mistake of thinking that the Nexto were outrageously expensive. It turns out that there are several models & the ones that can read SxS cards are outrageously expensive but they have a model called the D2700 that is around the same price as the Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA Nexto DI - Next Generation Storage with Digital Interface (http://www.nextodi.com/product/eXtreme_en.html) It doesn't have such a fancy screen but I think that is more useful to photographers rather than videographers.