Well today I put my money where my mouth is and ordered a Hoodman 16GB SDHC card. It'll be interseting to see how it performs against my Sandisk cards. I should mention by the time freight costs are added it's nearly three times the price of the Sandisk cards.
I'll be quite happy about the price if it avoids anymore hair loss. With my skills with a camera I've got enough to worry about.

Last notes on missing info on my card - Playing in my camera made no difference and the shots do not appear in BPAV folder.
I am assuming I made some error in handling, but it still makes me nervous.

Thanks, guys, for taking the time to get Lou to respond. He makes a good case for why his cards may be more reliable, but we'll probably just have to wait for field testing to see if the raw's come up with the usual lost clips, restore media message, etc.

New Transcend HD cards
 

Has anyone seen or tried these new cards from Transcend: Welcome to Transcend Website - SDHC HD video card

I wonder if they really offer anything more than the standard SDHC 16 GB Class 6 cards from Transcend.

I just purchased three 16gig Hoodman Raw cards and SXS adaptors, and tested them out yesterday. While doing so, a colleague spent a considerable amount of energy trying to make me feel like a moron for spending the extra money on Raw, vs Sandisk.

We'll see which one of us made the smarter purchase as time goes by, I guess.

The Raw cards performed flawlessly, by the way. I tried numerous formats on the same card, and no issues developed. I did not try to record time lapse on them. I have two SXS cards for that.

By the way: Hoodman gives you a free USB reader with each 16 GB card. They worked just fine, too. I like not having to plug the EX3 into the computer.

I wonder if the Transcend cards will work in the Hoodman and at less cost in these strange hard times.......

Amazon.com: Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card with Card Reader TS16GSDHC6-S5W: Electronics

But thanks for your imput as I am glad they work. Just another source just in case.

I have one Transcend Class 6 16GB card that needs restored every time I use it - no matter how many times it is reformatted. Doing a restore on the job should not happen in my opinion. Too close to failure for me, I have 7 others that work fine.

BTW has anyone tried one of these:

Amazon.com: Sony MSACEX1 Adaptateur Memory Stick Duo Express Card: Electronics

and one of these

Amazon.com: Sony MSMT16G 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2) Media: Electronics

I think 30Mb/sec is a faster transfer rate than the other adapter cards...
Maybe this would over crank.

When I originally posted this question I did not expect to hear of card failures in the field.
However I have been alarmed thus far to read here and n other threads about multiple Sandisk problems and some (as above) Transcend problems.

I'm not doing this as a hobbiest and I assume that is the same for the most of us on this board. Thus I expect as close to 0% failures as humanly possible. I'm inclining to go with hoodman at this point as $50 is nothing to pay for security.

I did call 3 photo stores. My local store which is not a chain and a good place said they recommend hoodman's to pros because they are more reliable ( also another brand thats tarted with a P - don't remember).

2 other stores said they are all the same - buy the cheapest one. One of those said he has seen failures on hoodman but he was cavalier in the conversation and I don't know whether he really knew what he was talking about. He said they all have failures. The other store said they are all reliable but recommended Sandisk in particular. My local store (smaller) sounded more knowledgeable to me.

What about the Sonys Kevin links to? 32MB/s is a lot faster than Class 6 6MB/s. Is the comparison accurate?

Leonard,
I agreed with you when people use the sdhc card for photography. This is the quote I got when searching for sdhc: "Digital photography which is required a high speed sdhc card which can write a picture of 30MB" and not many sdhc cards can deliver it unless using smaller file size.

But we are talking about video. With Class 4: min @4MB/s or even Class 6: min 6MB/s.
With the sdhc specification (2.0), any manufacturing must follow it. I think the different between them will be the reliability of their cards. And time will tell which one will be the choice for Sony EX1/EX3.

Technology is changing very fast ... we are ready to use ssd for EX1/EX3 soon.

Sandisk 16gb 3 cards $94.95 after $90.00 rebate
 

Sandisk 16gb 3 cards $94.95 after $90.00 mail in rebate rebate

3XSDSDRH016GA11 SanDisk 16GB Ultra II Secure Digital High Capacity, SDHC, Memory Card, 15MB/Sec Read/Write Speed - Pack of 3

Sandisk Class all over the place
 

If you look at the 4th image from left the Sandisk card is a Class 2. Apparently Class2 Sandisk Cards do not work for MxR, etc. I also downloaded the rebate form and the picture only shows 16GB Class 2 Card which does not work with the EX's. Sandisk has completely lost my trust. They are messing with the card class system and seem to have created their own system and creating paranoia around the MxR systems. I have stuck with Transcends cards (8GB & 16GB Class 6) close to 100 hours of XDCAM HD footage so far and no problems whatsoever! I would steer clear of Sandisk. I had to return tons of cards from various well known and trusted stores because the pictures show Class 4 (these cards work) and the info says Class 4 and they send me Class 2's. CLASSIC bait & switch technique. Buyer Beware, steer clear of Sandisks!

I'm using two Sandisk 32GB Ultra II Class 2 cards in MxR and they work fine. I've been using them since January without issue.

It's the Ultra II Class 4 cards that people are having problems with.

The SanDisk class 2 cards do work and vary well they are actually faster than most of the higher rated cards out there. I have been using the 16gb for about 9 months . Class 2 will not work on the JVC Gy-Hm-100. I also use the Transcend 32gb Class 6 and the SanDisk 32gb classII.

My EX1 is finally in for the firmware upgrade, so I'm ready to buy some cheaper cards! I plan to get the Hoodman combo (I do this for a living and like their reliability claims, plus they are still LOADS cheaper than Sony SxS cards!), but I also want to try some transcend cards for family stuff. Does anyone know if they will fit in the Hoodman adaptor and still allow you to close the door on the EX?