Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsJunk: Good transfer speeds, but internal pins bend very easily when removing cards, ruining reader
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2016
UPDATE May 2016: These seem like good readers in theory, but the internal pins are terrible, get caught on the cards and then bend when removing the card. The first one I ordered worked okay for a few weeks, then the pins on the Micro SD card bent when removing a Micro card, so that slot became unusable. I thought it was a fluke, so I ordered a second one. I only used the second one a few times, and today tried to remove a full size SD card from it. The card would not come out. The pins got stuck on the plastic edge of the SD card, and I could not remove the card. With no other options, I pulled the card out, and once again, two of the pins were completely bent backwards. The ends of the internal pins are not curved downward enough and apparently catch on the SD and MicroSD cards. And the pins are so thin and narrow that they bend easily. I now have one with bend MicroSD slot pins, and another with bend SD slot pins. Since it has happened on two of them with two different SD cards of different sizes, I'm confident it isn't me. I've never had an issue with a memory card reader before, ever, so it's definitely a bad product design. I've opened up the reader to see if I can fix the pins, but the shielding is apparently soldered to the board, so it isn't easy to disassemble.
I would avoid this model and try a different brand.
UPDATE October 2016: I had two of these, and the other one just got ruined when I tried to remove the SD card. The card wouldn't come out because the pins were stuck on the edge of the card, so I had to force it out, which bends the pins and ruins the reader. This was a different brand SD card than I've used previously, so it happens with different cards. Photo attached.
------- ORIGINAL REVIEW --------------
The first one I ordered seemed to work great with a standard SD card. Very fast transfer speeds.
After having it for a few weeks, I tried to insert a MicroSD card but it wouldn't go in. I looked in the MicroSD slot with a flashlight, and I see one of the pins is bent up, preventing the card from going in. So I used an SD card adapter to read the Micro card, but strangely, when I used the standard SD slot, the adapter card started to hang up a bit on the pins, so I am now reluctant to use it, which is why I ordered a second one.
I just received the second one and tried it with both MicroSD and standard SD, and the cards slide in and out fine in both slots. So either I have to be extremely careful when inserting the cards, or there is some quality control issue with the pins in some of the readers.
Given the incredibly low price, it isn't a big deal, but it's disappointing. I'd rather pay double the price and get something that won't have the issues. The reviews of the other USB 3 readers don't seem any better, so that's why I bought a second one rather than try a different brand. The devil you know...
In terms of heat, both of mine are definitely warm to the touch when plugged in, but they are not hot.
