Hacking Brand of SD card

[DSatisfied]

I got my CycloDS yesterday, and my local computer retailer was all out of MicroSD. I then went to Staples to see what I could find, and the only reasonably-priced stuff was from... Lexar. The people who make cheap printers. I decided to take a pass, even though it's killing me to have the Cyclo here with no memory.

So, the lesson is: unless you have a specific SD card you already want to buy or have a good line on a price, just get the bundle. You'll be happier you did.

But the question is: is generic or "lesser-known" brands (like Lexar) good'nuff, or should I hold off and wait for some Kingston/OCZ/Patriot/Whatever? I'm feeling impatient, but I also don't want to blow my money on something that's not going to perform well at all.

So beyond specific recommendations, what I'm curious about is a more general question-- are the brands talked about on this forum that important, or is off-brand OK?

 

[Kingwad]

The general rule is to buy Japanese made SD over Taiwan made SD. My PNY made in Japan is very fast, and has never given me any grief. My Taiwan-made PNY was garbage (Castlevania PoR froze all the time, etc) same with my first Transcend Taiwanese card. Kingston cards are good if you get a Japanese one. The MicroSD will say directly on it where it's made.

For your cell phone to play music, any cheep card will do. The DS is expecting high-speed memory, cause that's what the cartriges have. You can buy Japanese Kingstons off eBay for cheap (much cheaper than retail)

 

[DeMoN]

Japanese made Kingston cards seem to work the best for playing games.
(Taken from the GBAtemp reviews)

 

[DSatisfied]

Cool. I'm off in about an hour to buy-- found a local retailer with 2GB SD Kingston in stock (not sure about Japanese or not), and 4GB OCZ SDHC.

I know OCZ make really good RAM, but nobody on this board mentions them in terms of quality of Flash. If anyone has an opinion within the next... 15-30 minutes (lol) it'd be helpful; otherwise I'll probably get the OCZ.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[Agjsdfd]

I just bought 2 of thesehere.
But am not sure if its japan or taiwan card...
Its microSDHC, would taht be still too slow for flashcarts?
Damn, I should have bought toshiba from ebay.. saw really cheap offers.

 

[DSatisfied]

Dumb retailer. Short version: I got the Kingston, made in Japan. Good price ($28 CDN for 2GB) but not a big enough difference-- should've just got the bundle that included the memory. Long version:



Me: I'm looking for a flash card-- microSD or SDHC.
Him: what size?
Me (an idiot): er... micro!
Him: no, I mean what capacity
Me: oh, duh... um, anywhere 2GB and up.
Him: yup, we have 2GB Kingston or 4GB OCZ

Get to the store... the OCZ was full-size SD.

WTF? I realize the way I asked the question wasn't 100% explicit... it could have been "microSD or microSDHC", but it seemed like the micro part was pretty clear. And if that wasn't enough, my idiot response to his "size" question should have made it clear that I needed micro form-factor.

At least the Kingston was one of this forum's "go-to" recommendations, so it should be fine.

Cheers