RIDATA reveals self-monitoring SMART Compact Flash cards

Looking for a new Compact Flash card, are you? Good news, as RIDATA is fixing to unveil a new line of SMART CF cards at CES. Reportedly, the rugged new cards will be available in two series: the Supreme 150X (up to 8GB capacity-SLC format) and Lightning (up to 16GB MLC format). What differentiates these buggers from the crowd is their ability to self-monitor and report, giving owners the option of checking on the unit's status whenever they please. It also sports embedded Error Correction Code and has been tested for 100,000 program / erase cycles, but unfortunately, we've no idea how much the cards will run you when they land.

[Thanks, Mark]

[Hung @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:50PM]

To anyone considering the purchase of RIDATA's SMART CF cards:

I highly recommend you get the Supreme. SLC, single-level construction, is much faster and less likely to write errors than MLC, multi-level construction. It is also true that SLC can be read/written 10 times as much, but considering that MLC cards can last up to 10 years under harsh use (complete erase & write 3 times/day), longevity is not that important. But speed is as important as compacity for digital imaging.

Kingston uses MLC for its microSD cards, and this is why some of you have realized extremely slow transfer rates when putting stuff on the card for your phones. But it is much cheaper, so if that's important to you, then consider never buying electronics again.

[Nikkoli @ Jan 3rd 2008 1:29PM]

Yes, because anyone who values their money obviously doesn't qualify to own technology. I in fact am sending this message by banging stones together.

[Hung @ Jan 3rd 2008 1:48PM]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I've ever bought an electronic and thought: "hey, what a deal!"

Unless you're using an Apple II or Commodore with free dial-up, you aren't exactly valuing your dollar, are you.

What a jerk, by the way. I was just trying to give some practical advice and sway readers to forget about GB/$ figures and focus on other criterion. But no, you had be such a dick about it. Well, go ahead and get a Lightning card, for all I care. Jeez, such a punk-ass bitch!

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:19PM]

Take a pill Hung, you implied that people trying to be sensible with money are not entitled to technology, and people picked up the glove, then you suddenly act surprised.

You are both right, it's smart to weigh your options and buy cheap, but only if you buy good too!
In fact sometimes companies sell stuff for 3 times the price and it's slower than cheap stuff, and lasts less long to boot.
It's all about company philisophy, some companies take a lower profit margin for a larger market share, but still have excellent products, and some weasels just exploit the dumb with weak overpriced products.
And the annoying thing is that it's sometimes next to impossible to find out what the real specs are :/