Delkin's ImageRouters daisy chain to read twelve UDMA CF cards at once

Been looking for the perfect card reader to complement that ExpressCard-less MacBook Air of yours? Well here's exactly what you aren't looking for, the ImageRouter from Delkin. This thing is built for professional photographers who need to dump pictures in a hurry, and one of these $149 monstrosities can read up to four CompactFlash cards simultaneously over a USB 2.0 connection. But wait, there's more! You can plug up to three ImageRouters into each other for a total of 12 CompactFlash cards in UDMA transfer mode all at the same time, perfect for all those 25 megapixel shots you've been snapping, or that RAID array you've been meaning to build. Delkin's shipping this thing in March, and it also comes in a $249 version with some bundled BackupandBurn software.

[Via SlashGear]

[Dan Davis @ Jan 31st 2008 3:09PM]

Damn, that's FUGLY!

[Aflac @ Jan 31st 2008 3:13PM]

Awesome, possibility of a 16GBx16 CF card RAID array. That should be fast. Too bad it's USB.

[karts41 @ Jan 31st 2008 3:15PM]

On the up side, it can be used as blunt weapon to fend off rivals jealous of your new purchase.

[Geqxon @ Jan 31st 2008 3:20PM]

Or you could just get the "Lexar Professional UDMA FireWire 800 Reader", which is much faster, much smaller, stackable and daisy-chainable (up to 4) at just $79.99.

[Meltz @ Jan 31st 2008 3:34PM]

That looks like my freaking UPS! I'd hate to see that thing hanging off the back of my pc

[Towncivilian @ Jan 31st 2008 3:58PM]

I don't think you're supposed to plug this thing directly into a port or you risk weight problems. I would use an extension if I were me.

[Meltz @ Jan 31st 2008 6:22PM]

Well, i guess it's a good thing that you are you

[Bill @ Jan 31st 2008 3:34PM]

Need one of these that takes up to four 16GB SD cards for a poor man's 64GB SSD.

[Fernando @ Jan 31st 2008 3:57PM]

This thing wouldn't even fit the POS usb port of the air

[Michael K. Campbell @ Jan 31st 2008 4:04PM]

Useless. The USB bus can't keep up with multiple reads from multiple cards simultaneously anywhooo...

[ecobore @ Jan 31st 2008 4:06PM]

but c'mon guys! USB!!! s..l..o..w.. yes, I KNOW that it is theoretically faster than firewire, but the truth is in the eating hien? the Lexar one is way better.

[Joe @ Jan 31st 2008 4:36PM]

I'm really not inclined to buy anything from a company that appears to have decided to bank on brand confusion with people looking for Belkin products.

[Bizam! @ Jan 31st 2008 4:50PM]

I still can't believe that Belkin hasn't got anything to say about this....

[kalieaire @ Jan 31st 2008 5:32PM]

Seriously, Advertising the ability to quench the "Need for Speed" on a 25mph speed limit? Fact, most card readers and even external hard drives can't get past 16MB/s. That's 128 Megabits roughly 1/4 of the advertised 480Mbit/s BURST speed.

What all the idiots in the world banking on USB don't realize is that speed is limited by ICH's lameness and its dependency in the CPU.

Firewire 400 is rated for 400mbit/s CONSTANT data transfer, not buffer burst speed. It's not even "theoretically" faster than FireWire.

[nxtiak @ Jan 31st 2008 5:34PM]

Now take a picture of you trying to plug that mofo into the Macbook Air!

[engadget @ Jan 31st 2008 6:34PM]

DELKIN vs BELKIN

Get a Clue people.

Delkin has been around since 1986 (Belkin since 83)
Delkin specializes in Camera Accessories while Belkin does all kinds of Computer accessories.


I agree with Geqxon anyway, you would be better off with a FireWire solution. Not sure why they used USB for a device supposedly catering to the Professional Market.

And putting the USB Plug on the end is just plain bad design. Should have opted for a standard USB B-Type jack (the Square one) and included a standard A to B cable in the box. I dont think they ever expect you to plug this directly into the USB Jack on a laptop or PC due to the weight.

[Erik J @ Feb 1st 2008 11:04AM]

USB 2, can easily do 40-50MB/s on my 3-year slow laptop, so you can still get from 12MB/s from each card. I'm guessing the batch job mode of working is more important to this product that the speed.

But It's still 44minutes to empty 8 cheap ass 16GB flash Compact Flash cards... Though it's better than doing it as I do now, swapping a card every 6 minutes..