Brando 55 in 1 USB Hi-Speed Card Reader

Brando has a new flash card reader available. The 55 in 1 Hi-Speed USB Five-Slot Flash Card Reader/Writer lets you plug in MicroSD/T-Flash, miniSD, Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards without needing to use an adapter. It also supports new SDHC / SDHC 2.0 cards.

Hardware Specs

USB 2.0 transfer rate up to 480Mbps
No external power required, bus powered
Dimensions: 3.15 x 2.28 x .47in (80 x 58 x 12mm)
Plug-n-Play and hot swapping support

Package Contents

Card reader
USB cable

This card reader is compact and made of White plastic. It matches my 24″ iMac perfectly ;o) Labels above each of the 5 cards slots show which type of cards fit in each slot.

Three slots on the front side accommodate MicroSD/T-Flash, SD, miniSD, Memory Stick Pro Duo, and XD.

Two slots on the back are for Compact Flash and Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards.

When a card is plugged into a slot, the LED on to top of the reader will glow Green. It will flash slowly whenever data is transferring.

To get an idea how fast this reader can copy files, I tested it by copying files to and from my iMac and to and from other cards inserted into the reader. The file I used for all the tests was a 118mb .WMV file. The reader was plugged into a USB port on the back of the computer, not through a hub. I ran each test 5 consecutive times and recorded the results below.

Media used:

4GB 133x SanDisk Extreme III CF card

4GB 150x AData SDHC Turbo SD card

1GB SanDisk Ultra II MicroSD card

Test results with my current card reader:

35.26, 34.23, 34.26, 34.22, 34.52 seconds to copy file from computer to CF card
18.05, 17.54, 17.55, 17.51, 17.57 seconds to copy file from computer to MicroSD card

1.98, 1.76, 2.33, 1.74, 1.84 seconds to copy file from CF card to computer
1.85, 2.79, 1.68, 1.64, 1.65 seconds to copy file from MicroSD card to computer

18.05, 17.57, 17.68, 17.56, 17.55 seconds to copy file from CF card to MicroSD card

34.21, 34.25, 34.20, 34.22, 34.00 seconds to copy file from MicroSD card to CF card

Test results with the 55 in 1 card reader:

9.13, 9.19, 9.16, 9.41, 9.14 seconds to copy file from computer to CF card
16.00, 15.85, 15.51, 15.62, 15.50 seconds to copy file from computer to SD card
14.92, 14.52, 14.55, 14.59, 14.54 seconds to copy file from computer to MicroSD card

1.70, 1.85, 1.66, 1.65, 1.64 seconds to copy file from CF card to computer
1.78, 1.71, 1.62, 1.64, 1.69 seconds to copy file from SD card to computer
1.79, 1.74, 1.87, 1.64, 1.72 seconds to copy file from MicroSD card to computer

14.52, 14.62, 14.53, 14.50, 14.63 seconds to copy file from CF card to MicroSD card

9.05, 9.15, 9.19, 9.08, 9.36 seconds to copy file from MicroSD card to CF card
16.25, 15.58, 15.58, 15.69, 15.59 seconds to copy file from CF card to SD card

9.00, 9.10, 9.18, 9.09, 9.24 seconds to copy file from SD card to CF card

The results speak for themselves. You can see that Brando’s new card reader is quite a bit faster at some of the file transfers, while only slightly faster at others.

During my tests, I discovered that if you plug in a MicroSD card and an SD card into the reader at the same time, only one card (the one that was plugged in first) will be recognized. I asked Brando about this because I feared that the reader might be defective. He explained that both slots use the same channel, so only one of the cards can be accessed at a time. This may or may not be an issue for some people. If you anticipate needing to copy files between those two formats, then you will not be able to use this reader.

This is a nice / fast little card reader. Besides the issue with the using the two SD slots at the same time, it does a great job. The best part for me is not needing to use adapters for Micro and Mini SD cards. This reader has earned a permanent spot in my gear bag.