Review: Microtech Zio! and CameraMate Flash Memory Card Readers

Don Bradbury tries a pair of USB readers that digital camera and other potential users might consider

Product	Zio! and CameraMate
Company	Microtech International
Web	www.microtechint.com
Price	Zio! £29.99 CameraMate £59.99
We like
We don't like
Rating	8/10
Requirements

The Zio! A reader with minimalist tendencies

I don't know about you, but I hate wires all over the place. If you want a memory card reader for your digital camera that simply plugs into a spare USB port - with not a cable to be seen - then consider the Zio! Compact Flash+ Type II Card Reader/Writer from Microtech.

Installation is a breeze under supported OSs; that's Windows 98/ME/2000 or Mac OS 8.5 or later. Simply pop the driver CD into your drive and follow the yellow brick road. The instructions say to reboot the machine, but the drive, upon insertion into a free USB port on an ME machine, was recognised without a reboot and was immediately available.

Thereafter, you just have to take the memory card out of the camera or whatever, pop it into the Zio! reader, and, hey presto, you're in business. Find your file, load it into your favourite image manipulation software (such as Paint Shop Pro) and away you go with the world of digital photography at your feet. That's a darn sight easier than setting up for USB file uploads, as is standard practise with most digital cameras.

I say 'not a cable to be seen', but in fact, for those whose most easily accessible USB port is round the back of the system box (a stupid place to put hot-swap ports) there is a supplied USB extension cable. Use that if you have to in order to effectively bring the port round the front of the PC for ease of access, though you might think that, in a way, negates the benefit of a direct-fit reader, the main selling point of the Zio! Direct fit is especially useful if you operate with an adjacent USB port - on your monitor or keyboard perhaps.

The CameraMate twin card device

Also from Microtech is the dual function CameraMate Compact Flash / SmartMedia reader for those who need both types of slot. Installation is, as before, relatively simple, though the printed instructions were incorrect in one or two departments. Setup.exe was, in fact, in a subdirectory, not the root of the install CD; you have to select your operating system folder first.

After driver installation, the on-screen display over-rides the printed directions once again in that it tells you to plug in the CameraMate reader prior to a reboot, not subsequently. In fact the device, as with the Zio!, was recognised without a reboot.

The CameraMate lets you use both types of flash memory card simultaneously, when copying between them was as easy as with any pair of disk drives. Explorer drag/drop, copy/paste, and move, all useful if you operate with both cards, including Compact Flash+ Type II and 3.3 or 5v SmartMedia up to 128MB capacity. Each slot is complete with an eject mechanism, the SmartMedia one by spring loading.

In conclusion

Both of these Microtech devices accepted an adapter-less Microdrive, ie CF format, though the CameraMate, for some reason, seemed confused by it after hot-plugging. It routinely demanded a reboot before recognising IBM's increasingly useful high capacity drive. Shame, that.

However, the pack does contain software for photo correction (Digital Camera Suite-SE), web site creation (Web Easy - trial version), and multimedia slideshow presentation for the PC. Mac users get PhotoFolio 2.x.

Neither reader accepts PC Card dives, unfortunately, and, for some, that will put them at a disadvantage in comparison with, for example, the recently discounted Cardport Swift Syncro flash memory reader reviewed recently. However, the need for an adapter is avoided; you can't have it both ways. The IBM adapter is, it has to be admitted, slightly awkward to use when refitting the CF Microdrive to it.

Either of these Microtech devices is recommended provided your application is appropriate.

 

Don Bradbury