DEAL: Smartdisk Fotochute on sale

MrBook2

Hello all. I have been too busy to post this sooner, but the Smartdisk Fotochute is on sale at Office Depot this week (sale ends Saturday 1/28/2006). The price is about $140 and you get a $70 rebate on top of that, so your final cost will be around $75 after tax and the rebate.

And what do you get for all this hard earned cash you ask? Well, it is a no frills 20 GB memory backup device. If there is interest, I will put it through its paces and post a full review, but basically it has a USB port that you can plug your camera or memory card reader (or USB memory key for that matter) into. It can then copy data off of whatever you plugged in onto the internal 20GB harddrive. It has a small LCD for folder navigation and option selection. So it acts as a USB server to copy data from a device (you can also copy data back using the menus.) It then has a different USB cord (this one is built in) to plug into your computer. When you use this one it acts as a USB client and will look like an external harddrive to your computer. I have successfully used it with a CF reader and with my Creative Muvo TX FM MP3 player. Copying a deviced plugged in takes two button presses (once to start, once to confirm that you meant to start.) Copying stuff back off the drive whatever you plugged in takes navigation to the folder or item you want to copy, then navigation to where you want to put it. It is pretty simple and intuitive.

It does not display images, play mp3s or have a TV out. This is strictly no frills. But it seems to do everything it advertises pretty well. Basically for the price of a 1GB compact flash card you can back up 20GB worth of data while in the field. Just what the doctor ordered if you are on a long trip and can't afford the Epson P-2000 (yes, I want one too!)

It has a built in rechargeable Li-ion battery and comes with an AC adaptor. I haven't had a chance to do too much with it this week, so I don't know what the batter life is like. When you plug it into a computer it runs off of the USB power (so you need a powered USB port which may cause problems if you use a USB hub.) There have been scattered reports of issues connecting it to a Mac, but those seem to only happen when you use the USB port on the keyboard. I don't have a Mac, so I can't tell you how it works. I can tell you that it looks like a simple USB mass storage device to linux, so it works fine for me (Debian linux).

There is a review with a picture here: http://www.macworld.com/2005/08/reviews/fotochute/index.php


--Aaron

ian408

Hi Aaron,

I dropped your post in the Flea Market. It's a deal for sure and I wanted to
pass it along.

Ian

MrBook2

ian408 wrote:

Hi Aaron,

I dropped your post in the Flea Market. It's a deal for sure and I wanted to
pass it along.

Ian

That is fine. I am just sorry that it took me so long this week to post the deal. Today is the last day to take advantage of it, but my week was overwhelming.

--Aaron