If you work in IT for a living, you know that we are always on the move.  You just do not have time for slow or unreliable Secure Digital cards.  If all these statements are true, then the Kingston 1Gb SD card will work for you.

The card came in a protective box from Amazon and included is a small plastic case to keep it safe while not in use.  I also keep my SD cards out of direct sunlight since the heat may damage the memory chip inside.

Product Testing
The Kingston 1Gb SD card has many uses.  First, you can use the card in your Nintendo DSi to store pictures taken with the two internal cameras.  Some electronic devices are not able to read the higher capacity SDHC cards so the only way to store files is to use these SD cards.  For the most part, any card at or under 2Gb of capacity is compliant with these devices.  My Palm T3 Tungsten is an example of one of these devices and it works great with this card.  In fact, I use this card as my primary storage card on the Tungsten. 

Finally, I placed the secure digital card in my Aiptek DV5700 Digital Camera and was able to take some high definition video with it.  The card does a great job keeping up with the demands of my HD video camera.  I have seen other cards generate IO errors while storing video streams but this card has never done that.  Digital video playback and downloading with this card is very fast, making it my card of choice for any photography work I do.

Performance
Using a Dell Precision T3400 with a USB 2.0 card reader and SiSoftware Sandra 2009.5.15.99 in Removable Storage benchmark, I obtained the following performance figures for this memory card.  All my test results use the 512Kb test value in SiSoftware Sandra because they return the highest performance figures and represent file sizes that are close to the average digital picture size. 
 
Test 1
Device Index; 2778 ops/minute
Drive Index; 5.79 ops/minute/Mbps
512Kb Test
Read Performance; 11842 ops/minute, 98.68kb/s, 0.66x
Write Performance; 2323 ops/minute, 19.36kb/s, 0.13x
Delete Performance; 3172 ops/minute

Test 2
Device Index; 2735 ops/minute
Drive Index; 5.70 ops/minute/Mbps
512Kb Test
Read Performance; 11806 ops/minute, 98.38kb/s, 0.66x
Write Performance; 2304 ops/minute, 19.2kb/s, 0.13x
Delete Performance; 3200 ops/minute

After testing several other 2Gb or less SD cards, the 1Gb Kingston came out on top in all categories of performance.  The SD card has a Drive Index value of 5.70 or greater which is composite score of all the tests that were run on it in the benchmark program.  I have seen some SD cards return a Drive Index as low as 4.33, so beware that there are some real slow cards on the market today and that shopping around is the wisest choice.

Tips
Always format a new SD within your camera or digital video recorder.  The operation will ensure optimum performance in your electronics because some brands like Canon still use proprietary storage formats.

Some electronics are not compatible with SD.  Check your device's support website before purchasing this card. 

Features
Ships with protective case
Mechanical write-protection switch

Summary
I enjoy the high speed and capacity of this card in my Palm Tungsten T3.  I have also owned the card for two years and it has never given me a single problem with file performance.  The industry is moving away from Secure Digital to mini SD cards which are almost 1/8 the size.  Instead, I encourage you to buy two of these cards to give yourself a ready spare for those valuable photo and video memories. The best news is that you can pick up this card from most online retailers for less than $10. 

If you are in the market for higher capacity cards, check out the Transcend - Flash memory card - - Class 6 - SDHC (4 GB) SD Card for its low cost and high density.

Recommended: Yes