There are 2 speeds to consider regarding CF cards – read and write speeds. If this is the case, consider multi-card models like the Kingston Digital FCR-HS4 and the Zedela Multi, or check out our article that's specifically dedicated to SD card readers. If you have a variety of camera gear you may have a need to read SD and microSD cards in addition to CompactFlash cards. It's one of the most affordable models on the market and it offers good transfer speeds, but if you're an avid photographer or videographer you're definitely going to want something with a more durable enclosure, as this selection probably won't stand up to daily use as well as many higher-end choices. The price range of our list has been further expanded with the addition of the Indmem Portable, which is suitable for those who are simply trying to import content from a few old cards, or otherwise don't have a need to read CF cards that often. This option is a budget-friendly choice that fits easily into a laptop or camera bag, and is ready to go at a moment's notice. It's true that readers with USB-A connectors can be used with such devices when paired with an adapter or hub, but if your phone and laptop both feature USB-C ports exclusively you may as well avoid these secondary devices for the sake of convenience, cost, and reliability. We also added the Unitek Aluminum as a nod to the growing number of devices that only have USB-C inputs.
Though the standards are somewhat similar in function CFast readers are not backwards compatible with CompactFlash cards, so we thought it would be best to avoid any possibility of someone accidentally ordering the wrong type of device for their needs. Since all of the models on our list already met this standard there was no need for a major update, however we did make a couple adjustments.įirst and foremost, we ultimately decided to remove the CFast readers on our list. The maximum transfer speed of the best CF cards is 167 MB/s while USB 3.0 maxes out at 625 MB/s, which means that as long as your reader is compatible with USB 3.0 it should be able to deliver the highest speed your card is capable of. Not too many changes needed to be made this time around since the CompactFlash format has pretty much peaked with the UDMA 7 standard, and it's quite likely no further revisions for CompactFlash will be released due to the increasing implementation of newer formats like CFast and XQD.