CF cards: Fit, finish, and ERRORS - Final Chapter

On 02-02-05 I received an email advice that Lexar's shipping agent,
QuantumView, had tranferred custody of a package directed to me, to
United Parcel Service.

Today UPS delivered one new example of each of the problem CF cards.
They both fit and eject easily in and from the appropriate cameras and
readers. I haven't tried to fill them, yet.

I believe this demonstrates Lexar is a reliable and conscientious
manufacturer, who can be depended upon to warrant their products
apprpriately.

Even if they didn't see fit to upgrade the 40x 512 MB card to an 80x,
such as can now be purchased for less money than I paid for the 40x.

Any road, Lexar did right.


--
Frank ess

On 01-27-05 Frank ess wrote:
The original of this post , and my first email to Lexar, were on
01-18-05. I heard back from Lexar within a few hours, answered their
questions and had a second response (We'll get back to you in a day or
two...) just a few hours later. Then nothing until yesterday, after I
sent the full array of messages and a suggestion that a couple
thousand of my closest Usenet friends were awaiting a resolution of
this circumstance. Minutes later, "Send us your address and we'll
issue you an RMA so we can get a look at the cards." I did, and they
did , and today the cards are in the (insured) mail to Fremont,
California, just a hop, skip, jump, and a lump of miles up the coast.

We shall see what we shall see.


Frank ess wrote:
I shot 130 or so raw images to fill a 1GB Lexar 8x CF card. When I
tried to take it out of the camera (20D), wouldn't come easily. After
some fingernail and expletive-bending, I was able to retrieve it and
found it hot.

I plugged in a 512MB Lexar 40x card and went on my merry way. For a
dozen photos. After that number the camera gave all the same
indications as when it was successfully recording images (all the
right noises, focus affirms, etc.) but unbeknownst to me, was
displaying "Error 2" on the LCD. No number of offs and ons of the
camera, plug-unplugs of the CF card, nor remove-insert battery cycles
had any effect. The camera performed, but as soon as the
write-to-card function was called, it blinked "Error 2".

Inserting another 512MB card eliminated the problem.

My computer has a built-in multi-card reader. The Lexar cards both
require some effort to remove. None of the other brands I use display
this characteristic. They all do the old in-out just fine in a
separate fire-wire reader.

I wonder if anyone else has had difficulty with Lexar CF cards, as
far as (apparently) poor fit. I can't seem to determine which of the
cards' dimensions is outside tolerance. You reckon I should stick a
little silicon or teflon lubricant on the edges? File them down?

Does Mr Lexar have a reputation for exchanging recalcitrant cards
without a whimper?

Frank ess wrote:
On 02-02-05 I received an email advice that Lexar's shipping agent,
QuantumView, had tranferred custody of a package directed to me, to
United Parcel Service.

Today UPS delivered one new example of each of the problem CF cards.
They both fit and eject easily in and from the appropriate cameras and
readers. I haven't tried to fill them, yet.

I believe this demonstrates Lexar is a reliable and conscientious
manufacturer, who can be depended upon to warrant their products
apprpriately.

Even if they didn't see fit to upgrade the 40x 512 MB card to an 80x,
such as can now be purchased for less money than I paid for the 40x.

Any road, Lexar did right.


And they continue to _try_.

After a couple of satisfactory demo-only uses, I did a fill-it-up
session with the substituted Lexar 80x 1G card, and ... it took serious
gripping to get it out of the 20D camera, and out of the built-in reader
on my 14-month-old computer.

Both the camera and the reader have a compatible relationship with a
dozen other cards from three makers, including three other Lexars: you
push the button and they all but fall out of the slot.

I emailed Lexar (mentioning that I had purchased another 1GB Lexar card
of later and apparently improved construction and that it did not
exhibit the sticky behavior) and followed instructions to return the
card, insured. Again.

After another reasonable wait, yet another substituted card arrived.
Within minutes I had determined it was of the earlier construction and
was sticky, but not as bad as the previous two versions. It takes
more—but not disabling—effort to remove from the camera and reader slots
than any of my other cards.

I have not decided what course to follow from here. Couple more round
trips to the Post Office plus mailing/insurance charges and I will reach
the point of diminishing returns, if I'm not there already.

Lexar probably has a limited number of older-style cards they can keep
sending me. I, on the other hand, have approached the limits of my
patience and tolerance for the outlay of time and money on an irritant.

I figure Lexar have done what is reasonable, and can't speculate with
regard to their hesitance to replace the old-and-sticky with a
newer-and-slick item. If what they expect is to wear me out, they are
getting there.

Meanwhile, like many features of life in general, the card works fine
once it is settled in; it's the transitions tat are painful.


--
Frank ess



On 01-27-05 Frank ess wrote:
The original of this post , and my first email to Lexar, were on
01-18-05. I heard back from Lexar within a few hours, answered their
questions and had a second response (We'll get back to you in a day
or two...) just a few hours later. Then nothing until yesterday,
after I sent the full array of messages and a suggestion that a
couple thousand of my closest Usenet friends were awaiting a
resolution of this circumstance. Minutes later, "Send us your
address and we'll issue you an RMA so we can get a look at the
cards." I did, and they did , and today the cards are in the
(insured) mail to Fremont, California, just a hop, skip, jump, and a
lump of miles up the coast. We shall see what we shall see.


Frank ess wrote:
I shot 130 or so raw images to fill a 1GB Lexar 8x CF card. When I
tried to take it out of the camera (20D), wouldn't come easily.
After some fingernail and expletive-bending, I was able to retrieve
it and found it hot.

I plugged in a 512MB Lexar 40x card and went on my merry way. For a
dozen photos. After that number the camera gave all the same
indications as when it was successfully recording images (all the
right noises, focus affirms, etc.) but unbeknownst to me, was
displaying "Error 2" on the LCD. No number of offs and ons of the
camera, plug-unplugs of the CF card, nor remove-insert battery
cycles had any effect. The camera performed, but as soon as the
write-to-card function was called, it blinked "Error 2".

Inserting another 512MB card eliminated the problem.

My computer has a built-in multi-card reader. The Lexar cards both
require some effort to remove. None of the other brands I use
display this characteristic. They all do the old in-out just fine
in a separate fire-wire reader.

I wonder if anyone else has had difficulty with Lexar CF cards, as
far as (apparently) poor fit. I can't seem to determine which of the
cards' dimensions is outside tolerance. You reckon I should stick a
little silicon or teflon lubricant on the edges? File them down?

Does Mr Lexar have a reputation for exchanging recalcitrant cards
without a whimper?