With more and more photos being taken on phones, the need to pull data off of CF, SD and Micro SD cards may be declining. I still have a need and the card reader I have used for years was no longer functioning. So I did some shopping for a replacement and purchased a new one. While the links before will earn me a small commission if you shop with them, I got no special deal when purchasing one for myself.

First, you may wonder if you need to read CF, SD or MicroSD cards. I had a Digital SLR camera that uses CF cards. I could use a cable to connect the camera, but it is far easier to take the card out and put it in a card reader. I also have a pocket digital camera that uses SD cards. It is not uncommon for phones (except Apple) to have MicroSD cards though they can be tough to remove from the phone.

My choice was the EC Technology Aluminum Superspeed USB 3.0 Card Reader shown above. At first glance, the price was right and it supported the media I use. Once it arrived, I was very pleasantly surprised that it was heavier than expected thanks to the very solid aluminum shell. Previous card readers I’ve owned have been very flimsy plastic.

You may consider it a pro or a con, but the USB cable only has a plug to go into the computer. The card reader end of the cable is directly wired into the shell. Should the cable go bad, it wouldn’t be easy to replace. But I had one card reader fail because the USB cable would no longer plug into the shell. So to me, having it hard wired is a huge plus.

From a speed standpoint, it is based on USB 3.0. This means it is really fast if plug into a USB 3.0 port on your computer. If you only have USB 2.0, it still works though it won’t be as fast at transferring data. All in all, it was a great purchase for not a lot of money!