EyeFi
When I first heard about them, I was very skeptical. I mean, come on, a Wi-Fi card that is also a Secure Digital memory card that you would typically use in your digital camera? Just the size alone discouraged me. My skepticism held until a friend of mine told me that he knows a professional photographer that swears by the Eye-Fi cards.
So now I am a little curious as to what is so spectacular about these little easy to lose cards? I bought the Eye-Fi Pro 4GB card for my canon point and shoot camera at Amazon.com.
They say the first impression is the most important one. After all, unless you have amnesia, is there really room for a second impression?
The card came in this great promotional gimmicky box that at first was hard to open, probably because I was so anxious to see what this was all about that I missed the sticker on the end of the box that was keeping it from opening. When I finally opened it, I saw a quick start guide, SD card reader (which I already have about 20 of), and the Eye-Fi Card itself. Since i’ve been told that it’s really easy to use right out of the box, I wanted to see proof of it. I put the Eye-Fi card into the included SD card reader and plugged it into my available USB port on the front of my computer. It came up saying it found the card, however nothing happened after that. So I got on the phone with support and they had me check the contents of the card. Apparently the software that was supposed to be on it was missing. They then told me to download the software and run the Eye-Fi manager. When I did this I was prompted for a user name and password. Well I never signed up for an account before so I wasn’t sure what credentials it was talking about. Looking further at the Eye-Fi Manager software, it said that my card was registered. To make a long story short, Amazon.com sent me a used card when I purchased a new one. Once you register the card, no one else can register it unless you de-register it in the software. I couldn’t get a hold of the support department again, so I called Amazon.com the next day. As always, Amazon.com treated me good and sent out a new card to me and I got it in 2 days. I, sent the bad one back, however if I was patient enough I found out that support at Eye.Fi was able to reset the card. Well it’s still a good thing, because the next person who gets the card will not have the same trouble.
Ok, now lets get to the rest of this review. I have to say, when I got the card the second time, it was as easy as popping it into an available USB slot and following instructions. Instead of prompting me for a password, it had me create an account. After creating an account, I was able to add my Flickr account and my Picassa web albums account.
They have several models to choose from depending on how you expect to use it. For the most simple card called the Eye-Fi Home, this comes with 2GB of memory and works with just photos. This can only save your pictures to your computer through a Wi-Fi connection. The real cool models are the Pro and the Pro X2 models. The both offer Geotaging and online sharing. The X2 model offers 8GB and faster write speeds for those Digital SLR’s. These cameras write many pictures at one time with their continuous burst modes. Another new feature with the X2 is ‘Endless Memory Mode’. This mode is a little scary because what it does is automatically free up space by removing your photos from the card once your they have been safely delivered to your specified destination. This feature worried me at first, but when I thought about it, this eliminates the need to carry multiple cards around. Let’s face it, if you like taking pictures like I do, you always run out of memory on your card at the worst possilbe moment. Having a second card can be a life saver at times. However, with the Eye-Fi Pro X2 card, the only time I you would need a second card is if you were out of Wi-Fi range for a long time, which nowadays, is damn near impossible.
Where can you store your photos?
They give you a wide range of places where you can upload your photo’s automatically. From the popular Flickr service to online photo printing services like Walmart.com, to social networks like Facebook. You can even send your pictures and videos to an FTP server if you have one available. The only thing that I would have to say that it’s missing is the ability to send to multiple services. I keep a Fickr account and a Picass web album account, and I would love to be able to send the pictures to both services just for backup purposes. However, if you need a good backup solution for your pictures, try out Backupify.com.
Depending on what model you get, you can transfer videos as well as RAW photo files, which can be megabytes to your computer for later editing. With some cards you can also use GeoTagging which will give you a record of where you were when you took the picture. Very handy for when you are on vacation and you want to remember where you are.
Overall, I was very happy with the EyeFi card’s performance and the vast amount of services you can use with it.
Rating: 1 (not good) – 5 (best)
Cost: 3
It really depends on the model you buy. They are all pretty much a good value.
Ease of setup: 5
What setup? It was that easy.
Tech Support: 4
Called them once, great experiencce. I never had to call them again.
Documentation: 4
Startup guide is perfect.
Warranty: 4
1 year warranty. If it lasts that long, it’s bound to give you more years of enjoyment.
Amount of Features: 3
The features they have are great, but I would like to see the ability to send a picture to multiple web services at the same time.
Performance: 4
It sometimes surprises me when the picture makes it to the web.
Overall: 3.8
Overall, I was very happy with the EyeFi card’s performance and the vast amount of services you can use with it.
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