Well-Priced and Equipped Card Reader

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small and Portable
Sturdy
Physical Protection for Cards
19-in-1!
Cheap 

Cons: No xD card slot

The Bottom Line: 
If you have lots of memory cards and not a lot of money, this Kingston 19-in-One Card Reader will do the trick, and leave some cash in your wallet, too.

Author's Review
  I bought this card reader as a result of 2 previous events in my digital life.

1. The death of an 8gb memory stick pro duo by means of accidental sabotage. (My dad stuck it in an incompatible slot of a different card reader.)

2. Losing the USB cable for the same camera, thereby eliminating any means of transferring photos to a computer. (The cable was a proprietary shape, not a common mini plug.)

  After that, I needed a card reader badly, so I went to Newegg.com and bought the Kingston FCR-HS219/1 Card Reader for 14 dollars+free shipping. The week after, there it was, safe and sound and in one piece. 
 
  The Kingston Card Reader has an interesting appearance with its rounded outer shell, but its functionality is by no means hindered. It slides in and out of its outer shell to expose the card slots and to protect them while in use or not in use. The small Kingston symbol acts as the status light (red in color), and the release button to slide the card reader in and out. The USB cable is extremely short, but the package also provides an extension cable of about 3ft. in length, so that problem is easily remedied. the card reader has two rubber(ish) pads on its bottom side, and if it is on a flat surface, it does a good job of making sure the card reader stays put. 
 
  The KCR is compatible with Windows XP/ Vista/7, MacOS9, OSX, and many, many Linux distributions. It accepts 19 different flash memory formats, including SD, SDHC, micro-SD, Compact Flash I and II, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo and the PRO format variants. There are even more that I do not use; the only one that is not compatible is the xD card format, so look elsewhere if you need that ability. this reader has great read/write speeds, and is only limited by the USB bus or the card's speed being used. 
 
  Overall the Kingston 19-in-One Card Reader is a great value for the price. It is small and sturdy enough for some tossing around. It reads many different popular card formats, and is compatible with several operating systems. So if you need a reader and are on a budget, this is the right choice for you.