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If you happen to frequently shoot and edit on location, you may doubtless want to move a group of reminiscence playing cards, together with a card reader. Add in a separate USB cable and, at greatest, you have bought an annoying bundle of litter. However at worst you can simply lose one aspect of this crucial workflow bundle. That is the place the PGYTech CreateMate comes into its personal. It is an all-in-one reminiscence card reader and card storage case, which additionally incorporates its personal built-in USB-C cable. It is even water- and shock-resistant, giving much more peace of thoughts. A number of variations can be found to swimsuit completely different card codecs, however right here we’re testing the CFexpress Sort B / SD reader (see our full evaluation of the SD/microSD CreateMate).
Specs
|
Dimensions |
130 x 75 x 27mm (with rubber case included) |
|
Weight |
198g |
|
Card compatibility |
CFexpress Sort B, SD, SDHC, SDXC (UHS-I and II), microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC (UHS-I and II) |
|
Programs |
Home windows 7 and above, Mac OS 10.6 and above, Linux, Android, iPad OS. |
Options
In its closed state, the CreateMate is a subtly designed gadget which successfully hides what lies inside. Its gentle silicone cowl (out there in black or Moss Inexperienced) supplies safety in opposition to drops, although it may be eliminated to disclose a smooth aluminium alloy exterior that’ll praise most laptops. Even with out the silicone pores and skin, the CreateMate is IP54-rated in opposition to mud and water ingress.
To entry your playing cards and reveal the cardboard reader, merely press on one finish and out pops a plastic inside part containing every little thing you want. The slide motion is clean but with a reassuring quantity of resistance, indicating the ingress safety seals are doing their job. To attach the CreateMate to a pc, you may must reveal the brief USB-C cable. That is pressed into the perimeters of the plastic module: pull the small purple tab and the tip of the USB connector will come out simply sufficient that you could grip it after which pull the cable out from its recess that runs spherical the underside and reverse fringe of the gadget.
The CreatMate is appropriate with Home windows, Mac OS, Android and iPad OS – simply plug and play – although you’ll require a Sort-C to Sort-A adapter to make use of it with an older laptop which lacks Sort C ports. The cardboard reader makes use of a USB 3.2 Gen2 interface, which has a theoretical most bus velocity of 1250 megabytes per second. In apply that’ll be extra like 1000MB/s in real-world use, which is considerably sooner than a UHS-II SD card, however a way wanting the utmost velocity of among the greatest CFexpress Sort B playing cards, which might attain speeds approaching 4000MB/s. To allow the total velocity potential of the newest CFexpress 4.0 playing cards, you’d want a USB4 or Thunderbolt 3/4 interface, however such card readers are nonetheless comparatively unusual, with most producers nonetheless using the USB 3.2 Gen 2 commonplace, like PGYTech.
Efficiency
PGYTech claims the CreateMate ought to be able to Sort B switch speeds of as much as 1000MB/s, and UHS-II SD / microSD card speeds of as much as 312MB/s. To check this, I used the CrystalDiskMark storage benchmarking software program, with the CreateMate linked to a USB4 port on a quick laptop computer. USB4 is 4x sooner than USB 3.2 Gen 2, so there ought to be no bottlenecks when velocity testing. My take a look at playing cards of alternative had been a Delkin Black CFexpress 4.0 Sort B card able to as much as 3530 MB/s learn and 3250MB/s write speeds – once more, greater than sufficient to max out the CreateMate. I additionally broke out my quickest SDXC card – a UHS-II V90 card with a most rated velocity of 285MB/s learn and 180MB/s write.
The Sort B card carried out precisely as anticipated, being USB-bottlenecked to 1055MB/s learn and 1000MB/s write speeds. Switching to the SD card resulted in a most learn velocity of 266MB/s – not far of the cardboard’s most rated learn velocity – whereas the 179MB/s write price is just about precisely what the cardboard ought to obtain.
Assessing peak switch speeds utilizing benchmarking software program is okay, however there’s nonetheless no substitute for measuring the velocity of precise, real-world file transfers. So I used a 32 gigabyte video file and transferred it to and from the identical Sort B and SD playing cards, recording the typical and peak learn/write speeds for each:
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Learn (peak) |
Write (peak) |
|
CFexpress Sort B |
739 MB/s (807 MB/s) |
614 MB/s (629 MB/s) |
|
SD (UHS II) |
266 MB/s (274MB/s) |
164 MB/s (177 MB/s) |
I might all the time anticipate real-world switch speeds to be barely decrease than the figures recorded by benchmarking software program, however the CreateMate did handle to file some fairly respectable learn/write speeds from my take a look at card. SD switch speeds had been equally spectacular, precisely matching the outcomes I recorded from the SD/microSD model of the CreateMate, in addition to my normal go-to standalone SD card reader from Prograde Digital.
Verdict
I’ve seen loads of multi-purpose gadgets over time which declare to spice up versatility and comfort, however find yourself being annoyingly compromised. That is not the case right here although: the CreateMate is a genuinely useful gizmo for on-the-go creatives. If you happen to shoot with a high-end digicam that has SD and Sort B slots, it is perfect, offering each space for storing and ingress/drop safety to your valuable reminiscence playing cards. The gadget itself is reassuringly nicely made, and I discovered the cardboard reader to carry out in addition to it may throughout the restrictions of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface.
It would be simple to criticise PGYTech for utilizing this USB commonplace as an alternative of the sooner USB4 revision, which may allow the newest CFexpress 4.0 playing cards to run unconstrained. However the actuality is almost all of standalone Sort B readers are additionally USB 3.2 Gen 2, and adopting a faster revision would doubtless have elevated the CreateMate’s worth an excessive amount of. Even with the comparatively ‘gradual’ USB 3.2 connection, learn speeds of over 800MB/s are to not be sniffed at. Except you are transferring huge quantities of information each day, these additional few seconds of switch time are unlikely to get irritating. You are extra more likely to be aggravated by the comparatively cumbersome dimension of the CreateMate, however that is a vital aspect impact of the gadget’s card space for storing and water resistance.
Finally, should you want an all-in-one card reader and card storage resolution that’ll survive the calls for of day by day abuse, the PGYTech CFexpress CreateMate Card Reader Case will not disappoint.