Spire SP331CB USB CombiPod Card Reader

Founded in 1991, Spire is a leading premier brand for computer thermal solutions, power supplies and pc cases. In order to meet the needs and demands of the global market, we have established our production facilities in China and corporate office located in the USA. Our overseas branches are located in The Netherlands, The U.K, Germany, France, Taiwan, Japan and Brazil. All locations are located strategically to better work with the customers we serve.

Spire ideals, to which our employees give full recognition, are (1) constantly striving to become stronger, (2) being sincere and active and (3) seeking the latest innovative technology. After years of hard work and dedication in running its business, Spire today is a major presence in three major business fields: computer thermal solutions, power supplies and pc cases. It has received full recognition in its products as well as its services. The purpose built Spire factory and all of the products were approved by CE, UR, CSA, and TUV in 1998. We gained AMD and VIA approvals along with recognition by International Standard Commission for Quality Assurance in 1999 against ISO-9002 & ISO-9001. Spire is also proud of shipping all its products compliant to the standards of The European Union ROHS and WEEE.

More information availabe at www.spirecoolers.com

Application: Multi card reader & USB Hub

Bracket slots: 4 slots

Certifications: CE, RoHS, FCC

Colors: Black, white

Connectors: USB 2.0

Data transfer: 1.5/12/480 Mbit/sec

G.W. Weight: 169g

Housing: Plastic

Interface: USB1.0 and 2.0

OS support: Win 98/2000/ME/XP/Vista, Mac OS 8.6/8.8/OSX

Power: USB

Specifications: support memory cards:compact Flash type I/II,MS,SD,MMC,XD,SM etc.

Support: CF/MS/XD/SD/TF compatible

Voltage: DC 5V

Warranty: 3 Year Limited Warranty

SP331CB CombiPod is packed in all plastic retail packet. On the front side we can see the actual product with spire logo branded on top of it. Front side of the packet also indicates that the product is compatible with Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. On the other side of the packet we see a short introduce about the product as well as the list of packet contents. There is also a list of features of the product.

Inside the package there are the product itself plus USB-cable for connecting it. Spire provides also a driver cd for legacy operating systems like Windows 95/98. Windows operating systems after Windows 2000 do not require the use of driver-cd as USB-mass storage support is integrated in the operating system.

Front side of the device includes card readers for various memory cards. There are slots for CF/MD, MS, SD/MMC, TF and XD cards. For use with mini/micro-sd, which are often found on mobile phones, you have to use adapter which is usually provided with the memory card itself.

Right side of the product includes two port USB-hub. However you have to keep in mind that CombiPod does not include external power supply, so the power consumption of those two devices should not together exceed the 500mA limit of one USB-slot in computer.

Left side of the CombiPod has USB-slot for connecting the device to computer as well as power slot for external power supply which as stated above is not included within the package. However any 5V powersupply with appropriate connector should do the thing.

As before with SB332CB review we decided not to do actual test program tests with this device. We see no sense comparing card readers with other card readers as most of them are connected to USB-slot however. Also used memory cards affect the result very much.

However we did compare SP331CB against Panasonic DMC-FX9 digital camera. Putting the memory card in SP331CB and transferring files from there was much faster than transferring pictures directly from the camera. These results are based purely on reviewers own computer enviroment and your results may differ.

The main benefit in having card reader is the ease of transferring data from computer to memory card. For example data cable is not often provided with mobile phones and transferring mp3 files to your phone via bluetooth is very slow.

Being priced around 10-15USD, SP331CB is great value for money. Easy to install in USB-slot and performance compared to my digital camera are something to keep in mind buying memory card readers. I’m sure there are faster products available in the market, but for the price of 10-15USD I admit this product is great value for money.

+ Great value for 10USD

+ Will suit for almost every memory card

+ Driver CD for legacy operating systems

-  No manual