Well-constructed and does what I need it to.

I bought the Sony MRW62ES1181 after trying a less expensive "generic" reader. The (only slightly) less expensive reader's CF slot was not large enough for Type II cards (such as a MicroDrive). It was also very cheaply constructed.

So I returned the "generic" to the store (on the same day) and paid $6 more for the Sony. The Sony's construction is solid; it feels like a lightweight plastic brick in the hand. And the card slots are sized and contoured so that my CF Type I, CF Type II (Seagate 5GB ST1), and (2GB PNY) Secure Digital cards all fit perfectly. I don't own any other cards, so I can't test compatibility of those types.

It worked the first time I plugged it into my Win2k SP4 (P4 2.4, 2GB, etc.) system. This reader is so much faster (and I no longer need Canon's clutterware) to get files off of my camera's cards. I've transferred some pretty large files back and forth from the ST1 and the CF card. Both are pretty much as fast as transferring a file from one internal drive to another. I'm happy with that. I didn't install any software that Sony included. It just worked out of the box.

One thing I really like about the MRW62ES1181 is that the four different slots are seen by Windows as four separate, hot-swappable drives. If you felt like it, you could Velcro this thing to your case and leave it plugged in 24/7. And any time you insert a new card, you can click on the corresponding logical drive and access your card.

The slots are lettered (on my computer) left-to-right and top-to-bottom when facing the front of the device. The exact letters are hardware-dependent and may not be the same for you as they are for me. I guess Sony's icons (showing the drives as graphical representations of the media type) could come in handy, but I get along fine without it.

I do wonder how it the MRW62ES1181 would react to a MicroDrive, for instance, with multiple partitions on it. I do know that my CF device wouldn't be the least bit happy about it. So there's no sense in messing with it.

It worked out of the box and does exactly what I need it to do. It's built like it'll last longer than the computer I'm plugging it in to. I've had no problems with it.