Transcend 8 GB Class 6 Flash Memory

I bought my wife a sweet new digital camera for Christmas. It's a Panasonic Lumix FZ28 and has a ton of features. Because there are so many options when it comes to buying flash memory cards for cameras, I wanted to wait until we opened the box and see what the manual recommended for memory. According to Panasonic, it said we should get memory that has at least a 10 mb/sec write speed in order to utilize some of the video and multi-picture recording properties of the camera. This is why we chose the Transcend 8 GB Class 6 TS8GSDHC6 SDHC flash memory card.

This is a Class 6 SDHC flash memory card. When it comes to SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) flash memory cards, there are three speed classifications that all depend on the card's minimum sustained data transfer speed. Class 2 does a minimum of 2 mb/sec, Class 4 does 4 mb/sec, and Class 6 does a minimum of 6 mb/sec. Beyond that, it depends on the manufacturer and the quality of the flash drive, as the data transfer speed greatly differs between makes and models. Unless your device can utilize the high speeds, there's no need for you to spend extra on that flash memory.

We are very happy with the performance of this flash memory from Transcend. I'd never heard of the brand before, but everywhere that I read about them turned up mostly positive reviews. Sure, some people got a lemon here or there, but that can happen with anything that is mass produced. It comes in a basic clamshell type package that needs to be carefully cut open. I was a little disappointed that it did not include any kind of plastic storage case, but it isn't that big a concern since my wife probably won't ever take it out of her camera.

Installation of this flash memory is as simple as inserting it into the slot of the digital camera. Even at the maximum of 10 megapixels, the camera said this flash card had room enough for over 1,500 pictures. That's surely way more than we'll ever need, but the price difference between a 4 GB and 8 GB model is only a few dollars. I figured we might as well go ahead and get the big one. If we start taking a lot of videos, they will take up a lot more space than a single photo.

One last thing - I bought this flash memory from Newegg.com for just $13.99 while other brand 8 GB cards were selling for twice that, if not more, in retail stores. You really need to shop around before you buy, because you'll almost always find better deals online. If you're in a pinch and need memory immediately, be prepared to pay a lot extra in a store like Best Buy or Circuit City. The same goes for pretty much all PC components, too.