VIZO Mirrorbox CR

(5 star rating) Written by: William Ford

Memory cards are used in everything from digital cameras to cell phones these days and different devices and different brands use various types of memory cards. It in your best interests to get a memory card reader that can read all the different types of memory because you never know what your next 'can't-live-without-it' device will use for memory. Today we take a look at the latest offering from VIZO – the Mirrorbox Card Reader – that aims to solve the issues associated with differing types of memory cards.

Design

The VIZO Mirrorbox is a small, simple and sleek device that can read most common memory types innately and many others with adapters. It is literally a 50-in-1 card reader. The device is about 3 and a half inches long by 2 inches deep and is about half an inch thick. It comes with a USB cable and does not require any external power. It takes the power it need from the USB port on the computer. The only thing I can say against the Mirrorbox is that the USB cable is a bit short at only about 24 inches long. I have a four foot cable that works fine with the device so that was not much of an issue for me, but worth mentioning.

VIZO Mirrorbox Box	VIZO Mirrorbox Contents	VIZO Mirrorbox Top View

Out of the Box Setup

Using the device is easy with Windows XP and Vista. You simply plug it in and you’re ready to start reading memory cards. Windows 98 and ME require drivers that are available from Vizo upon request. The device does not claim compatibility with MACs but most memory card readers are these days so there is no reason it shouldn’t be. However, MAC owners should be aware that it does not specifically say MAC compatible.

The device is capable of reading the following types of memory cards:

• Compact Flash Type I / Compact Flash Type II
• Compact Flash Ultra II
• Compact Flash Extreme
• Compact Flash Extreme III
• Compact Flash HS
• Compact Flash XS-XS
• Compact Flash Elite Pro
• Compact Flash Pro / Pro II
• Hitachi/IBM Micro Drive
• MagicStor
• MemoryStick
• MemoryStick Pro
• MemoryStick Duo
• MemoryStick Pro Duo
• MemoryStick MG
• MemoryStick MG Pro
• MemoryStick MG Duo
• MemoryStick MG Pro Duo
• HS MemoryStick MG Pro
• HS MemoryStick MG Pro Duo
• HS MemoryStick Pro
• HS MemoryStick Pro Duo
• MemoryStick Select
• MemoryStick Pro Ultra II
• MemoryStick Pro Extreme
• MemoryStick Pro Extreme III
• Secure Digital
• Secure Digital Ultra II
• Secure Digital Ultra-X
• Secure Digital Extreme
• Secure Digital Extreme III
• Secure Digital Pro
• Secure Digital Elite Pro
• MiniSD (adapter required)
• MicroSD (adapter required)
• HS MiniSD (adapter required)
• Ultra Speed Secure Digital
• Multimedia Card (MMC)
• Multimedia Card II
• HS-MMC
• RS-MMC
• Ultra RS MMC
• DV-RS MMC
• HS-RS MMC
• SmartMedia Card
• SmartMedia RAM (adapter required)
• T-Flash (adapter required)
• eXcellent Digital card (xD)

VIZO Mirrorbox Card Slots		VIZO Mirrorbox Rear View

Performance

File transfer speed is fantastic with the USB 2.0 interface. I transferred 50MB of photos from my MemoryStick Pro to my computer in just about two seconds. I grabbed twenty-four photos and dragged them from the card to the photo folder on my PC and they were instantly there. It was so fast that I didn’t even get a transfer indicator (that annoying little bar in Windows that shows the file transfer with a blue dotted line).

VIZO Mirrorbox Card Reader

The Mirrorbox reads all of my memory cards and the big sell for me was the fact that I can read from each of the four drives independently and at the same time. I can transfer photos from my MemoryStick Pro to my MicroSD card to use on my phone straight from one card to the other. Excellent!

If you need a card reader, you want to make sure you get one that will cover all your memory needs. The Mirrorbox does just that and allows you to use any device with a memory card without the worry of having the correct card reader for the job. Its fast, requires no extra power, looks good and takes up little space. It is an excellent little device and worth every penny.

Pros: Small, fast, takes no extra power and looks nice.

Cons: USB cable is pretty short.

Rating: 5 out of 5