AFT PRO-35U All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader

Pros: No issues and works like it should.

Very easy to install and no software required.
Good to go and nice looking.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Love it.

Pros: You buy one of these things because you have some sort of media (CF cards, SD cards, etc) that go in your devices (e.g. cameras, etc) and you need a way to read them QUICKLY and RELIABLY in your PC.

Well, that's what this unit does. Most of these "bay style" readers are finicky and you'll find problems, especially with the newer SDHC cards and similar higher-capacity media.

Not this one. It (1) works on every bit of media I have, including 32GB SDHC video-rated cards and (2) it's FAST. Exactly what you expect but often don't get.

If you want an external unit it can be used for that since it's fully enclosed. The second jack on the back is for the pass-through USB jack (pen drives, etc) on the front panel. BEWARE when connecting the internal cables that you go to a USB header on the motherboard -- some boards have "Firewire" connections and the pinout and voltages on those will DESTROY a USB hub if you accidentally plug it in there! Pay attention!

Cons: Blue light on the front is insanely bright (as noted by others) and it's a bit expensive, but with these bay-style cardreaders you get what you pay for!

Other Thoughts: Take a black sharpie marker and color over the lens for the front blue LED. That tames it to a dull glow but it's still there. Why hardware makers stick these RIDICULOUSLY bright BLUE LEDs on things is beyond me. Blue is the worst possible color to use and the brightness is enough to use as a flashlight.

Pros: Nice card support
Like how I can use as internal or external.

Cons: Tight fit for most of the cards, could possibly damage them like other have experienced. So I am careful about this, but still took an egg off.

Other Thoughts: Even with the tight fit for the cards, still glad I bought the reader.

Pros: Seems to have all the right features and good reviews on Newegg...but....

Cons: I installed this in my newly built system...worked great at first but recently changed motherboard and re-installed it. However, on reinstall it was completely dead! Doesn't power up with both with internal and external USB cables. Very surprised as there was no way I could have damaged the device.

Other Thoughts: Glad it's <30days and I can RMA for refund...

Pros: Great looking drive, can be used internally or externally. Multiple connection options, and comes with a silver faceplate if that looks better on your rig. I've always used AFT for my card reader needs, and even though they cost a little more, I've never had any problems, at least none that couldn't be solved. Outstanding tech support from AFT (see below).

Cons: Slots are a little snug on this model, so it has a different feel from other AFT readers I've used in the past, but that's really not much of a con.

Other Thoughts: I had an issue with this reader not working properly with my new ASUS P8P67 / Windows 7 rig. The reader would work properly if a card was inserted during startup, but would give me an "Insert card in drive X" popup if I removed and reinserted a card. I could also disconnect and reconnect the reader cable while a card was inserted to make it work, but neither of these solutions were convenient.

I contacted both AFT and ASUS about the issue. The guys at AFT wrote back right away and started working the problem. After exchanging several e-mails over the course of a week, the AFT guys determined that the issue was being caused by the Marvell Storage Utility v4.0 that came with the ASUS board. I uninstalled the utility, and the reader now works perfectly. Does ASUS support even know about this? I can't tell, because they haven't even bothered to contact me back yet!

After this experience, I highly recommend AFT and their line of card readers, as well as the people that back the

Pros: Reserved style matches conservative looking builds well.
Works as advertised.
No special drivers included or needed.

Cons: A little expensive.

Pros: Works with all of my flash cards. Nice design. What's not to like?

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I had an older AFT reader and it stopped recognizing my SDHC card. I thought it was a bad SD card at first but it turned out to be a hardware/quality issue. This unit fixed the problem. Hopefully this one will last longer.

Pros: I think this is a quality product. It is so hard to tell b/c of all the card readers that are pure junk. So far I've only used SD cards with it but I am happy with it.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: you will have to by a drive mount adapter to fit it in your 5.25 in bay if you don't have a 3.5 in. which is very probable.

Pros: Fits in my drive bay perfect. looks good in my black cooler master HAF 932. The blue led does not appear to be to bright as some may say. Can ready multiple cards at once, as in one sd, one compact flash.

Cons: None so far

Pros: Usable as internal and external, comes with black and silver faceplates, available in a version with color coded faceplate that might be easier on aging eyes (XM35U), happily reads any card I throw at it including large SDHC, etc. with excellent data transfer performance, and doesn't need an adapter for micro-SD. USB pass-through is convenient. Blue light matches my current case's lighting. The optional software drivers give you nifty icons in Windows that are representative of the card types. Can accept multiple cards simultanously and allows copying data from card to card. Works great in Windows XP and Windows 7, including 64-bit.

Cons: Expensive compared to any others.

Other Thoughts: I wish there was a Firewire pass-through since so many cases have front and top USB but not many have easy accessible Firewire connections. Not sure why the light needs to be on all the time.

As always, I recommend downloading the latest drivers from the Atech Flash web site, particularly before complaining about lack of support for specific operating system versions.

Atech support has always been excellent, including cross-shipping a replacement to me when a fussy SD slot on an older 28U model caused a bent contact.

One of Atech's selling points is that the firmware on these units is upgradeable. I have never seen firmware upgrades for any of their units.