Sandisk Compact Flash Card "OEM"?

Carrigman

There are 2GB Sandisk CF cards for sale on Ebay from sellers in Hong Kong for as
little as £53 incl postage. However they are marked "OEM" (which I presume is "Original Equipment Manufacturer"). One seller states: "This is OEM package, Not in retail package.If you like Retail package, Please bid on the Retail product in our Shop".

Question: what are the drawbacks, if any, in buying an "OEM" card?

secret_squirrel

Only two possible drawbacks I can think of :

1. No manufacturers warantee (not sure if the retail ones would have it anyway)

2. Could be fake/rebadged/production rejects. (it is Ebay after all)


However chances are they will work 100% and be the real deal. If its GBP 53 its not that cheap though - you can get 2Gb CF from shop4memory for approx €100

rymus

secret_squirrel wrote:

If its GBP 53 its not that cheap though - you can get 2Gb CF from shop4memory for approx €100

Yeah but it wouldn't be the Sandisk Ultra that I presume the OP is referring to, given there are so many OEM Sandisk Ultra II cards on ebay...

Shop4memory sell 2gb transcend cards for €141 and it's a bit of a jump to €160 for a Kingston Elite Pro. If in doubt, buy the retail package anyway. I'd prefer to spend €150 on a 'cheap' 2Gb sandisk than €90 on a card which might be sandisk and might work...

bp_me

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/UK-MEMORY-SUPPLIER_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

I would recommend this seller. Based in the states, but reasonable prices and not a postage scam like most of the HK based vendors.

halenger

OEM means it comes unpackaged - i.e. no fancy Sandisk wrapping.

Like OEM harddrives or DVD drives - they arrive in anti-static bags with the bare minimums. Screws if you're lucky. The basic software (no 'extras').

OEM items generally have the usual 1 year manufacturers guarantee but can sometimes have one of a few months. It's worth asking to be sure...


There are some great deals on things like the D50 brand new from Hong Kong. The killer (that makes it not worth doing) is often the delivery charge. I'm not sure if those items are what's called 'grey market' items - you'll have to look up that one yourself.

dubtom

On the subject of cards, does the 20d have a limit of what size card it will accept, I seem to remeber that my D60 had a limit of 1 gig, although I'm not 100% about that.

rymus

according to the folks over on DP Review, there hasn't been a capacity yet made that the 20D can't take... how much truth there is in that I dont know.

Valentia

bp_me wrote:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/UK-MEMORY-SUPPLIER_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

I would recommend this seller. Based in the states, but reasonable prices and not a postage scam like most of the HK based vendors.

I have bought many times from this shop and can highly recommend it. Fast delivery and never caught for duty.

CrowdedHouse

rymus wrote:

Y
Shop4memory sell 2gb transcend cards for €141 and it's a bit of a jump to €160 for a Kingston Elite Pro.

Are the Transend and/or Kingston good quality CF cards ?

I notice Nikon only recommend Sandisk and Lexar

rymus

I have a Kingston Elite Pro 512mb card that's been in the washing machine about ohh 4 or 5 times now. Still works perfectly. Can't say a bad word about them as of yet anyway.

CrowdedHouse

Thanks rymus-Will chance one so !

(Edit:And I've got good service from Shop4memory in the past)

halenger

CrowdedHouse wrote:

I notice Nikon only recommend Sandisk and Lexar

I read in a review the meaning of 'recommend' from Nikon. That means that they have tested every available card from that manufacturer with every single setting/option on a camera.

They are guarenteed to work. It by no means implies that no other cards will work. Apple ship the D50 with a Kingston card as part of their deal. I have a PNY SD card already and will be using that with my D50 also. I don't anticipate any problems.