MEDIA CARD
Lexar Professional UDMA 300x 16GB CompactFlash
For the third year in a row, Lexar captured the Media Card category, this time with an upgrade of last year’s award-winning Professional UDMA 300x CompactFlash card. The new UDMA 300x has a 16GB capacity—lots of space for large image files. The capacity was enough to fight off strong challenges from two varieties of the SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash cards. All told, the judges preferred the Lexar card’s sustained read/write speed of 45MB per second, its impressive reliability and the complimentary inclusion of Lexar Image Rescue 3 image recovery software.
Price: $349.99. www.lexar.com
 
MEDIA CARD READER
Delkin ImageRouter
The Delkin ImageRouter is a four-slot, USB 2.0 CompactFlash card reader with a built-in powered hub. Our judges liked the ImageRouter’s time-saving ability to simultaneously transfer data from four CompactFlash cards to a computer in an automated file-management process. With four UDMA-enabled CompactFlash cards inserted, the ImageRouter has a read transfer rate of 29MB per second, and a write transfer rate of 27MB per second. The powered hub enables you to daisy-chain two units for the simultaneous transfer of up to eight cards.
Price: $129.99; $229.99 with BackupandBurn software. www.delkin.com
 
PORTABLE HARD DRIVE AND DISPLAY
Epson P-7000
Designed for location work, the Epson P-7000 enables photographers to view thousands of images sans computer. The P-7000 features a 160GB hard drive, speed up to 35 percent faster than previous Epson displays, and a bright 4-inch LCD monitor. Images look sharp and accurate, thanks to Epson Photo Fine Premia technology and a four-color filter system in the LCD. The user-friendly interface allows you to zoom-in on images, confirm histogram data, and create custom folders and slideshows.
Price: $799.99. www.epson.com