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Why I went with Hyperdrive
August 14th, 2008
I got alot of email from folks about yesterday’s post. Some asking for more details on why I chose Hyperdrive, some saying how much they liked their own solutions. So here’s what tipped me in favour of Hyperdrive over the other options I listed and many I did not.
1. Cost. It’s just cheaper than the other leading options.
2. Speed. From all accounts it’s faster than the others too, but even if it’s not, it is fast. And certainly faster than many of the others, if not all of them.
3. Excellent battery life. Unlike my original HD-80, which used 4 rechargeable AA batteries, this one takes a smaller proprietary battery. It’s now smaller and lighter, which is a plus. I still prefer non-proprietary stuff, but the life on this is superb. 120GB on a single charge. I could fill my old HD-80 on one set of AAs. And an external pack for AAs is only $9.95. Replacement proprietary battery? $19.95
4. User-replaceable SATA harddrives. Halfway through my trip I can pull out the full HDD and put in a new one. Let’s see you do that with an Epson or JOBO without giving yourself an aneurysm. I can drop a 500GB drive in there tomorrow.
5. Hyperdrive acts as a card reader for 11 different card types, has excellent file verification, and has card recovery functionality built right in.
6. It doesn’t play music or videos. It just does one thing and one thing well. The more stuff you make it do, the greater the chance that something will go wrong. I like simple.
Why didn’t I go with one of the other options? Well, the stand-alone burn-it-to-a-disc option just takes too long and unless it burns to 8GB dual-layer discs, it’s too much hassle. Some of the available units are cheaper but they’re also unknown to me in term of quality. I know Hyperdrive and I know alot of shooters who use them and love them. The Epson, as I said, is really sexy. I can see myself driving my Lotus down the coast of Italy with the Epson sitting beside me, looking sultry. But it’s just too much cash and aside from the larger screen I don’t see it giving me the bang-for-buck that the Hyperdrive does.
Must be a hot item… B&H is out of stock on all models.
Correction… B&H has the 40Gb model in stock.
what’s the real difference between the “colorspace” and the “colorspace o”? the original looks like it accepts more card types, though it does have a smaller screen. but then i can save $50.
Stephen, to my knowledge you’re paying for the new screen. It’s pretty nice compared to the smaller one in the Colorspace, but if $ is the priority, you get all the benefits I mentionned in the article. With a bigger screen, and 4 less supported card types (I had no idea there were that many standards, holy moly folks, let’s just settle on a couple!)
Ron – Thanks for keeping us updated.
See this? How to get a 320GB drive and install yourself…
http://nevadawier.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/getting-ready-for-mongolia/
[...] du Chemin has a post up about the hyperdrive he bought. Sounds like something you add to your car to get you 400 miles [...]
Hey Dave, writing from Indonesia. I’m here with the now broken colorspace. I have to say it is awesome, for most part. It is my fault, I dropped it from a height of about a foot onto a concrete floor. The CF compartment contacts broke off, as did something in the USB socket, impossible to fix (most likely) as the contacts are tiny. Just thought I’d let you know that it is not the most robust of gadgets. It’s understandable that a thing breaks when you drop it, but the harddisk still runs and I guess I was just hoping for a little more durability from a gadget one may take to some of the most obscure places. Anyway, it was great while it was still alive.
All the best,
Mitchell
take a look at Nevada Wier’s recent post http://nevadawier.wordpress.com/