Legit Memory Reviews
Kingston MobileLite G2 8GB USB Card Reader Review
| Manufacturer: | Kingston |
| Product: | Kingston MobileLite G2 USB Card Reader |
| Date: | Fri, Feb 05, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Joe Evans - |
| Share: |
External Observations & Use
The black and silver reader is made entirely of plastic and branded with the Kingston name in red on one side and MobileLite G2 on the other. A nylon tether is connected to one end if you want to secure it to a lanyard or a clip in your bag and seems to be rather stout so no worries about it breaking free. You can always easily remove it if you don't need it as it has a tendency to get in the way.
On one end of the MobileLite G2 are the slots for the cards and each is labeled for the type of card it can accept. Note that the labels are oriented opposite of each other with one always being upside down. This tells you which way to orient the cards when inserting. If the text it right-side up, the the top (label) of the card should be facing up. If using both slots at once, both cards will show up as independent drives and can be used simultaneously.
On the opposite end is the USB 2.0 plug which should be familiar to most everyone who hasn't been in a technology cave the last few decades. All of the power to operate the MobileLite G2 comes directly from the USB port, so no other external power source is required. Just behind the USB plug on the main body of the G2 you'll also find the blue LED activity indicator.
The coolest part is that both ends of the MobileLite G2 retract, exposing both the USB plug and the card reader slots and making it more compact overall for travel. Each side has flanges for gripping to extend them outward. I found the USB plug side to operate smoothly with even resistance throughout and allowed very minimal lateral movements. The card side was a little different. It seemed to have a fair amount of play when no card was present, had to be pushed quite firmly to get it started retracting and it locked in place a with a little more stiffness. If it was pushed anything other than straight in, it seemed to get hung up. With the card inserted, the amount of play was greatly reduced and was easier to operate as the card acts as a stabilizer of sorts.
When the covers are fully extended, the USB plug and SD card are both completely hidden except for the very ends which sit flush with the ends of the device. The reader does function regardless if the cover is extended over the
card or not, so you can choose not to retract and expand it when using
it. The G2 is rather thick and wide as compared to many other USB devices. Plugging it into areas where the USB ports are in close proximity to one another, you may find it difficult or impossible to utilize the nearby ports for other devices simultaneously.
Happily, Kingston saw fit to include a USB dongle to work around this problem. The down side is that this is one more item you'll need to bring along with you if you think you may need it. Most desktop PC's have ample USB ports so likely you'll be able to find one that will accommodate it without interfering with other devices so this really will only be a concern with notebooks or netbooks.
Next Page - Performance Testing
| Review Index |
|
Page 1 - Kingston MobileLite G2 USB Card Reader
Page 2 - External Observations & Use Page 3 - Performance Testing Page 4 - Final Thoughts & Conclusions |
Socialize