Have I bought a fake Sandisk card??

MMPhotos

MMPhotos

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Matt
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Hi all,

I recently purchased an Sandisk Extreme 8gb card from that well-known auction site and I'm concerned the product may not be genuine so I'm hoping for some help before I approach the seller. It wasn't hugely cheap and the sellers feedback is good, so I want to be certain I'm right before accusing anybody.

There are a number of reasons why I don't believe it's genuine as explained below:

1) Performance: My card is an 8gb 'Extreme' CF card with read/write speed of up to 60mb/s (400x). I also have a Sandisk 8gb 'Ultra' CF card with a read/write speed of 30mb/s so I thought I'd see a noticeable increase in write performance from my Nikon D300.

My (non-scientific) test was to fire off 5 tiff files and time how long it took to finish writing to the card i.e. when the little green CF light switched off.

Time for my 'Extreme' 60mb/s to write 5 tiffs: approx 32 secs
Time for my 'Ultral' 30mb/s to write 5 tiffs: approx 22 secs!

This immediately started alarm bells ringing, so I looked a little closer at the card. Other things I noticed...

2) The 'front' label is on the reverse side compared to my other Sandisk card. So the front label is face down when I insert it into the camera as shown below...

MMP_8282.jpg


3) The front label isn't stuck on straight...

MMP_8284.jpg


4) The rear label is missing the ® from the Sandisk logo, 'Extreme' card on left...

MMP_8283.jpg


I've included the below shot just for reference, I'm not sure whether the Extreme card should have the 'made in china' text like the Ultra card...

MMP_8281-1.jpg


I don't wish to start a debate about ebay sellers or anything else, I'd just like people's opinions as to whether I need to ask for a refund and report the seller.

If anyone out there has the same card I'd really appreciate you taking the time to check my above points to see whether they're consistent with your cards.

Thanks in advance.

Matt
 
artyman said:
Sandisk are the most widely counterfeited cards, I think the low price should have given you a clue.
Click to expand...

I can't remember saying it was a low price, in fact I said it wasn't hugely cheap? :thinking:
 
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Unfortunately I'd say that all things add up to a fake card; speed, incorrect part number, labels on wrong faces and also the logo on the rear label is very poorly printed, which is not conclusive by itself but given all the other anomalies would suggest it is fake.
 
Ive had to cards fail on me, both Sandisk, both also bought from a well-known auction site, both turned out to be fake!! Since then i bought some new Kodak ones which as well as being very fast have been spot on for me
 
MMPhotos said:
1) Performance: My card is an 8gb 'Extreme' CF card with read/write speed of up to 60mb/s (400x). I also have a Sandisk 8gb 'Ultra' CF card with a read/write speed of 30mb/s so I thought I'd see a noticeable increase in write performance from my Nikon D300.

My (non-scientific) test was to fire off 5 tiff files and time how long it took to finish writing to the card i.e. when the little green CF light switched off.

Time for my 'Extreme' 60mb/s to write 5 tiffs: approx 32 secs
Time for my 'Ultral' 30mb/s to write 5 tiffs: approx 22 secs!

This immediately started alarm bells ringing, so I looked a little closer at the card. Other things I noticed...
Click to expand...

Doesn't tell you a great deal, but be aware that the speed of writing to the card is limited by the camera not the card. Yes a faster card will help, up to a point beyond which you're paying for fresh air. So people buying these ultra fast cards maybe paying more than they need to because the camera can't write to the card that fast.

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, I usually stick with amazon, don't trust ebay with stuff like this.
 
pete.rush said:
Doesn't tell you a great deal, but be aware that the speed of writing to the card is limited by the camera not the card. Yes a faster card will help, up to a point beyond which you're paying for fresh air. So people buying these ultra fast cards maybe paying more than they need to because the camera can't write to the card that fast.

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, I usually stick with amazon, don't trust ebay with stuff like this.
Click to expand...

You're quite right of course, however I wanted to do the test anyway to see whether or not it would write any quicker. I wasn't expecting the time to be slashed in half, just not to be 10 seconds slower :eek:
 
MMPhotos said:
You're quite right of course, however I wanted to do the test anyway to see whether or not it would write any quicker. I wasn't expecting the time to be slashed in half, just not to be 10 seconds slower :eek:
Click to expand...

Hope you get your money back
 
Looks like you already have enough info but in case it helps - I got a SanDisk Extreme 8GB yesterday (from Amazon) and mine looks like your SanDisk Ultra card in terms of the lables and 'Made in China' text etc
 
Just click on the drive when its in your computer/card reader, right click onto properties and then hardware.
It will tell you if it's a Sandisk or not.
It gives you the deatils etc..

Kev.
 
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There was an article online somewhere (can't find it in google now) that came to the conclusion that somewhere between 70% and 80% of Sandisk cards on eBay were counterfeit.

I think it could be even higher than that now.
 
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