Problems encountered
Now the only dodgy point of the whole review, Konnoc battery FAILURE...... when using the Konnoc batteries, again brand new, charged freshly then unit copied the 1st 1gb card fine, halfway thru the 2nd card (2gb) it stalled and stopped, the copy error symbol didnt appear, the drive just seemed to lock up, I let it sit like that for a minute or so, but the count just stopped. I switched the unit off and back on, it started again, and once again stopped at about 80% thru the copy this time. I got worried at this point, very worried in fact. I switched the drive off, switched the memory card back to the 1gb which had already successfully copied once and powered back up, it stalled after only 5 files, I switched the unit off and went to the toilet to cry, I`d only had the unit for 12hours and I`d managed to bugger it up already.... whilst on the throne of contemplation I thought about the batteries, I swapped them for another set of Sanyos and low and behold it worked perfectly again, I transferred both cards 5 times each just to be happy with it and then again switched back to the Konnocs, which again as expected failed, I removed these batteries and have checked they are charged fully, then left them in the charger over-night doing a full refresh cycle which fully drains and then fully charges them.... Tried them again this morning and only managed to copy 2 or 3 gb successfully before the unit failed again. These will now be used in a TV remote, as I don`t want them anywhere near my PD70X again.
Conclusion
I can honestly recommend the PD70X to anyone who is intending to do some serious photography, it allows you to carry around 120gb of storage and not have to carry a laptop or have access to mains power to quickly and easily backup the shots, the speed of the unit is acceptable for even the most demanding photographer, it allows you, if nessecary to be backing up the photos onto the drive whilst still shooting more and have the drive neatly strapped to your belt using the case provided. The AA batteries are a huge advantage as if you do happen to run out, you are simply able to pop into any convienance store worldwide and pickup a 4 pack of AA batteries and your off again.
Other reviews have commented on both the awkwardness of the buttons when a USB cable is attached and also problems with the battery cover, I find both of these issues to be non-issues. The switches are quite accessable and also the battery door is held closed at each side and you`d have to be quite heavy handed or accident prone to manage to break it.
I touched on the Card reader and Verify functions in the review, both of these seem quite pointless to me, im sure most if not all photographers already have a USB2.0 memory card reader and the PD70X ability wouldnt be a deciding issue when buying one, and as for the Verify option, I have checked all the files that were copied thoroug-out the entire testing procedure, including the incompleted CF copies due to both expected battery failure and also the unexpected Konnoc battery issues, and every single file on the PD70X was complete and not corrupted. So a verify option seems a little OTT to me, but as with this entire review its all my opinion and im happy to hear others opinions, findings and problems with their PD70X units.
Things I`ve not covered include the PD70X charging ability, the unit itself will act as a charger for the 4x AA batteries, I personally wanted to be able to charge more then one set at once when I first ordered, I expected to need to after a days shooting I`ve already got several Camera batteries to charge and in hotel rooms I always struggle to get everything charged for the next day. However, given the remarkable battery life, I doubt I would need to charge any for the entire weekend, if I take 2 sets that could allow up to possibly 120gb of backups, which is more than enough and would fill the unit in any case.
The in built browser is pathetic, it simply shows you the number of files and MB used within each directory, it doesn`t show file names or any other information, also accessing the information isn`t straight forwards either, but, again I doubt its something I will ever need to do, I will simply copy onto the unit and if the "Copy Completed" icon appears thats good enough for me.
A feature I personally would have liked to have seen would be, an autoformat option. I know that is rather dodgy, but, I would have liked the unit once finished copying the contents to its HD, to automatically format the CF card for immediate use. As in the field with 8 or 10 1gb and 2gb cards you may end up unsure which you have and haven`t backed up, and as there isnt a proper file browser on the PD70X, there is no way of checking.
Other Info
I`m still waiting for a response from Eastgear regarding the Konnoc battery issues I suffered from, I will update this information when I get that.
Also CompactDrive have a small amount of information on their website about a new product the MD80, this seems to have similar specs to the PD70X, it however includes MP3 and WMA playback, it also features a better backlit screen and looks quite a bit smaller and more Ipod like.
Done.... I hope you have found this review slightly useful and feel free to email me with any suggestions or questions which you feel I could add to it to make it more useful.