SanDisk has been very prolific lately in bringing out new products, so much so that we decided to bring them to you in a SanDisk Show.
Today we are featuring the Sansa Express MP3 player, the Cruzer Contour and the CF Extreme IV card.
These models represent both the high-end and the low-end in some of their product ranges.
Let's talk about the Sansa Express first.

 

SanDisk Sansa Express MP3 Player

Some time ago we've reviewed the Sansa E260 and gave it high marks.  Can we say the same for its little brother, the Sansa Express?  The Express has quite a few things going for it: it's small, has all the necessary features and comes with a tiny price of just under USD60.  The Express also has a quite decent but small OLED screen and, not surprisingly, is expendable with a microSD slot.

From the photos you can see that the Express is quite a conventional design, much like a USB stick, which in essence it is. This is a very good thing as there’s nothing so easy as plugging it in a computer and drag and drop files across whilst at the same time charging it. So you don’t need a separate charger and the accessories are limited to just a lanyard, USB extension cable and some decent headphones.

All that comes in one of those frustrating hard plastic blister packages, which are a threat to life and limb to open! Of, well, you do see straightaway what you’re getting...
The Express is quite comfortable to hold, having a slightly thicker end where all the buttons are. It helps if you’re right-handed too...
As far as a good functional design goes, this one gets top marks.

Our Experiences

We’ve just taken the Sansa Express on a 8 day trip and we got some good use out of the little fella. Endurance at around 14 hours is reasonable if you can just plug it in a laptop. I also had with me the new Brando Universal Solar Charger about which more in a separate review.

The model we received from SanDisk was the 2GB version. For the price and features a 2gigger is adequate but I wouldn’t bother with the 1GB version. Memory is very cheap these days so expandability via the microSD slot sounds like a good way to go until you realize that it does come at a cost: you’re limited to just another 2GB and it takes longer to boot up. Personally, the current start-up time at around 9 secs I find already too long...
Like I mentioned before, the OLED screen is nice but had it been twice as large it would have been perfect. The fonts are fairly tiny.
For night-time use you can dim the screen but not the very bright glowing ring on the D-pad control. And in very bright sunlight you need to shield the screen to make it more readable. Not totally satisfactory yet.
I like a good measure of dedicated buttons just like the Volume Up & Down buttons on the bottom of the unit. The Menu/Power button is a logical other one as well as the Hold function. All the other functions can be accessed with the five front buttons.
A very welcome feature is the FM Radio with its 20 FM presets which are automatically tuned. You can also record radio in wav format with an additional choice of doing that in 5 min intervals. Voice Recording is also present.

So how does it all sound?

Quite decent, I must admit. With the 5-Band customizable EQ you can make your music sound quite good. Sure, it’s not meant to be the top choice for an audiophile but it makes a great knockabout, second MP3 player that can take a beating. Great for holidays or gym work, gardening and other dangerous activities like walking and lying on the beach. And if you’re not an audiophile it’ll even be a great first player.
Value for money at 80 bucks for the 2GB model? You bet!

(Aussie price for this model: AUD110)

Specifications
 

    * 1GB and 2GB Capacities
    * microSD Slot for up to 2GB
    * MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, WAV, and Audio Support
    * Voice Recording, FM Recording
    * 4-Line 2 Color OLED Screen
    * 15 Hour Battery Life
    * Subscription Music Support
    * MTP/MSC OS Selectable

  

SanDisk Cruzer Contour 4 GB USB Flash Drive

We’ve reviewed quite a few USB flash drives over the years. The last one I was impressed with was the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium. It had a stiletto-like flick switch to slide out the USB connector. It was a tough little critter, still in daily use. Now we are having a good look at its stylish, even elegant sibling, the Cruzer Contour. So what happened to that flick switch?
Ah, it gets even trickier now that the switch has disappeared under a few ribbed lines on the otherwise smooth and glossy black finish.
Slide it back and then forward and out comes the connector.
Forward and back to retract.
Sounds easy? Mmm, if you do it with two hands, yes, otherwise it’s a wee bit too slippery for me.
But fancy it is, attracting oohs and aahs when demonstrated.
Now, this definitely is a top-of-the-line product, not just gimmicky and with a great design.
 

Here’s why:

 It’s got high performance with 25 MB/sec read, 18 MB/sec write speeds
How about transferring some 2GB worth of mixed data in about 3 minutes? That’s fast enough for most users.
It’s enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost which increases system performance on Windows Vista
It’s U3 Smart enabled. That means you can carry and launch most of your personal applications on any computer
And it comes with a pouch. For any marsupial-loving Australian that’s a definite bonus!
 
What about U3?

We know U2 of course but U3 is a different ballgame. I’ve written about it before so let me just say that this portable application platform is great for when you’re travelling, particularly with the ability to sync your emails.
There’s also a U3 version of Firefox (not the 2.0 version though) and various other apps like Skype, Avast! Antivirus and various other trial software.

Conclusion:

The 4GB version has an MSRP of $99.99, (that's AUD145) while the 8GB version has a $189.99 MSRP. Street prices are a lot cheaper. Good value for this slick drive. There are always slightly faster performers but would you in daily life really notice the difference? What really slows you down in life is making a cup of coffee while you’re transferring files...
Top job from SanDisk!

 

SanDisk Extreme IV CF Card

 
Memory cards are items that I have a hard time waxing lyrical about.
In the past we tried to fill a whole page with all sorts of peripheral stuff and elaborate tests to get the performance levels validated down to the last fraction of a Mb.
Ridiculous.
And geeky.

Yet, how to differentiate between them? What are the best and most compatible cards? The best performers?
Valid questions for some people but I guess not for most.
Personally, price is a pretty potent factor. Performance another for some professionals, always buying at the bleeding edge of consumerism.
Okay, so when SanDisk brings out another CF card (hey, you do know how huge they really are in this age of microSDs, do you?) it may be just ho-hum stuff. Unless you have already bought previous high performing cards as a professional photographer who dumps 10MB data chunks on his card every second.
For folks like these there’s only one choice: go with a brand name you trust, get the biggest and baddest they offer and six months later buy the next card they bring out.
For me, SanDisk as innovator in this field is probably the most recognised brand if not the most trusted. Their Extreme IV card indicates a line of successive great performers, not cheap, but true performance never comes cheap. And the 4GB size indicates you’re just a notch below what the military is demanding for their computing needs. And that’s a pretty big capacity for us citizens.
 

Okay, I do have the official specs below. No, I don’t care if they are a fraction off either way. I could never test these things the way they can in their labs anyway and it really doesn’t matter. As long as I can plonk my RAW images onto the card without being slowed down in my orgy of imaging flying at 2000 feet. At 160 knots you want the camera to keep up with you... And for my earthbound jobs: how many smiles and funny moments are you missing if your camera is busily writing away your images, getting ready for the next write cycle?

Send me another card, SanDisk, this one is already full...
Better yet: the world awaits your 8gigger. Oh, wait, they just brought out a new speed demon – the Ducati 8GB! Do we ever get a break from reviewing ever faster gear? I guess not but neither do we tire of it...:)

In reality, the claimed speeds, made possible by Enhanced Super Parallel Processing, may not be attained in all environments. It may well be that your camera can’t fully make use of the power of the new Extreme IV. Oh well, didn’t you know you need to upgrade your camera at least once a year too?

I nearly forgot; Every SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash card comes with RescuePRO Deluxe so you can recover images easily.
Not just images but also documents, mail, video, music. RescuePro Deluxe lets you even preview recoverable data before you try to retrieve it.
How good is that? I never had to use this sort of software in anger but one unlucky day I may have to and fully appreciate SanDisk’s inclusion of this rescue tool.

Verdict
 
Extreme means not your average card and not for everybody.
Wait a year though and everybody will want it and better yet: can afford it too. Your choice.
Price ATM (at the moment – officially): USD130 minus one cent.

In Australia expect to pay AUD199 but shop around for the better deals...

Specifications:

 
    * Full line-up

      - 2GB, 4GB and 8GB

      - 2GB, 4GB CF, FireWire Reader bundle

    * Extreme performance

      - Read and write performance of 40MB/sec with ESP Technology

    * Extreme reliability

      - Extended temperature testing (-25 to 85 C)

      - Shock-vibration tested (RTV silicon)

      - Water resistance

      - Included RescuePRO Deluxe™ data recovery SW and premium travel case

      - Lifetime limited warranty