Hey folks, Valkor here. And I welcome the folks at Lexar for stopping and teaching the Val-man a thing or two about SD cards, because to me, they are all pretty much the same. Only after playing Lexar's Platinum II 8GB SDHC card, that I learned that truly if you want to be the best, you have to own the best.
To test the card I used my Canon PowerShot SD 780 IS along with a standard SanDisk 1GB SD card as a VS.
The Platinum II looks to be your standard SDHC, but beneath its slim casing, beats the heart of fierce cheetah, waiting to unleash its power in your DSLR or even your point and shoot camera. What the Platinum II offers up great speed giving you the ability to take more pics and video without having to worry about any serious lag that will slow you down, in between shots - even if you use HD mode (a definite plus for me when I am attending events). With the standard SD card, it took about 10+ seconds to process 15 seconds of video. With the Platinum II, it took about 2 seconds for the same amount of video and it was ready to go again.
You also get high storage, of course I can't pit a 1GB card to an 8GB, but those extra 8 really come in handy, especially if you're travelling, attending an event, or just foolin around with friends and you just wanna capture the moment. 1GB is fine; 8GB is more than enough. If you take a lot of video, then you're in good hands. Transfer speeds are pretty quick on the down and the up from the card to my HDD and back. Total folder size when I finished snapping pics and vid with the Platinum II in my Canon was 576MB. It took about 52 seconds exactly to get it off the card and 1:22 to put it back on. Impressive! Finally you can get the SDHC cards in different size - 4, 8, 16, and 32GB.
So do I need to tell you what I really think?
The Bang:
Outstanding and what a refreshing change of pace switching from my old SD card to something that works great for continuous shooting, but also quick on the transfer. Casual users may not notice the significance, but trust me the added speed makes the world of difference. Also note, if you're using an older camera that doesn't support SDHC, then it's best not to invest in the card. I learned that when I tried to get the Platinum II to work in my old Kodak EasyShare DX6490, which is a camera I still use.
The Slack:
N/A
Overall, and if you couldn't tell from this gushing review, I was most pleased with Lexar's Platinum II 8GB SDHC card; with great speed and transferability come great power and reliability, a card I highly recommend to one and all – casual and professionals alike. Out of TOV 5 stars, I give Lexar's Platinum II 8GB SDHC card 5 stars and it's been Valkor tested and TOV Approved!