Computersight -

The Veho multi card reader is an extremely cheap and simple to use device. 

The device is a slimline unit that plugs directly into any PC/Laptop USB slot and can work on either USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port so works equally well with older machines running Windows XP, No Apple Mac OS 8.6 or higher is also directly supported with no need for additional driver installation disk.

The device also supports direct plug in for mobile phone SIM cards to allow transfer of stored information from mobile phone SIM cards.

Graphics on reverse side of the body illustrate the main cards and which part of the device to plug them in showing where to plug your Phone SD card reducing the risk of trying to plug the SIM in and hence reducing the risk of damage to your SIM which normally are not as robust as direct plug SD cards.

In total up to 54 different formats can be plugged into the unit and then by simply plugging into the USB device the user can copy information from or to any of the different format memory cards mentioned above.

An additional use of this and any card reader of this size is the user can add a memory card to it and use it as a USB datastick/data pen

The main disadvantages to using this device as with most direct plug in USB devices is if two USB ports are mounted one above the other as in most laptops or front mounted on PC cases the user will struggle to fitted a second device at the same time.

Also I managed to lose the protective plastic cap within minutes of plugging the device into my PC as it is clear plastic, having got down on hand and knee managed to retrieve the cap as it had bounced into a difficult to reach corner behind my computer desk, the provision of an attached dust cap would be useful but about the only feature I could see the device lacked.

Having tested this device on several PCs and laptops and had no connection difficulties at all, the device was found by XP home and Professional and also with Vista no problems at all and was ready to use within a few seconds of connection to the PC, Red LED indicates the device is ready.

Overall the device is easy to use and does exactly as it says on the box.

The Techie bits

The device supports the following common format of Cards: MS, MS Pro, MS Duo pro, MS Duo, MD Pro, M2, SDHC, SD Ultra, SD, MMC, MMCII, MS MMC, Mini SD. 

Unit size is approximately 83 (l) x 24 (w) x 13 (D) mm, and has a strong plastic casing which is finished in a gloss piano black.

Transfer speed for USB 2.0 standard connections can be up to 480Mbytes per second.

Retail price £6- £9.95 (inc VAT), cheapest stockist  I found in the UK  www.ebuyer.com