Lexar FireWire 800 Compact Flash Reader

A Closer Look

A FireWire 800 card reader is certainly something out of the ordinary. The Lexar logo has been placed on top of the unit in a large fashion. This way everyone knows right of the bat, who the manufacturer for the card reader is. The underside holds the usual sticker with model number, serial number and the following phrase "Never remove card when LED is ON or blinking".


The slot up front is covered by a silver door, which is pushed up and out of the way when inserting a CompactFlash card. In the rear you will find two FireWire 800 connectors. Lexar has designed the unit so that it may be stackable, so you can place multiple card readers above each other and daisy chain them (much like SCSI) together. This is where the short, second cable also comes in handy.


The card reader can only access CompactFlash cards. It can take both type I and type II versions. Simply slide the card into the reader and push it in all the way in. The eject button, which also acts as an activity LED comes out at the same time. To remove the card, simply push this button back into place.