ProGrade Digital CFexpress Type-B & XQD Single-Slot Memory Card Reader | Thunderbolt 3 Interface (NOT USB) - for Professional Filmmakers & Photographers

UPDATE 2: Reader never was able to dock correctly w/ MacBookPro 2018 running OS 10.14.1. Returned on advise of ProGrade customer support. Bought a San Disk USB 3 CFx reader instead (SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress Card Reader - SDDR-F451-GNGNN for $49.99). It's not Thunderbolt 3, but seems fast enough for anything other than lots (and lots) of 4k/60p file transfers. Using it with ProGrade's 128GB CFx card moving raw files from Nikon Z7-II...very snappy...noticeably faster than XQD. My overall sense is Thunderbolt + CFx readers = a moving target right now, unless you go with a big desktop reader like the Blackjet TX-1CXQ...which is too big for easy mobile use...NOTE: ProGrade response to issues is at bottom of the review. This response did not address why the reader fails (90% or more of the time) to be recognized by the MacOs on attachment. It does possibly address the problemof the most current version of Photoshop to not see the reader >> ProGrade's solution is to copy the contents of the CFexpress card to the computer and open files into Photoshop from there. Hmmm. Seems like there are more issues here than I'm willing to deal with. Will update review with any new info as I figure it out...Original Review:Attached ProGrade PG04 Thunderbolt 3 Card Reader (CFexpress B/XQD) via provided cable to Thunderbolt 3 port on 2018 MacBookPro running MacOS 10.14.1 (this machine is often used for XQD cards from Nikon Z7-I...now trying to read CFexpress cards from a new Nikon Z7-II).So far, the reader and media fail to be properly recognized and the OS says: "initialize, ignore, eject"Every once in a while, after many tires, the reader suddenly connects, shows up on the desktop as a drive, and allows me to see contents, and open JPEG and RAW files on the card created on a Nikon Z7-II. However:- The reader will NOT allow Photoshop to save edited photos or any other information to the card.- It will NOT allow me to drag new files of any kind from my desktop to the card.- It will not allow me to delete files of any kind (jpeg, NEF) on the card via the MacOs window.I have tried all four Thunderbolt 3 ports and see the same issues.Problems reported to ProGrade.ProGrade's response received 1 business day after submitting:"Historically all the storage form factors such as CF, CFast, SD or USB Flash drives, present themselves to the operating system of your Windows or Mac OS computers as Removable Drives. However, with the introduction of CFexpress cards and their similarity with SSD drives, these devices present themselves to the operating system of your computer as a Fixed Drive similar to your internal SSD or HDD.  Many applications including but not limited to Photoshop, Lightroom, Photo Mechanics, as of late 2020 are designed to identify and work with Removable Drives and currently do NOT recognize a Fixed Drive such as CFexpress cards that are becoming readily available in the market due to speed advantage that they offer.In the short term, please read the data directly from the card into your internal/external drive of your computer without going through one of the applications mentioned above, while notifying your application provider about the issue that you are encountering with your CFexpress card as a Fixed Drive."So: as stated above "Seems like there are more issues here than I'm willing to deal with. Will update review with any new info as I figure it out...In mean time I'll be ordering a reader from a different company (probably Sony and/or Delkin to see if there's a better current solution.Another note: to Z7-II owners, I'm currently leaning to just continuing to use the very stable and reliable XQD cards with the Z7II. They are plenty fast enough to handle anything except long bursts of RAW shots and maybe long 4k 60p video shots.

It is possible that I had unreasonably high expectations but thought this device would download more quickly than it’s $17 equivalent.I would be wrong. That said it is well made and will, I suspect, have a much longer life.

Thunderbolt 3 is really fast. I’m getting obscenely fast transfers from my Canon R5‘s ProGrade CF Extreme card. 4K videos jump off the memory card and onto my Laptop’s SSD as if they were only 1080 video files. Game changing transfer rates! Make sure to use included or compatible Thunderbolt cable.

Great, does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Blazing fast.

The card reader works as advertised for CFexpress. However, when following instruction card for adding XQD compatibility neither approach works with Windows 11. Asking windows to find driver results in none found. Downloading the Sony XQD driver loads the driver, but Windows 11 throws an error saying the driver is incompatible.I tried this on three different PC laptops (Dell and Gigabyte) with Thunderbolt 3 and 4 interfaces, all had the exact issue with XQD driver not compatible with Windows 11.

(Updated Review)I've downgraded this product to 1 star as it has stopped working in less than a year after using it about 40 times. The unit will power on depending on which port I use, but the card in not get recognized. This is after trying a number of (known-to-be-good) TB3 and TB4 cables with and with out a TB hub.Thinking it was a power issue, I removed all attached peripherals from the MBP (14" with M1 Max Chip), but no response. I did extensive testing with iMacs as well. I am now back to using an old (partially broken) Sony XQD USB Adapter and will look for something more reliable.(Previous Review)Write speeds are under 500 MB/s on MAC M1 TB3Disappointed in the write speeds as there are the same or slower than my external SSDs. Read speed is as expected, but the write speeds are not what is advertised here or with other reviewers. One person here was able to get over 1kMB/s using Windows, though.But for me on a Mac Mini M1 with the included TB3 cable (or shorter TB3/4 cables) I am only getting writes of up to 430 MB/s. Too slow for my workflow.

XQD download from Sony was seamless. Don't be afraid of it (Smiling out Loud!)

just as advertised

Bought to use with existing XQD cards (Nikon D4s) and a much awaited Nikon Z9.There's a card in the box that tells you to download a Sony Driver for XQD card usage - not a good start. I tried the link, didn't work. Eventually got to a download - the download file made not difference, my laptop does not see the card. Now the link says there's a newer version but try as I might I can't see it.I've passed the window for returns, my fault entirely, and to a degree I want this to work over Thunderbolt 3 with the Delkin Black cards when the new camera arrives. Aside from a mains powered Sonnet CF3 at nearly twice the price I could not find any other reader other than those using USB-C which is not what I'm looking for.So pretty poor all round. Well built but appalling that a product advertising as suitable for XQD cards isn't and I can't speak to CF Express B performance as I've been waiting for my Z9 for 6 months now.Buyer beware. Next step will be to contact Prograde and see what they say about this.

I have used memory card readers for years, I bought this to read and write to XQD cards for my camera. With its fast TB3 connection it would out perform any other reader on the market. Firstly this is a well made quality product, but its hardly portable, its around 3 times bigger than the Sony XQD readers. The ONE big problem that is not stated in the description is that it needs a driver to work, which has to be downloaded from the Sony website which is in Japanese, this is for both Windows and MAC. This driver is not available via any other Sony website, this seems very odd. I have never had to do this with any card reader before. This means the device is at the mercy of the Sony software team, the device is fast though. Alas when I rebooted my MacBook Pro the driver rendered it unbootable, yes this was a direct result of the driver installation. I had to reinstall the OS and mirror a backup image to get my system back working. Reading reviews on other sites similar people have had this issue. So I had to return the reader, which is a shame as its a speed beating unit, but I am not buying something that requires a 3rd party driver too get working.

I spent ages trying to get their very old Sony driver to work. This is a necessary requirement for use of XQD cards, as it states in the box, (but not in the Amazon or Prograde description). Trying both my Lexar and Sony cards with no success I began researching the matter. It appears that although the XQD Sony driver may work with older Macs it does not work on any M1 Macs. Another person with the same problem approached ProGrade about this and was told it was due to Sony (not Prograde) owning the licence for the driver and not updating it for M1 Macs. If this is truly the case then it should be made clear to customers, with both XQD cards and M1 Macs, before they buy it. As it was unusable in my case I was forced to return it.Make sure you investigate this yourself if you are in any doubt about my findings before buying it

It has a magnetic base to allow you to attach it to the back of your laptop screen. It comes with a self adhesive metal plate for this purpose, the only problem is the plate they supply is made from Aluminium, so it's not even the slightest bit magnetic. Someone at their factory was having a laugh I think! The reader its self seems high quality. But I just couldn't get it to read XQD cards on my Mac. You have to download some very old Sony driver, but that wouldn't do anything. On the other hand I have a cheap £12 XQD card reader and that is just plug and play. It's a shame that at 10 times the price Prograde Digital couldn't have done better. I returned it, as for £120 it really should just work, at least as well as a cheap reader does!

On a 2018 MBP this is outstandingly fast, dump cards in no time at all, speeds up workflow massively.A couple of things to note, it is by far the biggest single card reader i've ever seen, it's over twice the thickness of a MBP and is bigger than your average portable 2.5" external hard drive (see picture), another thing that's really annoying is the in built magnet, they provide a metal plate you can stick to your laptop so it sticks to it - everyone i know that wants to do something like that already has velcro all over their laptops for this reason and has done for years, you can make velcro look good and blend in with stickers but a metal plate would be an eyesore. The magnet obviously picks up anything metalic nearby so if you put it on your desk you will pick up paper clips, stables etc and basically turn it into a file/rasp making it ideal for scratching anything it comes in contact with.Two annoyances, both are far from major and are easily outweighed by the performance of the device.