Delkin Devices CFe Type-B Cards
I had recently purchased a CFe-B 128GB card from Delkin's Power lineup, and boy am I really impressed with it.
So a little background story first. You can tl;dr this entire section if you just want to read about my thoughts on the Delkin card.
When I got my first Z6, it came with a free Nikon 64GB XQD, and I got a Sony 64GB XQD (G-series Class-E) as a backup/spare during a fire sale as the Class-F just came out.
After the firmware for CFe-B cards came out, I decided to go with SanDisk since I have been using their memory products (CF/SD/portable SSD) all the while and have had good experiences with them.
But unfortunately their CFe launch was a disaster to speak - their initial card readers had problems initializing and recognizing cards, and their first version of CFe cards could not work on Nikon bodies. I waited until Nikon listed SanDisk as a supported brand before purchasing a 64GB -NN series CFe-B card.
While the card is officially tested and supported by Nikon, the card reader was still an issue as many people were still complaining about problematic SanDisk readers, so after reading online I chanced upon Delkin's CFe-B reader (DDREADER-54), and while it’s a totally new brand to me, many long term users have raved about their products, and the card reader itself seem to have gotten wide praise as well, so I decided to give it a try.
The card reader has performed flawlessly so far - the nearly all-metal build is robust, reads really fast, and has a cap (although could be nicer if tighter) to prevent ingress of dust - totally satisfied and happy with the purchase.
But the same cannot be said for the SanDisk CFe-B card that I got - every now and then there seem to be duplicate images inside the card (exact same image with exact same file name in exact same file size.. don't ask me how it happens), my camera freezes occasionally when doing burst shots (and when it happens the entire burst is not saved), and the most frightening part is the card runs really hot.
So a while ago I was fiddling with the idea of getting a higher capacity card for my cameras, and decided to go with Delkin and try out their cards since there are a lot of positive feedback about them.
And it so happened that when I was toying with the idea of purchasing a new card, Delkin's official distributor in Japan (whose service is fantastic and I highly recommend getting your cards from them if you live here!) started a Summer sale campaign, so that pushed me to click on the shiny check-out button.
I was initially torn between the Power line and the Black line, but figured out that since I don’t shoot videos and I don’t burst at max FPS it might be overkill to get the Black line, and ta-da I ended up with the 128GB Power.
As I mentioned at the start of the post, I'm really happy and satisfied with the card.
(For those of you who tl;dr you can start reading here)
Here are the key points that impressed me:
The cards feels very robust and well built - the back is covered in a metal casing which envelops the sides of the card, as compared to just a small metal plate on the back on the SanDisk or my XQD cards.
Performs at expected speeds and my camera hasn't had lock-up issues so far with it.
Runs way cooler than the SanDisk - similar or just very slightly warmer than the XQD cards when used in burst sequences.
Easy to register warranty and eligible for 48-hour replacement program
Nice plastic casing provided for the card (similar to the XQD ones)
And as mentioned earlier, the official distributor here works really fast and is very efficient too, which further elevates the entire experience with their products. I can foresee myself going to Delkin exclusively for my CFe-B card needs from now on.