2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo query...

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 20 Jul 2006 11:16 am

Would I be stupid for considering to buy any of these??

I saw the 2GB pro duo for sale on Play-Asia for $100 and thought that was pretty fucking cheap, considering the last I remembered of 1GB sticks was $120.... so I checked out ebay, and there are as I linked to a bunch of them for sub-$100.

I hadn't really looked around for cards or anything for a while, as I've used my PSP just for normal stuff since I upgraded and hadn't used the video/music etc very much, but at that price I'm very interested..

I was thinking though, where is the catch?? Is there a catch? I thought they might have super hiked up postage costs, and to an extent they do, around $20-$30, but it still comes in at under $100 for most of those...
So aside from the usual feedback checking, is there anything dodgy about these? Or have the memory stick prices just fallen shitloads since I last looked?[/url]

mech · Post by **mech** » 20 Jul 2006 11:17 am

Avoid eBay, avoid international sellers, I'd recommend only buying from australian computer stores. So much counterfeit crap out there it's ridiculous.

Shaneus · Post by **Shaneus** » 20 Jul 2006 11:23 am

Yup... I got a counterfiet one, albeit a pretty good one. Luckily, mine seems to run fine in my phone (k750) but I seem to be in the minority. I've heard that many reports of people who can't use the full capacity or their card dies within the first week... definitely stick with Aussie retailers. If you're looking at a place like play-asia, check for reports from other customers to make sure they're selling legit cards.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 20 Jul 2006 11:25 am

Apparently there are a lot of fake sony memory sticks out there, especially on ebay. From what i have heard they're just generic memory sticks branded as sony ones. They could work fine but may not perform the same transfer speed wise as official sticks. It's really hard to tell if you got a legit stick or not too. From benchmarks i've seen too the sandisk ones appear to be better performers vs the sony ones and usually you can get em cheaper than official sony sticks.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 20 Jul 2006 11:29 am

hmmm, I wondered why there was so many cheap ones on there.. Play-Asia have been very reliable for me in the past, I'm not sure they would be selling counterfit ones but I guess you never know.

From memory I bought my last stick from ebay, though it was only a sandisk 512MB one.
I thought the missing capacity of cards was just inherent in the way they were designed? kind of like how HDD's have a small amount of data missing too?

I'm still really tempted to pick up one at those prices.. $65~ for a 2GB sounds awesome.. but it's probably too good to be true.

mech · Post by **mech** » 20 Jul 2006 11:46 am

Exactly dude, if it's too good to be true, it is. The last few cards I've bought from overseas that have been branded with a well-known company have been counterfeits. They generally work but every now and again shit themselves and lose all your data. Ironically, it's the "no-name" cards which are less likely to be counterfeit.

You'll almost certainly regret it if you do buy from one of these mega-cheap sellers. Just use http://www.staticice.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to find cheap aussie sellers (blows my mind how few people seem to know about this search engine)

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 20 Jul 2006 11:57 am

Yeah I think I'll give it a miss, cheaper, but the potential for a lot more wasted.

General Chaos · Post by **General Chaos** » 20 Jul 2006 01:29 pm

Also never forget that time is money. Go local go express post (if you have to) and be up and running much faster.

OK OK so I'm impatient!

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 20 Jul 2006 06:12 pm

I think I got a fake mem card. It had good data transfer rates and didn't f up once. I was really happy with it.