Name brand vs. generic CF cards

Over the past few years, I’ve been watching the evolution of CF cards. Both capacities and speeds have been increasing continually. The latest CF cards that I’ve looked at are 300X and have “UDMA.” That said, I’d like to open up discussion on the following:
Is it really worth it to buy name brand CF cards that have the very same speed ratings and capacity as white label or off brands? The non-name brand (ie: not Lexar, San Disk, Kingston, etc.) cards are MUCH cheaper. Are they really any less dependable, durable, fast, etc. Does anyone know of any tests/articles/experiences, etc. that discuss these variables? I’m sure that part of the inflated prices on name brand CF cards are due to marketing campaigns that are largely absent with low-cost CF card manufacturers. Regardless of the brand, most all of the CF cards are manufactured overseas, but with various levels of quality control employed throughout the manufacturing process. As for me, I have both name-brand and non-name brand CF cards. I have yet to experience any noticeable difference between the two (given they have the same "___x" speed rating) other than the sticker on the outside of the plastic. Your thoughts? Also, future 5D Mk II owners, which cards are you looking at? It looks like UDMA 8GB+ cards are something to consider.

That is a very good question, I don't know much about it myself but certainly will be interested in what others know!.
Rob Galbraith use to run tests on write speeds of all CF cards, looking at his website the test he ran with the 40D look pretty current, doesn't answer your question, but sheds some light.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9257

It's a good question and it depends on which generic card you are buying. There are only a few solid state memory producers in the world. Many of the companies purchase their solid state memory from companies like Samsung. (Who is the worlds largest solid state producer followed by SanDisk) I don't know the specific generic brands but several of them are only generic because they didn't meet say SanDisk's or other major manufacturers QA standards. These major manufacturers have an insanely high QA standard so a card that didn't meet them may not be bad it may have just not sustained the 300x transfer rate over the period of time they tested it may have dropped to 233 or similar. However, a generic company can decide if they want to purchase cards that
1. Pass the same QA as Major Manufacturers
2. Almost pass the same QA. speed type things
3. Pass the main QA but have some bad sectors.
4. Almost Pass QA and have some bad sectors.
The big problem with this is most of the time you don't know which one the company decided. Some generic brands that I have had great luck with like PQI however brands like Adata tend to have lots of bad sectors.

My personal recommendation if you decide to purchase generic cards, purchase on the higher end of generic. You truly get what you pay for. However, if you do get a cheap card I would not format it with your camera I would only format it on your computer. The cheaper card companies will usually put blocks in so you don't write to the bad sectors. The format that your camera can preform can possibly remove those blocks making it so you are now writing data to those sectors.

I don't know about the generic thing...

It's not like a Sandisk card has never failed, but I am willing to pay the extra bucks to have that peace of mind. It's probably a false sense of security, but if the generics are buying the rejects - I'd rather have the ones that met the original QA check.

I've always bought the cheaper cards and have never regretted it. I think the premiums that Sandisk and Lexar charge are simply ridiculous. I've always told myself that once one of my cheapie cards failed on me, I'd maybe reconsider. But, lo and behold, none of them ever has. And like you, I searched for independent tests, reviews, etc to see if the premium cards held some mystical advantage, but I never found any information that could change my mind. I'll probably be revisiting this research again as I'll need a newer card or two when my current camera purchases are complete. I fully expect to be purchasing Ridata cards once again, though.

Scott, I've stuck with Lexar and SanDisk because of the supposedly higher QC standards. Never had a problem over the last 8 years. I am willing to pay the higher price because losing multiple GIGs of images, in my opinion, is just not worth the risk. Now this may be marketing hype, but the savings aren't enough for me to go generic.

Also, if you don't require the latest and greatest in capacity + speed, the prices for the name brands are insanely low. For example, at COSTCO:
SanDisk 2 GB SD Ultra 2 - TWO pack $21
SanDisk 8 GB SD Extreme III - $85

For landscape work, I really don't require anything faster.

No experience with generics, but as far as what to put in the 5D Mark II, I would recommend a Sandisk Extreme IV 8G card. On my 1DS Mark III I can get appox. 300 RAW photos on the card. I also purchased a Sandisk Extreme Fire Wire Card Reader that is specifically made for the Extreme IV card. It is at least 5 times faster than any other card reader that I have. Really helps on the download times to the computer with the big files.

I have a Ridata 1GB card that I've never had issues with. That being said, I usually look for lower end Kingston cards on sale and I've never had issues with those either. I suppose if I was a sports shooter card speed might matter, but I don't need high speed.

I buy what's on sale.
Never had a card fail on me yet (..although I've sure failed the card plenty of times in the past! ).

Related question: how often do you all retire cards, or do you? I would imagine that on e wouldn't want to take old cards on a really important shoot, but would pre-emptively retire the before they decide to go bad. How do folks here approach the issue?

I share Bill's perspective. I don't know what the quality differences are, but spending thousands on a camera, thousands more on lenses, thousands more on computers/software and then getting thrifty on what is already the cheapest part of the system isn't worth it to me.

I buy Sandisk and Kingston when on sale. I've never had to buy at full price, I just keep an eye on sales and rebates. Prices are so cheap now that, for me, it's a no-brainer.

I'm looking at 5 different cards that I've used since Saturday: Dane-elec, Kingston, Crucial, PNY and Lexar. I've got more in my camera bag. Except for the Lexar sitting in front of me, all these cards (and the others in my bag) range from 6 months to 2 years old. None have ever failed me.
Speeds are mostly irrelevant to me...I'm not shooting sports and have never shot faster than the buffer in the camera.

What would you define as "generic" and why? I don't consider Ridata generic. They consistently do well in benchmark tests. The two 4GB Ridata cards perform as good or better than the Sandisks in my bag after 2 years of dragging them around all over the place. I don't notice any diffence in performance between brands I have used over the past 7 years I have shot digitally.

Similarly, I would never consider Crucial or PNY to be "generic"; both are highly reputable computer memory manufacturers, though I know nothing of their solid-state products.

Thanks for the perspectives. After looking into the link that Nick posted (thanks), I was surprised by the substantial differences in data transfer speeds between cards. Now that mainstream RAW file sizes are pushing 20+ MB, speed is going to be more important for action shooting (especially for wildlife, adventure, climbing, multiple exposures, etc), but not as much for landscapes. I was also surprised by how many CF cards on the internet are fakes (about 75% of the CF cards made by "SanDisk" on ebay are fakes). If the price sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'm guessing that the CF card speed tests on the 1Ds Mk III will be similar to that of the 5D Mk II. If this is the case, it looks like the 8GB Lexar Professional 300X UDMA is a better value than the SanDisk Ducati and Extreme IV (nearly the same performance, but cheaper). Since I shoot alot of adventure photography in addition to landscapes, I'm going the direction of Bill and Rick's advice...

I work for MicroCenter and we sell generic cards as well as Sandisk, Lexar and the other major brands. I very rarely see any of these cards come back as defective and we have sold in the thousands. Personally, I own 6 of our generic brand and a couple Sandisk Ultra II cards. I've had all of these cards for over 2 years and they have performed flawlessly. I opt for higher speed cards...266x and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the generics to my customers. Hope that helps.

Jack

FYI: Lexar currently has an incredible rebate deal on 8GB Professional 300x UDMA CF cards (+ recovery software). The transfer speed is near the top for current CF cards at around 17.8MB/sec (tested on the 1DS MkIII, probably similar for the 5D Mk II) and the price is $67.95 after mail-in rebate (limit 3 per product per customer). B&H Photo is a participant in this rebate program. If you have a mac or pc with firewire 800, you'll be very pleased with the SanDisk Extreme Firewire card reader (transfers at around 39 MB/sec...currently the fastest reader). Sandisk has a similar promotion for the Extreme IV ($106 at Adorama), but the speed increase is immaterial when compared to the Lexar and it costs twice as much.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/553942-REG/Lexar_CF8GB_300_381_8GB_UDMA_300x_CompactFlash.html

Even cheaper ($59.99 after rebate) if you go with MyDigitalDiscount at....

https://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD/lexar-media-8gb-professional-series-300x-udma-compactflash----click-for-$60-off-coupon-+-$80-off-mir---final-price-only-$59-99--lexar-media-8gb-professional-series-300x-udma-compactflash--8000010A-1179840778.jsp

I buy cards from these guys all the time. They are low priced and reputable. If you can live with slower write speeds, they sell 16gb Transcend cards for under $50!