Originally Posted by dhewson777

Demand suggests others like this sort of device. If not, the company making them would go bust. Some people are still portable with a messenger style bag that their iPad or MacBook Air can slip into, and has room for accessories like Bluetooth keyboards and other peripherals. They are not so tight on weight or space that such a device is an inconvenience.

I know that lots of people get an iPad or iPad Mini and then load up with so much tech that they'd just as well have bought a laptop, but I'm not sure you can gauge demand for this device by iPad owners. It was well thought-of as a Kickstarter project, but now that you can get large wi-fi drives for about the same money, it's chief benefit to an iPad owner would be it's ability to read multiple media types using various adapters. I suspect there isn't a large demand for that. Now that the portable drive makers are enabling wi-fi, people just dump everything onto one drive and go.

It's sort of stuck in the middie, I think. If you're fussy about weight like me, you want something small like an AirStash with 256GB SDXC card - pricey, but a lot of capacity in a tiny package. If you don't care about weight, you just lug along a big drive with wi-fi capability, some of which can host/split an internet connection.

Originally Posted by epb

I know that lots of people get an iPad or iPad Mini and then load up with so much tech that they'd just as well have bought a laptop, but I'm not sure you can gauge demand for this device by iPad owners. It was well thought-of as a Kickstarter project, but now that you can get large wi-fi drives for about the same money, it's chief benefit to an iPad owner would be it's ability to read multiple media types using various adapters. I suspect there isn't a large demand for that. Now that the portable drive makers are enabling wi-fi, people just dump everything onto one drive and go.

It's sort of stuck in the middie, I think. If you're fussy about weight like me, you want something small like an AirStash with 256GB SDXC card - pricey, but a lot of capacity in a tiny package. If you don't care about weight, you just lug along a big drive with wi-fi capability, some of which can host/split an internet connection.

Without wishing to get too involved in this I would say there is a big difference between iUSBport and other wifi drives. The iUSBport has an internal battery and powers the drive it is running, so no need to be near an external power source. It really isn't heavy at all and it's certainly not big, the case for my sunglasses is bigger. The other reason for me not going with an Ext HD with built in wifi (like the GoFlex) is that if the HD fails (and they do occasionally) then it's a dead device, if my Ext HD fails I can still use the iUSBport with a different Ext HD.

The thing is, I have nothing at all against AirStash, in fact I think that they are both great devices but the iUSBport works for me and does all that I need it to do, the upcoming new version looks even better. It all comes down to what works best for each person, they are both great devices and no reason to get into an argument over what is best, if AirStash works best for you then that's great but for others the iUSBport is going to float their boat.

It is a bit like all the different tablets on the market, competition breeds innovation and all of these devices will get better and better over time, which is great for all of us end users.

The Archangel

Originally Posted by Gabriel1

Without wishing to get too involved in this I would say there is a big difference between iUSBport and other wifi drives.

I wish people wouldn't say this. These sorts of discussions of pros and cons and the reasonings behind our preferences are what make the threads useful. It's better for people to dig into this, so that people doing similar searches can get pros and cons of both sides and see what product aligns with their needs or sensibilities. You, BocatadeChoped, and dhewson have offered excellent perspectives on the strengths of the device and while it doesn't suit my needs, I now have an idea what to recommend to a friend looking for something similar.

Originally Posted by epb

I wish people wouldn't say this. These sorts of discussions of pros and cons and the reasonings behind our preferences are what make the threads useful. It's better for people to dig into this, so that people doing similar searches can get pros and cons of both sides and see what product aligns with their needs or sensibilities. You, BocatadeChoped, and dhewson have offered excellent perspectives on the strengths of the device and while it doesn't suit my needs, I now have an idea what to recommend to a friend looking for something similar.

The reason I made that statement was twofold, firstly, I expected my post to be a whole lot shorter when I started typing and secondly, this thread is really about AirStash so I'm hijacking it (I'll thrash myself with some brambles later), but I thought as the iUSBport had been mentioned that I should put my, completely biased, point of view.

The Archangel

I like the fact that these devices aren't all exactly the same. Knowing the pros and cons of each is a big plus. And that is what this forum is all about, IMO.

I like my Air Stash and will continue to use it. It is light and easy to charge. No special cabling is required. I went on travel this past weekend and forgot my little box that holds my SD cards....so when I got ready to watch something, I had the wrong card inside. Fortunately, I had managed to grab the portable hard drive so I was able to use my laptop to move files around. So, here is a case where all those SD cards can be a bit problematic. Also, the one SD card I did have with me is slow as molasses. I need to deal with that, too.

I could also have used my personal cloud - the Pogo Plug Series 4 - which has two usb 3.0 ports, a SATA interface for a 2.5inch drive, and a couple of usb 2.0 ports. I currently have a 1 TB 3.5-inch drive plugged in. I can stream movies over this from anywhere, but you need decent internet speeds for make this doable, which I didn't have at my dad's house. But I could have downloaded a movie to my laptop or iPad, if I wanted to. I can also play mp3s over the web this way, as well as move files. BTW, I see no reason to connect usb 3.0 devices to this because the speed is of no benefit when streaming. So the slower usb 2.0 stuff work best. The sata interface means you can plug a 2.5-inch mechancial HD right in. Or you can use a flash drive or a larger HD like I'm doing now.

I also am thinking of getting a iUSBport, too (yeah, I' m a nutty gadget freak with no kids).

I got a Gauntlet Node yesterday and have put a 2.5 inch SSD inside (for now) to see how I like it. One disadvantage I see for it in that you need special plugs and cables to use it. Charging it up requires a barrel style connector, so you need a special cable when traveling. Also, while it has usb 3.0 which is nice (for large files the transfer speed is great), it still requires a special cable for that, too. And while it fits in a pocket, it is still far larger than the AirStash and I suspect, the iUSBport as well. The one advantage it has over Air Stash is larger capacity drives....right now I have a 512 GB SSD inside it! I'll probably replace that with something else later (if I keep this)...but for now this is what I'm using to test it. It will take 2.5 inch SSD or HDs (laptop drives or portable HDs). I have lots of portable HDs sitting around, so I will probably rip one open to get to the HD inside. Again, if I keep this.

Originally Posted by AQ_OC

I like my Air Stash and will continue to use it. It is light and easy to charge. No special cabling is required. I went on travel this past weekend and forgot my little box that holds my SD cards....so when I got ready to watch something, I had the wrong card inside. Fortunately, I had managed to grab the portable hard drive so I was able to use my laptop to move files around. So, here is a case where all those SD cards can be a bit problematic. Also, the one SD card I did have with me is slow as molasses. I need to deal with that, too.

I'm about to pull the trigger on AirStash but wanted to ask about SD-cards (as I was trying to figure out which card I'm going to buy). How much does the (write) speed of the SD-card affect AirStash's performance? For example, people (Amazon) seem to be pairing the AirStash with a low-priced 64Gb SDXC card with read speed of about 23Mb/s. For that price, one could also get a 32Gb Sandisk Extreme SDHC card with read speed of 45Mb/s. Sandisk does have the Extreme Pro -line with read speeds of 95Mb/s but the price gets ridiculous.

So what type of difference in AirStash performance would I see when comparing a 23Mb/s SD-card to a 45Mb/s card? Where would this performance difference show? When the AirStash is streaming video? When I'm accessing its files from the iPad? Obviously I want the best performance possible (without going over the top) but I wouldn't want to buy an expensive SD-card for nothing when I could get twice the capacity for the price.

The AirStash streams to your iPad via wi-fi, so the chief determining factor for performance is the speed of that connection, not the the read/write speed of the card itself. The only time you'll see the benefit of a faster card is when you have the SD card plugged into your pc or laptop.

Originally Posted by Tigerman82

I'm about to pull the trigger on AirStash but wanted to ask about SD-cards (as I was trying to figure out which card I'm going to buy). How much does the (write) speed of the SD-card affect AirStash's performance? For example, people (Amazon) seem to be pairing the AirStash with a low-priced 64Gb SDXC card with read speed of about 23Mb/s. For that price, one could also get a 32Gb Sandisk Extreme SDHC card with read speed of 45Mb/s. Sandisk does have the Extreme Pro -line with read speeds of 95Mb/s but the price gets ridiculous.

So what type of difference in AirStash performance would I see when comparing a 23Mb/s SD-card to a 45Mb/s card? Where would this performance difference show? When the AirStash is streaming video? When I'm accessing its files from the iPad? Obviously I want the best performance possible (without going over the top) but I wouldn't want to buy an expensive SD-card for nothing when I could get twice the capacity for the price.

Like epb said, it mainly shows in the card reader. These speeds are more than enough to stream typical movie files, but if you have a slow card reader than the file transfers will be slower when using the reader. But streaming works fine, as does moving files. Wifi speeds are the holdups.

And we need to get our units correct...these cards are in MB/s not Mb/s. MB means megabytes, Mb means Megabits. 1 Byte = 8 bits. So, an SD card getting 25MB/s gets 200 Mb/s. Your wifi speeds are rated in Mb/s (or Mbps), so 54 Mbps = 6.75 MBps. So, these cards are quite fast, though the reader can be slow. In my story above, that card is fast...and it is very fast in my USB 3.0 card reader in my main PC...but for some reason, on my laptop, that card is super slow. But it streams just fine as does every card I have.

Still, I'd get a fairly fast card if I could...because you may want to use it in a camera or a PC or any numbers of places. that 64GB SDXC is about as fast as the usb 2.0 interface, which is plenty fast for streaming typical mp4 files that are have additional compression applied. If you get that 95 MB/s card, then you need to be using USB 3.0 and you need to make sure your readers are rated for that speed or you will never see it. If you read enough of those reviews you will see people showing speed results in the slower usb 2.0 readers...and the performance is way less than what the card is rated for.

This was a very good question! Just to be totally clear, I would not get that 95MB/s card for the airstash alone. I'd go for capacity! Mo stuff, mo better!