Mate 3 SD card

Desert Rat

Which SD card(s) does the Mate 3 use? SD or SDHC? Everything I read online says SDHC cards are not backwards compatible with older SD host devices. The Mate 3 manual gives no clues, and calling Outback tech support was no help.

JoshK

Yes, a true SD should work in everything, but it can only address up to 2GB of memory. SDHC was invented to go beyond that limit... so it addresses memory differently. I think these are true SD cards.
Sadly, the market for SD cards is mostly powerful devices like smartphones that can handle the SDHC design, so most people don't understand, including retailers. So they quit stocking "small" SD cards, not knowing they are killing a market.

Desert Rat

Thanks. Yep, I'm reading that an SD card is forward compatible with newer devices. The old SD cards are getting hard to find. I would still like to know which card is shipped with the Mate 3. I talked with an Outback rep last week, and he told me that the card should be formatted with FAT32 (which is the default format for SDHC cards). This was before I knew that there was such a thing as an SDHC card. And the Mate 3 manual mentions 4GB, which would indicate an SDHC. But no mention of SDHC, just SD. I called Outback again, and the rep I talked with this time knew less about SD cards than I now do! I contacted a friend who has a Mate 3 and asked him to check out the card if he can find it. Anyone else have one?

Desert Rat

I just heard from my friend. He says the card that came with his Mate 3 is a 4GB SDHC.