Photographers constantly have to copy photos from their memory cards. And in this day and age, there are four main card formats being used in new cameras: CFExpress A, CFExpress B, SD, and occasionally micro SD. The most common way to read these formats is through a card reader. Unfortunately for some photographers with too many cameras, that means a lot of card readers. In this post, I will review one solution: The Dockcase Studio Smart USB-C Hub 8-in-1.
Table of Contents
Introduction and Main Features
Earlier this year, Alex reviewed the Dockcase Smart USB-C Hub. In that review, he said, “while I wish it had CFExpress support, CFE is probably too new of a standard to realistically expect in an off-the-shelf hub.” That wish is now granted in part by the Dockcase Studio.
Indeed, the Dockcase Studio’s most interesting feature for me is that it can read four kinds of cards: CFExpress A, CFExpress B, SD, and TF (compatible with the microSD standard). But the Dockcase Studio hub is not just a card reader. It also has an HDMI port, as well as a power port in case you want to power your computer. I specifically tested the power port with my Macbook M1 Air laptop, and it does work. But it only had enough power to run my laptop, not charge the battery (though if you use a higher wattage charger such as 45W or 60W, you should be able to do so).
It also has a small screen, which allows you to monitor what’s plugged into it. Finally, there’s a regular ol’ USB-A port, which is very handy if you’ve got some older cables such as a mouse or an external drive that still uses USB-A.
Thus, the main purpose of the Dockase Studio hub is to replace several types of card readers as well as run a second monitor and use a peripheral. In terms of support, it is stated that it works with Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
In terms of physical size, the Dockcase Studio is similar in length and width to my Delkin CFExpress B card reader, but a bit thicker.
The Screen
The Dockcase USB hub has a screen, which I thought was interesting. Why would something like this need a screen? And what does it do? The first thing it does is give some basic information about what’s plugged into it: HDMI cable, SD Card, CFExpress card, etc.
There’s also some information displayed about the CFExpress cards you plug into it: it tells you its health status, power-on hours, and the total read and write throughput. This can be quite a useful feature as a way to monitor the health of your card.
The screen has a few other functions, such as selecting the amount of power available for external devices. You can select between 5W and 25W for the hub and external devices, with the remaining 95W to 75W going to the host. This may be useful for devices that need a specific amount of power to run optimally. On the top right corner, there’s a meter that shows the temperature of the device.
One thing I would like to see on a device of this sort is the ability to copy all files from a CFExpress card to an external SSD. Since the device itself can be powered on via USB power without a computer host, this would be a great feature to have for backing up while traveling, and it doesn’t seem infeasible to implement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have such capabilities at this time.
Speed Testing
I did a variety of speed tests, comparing both the reading and writing speed of the Dockase Studio hub to my Delkin CFExpress B card reader and to my Sandsik USB 3.0 SD card reader.
In my tests, I used AJA System Test Light, which allows you to write large chunks of data to the disk to test the read and write performance. I also tested multiple cables to make sure there weren’t any side-effects from using certain cables, and I copied various files from the card to to check real-world use.
I didn’t have a CFExpress Type A card on hand so the tests will only be with CFExpress Type B cards.
1. CFExpress Type B Reading
The specifications of this reader say that it can transfer up to 1000MB/s through the CFExpress card interface. I used the AJA tester and started with a 256MB file to test the read and write speed of a Delkin Black 64GB card.
In the writing speed test, the Dockcase Studio managed a mean write speed of 702MB/s compared to the 745MB/s write speed of the Delkin reader. Thus, the Delkin reader was 6% faster. The difference is statistically significant, but it’s not drastic.
The reading test was a bit different: the mean reading speed of the Dockcase Studio was 697MB/s, whereas the mean speed of the Delkin reader was 701MB/s. This difference is negligible and not statistically significant. I’m happy with this performance and consider the very slight loss of write speed worthwhile for the extra features of the Dockcase Hub.
Unfortunately, I ran into a bug with my Delkin Black CFExpress card. With longer reads and writes, read and write speeds would drop periodically, resulting in 3-4x slower speed temporarily. This simply didn’t happen with my Delkin reader, which maintained a high transfer rate regardless of the total data transferred. I noticed this behavior both in the AJA disk testing software and when copying a lot of Raw files to my computer.
According to Dockcase, this may be a problem with certain CFExpress Type B cards. Not every CFExpress card will experience the problem, but it was still disappointing, especially since the Delkin Black is such a popular card. I hope to test more CFExpress card models with the Dockcase Studio later to see if I can replicate the issue.
2. SD UHS-II Speed Test
Compared to my Sandisk USB 3 SD card reader, the Dockcase Studio Hub did well reading UHS-II SD cards. The average mean write speed was 216MB/S of the Dockcase, versus a mean speed of 200MB/s for the Sandisk performed over twelve tests. In other words, the Dockcase Studio Hub was 6% faster.
As for read speeds, the Dockcase Studio Hub’s mean speed was of 287MB/s, whereas the Sandisk had a mean reading speed of 264MB/s. This was an increase of 8%.
Therefore, we can conclude that the Dockcase Hub did a very good job reading UHS-II cards, and it even outperformed my Sandisk reader. Of course, the Dockcase can also read UHS-I cards as well.
I tested a variety of SD cards, and the periodic slowdown bug I found with my CFExpress card was not present with any SD cards.
Overall Thoughts
The Dockcase Studio performed pretty well overall, and it’s very nice to have a single hub that can read several kinds of cards. The two downsides I found in my testing was that copying files from my Delkin CFExpress Type B card periodically slowed down significantly when copying a large number of files, and that the hub was not able to charge the laptop battery but simply maintain it.
The price of the Dockcase Studio is $199.99. This is on the pricey side without a doubt. However, as far as I know, there are no other readers on the market that can read SD, CFExpress Type A, and CFExpress Type B cards. Buying two separate readers in order to get all that functionality would cost about $130. Additionally, the Dockcase comes with an additional HDMI port, USB-A port, and power deliver port. This enables it to replace more than just a card reader, depending on your needs. Finally, the feature to check the health of your CFExpress cards is quite useful. Taking all that into account, I think that the price of the Dockcase Studio is reasonable – though, on the high side of reasonable.
If you’re interested in this product, you can read more about it on their Kickstarter page. Take caution any time that you buy from a company on Kickstarter. While the Dockcase Studio Hub has already been fully funded – and having tested an advanced copy, it’s clearly a viable product – you may wish to wait until it shows up in stores like B&H before buying. Products on Kickstarter can be bought at a discount (in this case, $40 off for a total of $160), but that is because there is always some risk involved that the project will not end up going to market, even with an established company like Dockcase. Disclosure: I was sent an advanced copy of the Dockcase Studio Hub for review, but otherwise I was not compensated, and Dockcase had no editorial control over this review.
Let me know in the comments if you have any question about this USB-C hub, and I’ll do my best to answer!
So you were compensated, as they sent you a copy of the unit for free. Just stating a fact. However, it’s not something I would buy for the many reasons you stated. I already have a hub, that u use with my phone on the road, to back up my CfA cards to a SSD drive. It works great and a fraction of the cost. Around $50 if I remember correctly
First, I said “I was not otherwise compensated.” And secondly, I did have to pay a fairly hefty import fee of $40 (Dockcase kindly paid half). So, not really free.
Just stating a fact.
Another risk of buying early before the production model is released is that the firmware may not be the final version and once the product is released, there is no guarantee that they provide a method to upgrade it to the final retail firmware version.
Yes, that is true. I will update the review with further testing if any new firmware releases come out and I can get them loaded on the device I got.