I’m a bit disappointed by this one. I’ve been a huge fan of Eye-Fi cards for several years and own and use several cards. Now, they’re taking planned obsolescence to a whole new level by effectively making most of their past products useless in one fell swoop.
According to an email I received from Eye-Fi today as an existing customer, as of today, Eye-Fi will no longer be offering support for its “legacy product lines”, which includes the very popular Pro X2 range and basically every other product they’ve made except for the current post-2013 Mobi Pro. Pulling the plug basically makes your existing products dead.
As consumers we understand and expect that support for products will end, and we’re left to fend for ourselves. Rarely, however, does this basically means “pay us more money for a new card, because we’re killing your old one”.
But that’s exactly what’s happening on September 16th, as “key services these products rely on will be shut down at that time”. Here’s the full list.
- All original pre-X2 products (Original, Home, Share, Explore, Video Share, Video Explore, Pro)
- 4GB Geo X2
- 4GB Connect X2
- 8GB Explore X2
- 8GB Mobile X2
- 8GB Pro X2
- 16GB Pro X2
- Visioneer X2
- Sandisk X2
- Eye-Fi Windows desktop software (Eye-Fi Center)
- Eye-Fi Mac desktop software (Eye-Fi Center)
- Eye-Fi app for iOS
- Eye-Fi app for Android
- Eye-Fi Center web app (center.eye.fi)
Their reasoning for killing off the products is that the wi-fi technologies used when the cards were first made are no longer deemed to be secure. This may certainly be true, but isn’t it ultimately the user’s choice to determine what level of security they need?
I use my Eye-Fi cards used to use my Eye-Fi cards when shooting out on location in the middle of nowhere with my own private LAN, without another soul within a mile of myself and my crew. Wi-Fi security really isn’t high up on my list of priorities in such conditions. My cards are never going to be on a public Wi-Fi or connected to the Internet (except where you have no choice).
That’s where the problem lies. In order to actually do anything with your card, even if you’re not going to be backing up your images to “the cloud”, your card needs to be on an Internet capable network in order to configure it.
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I use a TP-Link TL-WR702N USB powered Wi-Fi router when I need a private LAN on location. The only time I ever use it is when shooting on location, with maybe a laptop, a couple of iPads, a couple of phones, and a camera or two (via Eye-Fi).
In order to get my Eye-Fi cards logging onto this router, the requirement to be online in order to connect to it was a pain, and you can’t tell it to connect to a Wi-Fi network other than the one the configuring computer is already on (even if you want to use the card on a different network).
So, I had to disconnect my PC from the router in my house. Then I had to disconnect that router from my cablemodem and replace it with the TP-Link and plug my computer into that (after rebooting so that everything saw the new MAC addresses and didn’t get confused), plug my Eye-Fi card into an SD card reader and into the USB socket of my PC.
Then I run the Eye-Fi software, which needs to be online, set up the network for the TP-Link, and the configuration information gets sent back down the Internet to my Eye-Fi software and into the card.
Then I unplug everything again, wire things back up the way they were, reboot, and I’m back. In all, the process took far longer than it should’ve needed to.
I’ve now replaced the TL-WR702N with the newer and faster TP-Link TL-WR802N, and I’m going to have to go through that whole pain in the backside process again to configure my Eye-Fi cards for that… Except I can’t!
There’s no way to configure these cards without the Internet, which means that when Eye-Fi pull those servers down on September 16th, all our existing cards are pretty much useless, unless we’ve already configured them to work in Direct Mode (which Eye-Fi warn will probably also quit working when the servers go down).
I can also understand the pulling of the servers. If they’re no longer selling products that require them, then why waste money and resources keeping them up?
But surely they could’ve released a standalone version of their desktop software that doesn’t require Internet? Or a firmware update that wouldn’t completely kill products that we’ve actually paid money for?
They’ve been working on phasing out products and getting ready to drop support since 2012, but when the products still work fine for the vast majority of people who own them, I can see this losing them a lot of past customers who are now being told to pay up for a new device or go away.
I know that I’ll never be buying another Eye-Fi product again, even for my cameras that don’t feature built-in Wi-Fi. Fortunately, as those cameras get replaced, thanks to manufacturers now including Wi-Fi as standard in many new cameras, I don’t have to.
Do you use Eye-Fi cards? Is this going to drastically and potentially expensively change your process and workflow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Several weeks ago, you may remember a post about Eye-Fi’s decision to “End of life” a bunch of their products. It’s not uncommon for companies to drop support for their older products, no matter how popular they may be. The problem with their decision, though, was that it would’ve basically bricked all of those products from September 16th, making them completely useless.
Ok, so you could still use them as regular SD cards. Although, who would use an overpriced Class 4 8GB card these days when fast 128GB UHS-I cards are so cheap? In a surprise email I received this morning, Eye-Fi have announced new software for those older cards. This software removes the need for online connectivity to activate or configure the cards.
They’re finally giving us the cards that the Eye-Fi should have been since day one.
Update: September 1st, 2016 – Windows version of the software is now available for download, see the bottom of the post for details.
Here’s what the email says.
NEW X2 UTILITY
This notice is to inform you that Eyefi has started work on a new desktop software utility – the X2 Utility (X2U) for the PC and Mac – that will permit cards impacted by the EOL continue operating beyond the deadline of September 15, 2016.
As a reminder, after September 15, 2016 Eye-Fi Center desktop software will no longer have the ability to configure Eye-Fi X2 and other cards impacted by the EOL. Customers wishing to use the X2U will have to uninstall Eye-Fi Center from their computer prior to installing the new utility. Once the X2U is installed and activated, cards impacted by the EOL will have ability to continue transferring images to a desktop computer.
The X2U will be provided to users free of charge as-is and without warranty or helpdesk support. We will publish knowledge base documentation on how to set-up and use the X2U.
This is basically the best response anybody could’ve hoped for from Eye-Fi. It’s pretty much the only one they could have made to fix the situation.
Many users swore off ever buying any more Eye-Fi products as a result of their previous announcement. People felt like they were being forced into parting with more cash for no good reason. They also didn’t want to continue buying into a company that could brick their products at a moment’s notice.
One line in the email, shortly before the new software announcement I found very interesting. I thought maybe Eye-Fi had finally learned what their users had always wanted. What they still want with their current model products.
Note: Eyefi Mobi and Mobi Pro customers are not impacted by this EOL process.
Turns out, probably not, no. In fact, the “Highlights” list for the new software specifically states…
Support for Pro X2 and all earlier generation products with the “Eye-Fi” branding as well as 3rd party branded cards from SanDisk and Visioneer
So, it won’t work with their current Mobi and Mobi Pro cards.
Perhaps ironically, I think this will make their older “obsolete” cards more popular than their current ones.
Most of the people I know who use Eye-Fi cards are event photographers. They will often shoot RAW+JPG to cameras with dual cards slots. Raw files go to one card, JPG files go to the Eye-Fi in the second slot. From there, they are beamed to viewing stations. They’re not gunning it at 10fps, so for them, the older, slower, Class 6 cards are perfect.
Activation and set-up of cards to transfer images to a PC or Mac via an infrastructure or direct network connection
Having to be online to activate & configure them has always been the biggest complaint I’ve heard from those guys. Many take their own routers to events to increase range. They aren’t online during the events, but they needed to be online while configuring the card to log into them.
With the new software, those cards will work exactly how many photographers wanted them to. For those that don’t automatically upload their images to “the cloud”, it actually increases functionality, even over their newer cards.
Transferred images will be saved to a directory of users choosing but will be organized in a date based chronological order
I do wonder, though, if this might be too little, too late.
If not for the severe backlash received resulting from their last announcement, today’s would probably never have happened. They should have figured this out before calling EOL on their products. That they didn’t suggests several things, the most obvious being that they just don’t care.
So, Eye-Fi were still willing to brick the products of tens of thousands of their customers. Despite the new software, that fact leaves a very sour taste, and many have already sought out alternatives.
I’m one of them. I’ve already switched over to using the “poor man’s Camranger“, using a hacked TP-Link router. It’s works flawlessly for me. It may be a little more cumbersome than simply popping in an SD card, but the functionality and super fast speeds are worth it.
So, even though this makes Eye-Fi’s X2 range of cards work they way they should’ve done from the start, I can’t see myself going back to it full time. It will be very welcome news to some, who’d invested into several cards and rely on them at jobs.
The X2U Utility is now available for Mac and you can download it here. An ETA for the Windows version has not been announced. In fact, their wording suggests that there might not even be a Windows version.
If and when the Windows version is available, it can be accessed at the same location.
This is entirely speculation, but I would imagine they want to see how the public receive this news before putting more time into the software than they have to.
Well, as probably one of the loudest disgruntled customers after the previous announcement, I say well done Eye-Fi. Everything else aside, you listened to your customers and are doing something to try and make it right.
If only more responded that way.
So, question time. Have you already replaced your older Eye-Fi cards with the new ones? Do you feel you’ve now wasted money on the new cards now that you ultimately didn’t need to? Did you switch to a different wireless solution entirely? Will you go back to Eye-Fi if you left? What do you think of Eye-Fi’s response? Is it just an attempt to save face, or did they simply not realise how popular their previous products were? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Update: 1st September, 2016 – The Windows version has been released today
So, Eye-Fi have now released the Windows version of the software. Remember, you’ll need to uninstall your existing Eye-Fi Center desktop software before you install the new Eye-Fi X2 Utility. You can find an index of articles on the Eye-Fi website regarding the new utility here, but the important ones are below.
This post was originally published on 10th August, 2016.
The Eye-Fi Connect X2 ($49.99 direct) is a 4GB memory card for digital cameras. It features a Wi-Fi modem, compatible with 802.11n networks, that makes it possible to wirelessly offload photos from your camera to your computer, Android, or iOS device. You can also configure the Eye-Fi card to upload photos to photo sharing sites, including Flickr, Picasa, and Facebook.
Most current cameras are compatible with Eye-Fi cards, but if you have an older model you'll want to check on its compatibility. Using the card eliminates the hassle of connecting your camera to your computer via an often-proprietary cable, or removing the SD card for use in your PC's card reader. Eye-Fi also markets the Mobile X2 ($79.99, 4 stars) and Pro X2 ($149.99, 4 stars) memory cards, both of which hold up to 8GB of photos. Save the difference in capacity, the Mobile X2 offers the same feature set as the Connect X2. The Pro X2 adds support for Raw images, automatic geotagging, and Wi-Fi hotspot access.
Eye-Fi Connect X2
Bottom Line:
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I am so angry with Eye-Fi right now
Eye-fi Connect X2 Instructions
For years, I've been a happy user of the Eye-Fi Pro X2 WiFi card. You take a picture and voila! it's uploaded to my cellphone, my home computer, and Flickr for backup. Now that they're canceling it, I upgraded to their 'Mobi Pro' card and it is a hugely disappointing downgrade. You can no longer have it automatically transfer photos; you have to manually send them one at a time. Moreover, it won't automatically connect to my iPhone or computer; you have to connect to its own built-in hotspot (or skip using the mobile device at all). The Fuji XE2 I use has its own built-in hotspot, and the Fuji app seriously sucks, too. You still have to manually connect to its WiFi hotspot, and manually transfer photos. It's like, after five years of new technology, we've regressed back 20 years. I guess I need to start taking my memory cards to Costco to pick up prints next.
Eye Fi Connect X2 4gb Wi-fi Sd Card
Sorry for ranting, but it is so frustrating to see companies downgrade their products for some unfathomable reason and make things worse for their customers.