A Review of the Olympus M+ 2GB XD-Picture Card

This past weekend I picked up an Olympus Stylus 1030SW Waterproof Digital Camera for my upcoming Bahama's vacation. I placed the order online with the ability to pick the camera up at the store. Once I got there though I was pretty surprised; but not shocked, to learn that my new purchase did not come with a picture card. The sales rep told me that the camera sold as is would only store 5 pictures! How funky is that? Pretty funky, I felt like I was being bait and switched, but it wasn't the case.

The fact of the matter is, is this is how Olympus nickles and dimes you to death in order to get every last hard working penny you have on you. Corporations? What'd I expect!

Seeing how I needed to take way the hell more than 5 stinking photos, I asked what I needed.

The guy was helpful and took me over to a rack of picture cards all with reasonable prices. My picture card of course was far from the glamorous $19.99 price tags I saw on other cards. Instead he recommends the Olympus M+ 1GB xD-Picture Card.

In the past however my digital cameras always were upgraded to a 2GB card, so I asked for that instead.

He then pulled out what he called 'the best digital camera picture card out there'. Gee I always thought 4GB would be better, sadly they don't make it yet.

The tag came to a staggering $39.99 plus tax.

Seeing how it was the best of the best though, I went ahead and made the purchase.
Now I am no photographer, in fact most of my photos come out blurry and looking like doodie, so all this talk about picture cards was seriously Greek to me.

My Experiences: 

Before even placing the Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card into my new camera I first went online to research this magical best of the best picture card that I had just bought for forty bucks and change.

I found myself at the official Olympus website where I learned that this particular picture card was the only one I could use in the Olympus Stylus, so really I had no choice in the matter. Yep Olympus owners, certain models only take xD cards!!!!

After reading that I was a little pissed, but the more I read on about this particular xD card, the more and more it became apparent that I had indeed made a good choice after all.

With that said, I learned on Amazon that these xD cards were the only cards you could use in order to use your Olympus' panoramic feature! I was glad I bought it now, because I'd be pretty ticked off to come home and not have my cameras features work! It still though bothered me, selling me this high end picture card so I could basically unlock features! It felt like such robbery.
 
Not only would it 'unlock' my cameras panoramic features, but the Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card also gave me access to two unlockable features on the Olympus Master 2.0 software that came with my camera!

Wow, so basically this frigging card unlocks things I SHOULD have been given for free to begin with! Ugh! My stomach was turning by now. I hate practices like this.

With all of these unlockable features I wondered what the hell the Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card did besides that.

According to their site, the Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card is faster and better than a regular xD M card... you want the M+ because it is 1.5 times faster than the M card. Basically the M+ will store your pictures faster, allowing you to snap another one. At least that is what I have gathered.

The Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card will also increase storage in your camera (well duh! Seeing how it only would store around 5 photos!) at higher resolutions!

Well I like the whole higher resolutions promise. So that is cool, but at the price I feel like I have honestly spent $40+ on unlockable features, and that bothers me.

So I put the card to the test. Before even loading it into the camera, I took some photos with the built in storage to see how the photos looked. Well hey diddly dum, they looked pretty damn good. After taking pictures on the built in storage, I then decided to add the Olympus M+ 2GB xD-Picture Card, and guess what I sure as hell could not see a difference, not at all. So much for that whole higher resolution promise!

Overall:
 
It is pretty disappointing to realize that you HAVE to buy this card after buying your Olympus camera (certain models). If you don't you won't have full use of your panoramic features, and you won't have the 2 unlockable features for Olympus Master 2.0 software.

I however recommend that you pick up the regular 2GB M card, the M+ card is just not necessary.