Enermax Mighty Charger ECR301 & ECR 501 Card Reader and Front Panel Review

Bohs Hansen / 10 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Enermax MightyCharger’s aren’t widely available in the UK yet, but you can find them. Amazon has the ECR301 listed for what seems a temporary price of £33.29 while the ECR501 only costs £32.17. US customers can also find them at Amazon where the ECR301 will cost you $35.99 and the ECR501 for $42.99. German readers can find the best offers via Geizhals where the ECR301 starts at €26.10 and the ECR501 starts at €28.08.

Overview

Being able to expand the capabilities of your chassis with so much in such an easy way makes the Enermax MightyCharger a great addition for almost anyone and any case. While the units are marketed as card readers, they are so much more.

The ECR301 will not only give you a row of additional USB 2.0 ports but also an extra USB 3.0, eSATA and a high-power USB charging port. On top of that you’ll get a multi-card reader capable of reading almost any card format and that connects through USB 3 for high-speed transfers. Pretty much any front connection you could want.

The ECR501 brings along a some extra features due to the size increase from 3.5-inch to 5.25-inch. You’ll get a couple more USB 2.0 ports as well as additional card reading support. The space behind the front panel would normally have been wasted, but Enermax used it in a clever fashion. You can mount two 2.5-inch and one 3.5-inch drive in the unit for even more functionality from a single drive bay.

The card readers also performed great and clearly demonstrated USB 3.0 speeds. USB 2.0 would never be able to handle that fast speeds, making it a joy to use to transfer those image files and what else you might have stored on your cards over to your PC.

Pros:

Multi-Card reader connected via USB 3.0
Maximized USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 front access
Direct eSATA and USB connections (no hub used)
USB Charging port
Hard disk mounts in ECR501

Cons:

None

“The Enermax ECR301 and ECR501 Card Reader and Front Panel units would make a perfect addition to almost any case. They provide maximum connectivity ranging from USB to eSATA to extra drive mount options.”