
I got my hands (very temporarily) on both of these babies today and, after just an hour fiddling with them after dinner, I have made the following few basic observations.
The Epson generally does everything as fast, if not faster than the Jobo:
- The Epson takes 5 seconds to start up, whilst the Jobo takes just under 25 seconds.
- Press buttons, insert memory cards and connect cables… the Epson generally reacts faster.
- Every time you look at a photo on the Jobo, you have to wait about 10 seconds for the device to “apply colour profile” before you can then zoom in and out. There is no such delay on the Epson.
- JPEG data transfer speed from camera to the Epson is same as to the Jobo (but much quicker if transfer is direct from the compact flash card (2GB Ridata Pro-2 80x) inserted into the device):
..D200 to Epson: 55 seconds to transfer 60 jpegs (138MB)
..CF Card to Epson: 32 seconds to transfer 60 jpegs (138MB)
..D200 to Jobo: 55 seconds to transfer 60 jpegs (138MB)
..CF Card to Jobo: 1 minute 25 seconds to transfer 60 jpegs (138MB)
- RAW data transfer from camera to the Epson is much quicker than to the Jobo:
..D200 to Epson: 2 minutes 45 seconds to transfer 60 RAW files (484MB)
..CF Card to Epson: 1 minute 30 seconds to transfer 60 RAW files (484MB)
..D200 to Jobo: the screen went black and the device froze…
(I didn’t have time to figure out what went wrong and try again)
..CF Card to Jobo: 4 minutes 40 seconds to transfer 60 RAW files (484MB)
- Data transfer to Mac PowerBook G4 was faster from the Epson:
..Epson to computer: 1 minute 20 seconds for 60 jpegs (138MB)
2 minutes for 60 RAW files (484MB) PLUS 60 jpegs (138MB)
(that was unintended, but it transferred all 120 files a lot faster than I expected!)
..Jobo to computer: 1 minute 20 seconds for 60 jpegs (138MB)
6 minutes for 60 RAW files (484MB)

The Jobo’s 3.8” screen is great but I think the Epson’s looks just as good and is slightly larger at 4”.
Whilst the Jobo was pretty intuitive to use when I first picked it up, I found the Epson even more so (to the extent that its instruction manual is shorter and clearer).
You can't easily find the file size of photos in the Jobo.
The Epson controls and buttons are just where your fingers expect them to be, whilst the Jobo handles more clumsily. The Jobo’s slightly recessed soft keys are a bit difficult to press, and one has to sometimes change one’s grip of the device to get at the required soft key button. I found that basic tasks like zooming required an extra key stroke (press of the button or joystick) on the Jobo, thus making it more fiddly.

I thought I'd like the rubbery finish of the Jobo but am convinced the Epson has a better build quility and finish.
I also like that the Epson has both a standard size USB port as well as the smaller type, thus allowing the same one cable to be used for transferring data from camera to device and (turned around) from device to computer. The Jobo just has two small USB ports.

Finally, I had no problem getting the Epson to communicate with the camera and with my Mac, straight out of the box. The Jobo wasn’t quite as well behaved. I didn’t have time to figure out why it wouldn’t transfer RAW files to my Mac…
Not to worry, as I am absolutely sold on the Epson. The Jobo is (was) a cute piece of kit, but is without any doubt in my mind the slower and less user-friendly of these two devices. From what I could see, the Epson now has the same functionality that the Jobo has (and which earlier Epsons did not). Both units have an 80GB drive and cost virtually the same here in Hong Kong. I have to return the Jobo during my lunch break tomorrow.... I will not be returning the Epson!

Whilst this post was not a detailed or comprehensive review, I hope some of you may have found it useful.

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