Saturday, August 16, 2008

Sony Pasori card reader

This week I just got my Sony Pasori card reader which I bought online. It is selling at a discounted price of $39 and was delivered to me by standard post free of charge. A quick check on the usual selling price outside is around $49. Therefore I even save on the transportation cost to buy it. You may purchase it from Photoatm website.

Previously my ezlink is linked to my UOB One card. I choose the maximum top-up of $50 and incur a convenience fee of $0.25 for each auto top-up. As of now, topping-up of ezlink online is free of charge. Thus I just need to make at least 156 top-up transactions to break even with the cost of the Sony Pasori card reader.

There are a few advantages of having the card reader at home. First of all is the waiver of the convenience fee. Even though the waiver may be temporary, I believe it is still worthy to have one in the house for the benefits of my family members.

With the reader, I can control the amount of top-up or balance in the ezlink card. It gives me the flexibility to charge under other credit cards should I already meet the minimum spending of $300 on my UOB One card. Now I no longer need to bring an ezlink with balance of up to $50 since the minimum amount for each top-up transaction is $10 if I do it online.

The other advantage is the ability to download the latest 20 transaction records of any ezlink card. Previously I really got no idea on how much is deducted for each tap unless I pay attention on the screen. From EZ-Oline website, I am now able to check for discrepancies in the transportation fares if there are any. You can see a sample screenshot of this feature from the picture below.

Screeshot of EZ-Online
Picture courtesy of www.ezlink.com.sg website

Since multiple top-up transactions can be done and if you are hardcore Singapore Pools fanatic, this card may come in handy for you. I am not sure of the maximum balance allowed for an ezlink, now you can effectively pay Singapore Pools using your credit card.

Installation of the Sony Pasori card reader is a breeze. Run the setup file from the cd provided, reboot your pc, plug in your reader to a free usb port and you are ready to experience the life of becoming a transitlink ticket officer. Don’t forget that you need to be connected to the internet to utilise the EZ-Online features.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

if i am not wrong, the max the EZ link card can hold is $100

Mike Dirnt said...

yes i guess so. but at least higher than the $50 max from auto-top-up.

Mike Dirnt said...

guys please be aware of the new multi platform ezlink card before buying this reader.

http://sti-stocksinfo.blogspot.com/2008/09/letter-to-ezlink-regarding-sony-pasori.html

Anonymous said...

Hi, do you have problem accessing to ezlink online to top up your card currently? I am getting a message that says fail to initialize jhunter.

Mike Dirnt said...

hi,

i just accessed ezlink website. i got no problem. maybe you can try again later

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the quick response. You mean you are able to top up/check the past transactions? Strange, as I have tried on two different PCs and I am still getting the java error. :(

Anonymous said...

Hi, I managed to get it working again. Apparently, reinstalling the pasori driver which I had downloaded won't work. I have to setup again using the CD that comes with the reader in order to work.

Mike Dirnt said...

yes i had the same problem too when i tried to install on my parents laptop. the download software from the internet does not come with java.

so you either install from the cd or you do a separate install with java. it should work

Anonymous said...

just curious mike... UOB one credit card can still be used as an ezlink card for purchase at SG pools?

Mike Dirnt said...

i dont go to Singapore Pools. as far as i know, 7 eleven still accept payment through the old ezlink. so i think Singapore Pools should still accept the old ezlink as payment. if yes, you can top up your old ezlink from any credit card