The top 5 Optical drives of 2008 (CD Freaks members choice)

Hi everyone.

Here is your chance to vote for the top 5 drive series of 2008 and, also your chance to say why you think the drives you voted for are the best of 2008.

You have probably noticed that we have not listed individual drive model numbers in our poll this time, instead we list the drives as a "drive series". We hope by doing this, we don't get votes fragmented. We have also listed Blu ray drives per brand.

You can vote for as many drives as you like. The poll will be open for 3 months and will close on the 30th of October 2008, so everyone should have a chance to cast their votes.

Thanks, Dee.

I see a couple of typos in the poll itself. What should be Samsung SH-S204 and Samsung SH-S223, are listed as Samsung HS-S204 and Samsng HS-S223.

Thanks Albert.

Aren't the Sony DRU-190s just rebadged Lite-On 20A3s? I don't think rebadges should count, or rather, they should count for the actual manufacturer of the drive.

My first choice PIO 115D / 215D second Optaric 72XX series third LG GSA-H55 series

Umm...what's the SH-S204 series? Only one listed was the SE-S204. Could you mean SH-S202?

Votes for Optiarc 72xx & Pioneer x15 both are excellent burners, unlike the the Samsung SH-S203 that i have, also a vote for the blu-ray hd-dvdrom from LG/

Lite-On 20A1 series

Pioneer DVR-115/215 series

I hoped to see Pioneer DVR-112/212 series. I love my Pioneer DVR-112D. Then ... 215, 20A1H, GH20NS10, S203B .... and ... I like so much my oldest one: Lite-ON SHW-16H5S

Guess not many people have the Sony Blu-rays, to much money for them, anyways the LG's are better and way less money.

I am curious how the LG GH22 does, I really like it so far.

Thanks for another great poll there Dee-27

I'm liking my new SH-S203N, pretty burns across the board. Makes my GSA-H62N look less-than-stellar (which it aint!).

And my LH-18A1H AND LH-20A1H crapped out on me. They simply would refuse to burn anything except CDs, and were picky at that too. Made excellent scanners though, relegated to the shelf.

Hi, I was going to vote but I couldn't find the GSA-H6xx series. Could you add it to the poll, please? For me, my GSA-H62N (now crossflashed) and Pioneer DVR-115 are the best drives.

Me too.

Also find it interesting that the Samsung 204 external drive is included.
Yet no other external drives.
At least as far as I am aware.

Samsung 203P burns absolutely everything I've thrown at it just fine,from Gen TY's,through Verb DL's (Singapore)to no name extremely cheap DL media,whereas I guess I was extremely unlucky with a brand new Pioneer 215 Sata,which came with 1.19fw installed,as it wouldn't burn anything successfully at all,no matter how many times I tried (Used read buffer hovering between 20-32%,and occasionally dropping to zero)....and yes,it was installed correctly regarding UDMA(4)and I have plenty of Ram installed etc.

I suspect it was just a dodgy drive,but RMA'd it & replaced with another Samsung 203P which functions as near perfectly as one can expect.

The LG drives don't get much love around here. My LG H62N gives me nice burns. It's the best all around burner I've ever used, but I suppose that could happen to anyone whose other drives are 16x Liteys.

They do from me, I'm a fan. But the LG's I have aren't on the list

It's time for the kitty to update her LG's

Indeed. I already get occasional use of my Mum's H62N, and I keep waiting for my E10N to die so I can upgrade (that drive is indestructible, I swear!)...maybe I'll buy an E60x for the other machine

//off topic//
I am always getting tired of waiting my drives to to die, so i go and buy a new one.

//Back on topic//
I wanted to get some of the new ATAPI 22x but not very sure how the preform with cd-r that was the reason that i didn't get the sammy 22x.

Ditto. [I only have the two, though, lol].

The LG's H6xx are still forgotten .

Why do Plextor Blu-ray drives have so many votes, don't they just rebadge LG drives?
I voted Optiarc 72xx, just bought Samsung S203D, now only Pioneer 215 is missing to have 4 great drives.

Indeed. It appears someone is cheating and signing up multiple accounts to vote for this drive. Very sad that someone would do this, as it's very much against the spirit of the community and its members.

My apologies to members who own a Plextor Blu ray drive. The option to vote for Plextor Blu ray drives has been removed.

Both Lite-On LH-20A1H & ASUS DRW-2014L1 drives have been good ones for me.

voted for

pio 116 series
sammy SH-203 series and SH-223 series
LG BD/HD series