Using Memory Card Readers in Europe

I'm heading off to Germany, Poland and Slovakia on Saturday. I will be travelling from Canada with a Canon A630 camera. I would like to buy a memory card reader that i could use in Europe instead of using my camera to transfer pictures.

1. Do the Sandisk Memory Card readers work overseas? When you look at the description at Future Shop or Best Buy it describes these readers with a localization of North America. Does this mean anything?

2. Is there one better brand over another in terms of reliability?

3. I have found readers as cheap as $20 to as expensive as $100. I basically want to get the photos of my card and on to a CD or into my e-mail where they will be safe.

4. Does the 220 voltage power used in Europe have anything to do with buying a reader? Or do computers run AT the same power everywhere in the world.

Any other information or comments would be greatly appreciated.

You don't need to worry about electricity unless the reader uses an external power supply; most don't need one, so they should work anywhere. In your case get a USB one, not Firewire, as almost every café will have USB, but comparatively few will have Firewire.

There is a fairly significant performance range between the best and worst card readers; so it really depends on how many pictures you're talking about, whether you're using a fast card, and whether or not that speed is important.

Sandisk usually make solid reliable products.

Here's a review of some CF readers and how they perform with various cards:
CF card reader database

The cheapest one should be about $5.

I recently bought a card reader that looks like a thumb drive for about $11 (USD). You just put a card in the side and plug the reader into a USB port. It's very portable and works great.

It looks something like this except works with several types of cards...