Thanks for the info on the firewire d/l time, interesting to compare. I've just transferred 1GB of images from the card via the USB2 reader as a further test, it took 1min 44secs! The cardreader is the cheapest most generic one I could find as I wasn't sure it would work, £5.00 from a UK online shop
link there is no manufacturer info but according to the sticker on the underside of the reader the model number is CR-V22-U2C.