The reader itself is not much bigger than a normal sized USB flash drive. Granted, the MobileLite can only handle SD and MMC (and its variants including micro and SDHC), there is much versatility in its use. Since it is hardly bigger than a normal flash drive, you can use it as one with no problem. Imagine keeping a mini-SD card in the slot and having the other slots free for other memory cards. This is a very handy device.