Do SDHC cards really work?

I've had my EX-3 for about 2 months now, and have had no end of problems with my SDHC card setup. I've got the Transcend Class 6 cards (red stripe) in AFT adapters. I'll spare you the details, but I've had problems with cards and with adapters. I currently have one pair that gives me media restore errors every time I use it, and one pair that seems to work well. Moving the "good" card to the "bad" adapter doesn't work, and neither does moving the "bad" card to the "good" adapter.

My biggest problem with all of this though is the transfer speeds onto the computer. Even with the "good" card and adapter, 45 mins of footage can easily take 1 hr or longer to transfer onto my MBP through the expresscard slot, which completely defeats the purpose of shooting tapeless in the first place.

Obviously this isn't going to work long-term. So my question is, do I ditch this solution completely and invest the big bucks in Sony SxS cards, or do I give it another shot with Hoodman, MXR or some other setup? Is there ANY non-sony solution out there that works reliably?