SD Media Launcher or SD Card Adapter+AR?

I apologize since this is a topic that has been addressed, however a lot of the information seems to be spread out or cryptic and it's hard to translate everything (like a SD card adapter being referred to as a Gecko). I decided that I wanted to softmod my Gamecube. As new games dry up and options become limited I wanted to unlock some of the potential of my GC. I'm not really worried about the Wii right now, but all things being equal something that works on the Wii is a plus.

I'm a newbie to all of this, but from what I can tell if you want to softmod a GC you either want SD Media Launcher or you want a Card Adapter plus a old version of AR (correct me if I'm wrong please) so you can input a long code which you will use to execute SDload. The main problem I have is that it wasn't easy to find the required items (especially for a decent deal). It doesn't seem like I can go to any local stores (I live in the US, not sure if that matters) and find the items I needed and Ebay seems to be a bit absurd with their pricing.

So, here's what I was able to find:
SD Media Launcher for $19.99 - http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/G..._EF000589.aspx
Wiikey SD Card Adapter for Wii $5.02 - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3993
PEGA SD Card Adapter for Wii Wiikey $4.43 - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4980

The adapters by them self are a great deal, but I can't seen to track down any decent deal on AR, heck I'm not even sure how to find out which version I need. So, that's a main question I have, are there any good deals on the AR and how do I find out which version I need/which version it is?

People seem to prefer the AR+Gecko method but the SD Media Launcher seems cheaper than AR anyway so I'm a bit perplexed as to why that seems to be preferred. Also, is there any difference between the adapters? I'm tempted to get a cheap one, just because but it seems like it might be a waste of money since it comes with SD Media Launcher anyway.

Finally, it would seem that the Gamecube itself doesn't support SDHC. So, no matter which adapter I buy I can only use up to the 4 gig no SDHC cards, correct? I just wanted to verify that as well.

Thanks in advance for any information or additional advice!

hello there,

I dunno much about the ar+sd card adaptor method, but i do have the SD media launcher (the one on coejunkies), its a great product in my opinion. It's great for launching homebrew games and emulators. As far as "soft modding" your gamecube, i'm not sure what u mean. Do u just want to do homebrew or do u want to boot "backups"? As far as "backups" go none of those products will play them, as its illegal to circumvent copy protection in the US, not to mention that isn't allowed to be discussed here. I've seen ppl using the term "soft modding" to mean homebrew and/or for playing "backups" interchangeably.

Well from my personal experience i think the sd media launcher is a great value, it comes with the sd adaptor so u don't need to buy one seperate. Also they have bundles with 1gb and 2gb cards. Its very intuitive and easy to use with its menus. It supports .dol executables and .bin executables. I think ur cheapest route would be to just buy the sd media launcher (assuming u already have an sd card).

I dunno if the gamecube supports sdhc or not, as I only use a 1gb sd card, so i wouldn't know. I would imagine as sdhc is a newer technology and the gamecube was launched in 2001, i highly doubt there is support for it tho. Hope this helps!