Corsair Flash Voyager USB flash drive - 4 GB > Reviews > Corsair washes away the competition.

Author's product rating:   

Memory / capacity	Excellent
Reliability	Good
Ease of use	Very easy
Speed	Very fast
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Waterproof, drop - proof, fast, big capacity,
Disadvantages:	Too big to stick two of them in consecutive ports

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

An upgrade from my 512MB version shows just how much I love these sticks. In fact I collect them, I have 2 512MB ones, a 2GB one, and two brand new ones, in 4GB and 8GB form. I think they look good, feel good and well... they're generally good. I've only ever had one fail, and that was one that stopped working on day one so at least I didn't have to worry about having lost the latest version of my work. It also served as a reminder that no matter how reliable something usually is it's always important to have an up to date backup!

The stick itself, like the other members of the family, is made out of some sort of rubber, the only problem here is that black rubber seems to attract little white bits of fluff. however the advantage being that rubber doesn't rattle around in your pockets or your bag.

The 4GB version is really as big as most people will need today. I have programs installed on my stick (Google "portable apps" ) and this stick leaves over 3GB of room for a lot of music, photos, and videos, despite having OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, and more installed and running straight off my memory stick. I'd say that 4GB is a sound investment at the moment, and offers the most bang per buck than the smaller 2GB version, or the uber-expensive 8GB version.

The physical size of the stick is a little awkward, it's great to hold, and not too big, but it can be awkward plugging in 2 of these sticks into ports next to each other. I bought mine from dabs, and it had no USB cable included, which might be worth getting hold of if you are short of USB ports and need to plug a lot of things into your computer. That said USB hubs are cheap as chips now and probably worth investing in. Otherwise the USB extension cable is pretty short so you're not missing much.

The software is the same as the rest of the Corsair Voyager family. You don't have to use the software on the disk, but the software provided is very easy to use and worth installing. The software included on the stick allows you to rename / repartition the USB stick, however for those who need a secure partition for their data, the Corsair utility needs to be installed on every machine that the drive is used on. This is fine if you're only ever going to use the drive in two locations, but otherwise it can become a pain in the backside having to install something wherever you go, and it is worth remembering that some PCs, such as internet Cafes, University, or some workplaces, will not allow you to install software on them.

There are claims that this stick is rugged to the point of being extremely difficult to break. I personally wouldn't like to test this, especially not with a £60 stick, and it does feel as though you can snap the stick in half. However, being made out of rubber, it is hopefully waterproof enough to survive the odd washing machine holiday and being dropped. If it can survive the sort of onslaught my 512MB Flash voyager has sustained then I expect that the ten year warranty Corsair provide will be up before I break it.

This stick is fast, It's certainly the fastest USB stick that I've used. Perhaps a little more streamlined to fit USB sticks in consecutive USB ports would be nice, but otherwise this is a bloody nice stick. I've not dropped it many times yet, and it's not been through my washing machine yet, but if it holds up as well as its older brothers it should be with me for a long time. At 4GB there is plenty of space and this brand has served me well, both at work and at home. If you're sure you need 4GB of space and you have the money to spend, then I can't see any reason not to get this stick.