Verbatim Hi-Speed Store 'n' Go USB 2.0 Drive - USB flash drive - 4 GB

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	LED light for when in use, large memory, no cap
Disadvantages:	looks a bit worn after a while, no cap could be disadvantage

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There seems to be an influx of reviews on ciao at the moment of netbooks, but also pen drives and I thought how difficult it must be to write a meaningful, in-depth review of something that most people possess, rely on but ultimately have the same problems – its so bloody small that you undoubtedly going to misplace it or leave it in a computer somewhere. Then I thought, I have quite a good pen drive and use it as part of my job as a teacher like its part of me; it contains years worth of resources and materials that I simply cannot live without.

Key features

So the ‘Verbatim Store 'n' Go 4GB Retractable USB Flash Drive’, or ‘pen drive’ as I like to call it has the impressive sounding Interface Transfer Speed: 480Mbps, Read Speed: Up to11MB / sec, Write Speed: Up to 8MB / sec as well as a 2 Year Limited Warranty. Ok, so we get it; it’s quick. Furthermore, it has a password protection should anyone want to steal my lesson plans should anyone manage to pick up my pride and joy. On a serious note, this could be reassuring to anyone who does actually have anything not wanting to get into the wrong hands, such as bank details, or any confidential data.

What you really want to know is it is reliable? Is it going to drop off into the USB slot and damage your computer? Well obviously not, and it is reliable. Interestingly, the main feature advertised is its retractable design meaning there’s no need to spend forever looking for a cap which has been lost in a camouflaged carpet, or laptop bag. Although impressed with this innovative design I can’t help the feeling that the pen drive will still get damaged by the fact that there is a hole from which little bits and pieces could fall into the USB connectors.

Personal favourite features

However, I have had this pen drive for over a year and its still going strong, if a little worn looking. Its best features are probably its 4GB storage space which I feel is a massive amount. I know that as we go through life there is always something bigger and better and 16GB are all great, so are I-Pods that can hold 9 billion songs, but in truth, if you aren’t going to use it then what is the point? 4GB is plenty. I feel I have loads of my pen drive and its only brimming half full. Its other good selling point is its blue LED light which is visible when its being read on the computer as well as when transferring data. I have attached a picture to show this in action.

Price

I bought it over a year ago for £15 though the only price on the ciao search is a rather excessive looking £91.99 from that well-known company ‘euro office’. Having had a brief search I found that play.com include it on a special offer. Well, if you call £8.99 from £9.99 special. At this price I would class this in the bargain catergory.

Overall

The price is good, the product is good. Forget the fancy selling points, the key things to remember are its quick, reliable, and contains plenty of space to back up any files and folders to.