Patriot Flex 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model PSF16GFXUSB Patriot Flex 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model PSF16GFXUSB

Pros: Only $10
Gets the job done.

Cons: only comes in purple

Other Thoughts: average write speed : 7-9 mb

Pros: Durable and reliable.

Secures to key chain nicely, and it's size will not sabotage your key chain.

Very fast for a small USB 2.0 drive -- 10 to 15 gb/s read, 3 to 6 gb/s write.

Waterproof, washable.

Cons: Cosmetic deterioration over one year.

Other Thoughts: Does not look pretty after a year. Actually, I did not really want a "pretty" USB drive. I prefer the grey, black, faded, peeled appearance now over the original purple.

Pros: A tiny little drive. Tough too. Price.

Cons: Speed could be better, I get 10-15MBps but it's not a real issue.

Other Thoughts: Loaded OS install CD and my backup/recovery software on 2 and taped them inside my case. Also gave another 6 away as gifts, my friends love them for their portability.

Pros: Small drive, relatively fast.
Comes with silicone slipcase...see other comments

Cons: None if you like purple.

Other Thoughts: This comes with a stretchy silicone slipcase that can be put on a keychain. The drive can then be slipped into it. You don't have to put the drive itself on the keychain which is a plus.

The slipcase is tight enough that I don't really worry that the drive will fall out.

Not a bad design.

Pros: Taiwan made; fits into small spaces; nice silicon pouch, too.

Cons: slower than expected

Other Thoughts: Would buy again.

Pros: Stores stuff, hasnt broken yet, seems pretty solid

Cons: could be slightly faster i guess

Pros: Very small , elegant design, works well

Cons: bad choice of plastic, get scratched easily, the tiny pieces of plastic on the sides of the connector end broke off

Other Thoughts: I bought it several months ago and it works well, use it almost daily. Would prefer black non painted plastic instead of white one that is pained in a fancy color, as every scratch reveals the white plastic below.

Pros: Incredibly small
Nice design
Good price

Cons: Only 15GB of actual space
Comes with a rubber case, but no simple cap to speak of
2-3MB/s write speed (with a modern CPU and hard drive)

Other Thoughts: Granted, I should have foreseen the rubber case and lack of a cap from the advertising, but I still see no reason why one couldn't be included. That's the only thing that kept me from giving this less is because of that. The slow write speeds and large amount of non-usable space did not impress me.

Unless you really need a small USB drive, I would not buy this one.

Pros: I'm pretty impressed so far. It's even smaller than my Supertalent drive by about 2mm if I include the key ring for each (separate ring on the ST). It's also about half the weight and double the capacity. Transfer speed is decent, but not lightning fast. looks good and sits flat against the keys on my key ring taking up minimal space. Smooth engagement on the USB ports too, very nice fit and finish.

Cons: I don't know if the plastic will hold up to years of daily abuse, but so far, no issues.

Other Thoughts: I set the rubber case to the side, opting to expose it to the elements.

Pros: It really is pretty small! Doesn't look like the loop part would break off easily (good for a keychain, seems rugged)

Cons: Device would not recognize on any computer I plugged it into. Tried on 4 computers on 3 different flavors of Windows.

Other Thoughts: I thought a USB thumb drive would just work out of the box, so with this I just kinda threw it on my keychain and left it there until a need for it came up, which it did one day when I needed to pull about 13GB of data from a ticking hard drive in order to save it. I thought "Wait! I have a 16gb drive I can use for this!" Plugged it in and nada. Tried every other computer in the house (One XP Pro, one Vista Home Premium, one W7 Professional, and...some other flavor of W7), same result, "Device not recognized". For the price it's not worth my time send back really...I tossed the packaging and don't care that much. I just had to make 6 trips with a 2gb....

Oh well.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

I'm sorry to hear that you had some issues getting the drive to be recognized. Please don't hesitate to contact me: support@patriotmem.com and I'll be glad to troubleshoot your issue. Regardless if you have the packaging or not, your product should still be under warranty.

Best Regards,
Benjamin
Patriot Memory Customer Support