USB
flash drives are like iPods at this point -- everyone has one. (Wait, you don't have one? You need to get one!) The Victorinox flash drives stand apart from the pack by adding such Swiss Army-like features as pocket knives and teeny-tiny scissors. The drives come in a
variety of configurations, including a new version known as the Victorinox Slim Flight, which consists of just a USB flash drive and the standard casing. The 32GB drive is what I tested, and its design and speed were impressive.
At a Glance
The Good: Sturdy casing, waterproof, fast
read speeds, security options
The Bad: Pricey
Design
The Victorinox Slim Flight 32GB drive features a green metal casing emblazoned with the Swiss Army logo like its standard pocket knives, and an attached key ring. (Several other colors are available: silver, green, orange and pink.) The USB stick portion -- which is extremely slim, albeit a bit long -- can be completely detached from the case. This version of the drive is meant to be safe as an airline carry-on device, unlike some of the other drives that have TSA no-no features.
Considering that many USB flash drives are constructed of plastic and have easy-to-lose caps, the Victorinox Slim is one that's meant to impress. It smoothly slid in and out of the USB port, and clipping and unclipping it from its case is done effortlessly.
Performance
I tested the write speed of the drive in my unscientific manner by copying over 241MB of photos. It took an average of 17.42 seconds to write the photos, which works out to approximately 13.8MBps. As always, speeds can be affected by several things, including the speed of your computer. While it's no
USB 3.0, it's still pretty impressive.
Victorinox says the drives are waterproof, so of course that claim had to be put to the test. I loaded up the drive with some photos, ran it under the faucet for a bit, and then popped it back into the computer. Results: The Drive started up again without a hitch, and all of the photos were there.
Data Encryption
The drive comes with a Data Encryption app preloaded onto the device. This is an extremely useful feature considering the drive is likely to be clipped to a keychain. The software lets you sync Microsoft Outlook files, save bookmarks, and has an automatic backup function, among other things.
The Bottom Line
At a $149 MSRP, the Slim Flight is definitely on the high end of a the pricing spectrum for a 32GB flash drive. However, if you're a road warrior who requires durability, security and portability, you'll rest easy knowing your documents are safer on this than on the average drive.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our
Ethics Policy.
