Here at Mikhailtech we definitely have a thing for USB drives. They're just about the best thing to happen to portable storage since .. ever. Now that the market is saturated and the USB2.0 interface has had plenty of time to mature, you can purchase a decent sized drive for the price of dinner at a sit-down restaurant. Having said that, all drives are not created equal. Not only are there endless variations in shapes, sizes, capacities, and random features, but in performance as well. Today we'll be taking a look at Brando's Neck Strap 2GB flash drive.
It comes in a metal tin with a plastic window as shown above. Better presentation than most drives if you ask me. Then again, it retails for $38 which is almost twice as much as mainstream competitors so this is to be expected.
Included in the package is the tin case, installation manual & CD for those less fortunate who are still running Windows 98, and the drive itself.
Unlike other USB drives we've had the pleasure of reviewing, this model is completely different in that it's a neck strap/keychain first and USB drive second. In fact, it's so well concealed (James Bond style) that if you showed it to a person on the street, they'd think nothing of it. The actual drive resides in the black clipping mechanism. At the very end of the strap is a hook and mini-strap for your keys and whatever else.
When you unclip it, you see the USB port. Who would have guessed? There are a couple issues though. First off, the clip is made for the World's Strongest Man and requires the use of your entire hand, not just a couple fingernails to part it. Conversely, you never have to worry about it coming loose. Second, the strap is permanently sealed on both sides. It would have been much nicer if you were able to unclip the strap from the drive itself, or at the very least the long end of it. That way you could carry it with your keys without having a huge dangling cord with you. Of course you could always just cut the strap off, but that would be a waste of money.
The saving grace is its size. It's absolutely tiny - only slightly larger than a quarter and about half the size of other USB drives. Another plus is that it actually formats to almost 2GB (1.98GB to be exact) unlike other models which easily drop 100MB+ without a thought. Sadly there's no activity LED though, but it's really not necessary - this is a "tough drive" if I've ever seen one. For testing I used HD Tach RW and compared it to the following drives (click for individual reviews):
