W1zzard
12-19-2005, 09:00 AM
[page=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
From the manufacturer Corsair (http://www.corsairmemory.com):
Plug & Play functionality in Windows® XP, 2000, ME, Linux 2.4 and later, Mac OS 9, X and later
Security application lets you create a password-protected partition. Learn more.
Drivers on CD for Windows® 98
Lanyard, USB cable and driver CD included
Supports sustained read speed up to 19MB/sec*
Supports sustained write speed up to 13MB/sec*
Ten year warranty
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package2.jpg)
The sealed plastic is a pain to open, because you have to use a knife to cut the plastic. When I do it usually I cut myself.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/contents.jpg)
Inside the package you will find:
USB stick
Driver CD
USB extension 0.5m
Lanyard
[page=Accessories]
Accessories
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/extension_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/extension.jpg)
Including an USB extension cable is a good idea. Nobody wants to crawl under his desk to attach the USB stick. However, I find 0.5m is a bit short, 1m would be better for bigger desks/more complex wire routing.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/lanyard_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/lanyard.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/joint_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/joint.jpg)
The lanyard is high-quality. Ripping out the metal ring seems to be close to impossible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/hook_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/hook.jpg)
Attaching the USB stick to the hook is no problem either. With another USB stick of mine, a Sandisk Cruzer Titanium it is pretty much impossible to get the keyring in without scratching the paint.
[page=The Stick]
The Stick
Corsair uses a rubber "casing" to protect the stick from damage. The big issue with this rubber is that it acts like a dust magnet. You can't just wipe the dust off easily. It took me a lot of effort with a wet q-tip to get the stick clean for the photos.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick3.jpg)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick4.jpg)
The rubber cap fits very snugly, I think it's hard to lose it. All text on the stick is not simply printed but it is actually embossed in the rubber.
When the stick is connected to the PC and data is transferred a blue light indicates activity.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick5.jpg)
Nice detail here, the capacity of the stick is indicated.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/size_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/size.jpg)
While the stick does look a bit bulky it is not much bigger in comparison to other models from the competition.
[page=Build Quality]
Build Quality
Corsair gives a lifetime warranty for their USB sticks. Their warranty is as far as that the stick is "waterproof and shock-absorbing". We wanted to find out how much it can really take.
To verify data integrity I copied two ISO files of about 1 GB to the USB stick and created an SFV file which holds the checksums of the ISOs.
Cooking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Freezing
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Car
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse10_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse10.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse11_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse11.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse12_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse12.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse13_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse13.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
The tip of the stick with the connector took the whole weight and got deformed pretty badly. Using a flat screwdriver with a wide tip, it was easy to fix the connector, so that it would plug in.
Dish Washer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse5.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse6_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse6.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Toaster
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse7_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse7.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse8_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse8.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse9_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse9.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Inside the toaster we measured peak temperatures of over 160°C.
Washing machine
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse14_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse14.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse15_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse15.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Oven
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse16_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse16.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse17_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse17.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/error.gif
Uh oh .. Bad! Bad!
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/isolation_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/isolation.jpg)
It seems that the heat of the oven (215°C for 13 minutes is how I make my pizza) melted the clear insulation material. I think Corsair puts something like clear silicone over the PCB of the stick as sealant to make it waterproof. When I held the stick under water to clean the stick after the oven, some water got in and caused a short circuit when I connected the stick to the PC.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb2.jpg)
Near the little pins of the flash memory chip you can see how the sealant is working.
After I reformatted the drive in Windows I could store data on it again and everything is working fine.
Microwave?
Putting the stick into a microwave will definitely destroy it.
A microwave works by sending out RF energy at 2.4 GHz which heats the water inside the food. Putting metal inside the microwave is a bad idea as the microwave manual will tell you.
The PCB of the USB stick has many small traces made from copper. When the microwave is running the RF signals will induce current into the metal, similar to how radio signals induce a small current into an antenna.
In the microwave the energy is A LOT bigger, which makes the induced current big. As you know any current flowing inside a conductor creates heat because of the resistance of the metal. More current creates more heat, in the microwave the current will be big enough to melt the tiny wiring on the PCB and inside the flash chip. Pretty sparks will be the last you see from your USB stick, and no, Corsair won't accept an RMA for it.
[page=Performance]
Performance
We compared the FlashVoyager to the following USB devices:
OCZ Rally 1GB
Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB
Thermaltake MUSE external HDD enclosure
Generic Stick USB 1.1 256 MB
We used HDTach in the following two benchmarks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/graph1.gif
The FlashVoyager shows very respectable read bandwidth scores. Only the OCZ Rally is faster. The Thermaltake MUSE is an external 3.5" HDD case which uses a real hard drive.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/graph2.gif
The huge access time of the Corsair stick seems very high for flash. I would assume that the controller chip on the chip is an older slower model. However, during daily usage the access time will not matter so much, except when you transport a lot of small files and copy all of them regularly.
To get a feeling how the speed with different sized files is, we used the ATTO disk benchmark.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/atto.gif
As you can see the write performance of the drive is less than the reading speed, but still very good. As the benchmarks show, the stick will work fastest when using files of 64KB or bigger.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With $40 (512 MB), $65 (1 GB), $130 (2 GB) and $235 (4 GB) the Corsair FlashVoyager is not the cheapest memory stick. But for a small premium you will get a very solid stick which will last for a long time.
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Almost indestructible
Rugged rubber casing
Fast
USB extension cable included
Software included
Lifetime Warranty
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Cap could get lost
Expensive
Rubber attracts a lot of dust
High Access time
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>The strongest point of the Corsair FlashVoyager USB lineup is definitely their ruggedness. I had a really great time during this review, while trying to break the stick. As long as you do not expose the stick to really high temperatures and do not put it into the microwave, everything else you can do to it during daily life, will not break it.<br />
Not only can the stick take a lot of beating it also offers solid read and write performance. There is no driver installation required when using the stick in Windows 2000 and up.<br />
Unfortunately Corsair uses a cap design, which means the cap protecting the connector can easily get misplaced. Adding a spare cap into the package would be nice of Corsair. During my testing I never had a feeling that the cap could fall off the stick.<br />
The price of the Corsair FlashVoyager is about 20% up compared to similar sized USB 2.0 sticks, but if you plan on using the stick regularly this is a good investment. You also get faster transfer speeds. In my opinion the sweet spot regarding price/size is the 1 GB stick which can be found online for $65. 512 MB might be too small if you want to transport a CD image.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/recommended.gif</td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
From the manufacturer Corsair (http://www.corsairmemory.com):
Plug & Play functionality in Windows® XP, 2000, ME, Linux 2.4 and later, Mac OS 9, X and later
Security application lets you create a password-protected partition. Learn more.
Drivers on CD for Windows® 98
Lanyard, USB cable and driver CD included
Supports sustained read speed up to 19MB/sec*
Supports sustained write speed up to 13MB/sec*
Ten year warranty
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/package2.jpg)
The sealed plastic is a pain to open, because you have to use a knife to cut the plastic. When I do it usually I cut myself.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/contents.jpg)
Inside the package you will find:
USB stick
Driver CD
USB extension 0.5m
Lanyard
[page=Accessories]
Accessories
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/extension_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/extension.jpg)
Including an USB extension cable is a good idea. Nobody wants to crawl under his desk to attach the USB stick. However, I find 0.5m is a bit short, 1m would be better for bigger desks/more complex wire routing.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/lanyard_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/lanyard.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/joint_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/joint.jpg)
The lanyard is high-quality. Ripping out the metal ring seems to be close to impossible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/hook_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/hook.jpg)
Attaching the USB stick to the hook is no problem either. With another USB stick of mine, a Sandisk Cruzer Titanium it is pretty much impossible to get the keyring in without scratching the paint.
[page=The Stick]
The Stick
Corsair uses a rubber "casing" to protect the stick from damage. The big issue with this rubber is that it acts like a dust magnet. You can't just wipe the dust off easily. It took me a lot of effort with a wet q-tip to get the stick clean for the photos.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick3.jpg)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick4.jpg)
The rubber cap fits very snugly, I think it's hard to lose it. All text on the stick is not simply printed but it is actually embossed in the rubber.
When the stick is connected to the PC and data is transferred a blue light indicates activity.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/stick5.jpg)
Nice detail here, the capacity of the stick is indicated.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/size_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/size.jpg)
While the stick does look a bit bulky it is not much bigger in comparison to other models from the competition.
[page=Build Quality]
Build Quality
Corsair gives a lifetime warranty for their USB sticks. Their warranty is as far as that the stick is "waterproof and shock-absorbing". We wanted to find out how much it can really take.
To verify data integrity I copied two ISO files of about 1 GB to the USB stick and created an SFV file which holds the checksums of the ISOs.
Cooking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Freezing
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Car
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse10_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse10.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse11_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse11.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse12_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse12.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse13_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse13.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
The tip of the stick with the connector took the whole weight and got deformed pretty badly. Using a flat screwdriver with a wide tip, it was easy to fix the connector, so that it would plug in.
Dish Washer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse5.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse6_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse6.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Toaster
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse7_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse7.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse8_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse8.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse9_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse9.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Inside the toaster we measured peak temperatures of over 160°C.
Washing machine
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse14_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse14.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse15_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse15.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/dataok.gif)
Oven
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse16_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse16.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse17_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/abuse17.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/error.gif
Uh oh .. Bad! Bad!
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/isolation_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/isolation.jpg)
It seems that the heat of the oven (215°C for 13 minutes is how I make my pizza) melted the clear insulation material. I think Corsair puts something like clear silicone over the PCB of the stick as sealant to make it waterproof. When I held the stick under water to clean the stick after the oven, some water got in and caused a short circuit when I connected the stick to the PC.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/pcb2.jpg)
Near the little pins of the flash memory chip you can see how the sealant is working.
After I reformatted the drive in Windows I could store data on it again and everything is working fine.
Microwave?
Putting the stick into a microwave will definitely destroy it.
A microwave works by sending out RF energy at 2.4 GHz which heats the water inside the food. Putting metal inside the microwave is a bad idea as the microwave manual will tell you.
The PCB of the USB stick has many small traces made from copper. When the microwave is running the RF signals will induce current into the metal, similar to how radio signals induce a small current into an antenna.
In the microwave the energy is A LOT bigger, which makes the induced current big. As you know any current flowing inside a conductor creates heat because of the resistance of the metal. More current creates more heat, in the microwave the current will be big enough to melt the tiny wiring on the PCB and inside the flash chip. Pretty sparks will be the last you see from your USB stick, and no, Corsair won't accept an RMA for it.
[page=Performance]
Performance
We compared the FlashVoyager to the following USB devices:
OCZ Rally 1GB
Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB
Thermaltake MUSE external HDD enclosure
Generic Stick USB 1.1 256 MB
We used HDTach in the following two benchmarks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/graph1.gif
The FlashVoyager shows very respectable read bandwidth scores. Only the OCZ Rally is faster. The Thermaltake MUSE is an external 3.5" HDD case which uses a real hard drive.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/graph2.gif
The huge access time of the Corsair stick seems very high for flash. I would assume that the controller chip on the chip is an older slower model. However, during daily usage the access time will not matter so much, except when you transport a lot of small files and copy all of them regularly.
To get a feeling how the speed with different sized files is, we used the ATTO disk benchmark.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/FlashVoyager1GB/images/atto.gif
As you can see the write performance of the drive is less than the reading speed, but still very good. As the benchmarks show, the stick will work fastest when using files of 64KB or bigger.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
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With $40 (512 MB), $65 (1 GB), $130 (2 GB) and $235 (4 GB) the Corsair FlashVoyager is not the cheapest memory stick. But for a small premium you will get a very solid stick which will last for a long time.
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Almost indestructible
Rugged rubber casing
Fast
USB extension cable included
Software included
Lifetime Warranty
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Cap could get lost
Expensive
Rubber attracts a lot of dust
High Access time
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<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>The strongest point of the Corsair FlashVoyager USB lineup is definitely their ruggedness. I had a really great time during this review, while trying to break the stick. As long as you do not expose the stick to really high temperatures and do not put it into the microwave, everything else you can do to it during daily life, will not break it.<br />
Not only can the stick take a lot of beating it also offers solid read and write performance. There is no driver installation required when using the stick in Windows 2000 and up.<br />
Unfortunately Corsair uses a cap design, which means the cap protecting the connector can easily get misplaced. Adding a spare cap into the package would be nice of Corsair. During my testing I never had a feeling that the cap could fall off the stick.<br />
The price of the Corsair FlashVoyager is about 20% up compared to similar sized USB 2.0 sticks, but if you plan on using the stick regularly this is a good investment. You also get faster transfer speeds. In my opinion the sweet spot regarding price/size is the 1 GB stick which can be found online for $65. 512 MB might be too small if you want to transport a CD image.
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