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Think Geek USB Flash Drive review roundup
Jason Tsay
USB flash drives. These days, they’re ubiquitous. But most of the time you’ll find that flash memory is packed into mundane sticks that really are quite full to look at. To solve this issue, our friends over at Think Geek sent us a variety of thumb drives available on their site. Today, we’ll be taking a look at seven that come in all shapes and sizes, some serving an unexpected function and each unique in its own way. Which one was the best?
How We Tested
A couple of things come into consideration when buying a flash drive; the first for most people would probably be storage size. The drives we’re looking at today come in sizes ranging from 2 GB to 8 GB. The second deciding factor is the read/write speed of the drive. Most people tend not to want to sit around all day waiting for a file transfer, so we tested by copying an HD copy of Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never (1.73 GB). Aside from these basic elements, we’ll also compare size and build quality.
Golden Robot
First up, the Golden Robot flash drive. This flash drive came padded with foam in a fancy grey box, one of the nicer packages we’ve seen for a thumb drive. We were actually pretty surprised by the how heavy the flash drive felt. A reflective golden coating covers the entire body of the robot, giving the flash drive a C3P0 look. The legs and arms are all able to rotate freely, Lego-style. In fact, there is a joint at the knee area so the Robot can be contorted in a variety of stances. The large, rounded cap of a head is featureless while the body has a circular pattern. As cool as the Golden Robot flash drive looks, there’s one real issue that bugs us. As we mentioned previously, the thumb drive does have some heft to it; while we didn’t run into any issues during our testing, we’re afraid the weighty flash drive could be a problem for horizontal USB ports. It won’t break the port instantly but downward pressure on a port over a long period of time is never good. The width of the drive is also something to take into consideration. You might not be able to plug anything into the port adjacent to the Golden Robot.
Max Speed - 2.80 MB/s
Actual Size - 3.94 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($24.99)
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Mimoco Mimobot x Batman (Joker)
Next we’ve got the Mimoco Mimobot X Batman series of flash drives. Think Geek offers the Batman and Joker designs, of which we received the latter. It’s a fairly compact flash drive compared to the Golden Robot but is a fair amount wider than most flash drives. The elongated egg shape head of the Joker comes off to reveal the USB plug, which has the capacity and Mimobot embossed on it. On the rear of the drive, between the feet, is a indicator light. While made of plastic and sporting a glossy finish, the Mimobot feels pretty well made although it’s a little lightweight. We like the Mimobots a lot because they are relatively compact for novelty drives and don’t compromise on performance or storage space. The 4 GB drive comes loaded with a folder full of themed avatars, icons, wallpapers (iPhone, iPad, and desktop), and screensavers.
Max Speed - 7.36 MB/s
Actual Size - 3.75 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($24.99)
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Mimoco Mimobot x Star Wars (Wampa)
Maybe you like the Mimobot design but aren’t a big fan of Gotham City’s superhero? Think Geek has you covered with Star Wars Mimobots - Boba Fett, C3PO, Han in Carbonite, Lando Calrissian, Jawa, R2-D2, Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Wampa, Wicket, and Yoda. We tested out the Wampa version and although it was pretty similar to the Batman Mimobot, there was a minor difference we found odd - the Star Wars drive we had was slightly slower than the Batman stick and the Wampa had 0.01 GB more storage than the Joker. We’re not sure if this is simply a manufacturing issue or if the Star Wars and Batman drives use different flash memory chips. The Star Wars Mimobot also comes with a folder of Mimoco goodies.
Max Speed - 6.70 MB/s
Actual Size - 3.76 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($24.99 - $29.99)
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Voltron
Not familiar with Voltron, the Defender of the Universe? He’s basically like the combination of a Power Ranger and a Transformer. Pretty awesome right? The USB thumb drive version even comes with a gigantic sword for him to hold with his swiveling arms. Did we mention the emblem on his chest glows when you plug him in? The Voltron thumb drive obviously looks super cool but we had a couple issues with using it as an actual storage medium. Voltron, disconnecting at the torso, is pretty wide and that makes him a little difficult to fit into ports. On top of that, his rotating arms don’t feel very sturdy so they sometimes feel like they’re going to fall off. The details painted on Voltron are pretty nice although we’re not big fans of the rubbery enclosure Voltron is built in. Write speeds aren’t bad with the Defender of the Universe but he can’t seem to hold very much data at a time.
Max Speed - 7.65 MB/s
Actual Size - 1.87 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($36.99)
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Bottle Opener
The Bottle Opener flash drive was very promising at first. The clean, aluminum design was already a plus in our book, although the edges are a bit too pointy to be safe. The bottle opener feature made it even more appealing. Everything seemed great until we put the thumb drive to the test. The first bottle we tried to open was a standard Apple Cider bottle (the cap is no different from any beer bottle). The thumb drive broke on the first try. No, the whole thing didn’t snap in two, but the bottle opener edge bent and fell clean off the thumb drive. If you want a nice looking aluminum thumb drive or a thumb drive with a bottle opener, you’d be better off looking somewhere else. This one simply doesn’t work.
Max Speed - 4.33 MB/s, avg. around 3.8 MB/s
Actual Size - 1.95 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($14.99)
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Brick
The Lego thumb drive has been an idea popular among many geeks. Many a Instructable will teach you how to split apart your thumb drive and retrofit it in a two by four Lego brick, but that takes a lot of work, and you don’t always end up with a nice looking product. The Brick thumb drive by ZipZip is actually pretty small and comes with a useful lanyard attached to it. The cap is a two by two block, which can be stored by stacking on top of the other block housing the flash memory. The two pieces fit securely together when not in use. This is one of our favorites due to its balance of novelty and practicality. Great for anyone who enjoys Legos and wants a relatively small thumb drive.
Max Speed - 5.21 MB/s
Actual Size - 3.79 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($29.99 - $39.99)
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Super Talent Pico
The Pico flash drive is the least geeky looking thumb drive of our roundup, but it’s perhaps also the geekiest of the group. It’s one of the smallest flash drives we’ve ever seen yet it houses up to 32 GB of storage. Our unit came with 8 GB and transfer speeds were pretty amazing. Oh, and did we mention that the Pico is waterproof? The only problem we can foresee is that the Pico is so small you might lose it. but Super Talent has already thought of this by attaching a small metal chain. We did run into a little bit of trouble plugging the drive into our USB ports - it does require a bit of pushing - but it wasn’t a major issue and nothing broke. Great option for anyone who’s looking for a highly portable and very fast thumb drive.
Max Speed - 10.50 MB/s
Actual Size - 7.45 GB
Where to Buy - Think Geek ($24.99 - $99.99)
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So there you have it! Think Geek literally has crazy thumb drives for any type of nerd. Whether you’re looking for the world’s smallest drive or one in the shape of a robot, you’ll be able to find it in the store. So which flash drive will you be buying?
