Corsair Flash Voyager Review: Fast and Takes a Beating

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USB flash drives are something that no person should be without these days. Their portability and functionality make them a necessity in today’s high-tech society. The major problem is that there are way too many different flash drives on the market, and there are very few deciding factors between each device. What it all really comes down to is the speed, design and durability.

Corsair, a company well known for producing memory modules for desktop computers, laptops and servers, has put out their own line of USB flash drives called the Flash Voyager. Cleverly named, the flash voyager can no doubt go where ever you please on your many journeys, especially to the laundry mat. One of the many selling features of the Voyager is the rugged, shock resistant, water resistant casing. When I contacted Corsair’s marketing department they informed me that it can even withstand a trip in the washing machine. Well, we informed him that we will putting their device to the test, MobileMag style.

When the drive arrived it came packaged in your standard on-the-shelf plastic packaging. Inside the package were the Flash Voyager drive, a Corsair lanyard, a USB extension cable, and an installation and utility CDROM.

Corsair claims the following:

- Sustained read speed of 19MB/sec
- Sustained write speed of 13MB/sec
- Waterproof and shockproof
- USB 2.0 High Speed

Design

When I first held the Flash Voyager I was instantly impressed. The rubber durable casing hands down beats all the devices on the market. The device also feels extremely solid, and it is; when I dropped it on the ground, all it did was bounce and laugh at my feeble attempt to break it. Soon as I plugged in the USB cable and transferred files a sweet little blue LED blinked on the device to tell me it was working, definitely a nice touch.

Durability

Corsair claimed that the Flash Voyager is waterproof, and I decided to test that! I dropped it into water over, and over, and over and over again, wiped it off and plugged it in and to my amazement it worked perfectly without a hitch. Quite a handy feature! I usually keep my USB thumb drive attached to my keys and I am always dropping them in puddles etc, I actually ruined one drive that way. Well, not anymore! As you can see from the pictures, the Flash Voyager boldly goes where no flash drive has gone before.

Not only is the drive waterproof, but it is also shock proof. I didn’t feel like electrocuting my self to death so we will just have to take their word for it.

As for the casing of the device, it is as rugged as it can be; the rubber casing protects the device perfectly! I dropped the drive, threw it, and even sat on it and couldn’t create any damage. I am going to actually take it with me snowboarding on my trip to Whistler, BC so we will see how it holds up to my shredding style.

Performance

As for performance, I can’t believe how fast this drive is! I filled the drive with 490MB worth of Nikon Raw Image files (5MB a piece) and it only took 52 seconds.

When I performed a speed test in HD Tach 3.0 it performed at a burst write speed of 19.5 MB/s and an average of 18.5 MB/s. Average random access time was recorded at 20.6ms. Pretty damn fast if you ask me (and HD Tach of course).

The drives are available in different sizes. We reviewed the 512mb version but it comes in 128, 256, 512, 1GB, and the new 2GB model released a few days ago.

You can purchase the devices here:

- 128 MB $21.99
- 256 MB $34.99
- 512 MB $59.99
- 1 GB $104.99
- 2 GB (Not Available Yet)

• Note: Prices were taken at the time the review was written.

In conclusion, the Flash Voyager is definitely on the top of my list for flash drives due to its casing, durability, and speed. Like I said at the beginning of my review; choosing a flash drive comes down to speed and design, and Voyager wins in those categories. When it came time to rate this device, I found myself searching for flaws. I didn’t find any; the Corsair Flash Voyager fits my perfect example of how a USB flash drive should be.

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