[Pen/Pencil Review] The Dane-Elec ShareBytes 4GB USB Drives
This week’s review isn’t a pen, pencil, or notebook. This week, I’m talking about novelty flash/USB drives. Why? Well, one, I already have pictures taken of them so that’s one less bit of effort. And two, they’re too darned cool.
While at a 20% off anything you can get in the bag sale at Staples, we found these awesome ShareBytes 4GB companion flash/USB drives (thumb drive, call ’em what you will). Along with rubber ducks, I seem to have a burgeoning skull collection thanks to the Redheads of the Apocalypse series. So seeing the gray/black skeleton USB drives hugging and cute hearts…and I do think they may have been on further sale…even my husband said we had to get them.
I have no idea what I’m going to do with “one to use, one to share”, though they’re useful little things. The Dane-Elec ShareBytes 4GB is plenty for me…even with my “never get rid of a document file” mentality, “My Documents” backups are less than 3GB. So I have a “genre” USB back up at conventions, if I need it. And sometimes I do…like if I don’t take a computer but then am asked to read something that I don’t have in hard copy.
These drives are slim. They don’t take up much space in a purse or pocket. The USB connector is retractable into the drive case with a slider feature on the “inside” edge (as in where the two drives would “hug”). And I found the slider feature to be stiff, so it did take a bit of an effort to extend and retract the connector. I find that a good feature. I have some slider USB drives that get “soft” after a while and won’t keep the drive retracted. I’m afraid, sometimes, that will damage the connector. I don’t have that worry (yet) with these drives.
Yes, you can get less expensive drives, but still the MSRP is about $15. Which for two 4GB USB drives, is rather affordable. They have more expensive, toy-related drives, but with these two-fers, I’d actually use them. Right now, I think I’ll keep one empty for “security” if someone (I trust) needs to share a file with me that can’t/isn’t emailed. That way we all know there’s no virus on the drive, and I don’t lose the shared file. The other is yet another document backup drive that’s darned cute.
The numbers.
1. How does it work? – 1 It works great. It’s a USB drive that has solid mechanisms. Data is saved and retrieved. It’s a USB drive.
2. Grip and feel – 1 – I like the slider mechanism . It’s solid to a bit stiff, which makes me feel like the connector is protected from damage. Which is what I like about USB drives. I don’t want parts to get lost or broken.
3. Material – 1 It’s plastic, but so are most USB drives. But even though light, and having some “thinner” parts (at the hug connections), they don’t feel flimsy.
4. Overall Design – 1 – These are too cute for words. The drive is part of the skeleton body. The drives are “slim” enough in thickness to not overwhelm stacked USB ports. I used one above a receiver dongle for my wireless keyboard/mouse, and it wasn’t even a tight fit.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – Here’s where I do have to knock off a half point. You can get just as good USB drives of the same size and quality for cheaper, but they will NOT be this cool. And if you need multiple drives for a project, or you have kids, this might be the way to go. They’re not THAT expensive, but you are paying for the cute/cool novelty factor.
4.5 out of 5 bronze pencils.
