 List Price: $205.99
Lowest Price: $159.99 
Product Description: The Corsair Flash Survivor is an extremely durable, water resistant, drop-tested flash USB memory drive. By design it is perfect for transporting valuable data such as personal files, photos and applications without having to worry about damage or loss of data due to the elements. Encased in extremely strong CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade aluminum;Water resistant to 200M through the use of a EPDM waterproof seal;Protected from vibration or impact damage through the use of a molded shock-dampening collar;Plug-&-Play with any USB 2.0 certified peripheral computer port (backward compatible with USB 1.1). Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-25
Peace of Mind
Are you the type that worries about little things? I don't mean OCD like, I'm talking about that nag at the back of your mind about something. That's the reason I spent $80 bucks on my Corsair Survivor flash drive. If I have something very important on my flash drive (which is most of the time) I will worry about its well being, i.e. paying attention to how it is carried and stowed etc. Well with this flash drive those worries are over, I simply have to know where it is and that's it. It can get rained on, dropped, run over they say (I'm not willing to try that one! I spent 80 bucks!) anyways you get the point, its basically bullet proof for the normal gal or guy and for that ease of mind the extra money I spent is more than worth it. Oh and I have used it between XP and Vista and it has operated seamlessly, completely plug and play. Ron Jr. Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-10
Is it normal for flash drives to "bend" a little?
When the cover is off, the part that actually goes into the usb port (the metal part) wiggles a little. It can bend a little from side to side. Is that ok and perfectly normal, or no? I would appreciate anyone that could reply so that I know if it's defective or not. Otherwise, it works great. Very fast. Rating:
Date: 2008-04-23
A terrific piece of kit
What's in an 8GB flash drive, you ask? Sure, you can pick up a cheap plastic trinket at Fry's for less than $50, so why consider anything else? A flash drive is a flash drive, is it not?
No, it is not. 99% of USB flash drives on the market today are cheap junk, made for pennies with bargain-basement components, and not designed to be rigorous. They're throwaway trinkets, and this becomes obvious in the transfer speeds, physical endurance, and data quality.
I regard data integrity of prime importance, whether it's a word-processing document or a file of viral sequence data, and I've had one-too-many flash drives go bad on me, resulting in hours of problem-solving from having my data corrupted. Now I can't help but regard those throwaway USB flash drives as anything but junk.
Worse than junk, actually ... especially in the case of silent corruption, caused by el cheapo flash components going bad, and you don't know that the file is compromised until the next time you use it. Add file-synching between different computers and you have a recipe for disaster. The more you learn about the design and make-up of commodity flash drives, the less you can trust them.
The 8GB Corsair Survivor GT is different in that it's a quality tool. It's made of durable materials with the finest electronic components on the market. If moving data around is a routine part of your job, you should at least be aware of the finest tools available, and the benefit they bring. If you find lost/corrupted data unacceptable, then you shouldn't use cheap junk, period.
(Note that I am talking about the 8GB Corsair Survivor GT. The "GT" (identified by the red label) is the important part; this indicates the product line with higher performance and longevity through superior components. Don't get this confused with the regular (blue-label) Survivor models.)
In a nutshell, there are two reasons why this flash drive is special:
-- The rugged, waterproof housing. Not that big of a deal, when you get down to it; not only does Corsair sell other Survivor models (in even greater capacities), but you can always buy a waterproof match container at your local camping store, and use it to protect a flash drive and other items, and you effectively have the same thing. But still, having it in one integrated unit is nice and convenient, and when Corsair claims this is a rugged unit built to endure soaking, impacts, stress, temperatures, etc., it's not marketing hype. This is the real deal.
-- The components. This flash drive is the last of the generation that will use dual-channel SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash chips. Not only are they considerably faster than other (MLC) flash chips, but their lifespan is roughly 10 times as long, in terms of write degredation.
Those two factors combine to form what I believe is the finest USB flash drive anywhere.
Unfortunately, there will be no more USB flash drives made using SLC flash memory chips, because it is no longer financially tenable. This 8GB model is the last of the line, and Corsair has been very up-front about this: all future models, including the GT line, will be made with MLC NAND chips. You will not find any flash drives, anywhere, with a larger capacity using this technology.
As such, this product has been discontinued, which explains its high price. Someday it will no longer be commercially available, and it will only be seen in the proud, possessive clutches of their owners' hands. At that point, good luck trying to find one.
After my tirade, if you still argue that flash drives are a disposable commodity, then I won't try to convince you otherwise. If, however, you have the need (or inclination) to use the finest tool for the job and ensure your data integrity beyond all doubts, then here you go: you won't find a better data-transport device anywhere, and there probably won't be a better one on the market for quite some time.
It's fast, it's capacious, it's rugged, it's well-built. They offer a 10-year warranty. I can't think of much more to say.
(Cons: This review wouldn't be complete without mentioning some of this device's caveats. It's a bit large. It's a big heavy. Such is the price for being truly rugged. Its round, cylindrical form-factor makes it prone to rolling around when placed on a flat surface; to solve this issue, I would recommend attaching the beaded "dog-tag chain" that's included; not only can you wear it around your neck like a unselfconscious ubergeek, but it will keep that sucker from making any unwanted moves.)
Rating:
Date: 2008-03-27
Fastest Flash Drive to Date!
I bought this because it's fast it has the fastest benchmarks of any flash drive out there.
They have discontinued this drive because they can't get the chips anymore.
The bigger drives (over 8 gig ) use slower chips. Get this puppy while you can!
Rating:
Date: 2008-02-09
Great but easy to lose
This is a great product, extremely durable, waterproof, and super fast. I like it so much that I'm here buying my second one, even though I now know there is a flaw -- the case is very round, and if you drop the device on an inclined surface, it will roll away. That is how I lost my first one, by dropping it in a parking garage. Probably keeping it attached to the included dog-tag style chain or something like that would prevent this problem from happening again. |
