Corsair Flash Voyager 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive CMFUSB2.0-16GB Reviews

• 16GB? No it's not to big.

  
  By AWH9Y0E93H9ZV on 2007-06-07
  I also own the 8 and 32 and 64GB voyager, all are every bit as reliable as the 16GB drive.
  
  Over the course of the last 8 years I've had a number of USB drives. Iomega, Corsair, Apacer, PNY, Sony and SanDisk. I've upgraded each time I felt the storage increase justified the cost. I work in information technology so they are tools more than toys, anyway on to the review. This 16GB drive is massive and well worth the money. I've used this flash drive in all sorts of systems and also have a .bat file that allows me to sync my data. I also keep an encrypted container on the drive, my point? Whether you are transferring data, encrypting data, saving data, or syncing data it works quite well. I also use some U3 applications like Firefox portable which allows you to run the browser from your flash drive and keep personal info off the local computer. Once again the drive works flawlessly.
  I do agree that the protective rubber coating around the drive can make it somewhat difficult to plug in multiple USB devices, but Corsair does provide a USB cable extension which helps solves the problem. Another excellent feature is that this is one of the few USB drives that the cap stays on very tight. I've been asked by a couple of people what I use for encrypting my flash drive. The best software I've come across is called True Crypt (just Google it, it's an org site) it's a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.
  
  
  *******Important note on the 64GB Voyager*******
  The 64 GB Voyager is 9 CM long without the cap and 2.7CM wide.
  The 8, 16 and 32GB Voyagers are 6.5 CM without the cap and 2.3CM wide.
  
  While it doesn't sound like a big difference it is when you're expecting them to be the same size.
  I uploaded a picture in the product gallery so the size difference could be seen.
  
  
  Update August 2009
  An impressive 16GB flash drive and with zero issues since purchasing it.
  
  

• Excellent, Capacious and Very Fast

  
  By A2QOZCX3IQ28RK on 2007-11-09
  I purchased this drive from Amazon recently and tested it under both Mac OS X Tiger and Windows ME. In both cases, I saw excellent read speed but slow, slow write speed (1 MB/s to 1.4 MB/s, an order of magnitude lower than advertized). I was very disappointed at the poor performance to say the least.
  
  Before returning the drive, I decided to test it under Windows XP. Wow, what a difference. The same drive, under Windows XP, is a speed demon. I am now satisfied that the drive behaves much more closely to it's advertized specs. For read speed, I am seeing something in the area of 30 MB/s, which is excellent. For write speed I am seeing roughly 7 MB/s. This is a little slower than advertized, but nonetheless, an excellent speed.
  
  So, this is a great memory stick as long as you are using it under Windows XP (don't have Vista so can't comment, but I expect that performance under Vista would be similar). For earlier versions of Windows (9x and ME) though, be forewarned. Write performance is not good. Similarly, for Mac OS X Tiger be forewarned. BTW, for Mac OS X, I did try formatting the stick for HFS+ (the native Mac OS X format), but it made only a marginal difference.
  
  

• very rugged

  
  By A1KNASX0HHAFEM on 2006-07-17
  I have this drive and last night I washed it in a pair of jeans, then unknowingly dried it. I figured it was toast for sure, but after plugging it in, it came up perfectly along with all my data. This thing can take a beating.
  
  

• Speed tested (7.5Mb/s write, 24Mb/s read), actual filesize capacity 14.99Gb

  
  By ARPRVK6YEOPRD on 2007-12-25
  Apple Macbook Pro
  
  The Macbook reports 14.99Gb of (actualy, useable) free space.
  
  Copied 14.41Gb of data from the harddisk to the usb drive, while the Macbook was doing nothing else. The data was made up of mostly about video (about 30 files), with half a dozen small text files.
  
  It took 33 minutes to write the data, which equals 0.44Gb/minute or 7.5Mb/second write speed.
  
  It took about 10 minutes to copy the data back from the USB pen drive to the harddisk, which equals 1.44Gb/minute or 24Mb/second read speed.
  
  The dimensions mentioned on Amazon are for the packaging not the actual pen drive.
  
  The drive is the typical size for a usb pen drive. About 1.5 inches long, half and inch wide and quarter of an inch deep. Sizes are just guestimates, I did't use a ruler.
  
  The rubber casing has a nice tactile feel to it. My only minor complaint, which almost every pen drive suffers from, is that although the (rubber) cap fits snug and securely onto the usb plug, I'm still not convinced it wouldn't wobble off when the drive is in my pocket. Ideally, I'd like the cap to screw on, but hey ho. It doesn't look like it is *likely* to come off.
  
  

• 50% Faster Writes than advertised

  
  By A3IVN2U8TYSIDX on 2007-03-16
  I'm very happy so far, especially as I tested the write speed to be 18MB/S which is 50% faster than claimed. The read speed was the claimed 31MB/S.
  
  Came with USB extension lead and disk with the encryption software on. My last flash stick was a Sandisk with 3U - it always gave quite a wait to boot up 3U so I don't think I'm going to miss it - perhaps will miss the auto backup software. The TrueCrypt encryption software that comes with the Voyager is freeware - seems very good and the latest version was on the mini-CD that came with it along with the Windows-98 driver.
  
  My laptop has recessed USB slots and I could plug the device in no problem, but it does prevent use of the slot next to it unless the extension cable is used. I like the rubber case and I don't think this is going to be a big issue.
  
  It seems the XP driver installs itself (no disk needed) and according to the device settings write caching is disabled which it says makes it safe to remove the device without first having to shut down the device - very nice.
  
  Overall very happy.
  
  
• Fast, plenty of space and reliable
  By A2RTOAFFSU6LNO on 2007-12-13
  The producto is awesome!!! All this space at a very reasonable size of flash drive. The rubber cover protects from almost any human accident.
  
  The only problem (Corsair isn't accountable) is the limit of file size you can write into flash driver (2GB). However, this is a FAT32 filesystem limit, not a Flash drive itself limitation.
  
  An option is to convert the filesystem to NTFS but, if you do that, you won't be able to use this flash drive with Mac or Linux. I think this will be a limitation of this kind of huge flash drives for a long time.
  
  
  
• Best Currently Available Flash Drive
  By A24L2P8AQ2HHB2 on 2007-05-12
  Fastest read and write speeds I've had on a USB drive. This is especially important because of the size of the files that this thing can hold. It's got an amazing amount of memory - I don't think I will need another USB for the foreseeable future. It is also constructed very durably. The only very slight downside is it's convex shape that may cause difficulty stacking multiple USB ports.
  
  
• Much Better
  By A1EMDSTJDUE6B0 on 2007-05-24
  I had been getting larger USB flash drives as the performance-to-price was reasonable. I went to a competing 4G unit, which I had had success with their earlier versions, but it was truly a dog. Twice as slow on large files and more than ten times as slow with a bunch of smaller files (e.g., 3 minute transfer ended up taking more than 30 minutes).
  
  So, I looked around. This one (the GT version, which supposedly is faster) had good reviews and a good price. I couldn't find it locally, so had to get it online. So far, this one is faster than the good competing units and, of course, much much faster than that dog I had earlier.
  
  Yes, mine is tight when two sticks are next to each other. Had to use the extension in those cases. But, usually by itself, it fits snugly.
  
  I like the fact that it is rubberized. Makes it less damage prone. The cap works well, but I haven't had it very long. The only problem is that it does pick up dust, lint, and tissue residue fairly easily. No big deal there, though.
  
  Definitely recommended. Since I'm already over 5G of the 8G, already eyeing the 16G version.
  
  
• Fine drive, but unreliable?
  By A2Y7IUGOHIAI2X on 2007-08-07
  I purchased 12 of these drives for the office and three have gone belly up in the first three months of use. I sent one back and I'm waiting to here if they will replace it before sending the other two. I also bought a 16GB version which seems to be working fine. The three drives that went bad were being used by three different people on various machines, so I don't believe the users are at fault for the drive failures.
  
  
• big and bouncy
  By A8JEH1H9CEZXH on 2007-07-05
  I'd give this thing 5 stars, except for the fact that I can't seem to get the darn thing out of my pocket. It's rubber shell, while very protective and fun to bounce up and down on the desk, makes it very "sticky" on the inside of my pocket. I like to keep my usb drive in my fifth pocket on my jeans, you know, the small pocket that's just above the regular pocket? Anyway... The rubbery texture makes it hard to get out. Other than that, this is a great unit. The upload speed is definitely noticably slower that the download speed. But once you get all your stuff on there, it comes off pretty quickly.
  
  
• I love this thing!
  By ASDWW4X3L41D6 on 2007-12-13
  This is my first thumb drive, and now that I experienced one I cant believe it took me this long to purchase one! I originally was going to get the GT version but I couldn't justify paying almost double the price to have my files transfered a few seconds quicker.
  
  I currently use Vista with 2GB's of 1066mhz memory so have no intentions on using this for Vistas ReadyBoost feature. I do however love the 8GB size on this drive, and the write speeds are great. I don't know if this is a Vista or Fat32 issue but I read reports of this drive getting 15MB/s+ write speeds. When I transfer 700mb files to the drive I only average 5-7Mb/s. I think if you format the drive as NTFS it may increase the write speeds by a good deal but I chose not to for reasons listed below.
  
  You can choose to format this drive in either Fat,Fat32,or NTFS. Originally I intended to do the NTFS route for the added features like quicker read/write speeds and the ability to transfer files over 4GB in one shot. The only reason I didn't was because I don't think my DVD player will recognize an NTFS format. Also when you format this drive you can choose the option to "optimize for performance" opposed to "optimize for quick removal". This is great, but just remember to use the "Safely Remove hardware" icon in your system tray to avoid losing any data.
  
  For movie watching this thing is just fantastic. It literally pays itself off in savings from not having to buy so many blank DVD-R's. This drive is great for disposable movies you only watch once then can erase. If you like the movie than you have the option of burning it.
  
  This drive has also served me well when it comes to computer files as well. I've used it numerous times already to flash my BIOS, make a bootable copy of certain programs, and to transfer files to another computer. Its just an all around great device to have. Now that prices are so low on these things I cant think of a single reaon not to pick one up. I also use Corsair desktop memory (Dominator sticks) and can say from previous experiance that they are a great company. Their warranty is great and they even provide a fantastic website that is extremely helpful in answering questions about their products.
  
  This stick will come preloaded with a program that allows you to encrypt your files. This is great for any personal data but I chose to remove it since I have no need to hide my files. It also comes with a great USB dongle to make for an easier connection to cramped USB slots on your computer. Being that this drive is fatter than most the dongle comes in handy.
  
  One complaint people seem to have is the fear of losing the cap since its not connected to the device. A little precaution should keep you from misplacing it, but if you do Corsair will send you a new one free of charge. So if your on the fence on buying a thumb drive I say to you this is a great option. For the price to performance ratio this drive can't be beat!
  
  
• Worked great for 2 months.
  By A2P4X5PJYSRTTP on 2008-02-29
  Got my 16GB usb key for Christmas. Great. Never run out of room again.
  
  It's Feb. and the key is DEAD and does not work.
  
  Also, the little rubber cap on the end falls off and is gone in about 3 weeks... you won't see that again.
  
  Just died and took anything I didn't have backed up somewhere else with it.
  
  
  
  
• Great Flash Drive
  By A3TUE4JZMN4HYO on 2007-11-19
  This Flash Drive is excellent. I have had it for 3 months now and it is one of my best flash drives. It performs great and is just as good as my Sandisk Titanium. I like the rubber body's feel and durability. It came with a broad neck strap which I do not use, a extension cable for the usb, and a mini cd with TrueCrypt on it. Overall if you can get this at a reasonable price you can not go wrong.
  
  
• Very Satisfied
  By A34XJBH79U81UA on 2007-09-11
  bought this back in february - for 5 bucks less than the current price ;-). couldn't be happier. yes the upload speed is a bit of an issue, but the plusses so outweigh this. I had to recently rebuild my machine - was glad to have this device to backup all my data. don't keep anything personal (statements w/ account numbers, orders with credit card numbers, etc) on my computer anymore.
  
  
• Poor Durability
  By A3VE5WTYL6NKQJ on 2007-09-07
  Owned for 4 months. Performance great. USB connector just came off. Was only plugged into my computer or carried in my laptop bag. Problem seems to have been fatigue in the pins connecting the USB plug to the board. No apparent mechanical support beyond the unit's rubber boot. What a waste.
  
  
• Solid
  By A2BUR52WO4X48T on 2007-02-02
  I've used and been exposed to numerous brands and styles of "thumbdrives" over the years. Overall, this is the best I've seen.
  Pros:
  - Slightly "tacky" rubber coating is good for gripping and keeping it in my pocket.
  - Solid, durable, rugged construction. Navy small boats, rain, salt spray, in my pocket during firefighting operations, even a trip through the washer and dryer--nothing seems to hurt this thing.
  - Tight-fitting cap just doesn't want to get lost!
  Cons:
  - Slightly "tacky" rubber coating can sometimes make it a little challenging when pushing it past tight cables on the back of a PC. Rarely a problem for me, though.
  - Nice and slim, but not as slim as the skinniest out there... but then again, those are a little more fragile.
  I love this thing and am seriously considering upgrading to the 16GB!
  
  
• Corsair 32GB Flash Voyager
  By A110TZX9M8Q4A5 on 2008-03-17
  I love it! I've backed up my files on this, and can carry it around in my pocket, wear it as a necklace or drop it in my purse! No problem toting the grandkids' (and great grandkids') photos, they are right there on my Flash drive. My genealogy files are all right with me when I do research. If my computer crashes, my necklace becomes a great backup.
  
  
• Quality Product
  By A3P48MOWTPO93Y on 2007-05-06
  This is my second USB drive from Corsair, and my satisfaction with their product is strong. The rugged design with rubber casing is meant for the IT professional on the go. My other flash drive survived three wash cycles and several other rugged bumps. It has a great warranty, and my prior flash drive was replaced by Corsair when the usb connector got damaged, without any questions. My only regret was that the 16GB model came out a month after my purchase.
  
  
• Rugged and dependable
  By A36KX4SOR6GSHW on 2006-09-25
  Until you've had a USB drive crash on you and you lose all your data, it's hard to appreciate having one which does NOT crash or have data errors. I've had the 4gig Corsair six months now and it has never given me any trouble. The access is quite fast, especially compared to earlier USB drives. I really like this thing and I use it all the time. 4gb is large enough to contain all the files you simply don't want to be without, no matter where you are. I "never leave home without it", since it's on my keychain.
  
  My only gripe is the agony involved in actually GETTING the $30 rebate that accompanied my purchase of this thing at Fry's Electronics in Woodland Hills, CA. It took me five months and eight phone calls and two faxes to pry loose the $30. Actually I guess Corsair subs this stuff out to fullfillment houses, so I guess it's not actually Corsair's fault. But then, I guess you guys are already aware of the struggle you're in for when it comes to playing the rebate game, though, eh? :-)
  
  
• Not a quality product
  By A3D0RRTEOFR4Q6 on 2008-02-26
  I have had this since end of November 2007. It's Feb 2008 and the thing won't work anymore. I have to "bend" the end to make it connect. Seems like it has a short in it. I believe it is caused by being enclosed in a rubber sleeve instead of a hard plastic sleeve that is covered by rubber. The internals just don't seem to be well protected.
  
  Amazon return policy was up at the end of January so I'm stuck with this junk.
  
  
• DO NO BUY!!!
  By ARZE3KKT2G2UM on 2008-01-28
  I bought this so that I could take my school work to and from home. I had it for 4 months and it is now officially dead and I've lost whatever I did not have backed up. I thought that it looked pretty durable, but that is not the case! I would not recommend this product unless you want to take the chance of possibly losing your files.
  
  
• Not Reliable
  By A2AXHEYJALWAFD on 2008-03-19
  The product failed on me only after having it for 3 months. Corsair customer service has been slow to send me a new one. Not worth the hassle of paying for shipping and being out of a drive for such a long time. Go with some other manufacturer. The rubber is unnecessary and makes it hard to connect. I end up leaving the dongle on it so my drive has essentially doubled in size.
  
  
• Safety for Travellers
  By A2HEFH4E3DE4P7 on 2008-02-21
  I am a global traveller and as always I back everything up. I recently purchased this device with a massive 32G memory and encryption software. This is a second backup to a seperate hard drive.
  
  A whole weeks training class, power points and documents where carried on this in my pocket through numerous airports, security searches and road trips. Very robust, water tight and easy to use.
  
  Thankfully I didnt need to rely on this but it was always there...
  
  
• What a Piece of Junk!
  By AUT1UURAFEVHE on 2008-08-18
  I purchased this item over the weekend (unfortunately not from Amazon; if I did it would already be on its way back to them) while shopping with my father-in-law. I purchased it to have something handy from which I could run several Portable Apps (www.portableapps.com), but the EXTREMELY slow speed of this drive really makes it unusable. I am stuck with this piece of junk too, because my in-laws live out of state and I am certainly not going to drive back there simply to return it.
  
  I've used many flash products in the past and have never been more disappointed. In reading Corsair's support forums, it seems their only response is, "The market made us use really crappy parts." This is a big cop out from a company I had previously respected greatly.
  
  I am sure this drive will store the odd document just fine, but avoid this drive completely if you actually want to run anything off it!
  
  
• Decent flash drive, with limitations
  By A3NXJZBRM7PK0F on 2008-05-07
  You won't be able to use any of the utilities that come with this drive unless you build a series of mini-partitions of 4gb or less. Why bother buying a large drive and then break it up into little pieces? If you forget the utilities and just format the drive as NTFS, you can use the entire 16gb for copying. They should make this more clear in the advertising.
  
  
• Corsair 16GB Flash Drive - Works great, seems fast
  By A3QNRGWCNJPV0W on 2007-09-07
  I am in sales and i have lots and lots of very important data worth much more than any computer that it is on. I have had 4 laptop hard drives die on me in the past 12 months...very, very painful. In any case i purchased this Corsair 16GB drive to serve as a secondary backup of ALL my data. I received it promptly in 2-days, plugged it in and it was immediately recognized and then proceeded to dump 4GB of data immediately onto it (took about 20 mins). I then went back and opened several files directly off the USB...speed is FAST. For me this is a perfect solution to ensuring ALL of my data is easily and readily backed up and always quickly accessible...a life saver!!
  
  
• Corsair CMFUSB2.0 Flash Drive
  By AYTSTXD3S0OAC on 2007-07-04
  This product has worked flawlessly right from the box. It is well thought out with it being thin enough to fit directly into most USB ports without the need of an extention cord (some of the older ones were too wide to fit directly into the port because of the design of the cases). The fact that it is waterproof with the cap on is a definite plus and the case itself appears to add protection to the unit if dropped. I would certainly recommend this unit.
  
  
• I'm glad for buying it
  By A31DQW8CONLS11 on 2007-05-14
  This flash drive is fast enough.
  Even my Home Theater system recognize it without a problem and now I can watch movies from it directly withou having to burn them to DVDs.
  Good one. Buy it with no worries.
  
  
• a great flash drive
  By A3FMZ41XUQ8I3K on 2007-05-13
  I purchased the flash drive to replace my other drive which only had 2GB. I use it for work (I am an IT engineer at a major TV network in NY)and for personal projects too..in particular it is handy for delivering large photo files and text changes to my book designer, as I am also an author and publisher. I have only one complaint: and that is the rubber cap kept coming off and now the cap is gone, so that's not a great design as the drive hangs around my neck most of the time, and I'm concerned about static discharge, but drive works great even with the missing cap.
  
  
• Zero protection against bending it - just RUBBER surrounding the circuit board
  By A2PY5ED630H0QJ on 2009-11-16
  A picture is worth a thousand words, see the customer uploaded image above of the circuitboard removed from the rubber case.
  
  It is just a circuit board surrounded by rubber! I pulled it out one day on accident, it died shortly thereafter. NOT sturdy enough for your pocket. PLUS the rubber ring is just that - stretchy rubber!
  
  PROS: Cheap and fast, just baby it like it made of glass and backup all your data just in case. Corsair kindly replaced it so that was nice...it just isnt a drive you want to c arry with you everywhere.
  
  

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