USB & U3 Key Best Buys

Best Buy Transcend 8Gb JetFlash 2A silver

 


The Transcend 8Gb JetFlash 2A silver is our Best Buy USB & U3 Key because it was designed for high speed data transfer and is one of the fastest on the market. USB Keys with very large storage need to have fast data transfer rates, otherwise they become unusable - you might as well have bought one with smaller storage. Snippet from an Amazon customer about one of the so-called 'value' models: 'Nice idea, looks great, fantastic size. Unfortunately it's unusable, copying 600MB to it takes HOURS'. The Transcend 8Gb JetFlash 2A silver also features AES Encryption security.

One of the best ways of speeding up a Windows PC is to give it more memory. If you have a Windows Vista PC, its new ReadyBoost feature lets Vista use a USB Key for caching data - providing the USB Key is fast enough. The Transcend 8Gb JetFlash 2A silver has been enhanced to be fast enough for ReadyBoost.

Shortlist

There are over 200 USB Keys available on Amazon.co.uk, and it can be difficult to narrow the choice down. To get into our shortlist, a USB Key has to stand out from the crowd. Excellent 2Gb USB Keys are available for a tenner, and we don't think it worth buying anything smaller - so that eliminates about half of the products on offer.

Press to go to the product page on Amazon.co.uk.

 GbU3Sales RankReviewsPrice(£) 
4
Y
283
10.52
4
Y
328
12.15
2
Y
1583
5.99
4
N
5649
10.55
2
N
8743
5.35
2
Y
15994
9.59
8
N
16010
54.99
2
N
36661
11.29
4
N
38481
25.99
2
N
44453
12.99

We update these details from Amazon.co.uk every hour.

One feature which very much makes a USB Key stand out is speed - how fast it transfers data. Indeed, our Best Buy, Transcend 8Gb JetFlash 2A silver, is one of the fastest USB Keys available. The Transcend 16Gb JetFlash 2A silver has the same fast data transfer rates. The Transcend 2Gb JetFlash 2A silver and Transcend 4Gb JetFlash 2A silver have slightly slower data transfer rates - up to 16MBytes/second for reads, and up to 12 MBytes/second for writes; these data rates are still very impressive, and much better than most of the USB Keys out there.

The fastest USB Key we've found to date is the Sony 2Gb Micro Vault Excellence - 29 MBytes/second for reads, and 23 MBytes/second for writes. Given the power of the Sony brand, and the renowned Sony build quality, this is a top-class product. It doesn't have AES Encryption, otherwise it would be our Best Buy. Its bigger brother, the Sony 4Gb Micro Vault Excellence, is slightly slower at 26 MBytes/second reads, 19 MBytes/second writes.

Another stand-out feature is robustness, as USB Keys are often carried around in pockets and handbags, and get taken to and fro to school. For robustness, the Integral 2Gb Splash Yellow Shock & Water Resistant and Integral 4Gb Splash Yellow Shock & Water Resistant get into our shortlist. They are rather slow, at 12 MBytes/second reads and 3 MBytes/second writes - but if all you want is a highly visible, almost indestructible USB Key for your kids to use, then do consider these. They come in yellow, pink and blue.

The very latest U3 Keys are the Sandisk 2Gb Cruzer Micro U3 Readyboost, Sandisk 4Gb Cruzer Micro U3 Readyboost, and the faster Sandisk 2Gb Cruzer Titanium U3 Readyboost and Sandisk 4Gb Cruzer Titanium U3 Readyboost. These are all good enough to support ReadyBoost.

Note that the SanDisk Cruzer comes with Skype, the free Internet phone system, pre-installed. See our Skype Buying Guide for more details.

There are too many USB Keys available for us to list all those that we considered. Below, we show the 2Gb models that we considered, and those with high Amazon sales ranking.

Also considered

Press to go to the product page on Amazon.co.uk.

 GbU3Sales RankReviewsPrice(£) 
2
N
54
1.18
2
N
58
0.98
2
N
130
7.26
4
Y
133
7.39
2
N
510
3.95
2
N
2040
40.99
2
N
3313
3.99
2
Y
4130
9.54
2
N
4723
3.33
2
Y
5299
3.80
2
N
5697
4.78
2
N
6313
9.99
2
N
6398
4.50
2
N
6842
4.53
2
N
7120
9.77
2
N
8925
6.50
2
N
14140
13.49
2
N
14592
14.99
2
N
18152
7.60
2
N
18703
5.24
2
N
19222
4.95
2
N
19518
16.50
2
N
21848
4.19
2
N
23764
4.98
2
N
27020
2.74
2
N
29329
14.50
2
N
30620
10.97
2
N
40951
6.99
2
N
50717
15.45

We update these details from Amazon.co.uk every hour.

If you're not sure what kind of USB Key to buy, our USB & U3 Key Catalogue page lists almost 200 USB Keys in a table which you can sort by product feature.

©2007 SiftAndSort.co.uk