Integral USB Splash Drive

USB keys have plummeted in price over the past year and manufacturers are struggling to come up with new ways to make their products stand out from the crowd.

Recently we took a look at the Sandisk 1GB Cruzer Titantium - a robust drive that took quite a beating.

Now we have the Integral Memory Splash Drive. As its name suggests, the unique selling point for this drive is that it's water resistant - that's water resistant, not waterproof.

Indeed, in the manual it states 'avoid any water penetration into the USB drive'.

The rubber coating also helps protect it from damage through drops, but we've never actually suffered damage to a USB drive in this way.

Similarly, we've had more than a few accidents when a USB drive has been immersed water and, after simply allowing them to dry out, they've worked perfectly well - maybe we're just lucky. In fact the Sandisk above was put through a washing machine cycle and still worked fine.

That said, the rubber cap clasps fairly tightly onto the USB connector and will therefore provide better protection against water reaching the internals.

At £24.99 for the 256MB version reviewed here, the Splash Drive sits at the more expensive end of the market.

Smaller 128MB drives are £14.99, while 512MB and 1GB are £34.99 and £54.99 respectively.

If this drive was actually waterproof it would be a different matter, but since it's only water resistant and comes at a premium you're probably better off looking for a cheaper standard USB drive.

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!