Overclocker Cafe - OCZ ATV 4GB Flash Drive Review

OCZ ATV 4GB Flash Drive

Manufacturer: OCZ Technology
Supplied by: OCZ Technology
Street Price: $49

by Dean Barker (9/26/2007)

Introduction

OCZ Technology's newest flash drive, the OCZ ATV is an aptly named. This drive is covered with a rubberized outer shell that is shock resistant and water proof. While I'm not sure if ATV actually stands for All Terrain Vehicle, it does seem robust enough for a white water rafting trip or a more realistic and likely trip through the washing machine. Whatever your pleasure, the OCZ ATV brings flash drives sized 2GB, 4GB and 8GB to market in a heavy duty shell. Today, the good people at OCZ Technology have sent over one of these new drives for us to have a go with, so let's jump right in.

Specifications

Observed dimensions: 82 x 10 x 21mm
High Speed USB 2.0 Certified
Waterproof housing
Read Speed: 30 ~ 34MB/sec
Write Speed: 14 ~ 15MB/sec
Lifetime warranty
Available in 8GB, 4GB and 2GB sizes
Microsoft Plug and Play and Mac OS X compatible
Optimized for Windows Vista (Ready Boost)

The Unit

The OCZ ATV is an averaged sized flash drive with a very hip blue/black rubber covering. The covering has a ribbed feel with the blue areas being slightly raised allowing a gripping area like you will find on some SCUBA gear. The small cap you see chained to one end is constructed entirely out of rubber and functions as a place to secure the USB cap to.

While we all like ultra small drives, the OCZ ATV is not one. The ATV is more of a standard sized unit (making it harder to loose) which is itself an accomplishment given the rubber outer covering.

Here are a couple of shots of the USB rubber end cap and it attached to the cap dongle. The solid rubber cap has firm grip on both the USB connector and the rubber dongle eliminating fear of loss or its being misplaced. The chain isn't as robust as the drive itself but it is more than enough to be used as a lanyard to attach the device to a keychain.

We mentioned earlier that the OCZ ATV flash drives come in 2, 4 and 8GB flavors. A small piece of acrylic at one end is labeled 2GB, 4GB or 8GB depending on the sized unit you have. When the drive is accessed this acrylic piece light amber.

Performance

To have a look at the drive's performance we are going to use the HD Tach program. HD Tach will give us average read and burst speed in MB/sec as well as random access speed times. Since most flash drives are used in business type machines we felt no shame in using our AMD Sempron powered Acer laptop as a test bed.

Conclusion

OCZ's ATV drive gets an 'A' for looks with it's robust rubber two tone colored shell. Add in the fact that the shell serves a dual purpose of making the unit water proof and shock resistant is a nice bonus. In the end when you are looking at a flash drive you want it to do its job. The OCZ ATV did its job so well that it now wears the crown of the fastest flash drive ever tested here in the Penthouse Labs. Lightening fast speed, large data capacity and good looks for under $50 makes the OCZ ATV a real winner in our eyes. We couldn't find any fault with this rubberized drive and can whole heartedly recommend it to you. One last thing before we finish up... yes, it does bounce. If you like what you see, the OCZ ATV can be had at NewEgg here. Thanks again go out to OCZ Technology for sponsoring this review.

Pros

Fastest flash drive tested here to date
Available in up to 8GB sizes
Rugged looks
Good value
Wash your jeans without fear
If you loose your quarter in a college beer game you can use this!

Cons

None