Page 2: Design, Performance, Conclusion
Design
Something to take into consideration when choosing a flash drive is that all three of the main flash drive designs have their own advantages and compromises. Cap designs have the best protection, but the cap itself could be lost. Swivel designs offer similar protection to cap designs, but they take up more space when they are open and in use. Sliding designs don't offer as much protection as those that use caps or swivels, but they take up less space than swivel designs and don't have a cap to misplace.
With that in mind, the TwistTurn actually comes off pretty well from a design standpoint. The most notable thing about it is undoubtedly the status LED. Rather than having the LED somewhere in the middle of the drive, Lexar instead integrated it into the hinge mechanism. Also, instead of using the traditional blue LED for a status light, Lexar used a more subtle dark red LED that goes well with the color scheme of the drive.
The design of the rest of the drive is also pretty nicely done. Both of the colors on the drive have an understated metallic coat, and the drive itself is pretty compact when folded up.
The hinge mechanism works well as it offers good resistance and durability. The hinge only opens in a single direction, but this helps in the protection of the drive itself.
Performance
Testing the drive was done on a computer running Windows 7 Professional. The test was run using Flash Memory Toolkit. As Lexar makes no claims regarding the read/write speeds of the drives, and because the drive is targeted at entry-level users rather than outright performance, the test was done to get a general idea of the performance of the drive rather than as a means of comparison to anything else.
While the performance is nothing to write home about, averaging only 17.5 MB/s reads and 5.7 MB/s writes, it should still be more than enough performance for the average user. One thing to note: The test drive was plagued with bad sectors when first used, enough so that the performance tests in Flash Memory Toolkit would fail when it came time to start the write portion of the test. While it was easy enough to fix and was probably an isolated incident, regardless, it is something to take into mind.
Conclusion
Pricing for the Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn is about $16 (Newegg) for the 4GB model at press time. This price is quite good for a flash drive with a folding design. While the performance is nothing to write home about, it works for what most people would need to use it for, and the price is low enough that the performance deficit is offset.
Thanks to Lexar for making this review possible.
Something to take into consideration when choosing a flash drive is that all three of the main flash drive designs have their own advantages and compromises. Cap designs have the best protection, but the cap itself could be lost. Swivel designs offer similar protection to cap designs, but they take up more space when they are open and in use. Sliding designs don't offer as much protection as those that use caps or swivels, but they take up less space than swivel designs and don't have a cap to misplace.
With that in mind, the TwistTurn actually comes off pretty well from a design standpoint. The most notable thing about it is undoubtedly the status LED. Rather than having the LED somewhere in the middle of the drive, Lexar instead integrated it into the hinge mechanism. Also, instead of using the traditional blue LED for a status light, Lexar used a more subtle dark red LED that goes well with the color scheme of the drive.
The design of the rest of the drive is also pretty nicely done. Both of the colors on the drive have an understated metallic coat, and the drive itself is pretty compact when folded up.
The hinge mechanism works well as it offers good resistance and durability. The hinge only opens in a single direction, but this helps in the protection of the drive itself.
Performance
Testing the drive was done on a computer running Windows 7 Professional. The test was run using Flash Memory Toolkit. As Lexar makes no claims regarding the read/write speeds of the drives, and because the drive is targeted at entry-level users rather than outright performance, the test was done to get a general idea of the performance of the drive rather than as a means of comparison to anything else.
While the performance is nothing to write home about, averaging only 17.5 MB/s reads and 5.7 MB/s writes, it should still be more than enough performance for the average user. One thing to note: The test drive was plagued with bad sectors when first used, enough so that the performance tests in Flash Memory Toolkit would fail when it came time to start the write portion of the test. While it was easy enough to fix and was probably an isolated incident, regardless, it is something to take into mind.
Conclusion
Pricing for the Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn is about $16 (Newegg) for the 4GB model at press time. This price is quite good for a flash drive with a folding design. While the performance is nothing to write home about, it works for what most people would need to use it for, and the price is low enough that the performance deficit is offset.
Thanks to Lexar for making this review possible.
