Super Talent makes some of the best micro USB flash drives currently available. What sets their Pico line of thumb drives apart from the rest is their rugged durability while maintaining such a small form factor. A few months ago I reviewed the Sony 8gb Micro Vault Tiny USB Flash Drive and while it is a great thumb drive it is extremely fragile and a bit slow. Super Talent’s Pico C drive has neither of these shortcomings.
Hardware Specifications
| Drive Type | Solid State USB Flash Drive |
| Capacities (gb) | 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 |
| Data Transfer Rate | Up to 30MB/s (200x) |
| Connector Type | USB Type A |
| Dimensions (HxWxD mm) | 31.3 x 12.4 x 3.4 |
| Weight (g) | 5 |
| OS Support | Windows Vista, XP, 2000 & Mac OS X |
| Warranty | Limited Lifetime Warranty |
The Pico C’s casing is constructed of a durable, chromed metal. There is a relatively strong loop integrated into the end of the drive allowing you to attach it to your keys or lanyard. I find these factors a definite plus especially compared to the Sony Micro Vault which I was having to consistently plan where I was going to keep/carry it (for safety and find-ability).
Other than capacity, there is no difference between the 1gb, 2gb, 4gb, 8gb and 16gb versions of the Pico C. Along with chrome, the Pico C also comes in nickel and 24 karat gold (for those desiring a bit more bling in their flash drives). The part of the drive that is inserted into the USB port is a bit thicker than others. And while it goes into and out of my Macbook Pro and work laptop easy enough, it took a good amount of force to insert it into & remove it from my Macbook Air’s USB port.
Depending on how you calculate the dimensions, I do believe the Pico C takes the title of the smallest flash drive (I have ever seen/heard of) from the Sony Micro Vault Tiny. Although, it is a hair heavier and thicker than the Micro Vault, it definitely makes up for it in durability.
As stated above, along with being very small and light weight, the Pico C is extremely durable. Now I will not be abusing it quite as much as Julie has done in several of her past thumb drive reviews but I trust that it will survive the day to day abuse of my hectic schedule. The Pico thumb drives are ‘water resistant’ which I believe is more than the ‘I forgot my thumb drive in my pocket, accidentally washed it, let it dry, and it worked’ that most of us have lived through. Super Talent has actually engineered them to be more water tight (vs many other flash drives on the market).
The Pico C’s upload/download speeds are relatively zippy for such a small drive. My unofficial speed tests showed that it was definitely faster than my other small flash drives (Sony and Lexar).
Like Sony’s Micro Vault, the Pico thumb drives can be transported almost anywhere (and lost forever in the blink of an eye). Historically, I have preferred to carry my smaller thumb drives in the coin pocket of my pants/jeans. But for now, I am planning on keeping this thumb drive on my key ring. And while my keys scratch up the chrome a bit, it is more than a fair trade to not only have it with me more but connected to something easier to find. Other than its ability to become very lost, there really aren’t any noteworthy cons associated with the Pico C and will become my primary thumb drive of choice.
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Product Information
| Price: | approx. $40 |
| Manufacturer: | Super Talent |
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I am highly impressed with this drive and have eyeballed it for a while. However, I’ve heard a few reviewers criticize the thickness of the device and that it has caused some damage to USB ports, other than that issue, I have been sold.
I have their 8GB version. Love it. It’s really sturdy. It is a tight fit on 2 of my laptops but not bad enough that I have to use much force to push it in. Can’t wait for them to make a 32GB version. =)
When I use this drive with my MBAir I use a short USB extension cable….works like a champ.
I agree, it’ll be great when Super Talent releases a 32gb version.
Awesome little drive!!! It is a bit snug, but with an extension cable it’s fine. Got my 16gb through newegg at $40.65 including tax and shipping.
I purchased a three pack of the 8gb version. Within 48 hours of receiving the drives, all three were dead. First, I noticed that some of the image files that I had copied to the drives had been corrupted. As I checked over the files, I found more and more corruption of data. After attempting to re-copy the data, drives eventually could not be read. Any attempt to format the drives failed. The drives were hot to the touch.
I found several posts and reviews with similar problems. It really is too bad. I really like the design and would be very interested in having one that is stable.
I bought an 8gb one 2 weeks ago. It works perfectly fine with my laptop(Vista) but I cant get it to work under XP SP3. Under SP3, most of the time it is not recognised as a usb device and when it is recognised, you can’t copy a file to it because it unmounts and mounts the drive with a delayed write failed warning. I’ve read some reviews about this and it seems that this problem only exists for SP3. They say that it works fine with SP2 but I haven’t tested it yet.
@Yigit I’ve had that problem under XP SP2 i tracked it to be a faulty USB extension cable that had bad contacts. fortunately I lost data i already have
@Tilse: I had a similar experience. Bought a 8Gb version and it was dead within a day. I returned it and got my money back. I did like the design so much that after a month I got myself a new one because I wanted to give the little fella a second chance. And this 2nd pico is still running great after half a year of daily use. I think that Supertalent just had a few bad production batches. So just buy yourself another one and chances are high that this one will work as a charme.