Lexar JumpDrive Sport Packs A Gig of Memory in A Rough and Tumble Package!
Written: Jan 31 '05 (Updated Mar 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 1GB, I bought it for $61.19 before a pending $20 mail-in rebate.
Cons: My prior history with Lexar Memory Sticks and JumpDrives.
The Bottom Line: So far, the drive has been rather reliable and rugged rubber cap and eyelet make the JumpDrive Sport a better design than other Lexar drives
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Lexar Jumpdrive Sport (1 GB) USB 2.0 Flash Drive (... |
Who needs a floppy drive anymore? Most computers have this nice small rectangle you can plug things into... a USB port! Now you don't have to carry 3.5 inch floppies (well, I think the majority of people haven't been doing this for years now), Zip disks, 5 inch CD-R or CD-RWs, portable hard drives, etc... to bring their computer data with them. USB Flash drives now carry extreme amounts of data in a small pocketable package!
Lexar is one of the bigger companies to produce these drives... and Lexar makes several flavors of USB Flash drives. The JumpDrive Sport is supposed to be a little more rugged than some of their other products.
Pricing?
The price I got on this item is way below the average selling price for this item. I paid $61.19 for the Lexar 1GB JumpDrive Sport from Dell Home Electronics and Accessories. There was also a $20 mail-in rebate from Lexar but I'm still waiting to see if Lexar honors it. This doesn't include discounts from using ebates.com and my own credit card as well. The average selling price for this item runs $70-80 usually. So potentially, I may pay less than $40 for a 1GB USB Flash drive.
For some additional tips on trying to maximizing your money for your purchases, you can read my epinion The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth!
Short Take
The JumpDrive Sport really isn't anything new in USB flash drives. However, there were some nice design decisions that went into the Sport. Although the JumpDrive Sport does not look like a fashionable accessory, it was definitely made to be more utilitarian purposes. The actual drive is long but otherwise small enough to fit into a single USB port. A recessed USB port will not cause problems for the JumpDrive Sport. The large rubber cap is designed for a tight fit. Other nice touches abound.
Of the downside, the drive is not the speediest one out there. Transferring about 1GB took anywhere from 8 minutes to 15 minutes... I never really found a consistent transfer speed for the JumpDrive Sport.
Another potenital problems lies in reliability. I have had very good luck with Lexar's SD and Compact Flash cards. However, I have had poor luck with 3 of Lexar's Memory Sticks and on 3 other Lexar USB JumpDrive products (more specifically the JumpDrive Elites). I have had failures on these particular products within 2 months of first use. This makes me a bit wary on Lexar's USB Flash Drives.
Specs?
From Lexar's website, the JumpDrive Sport has dimensions (including cap) are 83.5mm L x 21.5mm W x 12mm H while they are 60.4mm L x 18.6mm W x 11mm H without the cap. The cap adds quite a bit of bulk to the JumpDrive Sport. Overall, the Sport has a black and red color scheme with a LED to indicate drive activity. The cap is actually a bit unique... it is made out of thick rubber and fits tightly over the USB connector. However, the cap also has a thick rubber loop that fits over the groove in the USB drive to keep the cap secure and snug on the JumpDrive Sport. The cap also has a large hole/gap to attach a key ring or lanyard or some other similar item... which makes it difficult to lose the cap. I really like the cap design.
The JumpDrive Sport neatly fits into a USB port and doesn't block other USB cables from attaching to adjacent USB ports. Even if your computer has a recessed USB port, the JumpDrive Sport still makes a solid connection.
Lexar rates the JumpDrive Sport with Read speed of 8MB/sec and Write speed of 6MB/sec.
Transfer Speeds
I tried multiple computers with USB 2.0 ports, transferring about 800 to 950 MB of data took anywhere from 8 minutes up to 15 minutes. Times were not consistent even on the same computer. Times were more consistent for USB 1.0/1.1 ports where I transferred 730MB in about 35 minutes on multiple computers. This is all with me performing other activities on the computer while performing the transfers.
HD Tach Benchmarks:
I got a burst speed of 12.9MB/sec. A Random Access time of 1.4ms. CPU utilization of 19% however. Average read speed is 12.5MB/sec.
Compatibility?
I've only tried on Windows OS systems so far. I haven't had any problems if the OS was Windows 98SE or higher. The JumpDrive Sport pops up as a removable drive in My Computers on Win XP. I had to install a driver for the drive to work in Win98SE however.
Accessories?
The JumpDrive Sport doesn't come with any other accessories in the box. You have to buy any lanyards or keyrings on your own.
Note that Lexar sells a MP3 attachment for the JumpDrive Sport called the JumpMan MP3 (I believe that is the name) where the JumpDrive Sport inserts into the JumpMan MP3 player. I don't have any experience with this item however.
Warranty?
Lexar offers a Two year limited warranty. Lexar's customer service has been friendly and fairly quick to respond in my past dealings with them. Note that you have to cover any shipping cost to Lexar for repair or replacement issues (Lexar will cover shipping the product back to you).
Wild Card
The wild card is my prior experience with Lexar products. While I trust Lexar's Compact Flash and SD cards (I have had no problems with over 12 Lexar Compact Flash cards... some as old as 4 years. No problems with 8 SD cards... oldest being 2 1/2 years.), I have had numerous problems with the Memory Stick Select line and multiple JumpDrive Elite drives. I had two Memory Stick Select cards and three JumpDrive Elite drives fail on me within two months of first use. That has me a bit worried on the lifespan of the JumpDrive Sport... I'm hoping that it follows the luck I've had with Lexar's CF and SD cards instead of my luck with the Memory Sticks and JumpDrive Elites.
Reviews on Other USB Flash Drives
SanDisk Cruzer Micro 512MB version
SanDisk Cruzer Mini 256MB version
Recommended:
Yes
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
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