OCZ Roadster 1GB Flash Drive

Packaging & Appearance

Published: 30th December 2006 | Source: OCZ | Price: | Author: Llwyd Johnson

Packaging

All of OCZs products tend to be packaged in fairly flashy but effective containers, with the Roadster being housed in a relatively robust blister pack. The packaging is backed with a bright printed insert with all the essential information. Perfect for a retail outlet.

The text on the front of the package is perhaps a little dense, holding the products back in terms of jumping off the shelf at you but nevertheless the package still retains the good looks synonymous with OCZ.

While the contents of the package seen above may seem minimal, there really isn't much more that could be offered to the everyday user due to the plug and play nature of flash memory. The cable included comes in very handy if you don't want to reach round the back of the computer constantly or cant fit the drive alongside other USB plugs.

Appearance

Today very little difference is available in the appearance of flash drive, most people can recognize a flash drive regardless of make or model. The drives tend to be largely seperated by size, both storage and physical dimensions. The latter being the Roadsters prominent feature. The looks of the roadster are pretty minimalist, there are no LEDs or transparent sections and a black and grey colour scheme used.

As you can see above, the Roadster couldn't really be much smaller without doing away with the protective plastic body of the drive, even then very little space would actually be saved. The folding mechanism goes through a full 180 degree rotation without the tiny sprung (seen in the second photo above) clip attached. With the clip attached however the USB plug cannot fully fold out, leaving it awkward to fit alongside occupied USB sockets. It would make a lot more sense in my eyes to have the attachment ring on the other end of the plastic cover. The strap included, and indeed the metal rings used to attach it are robust and well made, a factor essential to its survival alongside several keys.

For me one of the best things about this design is the lack of any form of cap to be misplaced or lost. The entire product is one piece, this, in my eyes, increases the drives durability and overall feel of quality. Extending the USB plug can be slightly fiddly but no more so than putting the cap back on a standard flash drive.