Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Bottom line: The Patriot Xporter XT Boost 16 GB is a good USB drive but far below the performance I expected. Its tests average slightly below a Class 8 flash drive or 50X. I will update my review on the cap status in the future since most rubber caps loosen with age and this one is a pocket gripper. I may epoxy a little leash on it to the body. Reading so many of these reviews does not help in purchase decisions. Frankly, they drive me nuts. "It was so fast!" "It was so much faster than my old drive!" "Some people are too scientific." "It booted immediately on my Windows... (version)/Mac [computer]." (Please do not take any of these comments as personal attacks on your reviews. I have been hammered in past professional writing to ensure I provide hard, substantive data for any statement I make.) Can I please have objective data to assist in my purchase decision? The first thing I do is benchmark when I receive a flash drive or flash card. I have returned fakes, counterfeits, and below spec units. Formatting new drives appropriately upon receipt is a smart decision, since it removes any crapware from the manufacturer and any viruses a disgruntled employee could have placed. (Does anyone remember the WordPerfect employee who knew he was going to be fired back around 1990?) Although not a Mac user. I use flash drives for Windows Vista/7 and Linux OS purposes. Flash "class" is based on write speed. I have included a conversion table toward the end of my review. I am sorry I forgot to specify sequential write testing for my benchmarks. To increase accuracy and reduce extraneous hardware reductions in test results, I do not use USB extension cables and clean format the flash for each test. Here are some hard data for you on the 16 GB Patriot XT Boost I received from Amazon: Flash Drive/Card Tester 1.16.1 Patriot Memory, PMAP, PMAP 1234; 15271 MB 00:01:30.99 - -------------------------------- New test process started -------------------------------- 00:01:31.03 - Started "Writing test data" for drive F: 15271MB, ", Patriot Memory, PMAP, PMAP1234", 512b 00:41:11.94 - Completed "Writing test data" for drive F: 15271MB, ", Patriot Memory, PMAP, PMAP1234", 512b 00:41:11.94 - Tested total 15271.999MB in 0:39:40 with 6.424MB/s (**Class 6**) 00:41:11.94 - Total write errors: Fatal=0, Recoverable=0 00:41:11.95 - Started "Reading and comparing data" for drive F: 15271MB, ", Patriot Memory, PMAP, PMAP1234", 512b 00:52:27.89 - Completed "Reading and comparing data" for drive F: 15271MB, ", Patriot Memory, PMAP, PMAP1234", 512b 00:52:27.91 - Tested total 15271.999MB in 0:11:15 with 22.608 MB/s 00:52:27.91 - Total errors: Read fatal=0, Read recoverable=0; Write fatal=0, Write recoverable=0; Comparsion=0 H2testw Results Warning: Only 15255 of 15256 MByte tested. Test finished without errors. You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again. Writing speed: 8.01 MByte/s (**Class 8**) Reading speed: 24.5 MByte/s H2testw v1.4 Checkflash 1.16.1 Four sector errors in last block of flash, 2nd Pass: No errors (I did a second pass since the first showed physical errors and it could have been caused by factors outside of the flash, which it was.) 1 Cycle Test, 1:25:44 elapsed Read: 26.92, 25.50 MB/s Write: 8.15, 8.12 MB/s (**Class 8**) Conversion Chart Class 2 - 16Mbps - 2MBps - 13X Class 4 - 32Mbps - 4MBps - 27X Class 6 - 48Mbps - 6MBps - 40X Class 8 - 64Mbps - 8MBps - 53X Class 10 - 80Mbps - 10MBps - 67X Thank you for reading my review. I hope it helps you. Please approve or disapprove so I know if I should continue writing and submitting results from this several hour process for future drive or card purchases.