DV Hardware reviews

The new Cruzer Contour USB drive from SanDisk is described as the company's flagship USB flash drive. The SanDisk Cruzer Contour ships in 4GB and 8GB capacities and features a stylish black glossy design.

It's pretty feature-rich for an USB stick, one of the most special features is that it features a sliding USB connector that retracts into the body.

Other features include support for the U3 technology which allow you to carry software and files on a secure password protected USB drive and support for Windows Vista's ReadyBoost. According to SanDisk the drive features a read speed of 25MB/s and a write speed of 18MB/s, but I'll further investigate this on the next page.

The SanDisk Cruzer Contour arrives in the following box. The box was shipped in a large envelope and got a bit damaged during shipping but fortunately the USB memory stick was in perfect shape.



The box includes the Cruzer Contour USB stick, a couple of documents and a small leather pouch.



Here's a look at the front of the Cruzer Contour. It's made out of shiny black plastic and has a couple of ridges to make it easier to slide out the USB connector. The "Cruzer" text lights up blue when you insert the drive in your computer.

When I took the Cruzer Contour out of the box I was a bit surprised by two things: the back and sides of the Cruzer Contour are made out of aluminum and because of this the flash drive is a bit heavier than most flash drives. The metal backing also gives the drive a more sturdy feel than other flash drives I've reviewed in the past.

The drive is a bit bigger than other drives I've reviewed in the last couple of months but it didn't really feel bulky.



The aluminum back features some text and the capacity of the drive, which is 4GB.



A really nice extra is this leather pouch for the SanDisk Cruzer Contour. You can slide your USB drive into this pouch for extra protection. It can easily be attached to your keychain belt and will protect your drive from getting scratched in your pocket.



Another neat feature of this flash drive is that it's capless. The USB connector slides out like the OCZ VBoost which I reviewed two months ago but the Cruzer Contour really features a much better build quality.



To open the drive you have to slide the plastic front backwards fully and slide it forward fully. To close it you have to do the opposite: slide forward fully and slide backwards. There's even a cover that slides in front of the connector when it's retracted so no dirt can enter the drive.

It takes a bit of effort to close/open the drive but it goes pretty fast once you get used to it. Here's a video which shows you how the Cruzer Contour opens/closes:

Added: July 31st 2007
Reviewer: Thomas De Maesschalck
Score: 9/10
Related Link: SanDisk
Page: 1/2