EZQuest Cobra+ 120 review: EZQuest Cobra+ 120

EzQuest's Cobra+ 120 offers massive capacity, excellent performance for an external FireWire hard drive, and a rugged construction that's ready for sharing around the office--although it's perhaps a bit too heavy for truly mobile use. However, the company's limited support hours keep us from wholeheartedly endorsing the Cobra+ 120. EzQuest's Cobra+ 120 offers massive capacity, excellent performance for an external FireWire hard drive, and a rugged construction that's ready for sharing around the office--although it's perhaps a bit too heavy for truly mobile use. However, the company's limited support hours keep us from wholeheartedly endorsing the Cobra+ 120.

It may be big...
The shiny, silver Cobra+ 120 presents some fundamental trade-offs in terms of cost, capacity, and portability. At $329 for 120GB of storage, it offers a lot more space for about the same price as other portable drives such as the WiebeTech MicroGB. But the Cobra's also big and heavy, measuring 8.875 by 7 by 2.25 inches and weighing 6 pounds. Much of the drive's extra heft is due to its rugged construction and materials--you can't build a bomb shelter with balsa wood. It's best suited for moving around an office or a home instead of jet-setting with a mobile exec.

Because it's a FireWire (IEEE 1394) drive, installing the Cobra+ 120 requires nothing more than plugging in the included AC cord and the FireWire cable if you're using a PC. You may need to install some software if you use the drive on a Mac. A quick-setup guide helps facilitate the process, and additional information is included on CD along with Mac drive utilities. The only thing we missed here was bundled backup or other software to use with the drive.

...but it's also fast
In CNET Labs' tests, the Cobra+ 120 turned in scores that compare quite favorably with those of the average desktop model, thanks to the drive's 2MB buffer and new Oxford 911 IEEE 1394-to-ATA bridge chip. HD Tach appraised the Cobra+ 120's burst-transfer rate at 37MB per second, its maximum read speed at 31MB per second, and its maximum write rate at 20.8MB per second--excellent marks for a FireWire drive. The Cobra+ 120 also performed well in our real-world transfer tests, writing large files at 18.4MB per second and small files at 4MB per second, while reading them back at 20.3MB per second and 2.9MB per second, respectively.

Support for the drive is acceptable but could be better. EZQuest backs the Cobra+ 120 with a one-year warranty. Telephone tech support is available weekdays only, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT--a bummer for consumers. Also, you have to call the main (info/sales) number rather than a dedicated line, so that's one hoop to jump through. Online support is adequate, including FAQs, an e-mail link to tech support, software downloads, and registration.

The Cobra's mongoose
It's hard to beat the Cobra+ 120's combination of capacity, speed, and rugged construction. While its weight makes it best for short, desk-to-desk hops, for us, the Cobra+ 120's mongoose was EZQuest's lack of weekend or evening phone support. But if that doesn't faze you, this drive is otherwise a good buy.