Why You Can Trust CNET Meritline High Quality/High Speed Pen Drive review: Meritline High Quality/High Speed Pen Drive
Meritline High Quality/High Speed Pen Drive
Meritline High Quality/High Speed USB Pen Drive
Meritline's High Quality/High Speed Pen Drive isn't a pen, but it is quite small, measuring just 2.5 inches long, 0.75 inches wide, and 0.25 inches thick. The drive's silver casing is accented by dark-blue trim, with Meritline's logo printed on one side and the drive's capacity on the other. A small metal loop sticks out of one end of the drive to accommodate the included neck strap, but it's too tiny for a standard-size keyring. The Pen Drive also has a small switch on one side that lets you lock the drive to prevent accidentally erasing or altering files--a nice feature. As with many flash drives, a small LED lights up when you plug the drive in and flashes during file transfers.
Meritline's High Quality/High Speed Pen Drive isn't a pen, but it is quite small, measuring just 2.5 inches long, 0.75 inches wide, and 0.25 inches thick. The drive's silver casing is accented by dark-blue trim, with Meritline's logo printed on one side and the drive's capacity on the other. A small metal loop sticks out of one end of the drive to accommodate the included neck strap, but it's too tiny for a standard-size keyring. The Pen Drive also has a small switch on one side that lets you lock the drive to prevent accidentally erasing or altering files--a nice feature. As with many flash drives, a small LED lights up when you plug the drive in and flashes during file transfers.
In addition to the neck strap, Meritline includes a 3-foot USB extension cord as well as Windows 98 driver software and a user manual on CD. The Pen Drive is available in capacities ranging from 128MB to 1GB. The 512MB and 1GB models are gold-colored. The 256MB that we tried out costs about $77, or 30 cents per megabyte, which is slightly less expensive than average.
The Good
Small size; includes USB extension cord; drive lock; inexpensive per megabyte.
The Bad
No password-protection feature; feels flimsy.
The Bottom Line
Meritline's tiny Pen Drive is fairly inexpensive per megabyte but offers few extra features.
Return to CNET's USB flash drive roundup.