Credit: SanDisk

SanDisk enters the crowded market of flash drives with its Cruzer Mini drive. The Cruzer comes in a plethora of sizes that range from 128MB to 4GB. Needless to say, all flash drives should be USB 2.0 compliant if they are being released today. With companies like OCZ coming out with dual-channel flash drives, USB 2.0 is a must have if a company wants to have any chance at retailing its portable drives.

The interesting aspect of SanDisk’s Cruzer is its three applications that come bundled with the drive. The CruzerLock 2 is freeware while Cruzer PocketCache and CruzerSync have 7-day and 30-day trials respectively. Another interesting thing to point out is colored caps. One of the marketing points for SanDisk is to retail the Cruzer with different colored caps. We’re not exactly sure how many of you would pay extra and go for a multicolored option, but it’s a good try on SanDisk’s part.

The average retail price varies with the 128MB costing $20.00 and 4GB retailing for $300.00.

Initial Thoughts: This is nothing exciting. There are a lot of flash drives manufacturers competing in the market and with innovation factor hovering at zero, there aren’t a whole lot of things that companies can do to make their product standout. With that said, the paid software may be of use to some of you, especially if you are opting for the 4GB version. By the way, we must recommend the Apple iPod Nano if you are going for the 4GB version. That way, you can listen to music and store your files on a product that’s cheaper than SanDisk’s 4GB flash drive. Continuing on, the multi-colored caps isn’t exactly earth shattering that should make you purchase the Cruzer, but a good try, nonetheless. If you are looking for a flash drive at the moment, go ahead and check out the OCZ Rally drive with dual-channel memory technology. Dual-channel gives a nice boost to the overall performance. As for SanDisk, bring something innovative and exciting to the market for buyers to pick you over the hundreds of other drives.