SanDisk Cruzer Contour Drive                                                         

(Review) - To keep up with the rest of the industry, SanDisk has added another flash drive to its existing portfolio, the Cruzer Contour. It's an interesting new drive, to say the least, with an updated design and better performance. The design is perhaps one of the most intuitive ones we have seen in a while. Essentially, it's based around the slider design with a slight twist. You need to slide the drive backward and then forward to access the USB connector, and slide it forward and then backward to insert it back. We had no problem working with the drive mostly, but there were times when we had to hold the unit with our second hand to operate the slider. If your fingers or hands are slippery, which is a possibility, it's tricky to get it to function normally.

The appearance of Contour is perhaps the best one we have seen. It's an amazingly professional looking drive with a black plastic front and a metallic body. As is the case with glossy black exteriors, it's prone to fingerprints, but unlike other units, the fingerprints are subtle at best. It's a solid drive that's durable and can stand a multitude of drops on concrete and hardwood. Then there's the blue LED light that shines "Cruzer" to indicate a healthy, working unit. The blue LED light isn't gaudy and soft, making it a perfect drive for professionals. Contour is as professional as you'll get with thumb drives. Again, kudos to SanDisk for paying so much attention to the overall design.

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium: Rock Solid with U3 Technology

Just like other SanDisk drives, Contour is available with U3, an application that allows users to take their applications and settings with them to another PC. For instance, you could install Skype with U3 on Contour, plug it in any other PC with Windows, and the application will load your contacts information and work just like it would on the host PC. The only drawback to U3 is that it's only compatible with Windows machines and not a Mac. The interesting thing to point out is  that according to SanDisk, Contour is compatible with a Mac and a PC. Of course, all drives are Mac compatible, and you will have to reformat the drive to remove U3, but we don't see why SanDisk would need to go out of its way to mention Mac compatibility. If you are a Mac user, this drive is just a barren shell for storage. You won't be getting anything special unless you are running Windows on your Mac. You can check out our full review of U3 here. The only drawback to U3 is that it's compatible with a limited number of applications, but these are popular apps that most of you already use anyway.

In our performance tests, the drive did extremely well at 28MBps read and 18.2MBps write. Compared to other drives in its class, SanDisk beat them hands down, especially other SanDisk drives, such as the Cruzer Titanium. It undoubtedly performed better than our initial expectations. Good going, SanDisk!

It's difficult to asses the overall value of Contour. There aren't major problems with the drive, obviously, but SanDisk has skipped on a lot of features that are otherwise standard in flash drives. In addition to what we've mentioned above, there's also the lack of a hole to place the drive in a key chain or put it on a lanyard. Really, how could a company like SanDisk possibly miss such an obvious thing? Now, Contour does come with a leather pouch that has the necessary hole, but the size of the pouch is just insane. It will outsize your entire collection of keys, and it will probably end up being annoying to work with quickly.   

SanDisk's Contour is available in two capacities: 4GB and 8GB. For now, the 4GB model is available for $55.99, while the 8GB flavor is set at $136.99. All in all, SanDisk Contour is one of the best looking drives in the market with excellent performance numbers and an affordable price tag. If you can ignore the minor quirks, it's the drive to buy.

Click here to check the latest prices on SanDisk Contour drive!