The Samples

For the purpose of this article, I found that USB drive samples would be best.  With that said, they custom made two copies of two different models, one which happens to be their smallest, and one doubling as a pen.  

They also sent each one in packaging, which I would like to add is also customizable with an imprint of your logo as an option for that finishing touch.  Some of the packaging is nice actually, particularly the tin box the pen I had done came in.  Personally receiving and even being involved in the design and final decision of similar products, I would go as far as saying that the packaging is slightly above average and in some cases, quite unique in comparison.

I'm all about small flash drives, as most of you have noticed from some of the previous articles here.  So, the first sample I had them make is actually their thinnest and smallest drive, the U11-Ultra Mini.  On top of that, I had them design them on a custom PMS color match that closely matches my logo.  The result?  A pretty unique flash drive that certainly does stand out.  While the slide-out lid is plastic, the body of this small flash drive is rubberized and the back URL print on this surface was pretty impressive.

Think of its design as the good' old Intelligent Stick 2.0 that started the whole "smallest drive" craze.  However, the one major difference is that their model has a slide-out lid to protect the connector and will allow an imprint on both sides as they have done with this sample.

The second sample was one of their Pen/USB combo drives.  The sample sent is one of three available, and the lowest end model of the bunch.  That said, the overall build quality was just average.  However, the pen does twist smoothly in the open/close position and does write great. 

**click to enlarge**

Pulling the top half off will reveal the hidden flash drive, which is nicely accented by adding a useful red activity status/activity LED on top. 

PromoLocker offers a variety of professional methods for your logo imprints, including silk screen, pad printing and laser engraving.  I will say that the quality of the prints are excellent and most certainly professional in quality.  It is hard to depict this in pictures, but below are three close-up shots for somewhat of an idea.

  Logo Pic 1

  Logo Pic 2

  Logo Pic 3

I sent them hi res versions of our logo in both .ai and .eps formats.  They can work with both and can help you if you run into issues.  They even managed to include our slogan version and the prints on these samples, despite the ultra small fonts, are crisp and clear.  Overall, a nice job was done with the "print-friendly" files sent to them.

Performance

Before I show you exactly what you can expect from these two particular models, there's something about PromoLocker that did impress me highly when it comes down to the level in which the take to ensure ultimate satisfaction.

• PromoLocker chooses which chips go inside their drives.  To be much more specific, Tier 1 memory chips from Hynix, Toshiba and even Samsung and Intel are featured throughout their extensive product line.

• They use state of the art production which includes SMT, Auto Insertion, Wave Solder, Refloat and AOI machines.  Their drives are not hand-soldered.

• Every drive they build is tested and formatted before leaving their factory.

Considering these flash drives are promotional tools and would eventually be handed out as gifts, there's obviously no need to go as deep into performance as I usually do with these products.  However, there's a few important things to note and also, there's nothing wrong with some reliable transfer rate tests to get an idea of what to expect.

With all this said, I chose one synthetic benchmark tool that is and has been highly reliable in terms of what you can expect from both hard drives and flash drives.  I'm referring to HD Tune, an excellent tool primarily designed to measure hard disk performance.  However, you can use it with removable storage devices as well to get a better indication as to how they perform from start to end.  What's nice about this tool is that it is similar to Nero's CD-DVD Speed in the sense that it will provide you with a clear look at how the disk "behaves" during the entire testing process. 

No, both of these models are not capable of hanging with some of the higher performance flash drives out there, but their performance was still quite impressive for their primary means.  Not sure how some of their other products will perform, but with these two, you are looking at a 100% consistent 17MB/s.  In short, those you intend to hand them out to will not be getting a cheap, useless gift!

Next:  Conclusions