Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB Flash Drive [Amazon Frustration Free Package] - TS16GJF500 (Black)

by Transcend

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 0.8 x 0.4 inches ; 0.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0045ICK0Q
• Item model number: TS16GJF500E
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #21 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > External Data Storage > USB Flash Drives
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 1, 2011

Product Description

Size: 16 GB | Product Packaging: Amazon Frustration-Free

Losing USB end caps can be quite annoying, not to mention the inconvenience of taking the cap on and off every time the drive is used. For extra convenience and protection, the JetFlash 500 flash drive is designed with an innovative extension and retraction mechanism that enables users to bring out or hide the connector with a single flick of the thumb. Its capless design not only keeps dust and debris out of the drive, but also ensures there is no cap to misplace or lose. Thanks to its use of ultrasonic welding technology, the JetFlash 500 drive's inseparable outer case not only makes the drive more solid and rugged, but also improves its tactile and visual appeal. With capacities ranging from 2GB to 64GB, the JetFlash 500 is a USB flash drive you will want to take out of your pocket and show off to your friends.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

211 of 217 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looks just like the Sandisk Cruzer Micro - but a whole lot FASTER, September 9, 2010

By 

NLee the Engineer (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 10 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive - TS16GJF500 (Black) (Personal Computers)

Physically, this Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive looks almost identical to the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB drive. The retractable USB plug on the Transcend drive also works EXACTLY the same way as the Sandisk (I'm surprised that somebody hasn't got sued yet). But that's where the similarity ends, because the Transcend JetFlash is a whole lot faster!

A bit of background information: I own both the Sandisk Cruzer Micro 4GB and 16GB versions. What I noticed is that the 16GB version is much slower than the 4GB version, especially when witting data. I even contacted Sandisk customer support, trying to find out what is the speed of Cruzer Micro. The response I got was quite useless:
"There is no guaranteed speed for SanDisk Cruzer Micro flash drives, as the speed for these flash drives have not been tested. If you need a flash drive with fast data transfer speed, we recommend SanDisk Extreme Cruzer Contour for this."

Prior to ordering this JetFlash drive, I visited the Transcend USA web site to search for information. Surprise, surprise! The data transfer speed of JetFlash 500 (under the 'V' series) is actually specified as:
"Read 15 MByte/s, Write 7 MByte/s (16GB)"

Once I received this Transcend JetFlash drive, I put it through several benchmark programs, to compare against the Sandisk Cruzer Micro:

- For typical photo files, write speed of the Transcend varies from 6.8MB/s (for 1MB file) to 11.3MB/s (for 5MB file). In contrast, the Sandisk only ranges from 2.0MB/s to 3.5MB/s. That means the Transcend is about 3x faster than the Sandisk! (See my Customer Images for details)

- For very large video files, the Transcend writes at about 7.8MB/s, while the Sandisk only reaches 5.1MB/s. The difference in smaller but still significant.

In terms of storage space: The Transcend drive reports 15.1GB of total capacity, while the Sandisk drive reports 14.9GB. Note that it is normal for a '16GB' flash drive to show only 14.9GB of storage, because 14.9GB for computer people (where 1GB = 2 to the power 30) actually translates to about 16,000,000,000 bytes. So that can be called '16GB' according to marketing people (where 1GB = one billion bytes).

In summary, the Transcend JetFalsh 16GB drive looks and works just like the Sandisk Cruzer Micro, but its write speed is +50% to +200% faster than the latter. As of this writing, both drives are available at similar prices, so this makes the Transcend a much better value.

[Update on Nov 3, 2010]:
- The price of this Transcend USB drive dropped further during the past two months. So now it is an even better value.

- Several reviewers have reported bad experiences using this USB drive on the Xbox 360. Right now your only safe bet is to get the Xbox 360 - 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive by SanDisk, which costs twice as much.

- If you don't intend to use the software supplied by Transcend, simply rename the file "Autorun.inf" (located at the root directory of this drive) to something else, such as "Autorun._inf". Then you can use it as a simple USB storage device.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good, dependable flash drive with helpful software, October 2, 2010

By 

Susanna Hutcheson "Copywriting for the Discri... (Midwest U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive - TS16GJF500 (Black) (Personal Computers)

I've had several Transcend flash drives and find them to be quite good and fast. This flash has lots of room for storage and a free software download that gives you all sorts of extras, including a place to save passwords, a browser and a whole lot more --- plus easy syncing of data.

Not much you can say about storage other than it's fast and dependable with free software to help make your life and work easier. It's a nice looking little unit and I really like the way you simply slide the connection out.

UPDATE: I accidentally left my Transcend in my jeans and washed them. I'm pleased to report that the Transcend manned up and worked as well as before it took a bath. While I don't recommend this sort of treatment, it's good to know this little guy can take a bit of rough treatment.

Highly recommended.

-- Susanna K. Hutcheson

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice performance for the price!, September 4, 2010

By 

JMart (TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive - TS16GJF500 (Black) (Personal Computers)

I purchased this as a Gold Box deal, so I won't include price as a factor in my review- in all fairness to later reviews. I purchased this for the sole purpose of transporting music and picture files.

I received this yesterday and plugged it into a USB 1.1 port on my case- Not a 2.0! I installed the Transcend Jetflash elite software. I haven't utilized anything in the software, but it includes features for:

1. Outlook Expres and Windows email
2. easy access to your favorites in Intenet Explorer and Firefox browsers
3. secret-zip setup- password feature
4. Data backup and Data sync
5. PC Lock
6. My Jetflash- shows what's on the drive

After installing their software, there was still 15.1 GB available, which I believe is what's the norm for a 16GB drive.

Performance is usually the most critical issue (besides price) with all drives. Needless to say, that is not a big issue with me, since I have it plugged into a 1.1 port! lol. But I did decide to do a couple of performance checks for the tech geeks! (Yes I fall into that category, too!) These specs are read from an external Maxtor One Touch 1TB hard drive and written to the Transcend 16GB jump drive- into a 1.1 port and out a 1.1 port! Sorry, I didn't feel like pulling the full tower case out to reach the 2.0 ports!

A 77.2 mb music folder took 13 seconds (nearly 6mb/sec and a 337 mb music folder took 52 seconds (6.5mb/sec). I imagine it would perform quite better using 2.0 ports.

The only con I can think of would be the somewhat cheap construction (plastic) of this drive. It rattles slightly when you shake it, so rough users might have issues with this. Hopefully, some of this may help you with your decision!

2115|R3PWNH010U2HFK;2115|R2OJCJAE5610HS;2115|R146C2LK8NW850;