Super Tiny Super Talent 8GB PICO C Gold Flash Drive – Reviewed

With the sheer number of USB flash drives on the market today, manufacturers need to find clever angles to make a sale. From their press release, Super Talent’s angle is simple: ‘World’s smallest 8GB USB flash drive.’

Read on as we take a closer look.

At 960mm cubed, the neat black and gold packaging positively dwarfs the PICO C contained inside. With dimensions of 12 x 31 x 3mm, the PICO C is slightly larger than a microSD card. And when placed side by side, it certainly makes Sony’s original Memory Stick look its age.

Inside the package, the PICO C is joined by a small golden chain and mini lanyard loop. No drivers CD is included – No drivers are required unless you are still using Windows 98SE. Windows 98SE drivers can be downloaded via the Super Talent website.

The PICO C itself is very stylish and shines incessantly. While it is definitely a fingerprint magnet – for the record, you won’t actually get your entire finger print onto it – it feels great on your finger tips. It is the sort of feel that inspires that obsessive compulsive constant wiping of the surface. The 24 carat gold plating definitely feels as good as it looks.

While I am no fashion guru, from a purely visual standpoint, I would say that the Gold PICO C is as close as a USB flash drive has come to passing off as a genuine piece of jewellery.

 
As is becoming the norm for small flash drives, the USB port is an actual part of the unit and is lacking the metal USB port surround. While keeping the unit small, this design exposes the USB port contacts to the elements. Super Talent have countered this by recessing the contacts a few millimetres affording some protection from scratching.

Beyond this, the PICO C feels solid and sufficiently sturdy to backup Super Talent’s claim of ruggedization and water resistancy.

Amazingly, in compacting 8GB into such a tiny form factor, Super Talent have not forgotten performance, scoring above average in our read tests (18MB/s average). Write speeds were also slightly better than average at 10MB/s. While the tested speeds aren’t super fast, in the form factor presented, they are perfectly acceptable and if anything, slightly above average. In every day usage we found the drive to be quite speedy – transferring files and running applications from the PICO C was quite good and felt faster than most USB flash drives we have tested. Like its finish and construction, the PICO C’s overall performance is above average.
 
Overall, the PICO C is a tiny and stylish USB flash drive with adequate performance levels.

Of course, the PICO C’s claim to fame is its size, and here it shines – quite literally: The 24 carat gold plated jewellery-like finish is probably the neatest we have seen in a USB device.

We rate this one 8/10

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