INTRODUCTION

   Have you ever had the feeling that no matter how much available space you carry around with you it's just never enough when the time comes to actually put it to good use? Well to be entirely honest i have felt that quite a few times in my life but what's really even more annoying is to have plenty of available storage space with you only to find out that there's not enough speed to make use of it all in the time window that you have. The introduction of USB 3.0 a few years back was a step towards the right direction since in theory it's up to 10 times faster than the older USB 2.0 but to date with the exception of portable SSDs there aren't really many storage related media that come even close to its possible data transfer speeds and that includes the majority of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives in the market. Well Patriot Memory wants to change or at least improve on that and so their latest SuperSonic Magnum USB 3.0 Flash Drive line doesn't only offer capacities up to 256GB but it's also pretty much as fast as it gets (at least currently).

   Established in 1985, Patriot Memory builds a full range of memory module and flash memory products, offering a perfect blend of quality and value. Patriot products include Extreme Performance (EP), Signature Lines (SL) and Flash Memory solutions (FM). Commitment, focus on innovation in technology, product quality, and customer satisfaction are the key enablers of our future success. Patriot's development and manufacturing facility are located in Fremont, California USA and Taipei, Taiwan. Our manufacturing segment is composed of a highly skilled production staff and multiple production lines optimized for modules, giving Patriot the ability and resources necessary to provide a full line of memory module solutions. We understand the value of designing and responding quickly and intelligently to the rapid changes inherent in the memory module industry. This commitment to R&D enables us to deliver the best quality memory modules powered by the latest innovative technology.

   Unfortunately we were unable to secure the highest capacity variant of the brand new SuperSonic Magnum line as many of you have requested but we did manage to get hold of the 64GB variant which should be just slightly slower compared to its larger brother. With that out of the way specs-wise the SuperSonic Magnum may not be unique but thanks to its 8-channel NAND flash controller that allows it to reach data transfer speeds of up to 260MB/s read and 160MB/s write it's a lot faster than the majority of the USB flash drives currently out in the market since we've seen only a handful of models that can achieve similar speeds. This time over however Patriot went with an aluminum housing for the drive and although it looks and feels very nice still I’d like to have the extra protection that only a rugged rubber exterior can offer even if it never comes in handy. That being said I’m very curious to see if the SuperSonic Magnum 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive can leave up to the official measurements by our friends over at Patriot Memory so let's check it out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE SUPERSONIC MAGNUM 64GB

USB flash drives mostly come inside the same package as the SuperSonic Magnum so you can take a look at the unit to check its appearance and size prior to purchasing. However what did surprise us a bit was the 200MB/s read and 120MB/s write speeds reported which are different compared to the drives specs-sheet.

At the rear we see the specifications and features of the unit along with the contact information of Patriot Memory and the 5 years warranty.

The SuperSonic Magnum 64GB weighs 25g and its aluminum housing measures 78mm in length, 27mm in width and 0.9mm in height (thick).

As you can see the SuperSonic Magnum is not a small drive and what's somewhat interesting is it's similarity with the MX-FX by MACH-XTREME.

Printed on both sides are the company/product names and the drive capacity.

You can use a lanyard with the drive although there wasn't one in the package.

You can check the serial number of the drive placed on the USB connector once you remove the protection cap (can be mounted at the rear).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Since flash drives are basically plain storage media devices just like solid state drives and hard disk drives we are using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record the achieved performance numbers. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts.

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every update until October 21st 2013. As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could testing them all again and again would simply not be possible).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

   Since the SuperSonic Magnum 64GB is amongst the fastest flash drives we've ever tested and the first one i've used for Patriot Memory that actually left most of the competition behind by a large margin i can't really complain about it in any way especially since there's really nothing wrong with it. Sure the housing is not rugged and that's something some people may not find appealing but it's shock resistant up to 15g and made of quality aluminum. Also although still not even close to what USB 3.0 is really capable of its read/write performance levels are quite remarkable and certainly not something that will go unnoticed especially if you use it to carry around huge size files. The only "slight" issue some people may have with the SuperSonic Magnum may be its somewhat large size compared to other drives but since it weighs just 25g and it's not like it can't fit in your pockets i don't really think that's really something that will drive away potential buyers.

   Build quality and performance always matter a lot when we're talking about storage media but price is also a very significant factor something that Patriot Memory knows very well since they are currently selling the 64GB variant for USD85.10 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 80Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Certainly to people who are not after the best possible read/write transfer speeds such amount may seem a bit high but if you check the prices of similar high-end USB 3.0 Flash Drives by all the other leading manufacturers you will see that it's actually not. So basically with the Patriot SuperSonic Magnum 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive you are getting superior performance wrapped and plenty of storage space (for a flash drive) inside an shock resistant aluminum housing which is why we are also giving it our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Shock Resistant)
- Design (Aluminum Housing)
- Thin (Clearance Issues With Other USB Devices)
- Superior R/W Performance (8 Channel Technology)
- 5 Years Warranty 

CONS

- Price (For Some)