Patriot Supersonic Magnum 256GB USB 3 Flash Drive Review – Incredible Gaming On A Flash Drive

After opening the packaging, Patriot decided not to add any accessories, which is a tad unfortunate considering the price. A lanyard or keychain addition would have been appreciated considering the Magnum has a slot in the back to loop the two through:

One side of the drive has the Patriot company logo, while the other has the branding of the drive as well as the capacity; the visuals are identical throughout all three sizes.

Speaking of the enclosure, the colour scheme is predominantly black with blue plastic ridges. The overall construction is a rigid aluminum which is smooth and pleasing to the touch. Not only that, but it keeps the Supersonic Magnum nice and cool, with no flex at all. Since it is metal-based, the blue plastic stripes have a faint grip coating to keep the drive stationary when on slippery surfaces – such as hardwood, or glass.

The Supersonic XT series has traditionally come in durable, secure all-rubber enclosures; but to keep drives of this quality from overheating, the metal makes sense. As such the cap is also aluminum but sadly does not have any latching/bracing modifications, meaning the cap is free to wander off and misplace itself as they are prone to doing.

CLOSER LOOK AND INTERIOR

Getting inside the Patriot Supersonic Magnum 256GB is quite simple. The lanyard loop at the back of the enclosure can be pulled to slide the USB drive out. This may speak badly of the build quality but in reality the complete offering can withstand 15G’s of force. Unless the drive specifically lands on the open USB header, the chances of damaging internals by accidentally dropping the thumb drive are slim. Of course, the USB connector end is USB 3.0 illustrated by its telltale blue ‘type A’ pin slot:

The green PCB features the value-driven Phison PS2251-01 Super Speed USB 3.0-to-Flash micro-controller with 16 max CE, 6X 6-bit ECC max circuit buffer (BCH), and 8 max channels. Hence, the controller allows for MLC NAND flash Read/Write speed up to 245MB/s read and 145 MB/s write – similar to those advertised by Patriot. Operating at 4.5V, the PS2251-01 is USB 3.0 and backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1. Furthermore, the integrated 32-bit processor suppers ‘Super’ speeds of up to 5Gbps, ‘High’ speeds of 480Mbps, and ‘Full’ speeds that max out at 12Mbps.