Mimobot USB Flash Drives

Anyone on the hunt for a USB flash drive has surely stumbled across a few novelty drives. We've reviewed a few as well, like the Dane-Elec Marvel Avengers USB Drives and Dane-Elec Marvel Universe USB Drives. Generally speaking, while these drives may not wow anyone with blazing fast performance or top-of-the-line features, they are the drives that people actually notice, and add to their own wish lists. Mimoco has made its name in the novelty drive category, with drives depicting characters and historical figures as varied as Batman and Albert Einstein. In a recent batch of Mimobot drives, we've been presented with favorites figures from history, pop culture, and current cartoons?Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, rock star Elvis Presley, and My Little Pony fan-favorite Rainbow Dash.

Design
The Mimobot design is pretty standard?a big, elongated head, which doubles as the USB plug cap, and a small body at one end. In the Mimobot Legends series, these figures are all roughly based on actual people. Included in this review are Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as well as rock icon Elvis Presley.

Washington is decked out in regimental dress, white powdered wig, and a removable Colonial-era Tricorn hat, with a cluster of cherries in one hand. On the back of the drive is an image of Washington's own signature.

Lincoln is depicted in, to quote Mimoco, "his classic mid-19th century theater-going duds," complete with vest and bow-tie (I realize the Lincoln assassination was a while ago, but this still seems to be in poor taste). Again, the back of the drive features Lincoln's signature.

Slightly different is the Mimobot Legends Elvis Aloha from Hawaii, which features The King in full jumpsuit regalia. Inspired by the rhinestone studded jumpsuit worn in the Elvis Aloha from Hawaii satellite broadcast in 1973, his outfit includes a Hawaiian lei. Elvis' lip curls in his signature snarl, and he's got considerably more hair on his head than Lincoln does.

The fourth drive sent by Mimoco is from the Mimobot Pop Culture line-up?it's Rainbow Dash from the new version of My Little Pony. Being a pony, Rainbow Dash has no outfit to speak of, but the basic design is the same, with a little body at one end and an elongated head at the other. Rainbow Dash is blue, with a suitably multicolored mane and tail. Mimoco also says that the drive is full of speed, spunk, and "undeniable charisma," but such claims are difficult to verify, even in our testing lab.

Though I could probably make a couple of suggestions about the designs?Washington gets a tricorn hat but Lincoln's famed stovepipe top hat is missing??they all look pretty good.

Bonus Content
All of the Mimobot drives also come with bonus content, centered on the character or figure of the drive. Presidents Washington and Lincoln both offer the same content?a collection of wallpapers for computer, tablet, and smartphone, as well as custom icons and avatar images, all featuring one or both of the presidents. While some of these were interesting, it was a little disappointing that all of these images feature pictures of the drive, rather than any of the more realistic portraits of the actual historical figures.

This same complaint could not be made of the Elvis Aloha from Hawaii drive. In addition to the wallpapers, icons, and avatars, the drive includes two extensive photo albums, one centered around the Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii special?and includes more than 50 photos, documents, and behind the scenes glimpses of that iconic event?and the other centered around Elvis' military service, complete with publicity photos, shots of Elvis in training for combat, and even his honorable discharge papers. There are also two video interviews. All in all, it's an impressive collection of content, and worthwhile for any Elvis fan.

The Rainbow Dash drive also comes with My Little Pony-themed wallpapers, icons, and avatars, but adds sound, with character voices announcing when you've plugged in the drive or copied a folder. Obviously, these candy-colored, ultra-perky extras aren't for everyone, but Ponies and Bronies alike will probably be delighted.

Pricing and Performance
All four Mimobot drives are similar once the caps are pulled off and the drives are plugged in. Each drive uses a USB 2.0 connection, and is formatted in FAT32 for broad compatibility?Windows, Mac, even Linux should all work well with the drives. All four drives were 8GB in capacity, and sell for a list price of $24.95, which works out to roughly $3.11 per GB. While this is a bit pricey for a basic USB drive, the fan-favorite designs and bonus content will add value that most flash drives don't offer. The similar Dane-Elec Marvel Universe drives sell for a similar $3.37 per GB. Take away the fan appeal and these drives are comparable to other basic drives, like the Verbatim Store N' Go Clip-it USB Drive, a 4GB drive which sells for $1.83 per GB, or the LaCie PetiteKey (16GB), which sells for $1.43 per GB.

Performance wasn't identical among the four drives, but it was similar. In timed data transfer tests George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Elvis all clocked in at roughly 27 MBps (Read) and 5 MBps (Write). Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, came up a bit different, with 23 MBps (read) and 5 MBps (write). To compare, the Marvel Universe drives had speeds of 30MBps (read) and 4MBps (write), the Verbatim Store N' Go Clip-it (15MBps read; 6MBps write) and the LaCie PetiteKey (14 MBps read, 6 MBps write).

Whether you're looking to show people that you're a hunk of burning love, a fan of Honest Abe, or just a My Little Pony aficionado, Mimoco's novelty flash drives send the message loud and clear. All four Mimobot drives?Washington, Lincoln, Elvis, and Rainbow Dash?offer passable performance, made all the more appealing with eye-catching designs and fan-friendly bonus content. For the performance and feature minded, there's always the Editors' Choice Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G2 (16GB), but for everyone else, there's Mimobot that's perfect for you.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/6nXlQAmmuFE/0,2817,2419562,00.asp

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