Need A 512 GB USB Stick Or USB Type-C SSD Enclosure? Patriot Has You Covered

Patriot opened up its treasure trove of flash-powered goodies at CES 2016, including a new PCIe SSD, 2.5" SSD, thumb drives and an external SATA enclosure. Let's take a closer look at its USB arsenal.

Supersonic Mega USB

The Supersonic Mega USB is perhaps one of Patriot's most compelling new USB offerings due to its hefty capacity options, USB 3.1 (Gen 1) connection and relatively low price. The Supersonic Mega comes in 128, 256 and 512 GB capacities for a reasonable price of $49.99, $89.99 and $229.99, respectively. The copious amount of storage allows users to lug around an incredible amount of data in a small package, and with 380/70 MBps of read/write performance (brought to you courtesy of its USB 3.1 goodness) the Mega will provide enough speed to get data on and off the drive relatively quickly.

The $229.99 sticker price may seem shocking for a USB drive, but there are very few options that offers as much high capacity, and many of the competing offerings from reputable companies command a higher price point. For instance, the 512 GB Corsair Flash Voyager weighs in at $304.13 (295/170 read/write MBps) and the Kingston HyperX Predator 512 GB drive retails for $385.91 (240/160 read/write MBps). Both of these USB challengers feature the USB 3.0 interface and offer faster write speeds, but slower read performance. However, it is hard to beat Patriot's $0.44-per-GB price point. 

Gauntlet 4 USB Type-C SSD Enclosure

The Patriot Gauntlet 4 storage enclosure accepts any 2.5" form factor SATA storage device. The enclosure is bus-powered, so users will not need to bother with the hassles of searching for an external power connection. The enclosure supports USB 3.1 (Gen 2) to provide the maximum throughput, which is particularly well suited for SSDs.

The Gauntlet 4 comes with both microB to Type-A and MicroB to Type-C cables, which will allow broad compatibility with other devices. The simple aluminum enclosure (with an ABS drive tray) is plug-and-play and offers up to a 16 percent increase in read performance and a 22 percent increase in write performance in comparison to the previous-generation Gauntlet 3 product. Speed will naturally vary according to the type of storage device in the enclosure, and the Gauntlet 4 will be available at the end of Q1 for a mere $39.99. The increased speed of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 and the Type-C connection is a great addition to the portable enclosure market.

Viper USB

Patriot's Viper USB thumb drive packs the USB 3.1 punch, albeit at Gen 1 speeds. The Viper comes in 64, 128 and 256 GB capacities for $34.99, $54.99 and $94.99, respectively. Patriot positions the rubber-clad Viper series for both the professional and casual gamer, which is a somewhat odd distinction that is presumably derived from the fact that the Viper color scheme matches Patriot's new gaming PC products.

Patriot did not list the actual features that qualify it as more gaming-capable than other products, and there is no performance information, but the company included the statement that the USB stick offers "the perfect trifecta of speed, mass storage and value for all gamers."

Patriot also announced its new Supersonic Magnum 2 series, which sports speeds up to 400/300 MBps read/write, but little other information, including capacity and cost, is included.

The Supersonic Mega USB will be available on January 18 and the Viper USB will bring its gaming prowess to the market at the end of Q1.

Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • vladimirorlovsky
    You wrote: "The Supersonic Mega comes in 128, 256 and 512 GB capacities for a reasonable price of $49.99, $89.99 and $229.99, respectively"
    I already have 128GB usb flash drive,
    Just about 4 weeks ago, in Costco, I bought Lexar 128GB 3.0 usb for $24.99.
    So, my question is:
    What is so special about 'Supersonic Mega' 128GB for almost twice price of $49.99 ???
    Is it faster?
    Is it cuter?
    Is it Longer?
    What or How it is better?!
    Thanks
    -VJO


    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    17278100 said:
    You wrote: "The Supersonic Mega comes in 128, 256 and 512 GB capacities for a reasonable price of $49.99, $89.99 and $229.99, respectively"
    I already have 128GB usb flash drive,
    Just about 4 weeks ago, in Costco, I bought Lexar 128GB 3.0 usb for $24.99.
    So, my question is:
    What is so special about 'Supersonic Mega' 128GB for almost twice price of $49.99 ???
    Is it faster?
    Is it cuter?
    Is it Longer?
    What or How it is better?!
    Thanks
    -VJO


    These units run on the 3.1 standard, which is double the speed of 3.0. Which is likely what you are running.
    Reply
  • knekker
    #vladimirorlovsky,
    Usb 3.0 should have same transfer speed as usb 3.1 gen1, so your reply is kinda misleading.
    USB 3.0 is now called USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Speed up to 5Gbps)
    ..... USB 3.1 is now called USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Speed up to 10Gbps)
    Gam3r01's question still deserves a proper answer = )
    Reply
  • PaulyAlcorn
    The real key boils down to the flash and the controller. You should run a few cursory benchmarks on your USB stick and see how the performance compares to the Patriot offering. I made sure to mention "reputable" competitors, simply because there are many many vendors that will ship horrible flash that is not fit for use in pretty much anything. this flash will fail quickly, but they sell it at cutthroat prices. Most of the time a good indicator is the performance, particularly with sustained write workloads.
    Reply
  • Shaun o
    Well I sort of don`t get this, if they made a bridge board from sata to usb. 3.0 and 3.1 spec using the same controller chips they are actually using on the usb flash drives.

    Would the read and write through put be the same, as the flash drive on it`s own.
    And if you could do that why not just buy a Samsung SSD drive, put it in an external housing. And you have 500Gb of storage at about £100 less than buying something for £300. Is it not the controller chip as much as the quality of the flash ram that determines the read and write speeds at sustained write loads.

    Im sure people would pay for a external sata drive housing with a bridge board able to do this for a decent price.
    Reply
  • Shaun o
    Over buying the Usb sticks. I mean.
    Reply
  • Sunderas
    Nice enclosure and the price is not too off.
    Reply
  • epobirs
    Well I sort of don`t get this, if they made a bridge board from sata to usb. 3.0 and 3.1 spec using the same controller chips they are actually using on the usb flash drives.

    Would the read and write through put be the same, as the flash drive on it`s own.
    And if you could do that why not just buy a Samsung SSD drive, put it in an external housing. And you have 500Gb of storage at about £100 less than buying something for £300. Is it not the controller chip as much as the quality of the flash ram that determines the read and write speeds at sustained write loads.

    Im sure people would pay for a external sata drive housing with a bridge board able to do this for a decent price.

    I've already done this using a SIIG USB 3.1 enclosure that Fry's had free AR during Black Friday week. I put in a 480 GB Patriot Blaze SSD ($100 AR at Fry's during the same period) and tried it out with a freshly built Z170 Core i5 system with a Samsung 512 GB M.2 x4 drive. The results are pretty amazing once you do the math and determine what the actual possible maximum is for the combination. Copying over USB 3.1 to the Samsung was the best combination thanks to the combination of maximized SATA-III reads and the fantastic write speed of the Samsung.

    In a few years it will be the norm for a fraction of the cost but for now it's quite remarkable. It will get better as native USB 3.1 flash controllers appear to overcome the limits of SATA but at lower cost than the upcoming U.2 drives. At least in theory. It remains to be seen if vendors will see this as a big enough market to pursue.
    Reply
  • f-14
    17278100 said:
    You wrote: "The Supersonic Mega comes in 128, 256 and 512 GB capacities for a reasonable price of $49.99, $89.99 and $229.99, respectively"
    I already have 128GB usb flash drive,
    Just about 4 weeks ago, in Costco, I bought Lexar 128GB 3.0 usb for $24.99.
    So, my question is:
    What is so special about 'Supersonic Mega' 128GB for almost twice price of $49.99 ???
    Is it faster?
    Is it cuter?
    Is it Longer?
    What or How it is better?!
    Thanks
    -VJO


    These units run on the 3.1 standard, which is double the speed of 3.0. Which is likely what you are running.

    yes we all know 3.0vs3.1, however his question still stands unanswered because in a gddr5 world gddr3 is still being used and while the 64bit bus gddr5 version is kicking arse over it's 128bit bus gddr3 brother in thruput as evidenced in the low end video cards specifically the gt730 i think you see what he's getting at is the 3.1 stick using ddr3 on a 64 bit or 128 bit bus or is it gddr4 on a 32 bit or 64 bit or 128 bit bus?
    lack of specifics means they are hiding something on purpose and it is not for the consumers benefit.
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    Just to clarify, you do know gddr is solely used on graphics cards right? It has nothing to do with a flash drive.
    Reply