Entered CNET Catalog: 02/27/2004
SKU: 0834784009948
Manufacturer: Meritline.com
Manufacturer description
Marketing description is not available. Product summary
The good: Works as a pen.
The bad: Expensive; feels cheaply made.
The bottom line: Meritline's Pen Drive adequately combines a pen with a USB flash drive, but it also feels a bit gimmicky and cheap.
Average user rating: 
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/02/2004
Unlike many other so-called pen drives, Meritline's Pen Drive is actually a functional pen. Made of two halves that screw together, the Pen Drive's top half consists of the USB interface and a standard pen clip; the bottom half contains the ink cartridge and the pen tip. Screwed together, the Pen Drive measures about 5.75 inches long, but the USB half measures just 2.75 inches long. With a diameter of 0.5 inches, the Pen Drive blocked a neighboring USB port when we plugged it into our PC. We solved the problem by using the included 8-inch USB extension cable. Meritline includes an extra ink cartridge for the pen and an installation disc with driver software.
The Pen Drive is made of a brushed-silver metal with some shiny silvery accents. A faux-rubberized grip near the tip makes for comfortable writing and indicates where to twist to expose the pen tip. We found the Pen Drive's weight nice for writing, but the overall construction felt cheaply made.
This drive has 128MB of storage and comes in black or silver. You can also choose whether you want a USB 1.1 or 2.0 interface. The $65 USB 2.0 model we tested breaks down to a cost of about 50 cents per megabyte, which is on the expensive end of the price spectrum.
Return to CNET's USB flash drive roundup.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 User Rating: 2.0 stars
out of 1 user reviews
Ever loose your pen?by - June 30, 2004
Pros: Not a very stylish pen and feels kinda cheap.
Cons: The biggest problem I have with this product is that I always loose pens. If this has ever happened to you, this may not be the best thing to put your sensitive files on.
Review:
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Meritline Pen Drive specifications
- General
- Product Type USB memory pen
- Storage Capacity 128.0 MB
- Width 5.7 in
- Depth 0.7 in
- Height 0.6 in
- Compatibility PC , Mac , Unix
- Compatibility Non-specific
- Memory
- Form Factor PC Card , USB Drive , SmartMedia card , Memory Stick Pro , SD memory card , Memory Stick , CompactFlash Card
- Interface Type Hi-Speed USB
- Interface Specification Compliance USB 2.0
- Expansion / Connectivity
- Compatible Slots None
- Interfaces 1.0 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A
- Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories USB cable
- Software / System Requirements
- Software Included Drivers & Utilities
- OS Required Apple MacOS , Linux , Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
- Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 2 years warranty
- Environmental Parameters
- Min Operating Temperature -40.0 °F
- Max Operating Temperature 158.0 °F
- Humidity Range Operating 5 - 90%
- Expansion / Port(s) Required
- Required slot None
