Home > Consumer Reviews > Victorinox SwissMemory 2 GB (Translucent Ruby)

I'm not the type of person to carry around a pocket knife and have a drawer full of USB drives. I love this one. I use my USB drive almost daily so it is pretty important to me. This one has been extremely reliable.
What surprised me is how often I use the other features of this tool. The knife comes in handy cutting open boxes, plastic tags, etc. The scissors are useful too. I'm also always crawling behind computers looking for cables or something and the little LED light is very helpful. It is small and compact and fits easily in my pocket.

I have the 1GB version for over a year and don't go anywhere without it. I recently thought I lost it and immediately ordered two of these 2 GB versions. That is how much I love these.

My only minor gripes (both of which have easy solutions ).
- Sometimes (rarely), the knife/handle part of the tool causes the USB drive to not have enough room to plug in to tight spaces. However, it is easy to simply remove the USB hard drive from the tool and just use that.
- I had to check in a carry on bag once because of this tool. They were going to confiscate it and I totally forgot I had it with me on a recent plane trip. I actually have a travel case for this that attaches to the USB hard drive and you leave the knife/tools part at home. I just forgot but it is a slight negative if you travel frequently.
- Even though the USB drive fold in for storage, it can gather a bit more lint than some of my other USB drives with lids or that retract. Not a huge deal and lint blows right off.

Anyway, those are very minor issues and don't really detract from the usefullness of this overall tool.

I have owned the 1gb model in the past. I just bought the 2gb model, and although the packaging and manual references the SecureLOCK function, this unit does not have it. I called technical support (18 mins hold time, got disconnected, 16 more mins hold time at 10am PST). The tech support guy thinks the software is available for download but couldn't find it (I spent 30 mins looking before I called technical support). The URL in the manual is no good (404).

The warranty is good, but if you have to send it in, expect it to be gone for 60 days. On two occasions with my 1gb model I had to send it in. Once was a defect with the memory stick, the other time the scissors broke (not just the spring, the entire scissor arm broke off). The first time, I got so frustrated with the amount of time it took, I nearly bought another one to replace it. The second time, in anticipation of the delay, I bought the 2gb model.

I use this all the time. It is very close to the fastest one I have. The drive part seperates easilly when the bulk of the knife is in way. The white LED has come in handy once when the lights went out. The knife is razor sharp. The scissors and nail file/screwdriver blades are as all victornox knives of this size are, well made and plenty useful. it even includes a pen that slides out. When the flash drive "blade" is closed into the knife, a cover snaps over the USB end to protect it. I have not yet had a problem with any computer not being able to read it. It is also backwards compatable to USB 1. It's pricy, but in my opinion, worth it!

I previously owned the 32MB version and basically used all the tools regularly. The one I used the most was the pen. After that ran out of ink, I had to get a new one. The software that comes with it allows you to password protect the USB. So I had 2 partitions, one that was password protected and the other for partition for less important stuff. But if you use Macs, it can't read the password protected portion. It can only read the other partition. :-( That's why it's only getting 4 stars. I use both Macs and PCs regularly, and it creates more hassle trying to remember which partition to put my files.

It's a nice tool, but I wish it had more gadgets on it. It only has a knife, nail file and scissors. And a pen. But the 2GB flash stick is great. All in all a good buy.