The marketplace is filled with USB
Flash Drives of vastly varying quality. Some are excellent, although many are
completely unfit for the purpose of data storage. If you are considering a bulk
purchase of logo-branded USB Flash Drives for promotional purposes, a good
quality product that will enhance your brand image is essential. In pursuit of
the lowest price, many bulk purchasers encounter suppliers at the unacceptable
end of the quality spectrum.
We sent Cristian Yi (Quality Control
manager for the Gitratech Factory )
out into the marketplace to investigate the competition. "The findings
were quite worrying in most cases," said Cristian. "Of the hundreds of
models tested, we have chosen just one as a comparison to illustrate the common
quality pitfalls." The report below shows our standard Classic USB Flash
Drive compared to the common copy. Cristian adds that, "Many corporate gift
distributors buy the copy direct from unscrupulous manufacturers in China who
cut too many corners, resulting in serious quality issues."
Quality of
Memory Chip (inside the USB Flash Drive)
The NAND Flash memory chip is a component that lies at the heart of a Flash Drive. Memory comes in different grades with a range of read and write speeds and data-retention capabilities. At Gitratech, we use new, grade-A memory in all our products. Unfortunately it's become common place for some corporate gift suppliers, acting as middle men, to be unaware of what their USB Flash Drives contain. The result is low-grade memory: dirt cheap and tempting for unscrupulous manufacturers to use. Gitratech is a USB Flash Drive manufacturer and so we can strictly control all the components used in our Flash Drives.
Gitratech Competitor
Metal vs
Plastic Loop for keyring attachment
It's important that the loop on
the end of the USB Flash Drive is metal if you intend to attach the USB Flash
Drive to a bunch of keys. A plastic loop is likely to break after moderate use
and the drive could subsequently get lost.
Gitratech Competitor
PCB
attachment
The PCB is the green circuit board
part which you see inside most electronics. We mount the PCB in a stable way on
4 posts which keep it tightly in position. The worst manufacturers
unfortunately glue it in (yes, that's hot glue from a glue gun in the below
image!). As the Flash Drive heats up the glue becomes less stable and the PCB
wobbles around.
Gitratech Competitor
The fit of
the cap
The body of the Classic USB Flash
Drive Gitratech) has 2 small raised parts that allow the cap to click into
position holding it in place. Many competitor models have loose and badly
fitting caps.
Gitratech Competitor
Print
Quality
Wear and tear on a USB Flash Drive
is hard to avoid but Gitratech goes the extra mile to ensure our print enjoys
maximum longevity. When printing onto metal, the metal shells are printed prior
to product assembly which allows us to oven-fire them, thus rendering the print
tough and durable. We adhere to strict quality control procedures to ensure
each logo we print is reproduced correctly. The above image shows the results
after a standard quality control scratch test. The competitor print flakes off,
while the Gitratech print remains true.
Gitratech Competitor
Quality of
Aluminium Exterior Shell
We use high-grade anodised
aluminium alloy which is specially treated to be fingerprint resistant (easy to
clean) and has an anti-scratch, hardened surface. Imitators use much cheaper,
impure and untreated aluminium; the difference on first-hand comparison is
striking.
Gitratech Competitor
Thickness
of USB Flash Drive
No one likes a chunky USB Flash
Drive. The thickness of a USB Flash Drive goes a long way to its appeal; just a
few millimetres make all the difference. The above shows our Drive is 1mm
thinner at the thickest part, though considerably more slender all-round.
Gitratech Competitor
Certified
RoHS Compliance
The RoHS Directive stands for
"the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical
and electronic equipment". Gitratech strictly adheres to this EU directive
and can show pass certificates from compliance testing. We recommend that you
avoid suppliers unable to produce certification from a RoHS testing body as
they are often unaware that their products fall short of their RoHS claims.
Non-RoHS components are cheaper than compliant ones, hence their persistence in
the marketplace.
Gitratech Competitor
Gitratech is dedicated to
maintaining quality standards according to (ISO) 9001:2000. We supply quality
USB Flash Drives to the largest (and smallest) companies in the world who come
back time and time again for repeat orders.