Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2-...QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-0...QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?
Cheers.

"mrblack" <Jonathan.Fillion@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d2c954de-0544-4d0c-a95c-b79e5f9f2908@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
My opinion is, "trust your instinct". If it spells fishy, leave it alone! On
the other hand at those prices you could just take a gamble - even if it is
16 Gb (2GB) instead of GB, does it really matter for that price?

mrblack wrote:
As long as there are fake USB flash devices on Ebay, I won't be
buying any to find out. Too bad for the legitimate sellers, if there
are any legitimate sellers to be found.

If a price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Notice the
cheapest here is $130, and the reviews on the SuperTalent one aren't
very good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nd&Order=PRICE

Sample reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609222

Paul

Bert wrote:
Using a link provided in the page above, the seller the OP mentioned
does not look very good:

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs...rn=Received+by

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:23:19 -0800 (PST), mrblack
<Jonathan.Fillion@gmail.com> wrote:

It's probably using MLC flash and very slow. It may also
have specs claiming the 16GB is only reached using some kind
of compression which assumes all files will reduce by 50% or
more in size, while many already compressed formats
obviously wouldn't.

On the other hand I suppose they could've jacked a truck
somewhere and they're hot, or they're defective in some way
and these factors account for the incredibly low price.

Hi mrblack,

Read this before you buy:

http://www.mashada.com/blogs/Kikuyum...ake_usb_sticks

Don't know if it's true...

Steven

And also:

http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-FA...00000001236200

Steven

On Nov 28, 10:30 am, "Steven Spits" <nos...@company.com> wrote:
Steven, I have lost track here but started off with your link & ended
up here
http://www.mashada.com/blogs/Kikuyum...ake_usb_sticks
This is one terrific site. From "bent" data sticks to home-made
helicopters, hang-gliders etc. Great, man. Absolutely ace that way
these guys make stuff from throw-aways.

"mrblack" <Jonathan.Fillion@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d2c954de-0544-4d0c-a95c-b79e5f9f2908@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Considering that here are usually 8 bits in a byte, I would hazard a guess
that a 16 gigabit device is actually a 2 gigabyte unit.

Well yes you guys are all right, and I too have many doubts about
either

1. The real capacity of those drives (gigabits vs gigabytes, aka a non-
negligible factor of 8!)
2. The speed of those drives (ie, very slow MLC flash)

And I do realize the real 16gb brand ones go for upwards of 140-150$.
I've looked at the links you guys pointed me too; I had already seen a
few of them / similar ones.

What baffles me though are the eBay feedbacks left by buyers who
bought those flash drives. Take as a random example this "winermean"
guy on ebay-. Look at these sample feedbacks:

"Good Flash Drive, Fast Shipping."
"A-1 seller. Flash drive as described and fast shipping. Highly
recommended!"

And these have the same picture as the fake ones described in one of
the links you guys submitted:
http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-FA...00000001236200.

Sure, none of the feedbacks purposedly say "Item is really 16gb; I've
tested every byte of it", but I mean come on, personally that's the
first thing I'd do upon receiving the item, so if it were a fake there
would have to be at least someone reporting it.

I'm not an eBay expert, but is it that easy to fake buyer feedbacks?
Guess I'm just not that used to seeing such blatent ebay scams ...

mrblack wrote:
Yes.

http://googtube.blogspot.com/2006/06...en-laptop.html

Somewhere on teh interweb Joel typed:
Don't you mean FROOGLE?
--
TTFN,

Shaun.

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:07:36 -0600, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com>
wrote:


Unfortunately Google renamed Froogle to Google-> Products,

http://www.google.com/prdhp

Somewhere on teh interweb kony typed:
That's right, I remember reading about that now. Apparently the pun on the
word "Frugal" was missed by most Americans as, although it's frequently used
in England (as well as Aus and NZ), Americans don't seem to use it and it
was causing some confusion in the US.

Oh well, at least typing www.froogle.com into the browser still takes you to
Google/Products.
--
TTFN,

Shaun.

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:56:51 +1300, "~misfit~"
<misfit61nz@yahoot.com.au> wrote:


I think most americans got it, but just a select few
complained that they didn't and in america it's the squeaky
wheel that gets the grease... nevermind the rest.

mrblack wrote:
ebay is NOT the place to buy hardware...




--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

On Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:14:09 -0600, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com>
wrote:


.... or you can get used, defective, counterfeit or hot
parts, or even empty boxes.

kony wrote:
I treat it like gambling--don't offer more than you can afford to lose.
So far, I've come out ahead.

I've never had a problem with an eBay transaction. Several items did not
work or never arrived, but the seller always was good for it.

Grinder wrote:
I'll agree to that








--
http://www.bootdisk.com/