A Review of Meritline’s RIST Memory USB Watch

If you are in the market for a USB drive for your computer, but are looking for something a little bit beyond the norm, something more than ordinary, take the time to check out Meritline’s RIST Memory USB Watch.

When one looks at the Meritline RIST Memory USB Watch as a USB drive, it might seem somewhat limited. The drives go no higher than 256 Mb (No 4 Gb monsters here) and the prices (about $80 for the 256 model) are a tad on the high side, but not really. The cheapest 64 Mb models only cost $30, which is the same price you’ll pay for an average wrist watch.

Their drives offer password protection through their ManagerX software, but it is nothing extraordinary, and there are few other bonus features. (It should also be noted that like other password protected USB drives, if you lose or forget the password you will be forced to reformat the drive, which will result in a loss of data).

Windows 98 and up, Linux 2.4 and up as well as Macintosh OS 8.6 and higher are all supported by the drives, meaning that you should have little problem with inter-computer connectivity.

The brilliance of the RIST Memory USB Watch isn’t the drive itself, but it is the fact that it is a USB drive in a watch. (Meritline also has a USB pen drive, which is an actual working pen). The watches come with an extendable 2.5 foot cord (which wraps into the wrist band), as well as an external plug that can be connected to the main body of the watch.

As watches, they are generally sleek and stylish. There are a number of different models for each size, allowing you the choice of which watch you feel best suits you. With the cables retracted they blend perfectly with the watch, and you are not even aware that they are there.

All of the watches use Japanese Movement and batteries have a three year life. The batteries are only for the watch aspect of the device, and have no bearing on the USB drive, which is only powered when it is plugged into a computer. Battery changes have no impact on data stored inside the drive.

Because the watch connects to your computer through a USB cable, it avoids the problem bulkier USB drives often have of blocking adjacent ports.

One drawback of Meritline’s RIST brand of watches is the fact that USB 1.1 is used rather than USB 2.0. This limits data transfer speeds of about 1 Mb/s read and 920 Kb/s write. While USB 2.0 drives will certainly be faster, speed in this case has been sacrificed for the cool factor of wearing your USB drive on a watch.

This is of course the main draw of the Meritline RIST Memory Watch. Other than that fact, there is nothing that makes the drives particularly stand out. But the coolness factor is high, and if you want to make a fashion statement as well as keep on top of your data, then the Meritline RIST Memory Watch is the way to go.