PNY Elite-X Fit review: Small USB flash drive with decent speeds

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We’ve reviewed a few PNY storage options over the past few weeks, and for the most part they offer decent bang for the buck. We are wrapping up this round with a portable USB 3.1 flash drive.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Our PNY Elite-X Fit review takes a look at their 512GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive with read speeds of up to 200MB/s. Read on for our full review!

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Specifications

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive has the following features and specifications:

InterfaceUSB 3.1 Gen 1
Capacity64, 128, 256, 512GB
Max read speedUp to 200MB/s
Transfer speedUp to 30 faster than standard USB 2.0
CompatibilityUSB 3.1 Gen 1/USB 3.0 equipped host devices, backwards compatible with USB 2.0
Environmental conditionsOperating Temperature: 0° to 60° C, Storage Temperature: -25° to 85° C

What’s in the box

  • PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive

Design

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive is very compact. It’s about 7/8″ in length, 3/8 of that is the cap with the rest being the actual USB end. The cap is black in colour, and has a cutout for a string-style strap or for attaching to a key ring. Unfortunately, a strap is not included with the drive. The cap is dimpled for added grip, with the PNY logo stamped on the end. Engraved into the USB end is the numbers 512 and words USB 3.1.

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive
The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive.

Performance

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive is rated at up to 200MB/s read/write speeds. As I usually do with storage drives and memory cards, I ran it through several benchmarks on their default settings. These tests were taken while the USB flash drive was inserted into a USB 3.1 port. Using a USB 3.0 or 2.0 port will significantly reduce these speeds.

AS SSD Seq Read245.64 MB/s
AS SSD Seq Write162.31 MB/s
ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Read (max)253.08 MB/s
ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Write (max)164.26 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark Seq Read (Q8T1)260.65 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark Seq Write (Q8T1)169.36 MB/s

As you can see from the tests above, the drive easily exceeded the stated read speeds. While PNY doesn’t disclose the rated write speeds, they aren’t that bad either.

Benchmarks are great, but real-world performance is what matters most. To test performance, we copied files between the drive and a computer and vice-versa and timed how long it took. When copying a single file roughly 2GB in size, it took about 17 seconds to copy from the computer to the drive. Copying from the drive to the computer was a bit faster, clocking in at just under 11 seconds. Next, I copied an assortment of 65 files in ten folders ranging in size from 500KB to just under 100MB. The total size of this transfer was 1.41GB. Transferring to the PNY USB key took about 24 seconds, while transferring back to the computer was faster and only took about 5 1/2 seconds.

Price/Value

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive retail for US$99.99 for the 512GB version, $47.99 for 256GB, $34.99 for 128GB, and $$26.99 for the 64GB versions. At full retail, they are a bit pricey but fortunately, they are all currently on sale starting at $10.99 for 64GB and with the 512GB key costing $64.99. At the sale prices, these are a pretty good deal if you’re looking for portable USB storage.

Wrap-up

The PNY Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive offers decent transfer speeds and storage options in a compact form factor. If you can grab them at their current selling price, they are a pretty decent deal.

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