Page 8 - Conclusion
Two pages of inspection and five pages of benchmarking later, I think we have a pretty clear case on the Patriot Supersonic Magnum 2 256GB. It has been almost five years since we have first played around with the original Supersonic Magnum; with a multi-fold increase in capacity and, for the most part, better performance compared to its predecessor, there is a lot to like about the company's latest entry into the performance USB flash drive market. One big advantage the Magnum 2 has compared to the original Magnum is its sequential write speed. In fact, its sequential write speed is the best we have ever seen here at APH Networks. My colleague Aaron Lai pointed out this was the biggest weakness of the Supersonic Rage 2 256GB last year, and it is nice to see how sequential write performance became one of the biggest strengths for the Supersonic Magnum 2. That said, I would still buy the Rage 2, even though it is an extra $30 at press time. Why? While the Magnum 2's corporate cousin has a relatively slow sequential write speed, the Rage 2 is better in almost every other tested aspect -- whether it is the read speed or IOPS performance. It is unfortunate how even though the Rage 2's IOPS throughput is not spectacular to begin with, the Magnum 2 still fell short. Furthermore, the Rage 2 features a capless design, smaller physical size, and an activity LED -- which I would consider all to be important features. For about $120 at press time, the Patriot Supersonic Magnum 2 256GB, for all intents and purposes, did not flip any roles with your SSD. What it does offer, however, is a swimming pool of portable storage capacity and industry leading sequential read/write performance for a competitive price.
Patriot provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.2/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The Patriot Supersonic Magnum 2 256GB is a mega capacity USB flash drive that delivers seriously fast sequential read and write results.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Conclusion
