Swissbit bumps their knives to 2GB

We've run these Swissbit Swiss Army Knife drives by you before, along with their snazzed up "Prestige" counterparts and s.beat MP3 playing friends, but Swissbit is bumping their original version up to 2GB, and the geek factor on these units is still alive and well. They're including the usual scissors, knife, nail file, and screw driver on the rubyRED and retroALOX versions, while the rubyRED version -- which is looking a tad chubby these days -- also adds a ballpoint pen and an LED light for extra geek cred. You can even pop out the drive part for flying, since the TSA isn't so hot on knives these days, or just make a run for it at the security gate and see how far you get.

[everrette powell @ Jan 24th 2006 2:55PM]

Airport security took away my comb the last time I was flying ( I am still not sure what else I could have done with it other than making everyone�s hair on point) so I am sure I wouldn�t bring this close to any airport.

[Brian @ Jan 24th 2006 3:00PM]

so they bumped up the storage 16 fold, so does that mean a 16x increase in price too... cause that would be like an 800$ knife!

[Dod @ Jan 24th 2006 3:04PM]

These are nice, got the 512MB aluminum version for Christmas

[Avi Greengart @ Jan 24th 2006 3:15PM]

The TSA may have recently changed the guidelines. At EWR (Newark) there were signs saying that small pocketknives are now allowed. I took my 1 GB version with me on the flight to CES and the new s.Beat with me on the flight home, wasn't hassled by security in either direction. But Victorinox makes it clear in the documentation that both the USB storage drive and the music player are "removable for travel."

-avi

[Joe @ Jan 24th 2006 3:23PM]

Exactly Everrette. The whole idea of one of these is so you can travel with it. What good is it if you can't fly with it. I haven't checked a bag in years. And I haven't purchased a swiss army knife since 9/11. Before, I use to purchase them all the time.

When are they going to smart up and make models that are airport acceptable?

[Gordy @ Jan 24th 2006 3:23PM]

TSA has revised its list. I think that these sorts of knives are accepted now.

[Beau @ Jan 24th 2006 3:24PM]

Great, a _knife_ that will be obsolete in 6 mos.

[Gordy @ Jan 24th 2006 3:34PM]

Well, "plastic or round bladed butter knives" and scissors with "plastic or metal with blunt tips" are acceptable, this wouldn't apply, so, never mind.

[Elijah @ Jan 24th 2006 3:55PM]

Someone will have to incorporate a knife into their iPod sometime soon. Who will be the first one? Let's see it folks!

[PEZ @ Jan 24th 2006 4:09PM]

"a knife that will be obsolete in 6 months"

If that is so, then so will any and all other devices that use flash memory.

Mp3 players, camera memory, PMPs, etc.

What a stupid comment... not everyone is storing their medical records on these things. Relax bub!

[Homer J @ Jan 24th 2006 4:28PM]

So I can't take this thing on a plane, or drop it in water when fishing. Heck I can't even clip my nails when its in the USB slot...

Consumer reports has their "Black Hole" award for products with too much packaging...Engadget needs a most useless integrated product award...

[theCardinal @ Jan 24th 2006 7:23PM]

The bottom line here is that there is no benefit to having you flash drive and swiss army knife stuck together. They're not even two things you'd ever need to use together.

[tanger @ Jan 24th 2006 7:24PM]

I think it's more useful to have them separately. It seems that knives and flash drives are more useful for different occasions. The only advantage is the portability of the key ring with the flash drive. Even then, the term "over-accessorized" comes to mind.

[strider_mt2k @ Jan 24th 2006 9:12PM]

Who even carries a Swiss Army knife nowadays?

Anyone with serious work to do carries a multi-tool, not a swiss army stocking-stuffer.

[Johnny @ Jan 24th 2006 11:44PM]

I think 2006 will be year of the flash drive. im actually surprised where this is being lead to. replacing our floppy disks with flash drives is amazing.
im watching the future of computers for the next few years unfold in front of me.


im not shocked that swiss army made a pocket knife with usb flash drive, im just surprised how the future of saving files on a computer will be like.

[Ricardo Fuentes @ Jan 25th 2006 12:56AM]

How much money did this gadget cost?... Thanks.

[nitroon @ Jan 25th 2006 4:34AM]

تصميم استضافة مركز تحميل مركز ملفات بطاقات منتديات تصميم استايلات قرآن حديث شريف

[dynamo @ Jan 25th 2006 6:44AM]

more and more folks are learnin how to use this. Most of my friends carry this on their keychain along with a knife...swissbit makes sense to me. Consolidate two things on many folks' keychains.

[ibby @ Jan 25th 2006 10:12AM]

i agree that together they are pointless.. but i guess they can be separated!? - having said that, i can easily manage to carry a standard swiss knife and a normal flashdrive without limping.

and yes.. the future for computrs is definitely unfolding in front of us.. i went from carry a few floppy disks around.. to rewritable CDs (

[Gordy @ Jan 25th 2006 10:43AM]

"They're not even two things you'd ever need to use together."

Well, MacGuyver would.

[travis @ Jan 25th 2006 12:22PM]

i find bit-tech's latest column surprisingly relevant to this gadget. you may say it is against the principle of the "gadget", but i think there is a problem when you have a knife and a usb storage device bundled together.

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2006/01/22/all_for_one/1.html

[Craig @ Jan 25th 2006 1:49PM]

how can one be so short-sighted as to not see the functionality of this device? I carry both of these in my pocket now (1GB cruzer micro and swiss army knife w/ pen & light). I don't use them every single day, but they're very nice to have when I need them (save a file on a public computer, cut open a package, or jot something down). This combines them into one, saving space on my keychain.

You can never have enough storage, but I guarantee that in ten, fifteen years 2GB will still be large enough to store office docs, powerpoint presentations, jpegs, and most of the other sort of files many users store on a flash drive.

[Dan C @ Jan 25th 2006 3:31PM]

I've been using a 1GB Swissbit pocketknife for a while now, and its been one of the best purchases I've made in a while. For all you people wondering, the flashdrive comes out really easily, I've never plugged the actual knife into my computer, I just pop the stick out when I want to use it. Great product.

[Matthew Sparkes @ Jan 26th 2006 7:27PM]

I reviewed the Swiss Memory 512MB on my blog a while back, wouldn't mind one of the 1GB though...

[GMo @ Apr 7th 2006 11:51AM]

flash drives are so common you need something extra and no better gadget to go along with a flash drive then a swiss army knife, they're both in your pocket anyway.

here's a review I did about the 2G'r
http://getusb.info/?p=129