glort wrote:
Exactly what I was about to say and somewhat amused no one has said it sooner.
I have bought USB's from China in the Hundreds at a time and got different designs for my event work. I pick one for the boys, one for the girls and a generic one that is non descript. Biggest batch was 500 and they sent them to me free.
All these other companies are just buying from china and putting their substantial markup on them. I was buying 4G sticks for well under $2 and never had a problem with them.
I could buy 1G sticks, custom styling ( hamburger, fish, car, whatever, there is a million of them) for under $1.
The company I was buying off had a min order of 50 but I did get an initial sample order of 20 with no problem.
Buying off these other companies makes no sense to me when You can get them just as easy from china for so much less and have them inside a week anyway.... Often for free if you order enough.
Unlike US suppliers, Postage from China is not insulting in it's cost and airmail and rapid delivery on these things is very affordable. Not that you'd need it if you were ordering 50 drives so you had some in reserve. ...Show more →
Totally agree. I found a supplier via Alibaba last year and I get 16gb crystal drives with my logo laser engraved on the inside for about $6-7 each, including shipping.
I get wanting to "shop local", but when you pay $20+ for the same thing in North America, you're just giving away $12/drive to someone who is willing to place the China order.
BSPhotog wrote:
I am migrating from DVD (lightscribe) delivery to USB drives. I just ordered a custom engraved wood drive and custom printed wood box from WHCC. I'll report back if it is any good and worth the $$.
I had looked at the standard drives customized for business logos, but I really prefer the idea of having an individual drive made for each client that is more of a keepsake, like the box as well. It does cost more for sure though. Customized bulk wood drive can be had for around $10 from lots of places. This drive engraved on 2 sides and with a custom printed wood box was $43 shipped. We'll see......Show more →
I got my drive and box from WHCC and I am more than pleased with the quality of print and engraving. The box doesn't feel cheap like small generic wood gift boxes that one might get at a craft store. The turnaround time was fast with 2 days in production and shipped next day to me. They had some line weight concerns with my initial files for engraving, so I got a phone call, voice mail, and e-mail right away. I spoke to a customer rep on the phone with almost no hold time. I submitted updated files and the product went into production almost immediately after.
Below are some photos I took quick before shipping it out. I packed the box in a pile of pine shavings that I planed off quick. I think next time I'll consider the optional engraving on the back side of the lid, so that my business name can be on the keepsake as well.
I work at customflashdrive.gift where the name of the company can be 3D printed. So the name itself can be the body of the flash drive. We accept orders for one single piece as well, but bulk orders get discounts obviously. Check customflashdrive.gift!
I've yet to see any USB presentation material that doesn't look totally ridiculous to me. They remind me of easter eggs (do you have those in the USA?) - a little product lost in a sea of packaging :- (
And such cheesy designs. Wooden box with straw ..... really!
I still deliver photo files on DVD, but I combine that with an online download. The DVD still works well for those who appreciate having a physical product, and of course the disc and the case can be customised ad-infinitum without looking awkward.
I do however deliver large video files on USB3 drives (in an MP4 high-def format). For these I buy plain white drives and "customise" them with the clients names etc using a Dymo Labelpoint label maker. This means I can buy trusted brand USB3's from UK suppliers rather than hoping for the best with drives from who knows where used by the customisation companies. This does of course mean that they are at the opposite end of the spectrum to the "easter eggs" - too plain - but they come with either a standard def DVD video or a Bluray video so for now that negates any 1st-impression issues.
ashton lamont wrote:
I've yet to see any USB presentation material that doesn't look totally ridiculous to me. They remind me of easter eggs (do you have those in the USA?) - a little product lost in a sea of packaging :- (
And such cheesy designs. Wooden box with straw ..... really!
I got to admit, the whole presentation thing amuses me in it's contrast.
On one hand you have people that have to have the presentation so precise and articulate with their branding and logo etc because it represents their work and presentation and credibility and not to have the presentation suitable for a presidential or Royal gift will put the shooter out of business and soil their family name for generations to come. Only MIL spec drives certified for the aerospace industry are good enough to put the pictures on, yada yada.
Then OTOH, you have all these people uploading the pics to different sites for the clients to download with absoloutley NO presentation or physical item being received by the client at all.
Both methods are popular but the extreme contrast makes me wonder. The people uploading files seem as pedantic as the ones with the drives, just in different ways. Could there be a wider gap between the 2 delivery methods? I can't imagine one.
I think somewhere in the middle there is a workable and practical middle ground without going from one extreme to the other.
I would still feel uncomfortable if I did not deliver a physical product in addition to downloads.
We are in an awkward place at the moment because of so many variables. I format my clients USB3's in NTFS because most of the MP4 files are far in excess of the file size allowed by FAT. They should always be able to read these on their computers but they won't on some TV's etc if that device can only read FAT. Splitting the video files into smaller 4gb segments stops seamless playback and increases the hassle factor for me as i would then have to do several video renders rather than just one (for the uninitiated: video rendering in high def can take very many hours). Clients can of course stream the MP4 to their TV from their PC if they have the chops for that. I also upload the vids to Vimeo so they have that option to watch in high def via an internet enabled TV. High speed connection a must of course.
Obviously not such an issue with photo files as you could simply split the files between several folders within the 4gb limit per folder if indeed your total delivery size is anything like that.
Many clients like to play the DVD of photos direct on their TV. But some players do not recognise all the files e.g. have an upper limit of 500 files.
A recent client commented regarding file sharing on Google Drive "Its really handy".
Another had no quick way of using a DVD disc to get their photos (Ipad shortcomings!!!) so the digital download worked great for them.
I do all my processing on Mac with the exception of ProShow which I run on Parallels for video productions which are designed for viewing on large screen TV. There is a workaround for using a USB to deliver this file that can be used on TVs that are modern enough to have a USB connection.
A production designed for HD TV viewing is going to be in excess of the 4G NTFS limit for video/audio files. However, if you use an app such as Burn, choose to create a DATA file for Mac + PC, rather than an Audio/Video file, then Burn this to your USB, you can plug that USB into your TV, look for the connected USB and a file called Data, click and watch the show as you produced it. You must only be sure your USB is large enough for the Data file. Even 64G are extremely inexpensive at this point.
I use branded wooden USB's placed in branded packaging for deliver of non-printed studio products or a custom DVD if desired. I use the same packaging to deliver a SanDisk drive with the above described HD TV video.
I would like to disclose first that I work at https://sino-memory.com and since you are looking for custom usb flash drive companies, Sino Memory is expert in manufacturing custom USB drives in different materials like wood, metal, plastic and leather.You can also get your company logo engraved on USB drive.
If you have got any queries regarding our flash drives, using them for promotions, or any other general questions, I would be happy to answer them all. For more information visit our website and get quote according to your specification.
