Leef ICE 3.0 Copper 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

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A few months ago, we reviewed our very first products from the California based company called Leef. Recently, I was contacted about the possibility of getting a few new flash solutions from Leef in-house. So, today we start off with the ICE 3.0 Copper.

The Leef ICE 3.0 Copper is available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities. The sample sent over for this article is the 16GB variant, and it offers compatibility between Microsoft Windows, OSX, and Linux.

MSRP of the Leef ICE 3.0 Copper in the 16GB flavor is listed at $18.99, with a five-year warranty.

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The packaging for the ICE 3.0 Copper is quite unique. As you can see, we have copper embedded into the cardboard, with the drive itself behind a plastic cover.

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The back of the packaging offers marketing information for the drive.

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Here we check out the ICE 3.0 Copper, which immediately made me think of a certain battery vendor. Here we have a blend of black, copper, and acrylic.

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The Leef ICE 3.0 Copper is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system, ensuring compatibility between Windows and Macintosh computers. The usable capacity after formatting is 15GB.

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With CDM, we managed to reach 147 MB/s read, and 20 MB/s write in sequential; 512K offered higher performance at 129 MB/s read, and 38 MB/s write.

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Price/Performance allowed the ICE 3.0 Copper to fit in the middle of the pack at 48%. This is also the highest rated Leef drive on our chart.

The ICE 3.0 Copper is the quickest drive we have had the chance to test from Leef. That being said, the aesthetic design of the drive offers a certain amount of appeal with its black on copper design, and the acrylic softens the glow from the LED. Build quality of the drive was rather exceptional, while being a capped design, the cap fits rather snug, so I don't foresee any issues with losing the cap.

Performance of the drive was rather good as well. Here we were able to reach 147 MB/s read, and 20MB/s write with large sequential transfers; however, the drive does appear to do better with smaller files.

The Leef ICE 3.0 Copper in the 16GB capacity enjoys a great MSRP of $18.99.

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