Thinking about U3? Think again...

About 2 weeks ago I went into Wal-Mart and bought 2 SanDisk Cruzer 2.0gb U3 drives for $79.99 each. The drive worked beautifully without a problem. I spent quite a bit of money on some U3 apps (Zoom Media Player, Signupshield, Solitaire, Invaders, WinRAR for U3, and Arcade Lines). Again all had worked well. The only gripe I had was I kept asking when Firefox 2.0 was coming out for U3. Well just last week I had pre-ordered and on release received Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. My U3 drives didn't work at all on Windows Vista. I contacted SanDisk the firmware on my drives is version 2.18. According to SanDisk my drives will NEVER work on Windows Vista, and no way possible to update them. The guy told me they are developing a model that is Vista compatable and it should be out in March. Later that day I tried to return the drives to Wal-Mart with my recipt. One of the drives was even still new/unopened in the package. Wal-Mart wouldn't return them, they didn't give a reason other then them explaining they were electronics. So I hopped into my car and tried another Wal-Mart and got the same exact answer. So I have these 2 new U3 drives and can't return them. So I figured that I would simply e-mail SanDisk and ask them if I can mail them my 2 drives and exchange them for drives that are Vista compatible when they come out. Here was SanDisk reply:

Dear Jim,

Thanks again for contacting SanDisk Technical Support. It is our goal to make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most from your product.

We are sorry to inform you that we cannot exchange the Cruzers with U3 2GB Cruzer Micro2 flashdrives that you have with the Cruzer Contour that we are going to release on March.

SanDisk only process defective replacements but not exchanges. As you will see on the minimum system requirements printed on the package, Windows Vista is not on the compatibility list. (* U3 functionality only supported on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and later & XP OS ). With windows Vista the U3 would not work and the flashdrive will work as a regular flashdrive.

It is with much regret to inform you that the place of purchase (Walmart) is the only one who can replace the product for you.

Please refer to your eBox anytime to see additional resources from SanDisk.

You can also use this Support Request tool for contacting SanDisk in the future.

Best regards,
Roland Spencer A.
SanDisk Technical Support

Nice support for a brand new pruduct eh? So I used SanDisk utility and removed the U3 launchpad. I tried Ceedo's free trial and that did install but didn't work very well at all on Vista, it kept giving a ton of errors. So I tried portableapps menu half way through installing it completly without warning reboot the computer. I haven't been able to get that working either.

So to sum up my long story I am stuck with 2 drives that cost $79.99 each and can only use them as a storage (had I wanted that I would have bought a cheap 2 gig drive). As for all the application I bought for the U3 drive, Luckily the licenses for those apps are also compatable on the regular PC version of the apps. There are only a couple apps I am stuck with that won't work. I'm not about to dump my newly installed Windows Vista Ultimate Edition that I bought from Gateway just for a fly by night technology.

My advise for anyone wanting to purchase a U3 drive, DON'T! I also wouldn't recommend buying anything from SanDisk seeing that they won't even exchange a couple 2 week old drives. The idiots should have put in a flashable firmware or at least did something more then what they are doing. I greatly advise anyone wanting an app launcher on a flash drive simply get a cheap flash drive and download the FREE app launcer here from Portable Apps. It's free and you have nothing to loose. I wish I knew then what I know now.

-Jim