I was in Best Buy this past weekend looking at flash drives and drooling over some of the really nice ones that I can’t afford. When you start to look, however, it’s amazing the price variations you find. For example, if you had browsed Best Buy’s website this past week, you would’ve found a Duracell 4 Gigabyte flash drive for the low, low price of $19.99.
If that’s not the one you want, you could also get a Sandisk 4 Gig Cruzer Micro for only $32.99. This one, unlike the Duracell, has a retractable USB connector which only costs you 13 dollars extra as compared to the Duracell model.
Still like the 4 Gig models? How about a Kingston Data Traveler for only $69.99? It doesn’t have a pretty retractable USB connector, but it’s only 37 dollars more than the Sandisk model.
What justifiies these different prices for what are basically the same products I can’t say. Maybe Duracell is just really promoting its products and Kingston isn’t. Whatever the case, it sure is an indicator that your need to do a bit of shopping and get to know prices before you buy anything.