Water Resistant Rubber Shell

The Corsair Flash Voyager's "killer feature" is its water-resistant rubber shell. But just how water-resistant is it? Can we consider it waterproof? When we asked them, this is what Corsair said :

We ran it through the washing machine and it still worked. It's really waterproof but for some legal reason we couldn't state waterproof. I think it has to be pressure-tested under water to 30m or something. You can certainly drop it in the bathtub though.

Interesting! Of course, being us, we couldn't help testing out their claims!

Soak Test

First, we tried out a light test using a plastic container filled with 1.5L of water. That's a depth of about 7.5 cm.

We dropped the Flash Voyager into the water ala The Late Night With David Letterman's Will It Float segment. Alas, it didn't float. It sank like a stone.

But even if it won't float, will it work? After soaking it for 5 minutes, we removed the Flash Voyager and dried the rubber shell. On removing the cap, we were surprised to note the USB connector was still dry.

Now, the rubber cap does not actually form an airtight seal with the rubber body. But it appears tight enough to prevent water from seeping in when we dropped the Flash Voyager into the water.

Agitation Test

To test the integrity of the simple seal between the rubber cap and the body, we swished the Flash Voyager about in the plastic container for about 30 seconds and dried the rubber shell before removing the cap.

Again, we were relieved to note that the USB connector was still dry. However, a little water appeared to have seeped in at the joint between the cap and the rubber body. We are happy to report, though, that it was limited to the edge of the joint and the Flash Voyager functioned normally when we plugged it into the testbed.

Soak And Spin Test

Now for our ultimate test, we decided to duplicate Corsair's own experiment. It was time to wash the bedlinen so we chucked it into the Samsung washing machine during the 30 minutes rinse cycle.

Whoops! We forgot to fish it out at the end of the rinse cycle and the poor Flash Voyager went through the entire spin cycle as well! But luckily, it was no worse off than when we tossed it into the washing machine. Even after spinning in soap water for 30 minutes and completing a spin-dry cycle, it appeared to be in pristine condition.

We removed it and wiped the rubber shell dry before removing the cap. We immediately noticed that water had seeped into the compartment and the USB connector was damp. However, the compartment was not flooded; nor was there a significant amount of water. The water only appeared to have seeped onto the outer surface of the USB connector. There was no water in the USB connector itself.

After wiping off the streaks of water on the outer surface of the USB connector, we plugged the Flash Voyager into our testbed. And voilà! it was immediate detected and initialized! So, Corsair was right - the Flash Voyager will survive a spin in the washing machine.

While we don't think the simple rubber seal will withstand a plunge in the depths of any ocean, it should be more than enough to protect the Flash Voyager should you drop it into a swimming pool or a washing machine.