Kingston Technology—Kingston USB 3.0 DataTraveler drives found to deliver speeds far below advertised claims
Multiple consumer reviews and tech benchmarks found Kingston USB 3.0 DataTraveler drives delivering sequential read speeds of approximately 30 MB/s, significantly below the advertised 130 MB/s. While Kingston's fine print noted speeds could vary, the gap between marketing claims and real-world performance drew widespread consumer criticism. No formal regulatory action was taken.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.136 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (low ×0.5) × confidence (0.55)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Consumer benchmarks showed Kingston USB 3.0 drives delivering ~30 MB/s vs advertised 130 MB/s
Multiple independent benchmarks and consumer reviews documented Kingston DataTraveler USB 3.0 drives delivering sequential read speeds of approximately 30 MB/s, well below the advertised 130 MB/s maximum. The discrepancy was widely reported across tech forums and review sites.