By I am still impressed by Lexar’s storage products. This time, their external SSD, the Armor 700, is rated IP66. I enjoy how weatherproof and ruggedized it is, and I like how it looks. This is an obvious choice if you are looking for a performance drive that can withstand the demands of being in the field.
What features does the Lexar Armor 700 offer?
The Lexar Armor 700 is a stylish, compact, 3.4-inch-long by 2.15-inch-wide portable 20Gbps (USB 3.2×2) SSD. It weighs a little under three ounces and is slightly thicker than a half inch.
A rubberized sleeve (available in blue as well as black on my test unit) protects the drive from shock for falls up to three meters and has an IP66 rating. In other words, Ingress is shielded against water jets and dust. There is no claim of immersion resistance (that would be IP67).
Although the Type-C port that is open in the image below may lead you to believe that the device lacks immersion resistance, we have examined IP67 devices that had open ports to be weatherproof.
In addition to offering good grip and tactile feedback, the protective shell protects against shock (albeit SSDs are not nearly as vulnerable as HDDs are).
The end caps show that the drive is silver in color. The Type-C USB connector and status light are located on one end of the drive (as seen above), and the unit information is imprinted on the other (as seen below).
Although Lexar does not disclose the parts, we can assume that the NAND is TLC and the internals are NVMe based on the performance both in and out of the cache.
Though Lexar does not post a rating, the manufacturer offers a five-year warranty on the drive, which is undoubtedly limited by the amount of data written. It is highly improbable that you will use an external drive to achieve anywhere near the 600TBW (terabytes that may be written) industry standard in five years.
What is the price of the Lexar Armor 700?
Currently available in $150/1TB and $255/2TB capacities, the Lexar Armor 700 is also being developed in a 4TB variant that is not yet priced.
What is the Lexar Armor 700’s speed?
Performance-wise, the Armor 700 is comparable to a 20Gbps USB drive. Slightly quicker in certain tests, slightly slower in others, and ranked sixth out of all the 20Gbps SSDs we tested.
In real-world transfers, only the Crucial X10 Pro was noticeably faster; even that model has a few performance hiccups. To view the charts in their full size, right-click and choose “Open picture in new tab.”
Is the Lexar Armor 700 a good purchase?
For your money, the Lexar Armor 700 is a competitive option for high-performance external storage. It is quick, attractive, IP66-rated, and incredibly portable. The only thing that makes me hesitate to recommend the Armor 700 is how expensive it is in comparison to competitors with even greater capabilities, such the Crucial X10 Pro.
