Patriot Gauntlet 320GB Wireless Hard Drive Review

Whilst the concept of a wireless storage device is not totally new to the market, considering Kingston have their Wi-Drive, the Gauntlet has shown that space does not have to be a premium. With a capacity of 320GB (unformatted), the drive is easily at least 5-10x more spacious than most modern smartphones and in some cases 20x more spacious than a 16GB model.

Because of its large capacity, the only cost effective solution is to use a hard drive, which along with the battery and other electrics does make for a unit that is larger and heavier than a phone, but seeing as it is wireless, it can easily be popped into a rucksack or bag and therefore be of no nuisance when on the go. Keeping on the lines of on-the-go usage  it’s worth noting the battery life and after around 5 hours of music streaming, the drive did require a recharge, but for what it is, 5 hours is not too bad going and would easily be enough time to watch three films on the train for example of you’re on a long journey.

The mobile app for iOS and Android devices is intuitive, although I do lean my preference to using it with Android devices as it just seems to be a little more fluid in its operation, but again, it works and does as it says it should. The last feature I want to highlight, and one that I am really happy to see included, is the ability to bridge the Gauntlet with an existing wireless network for connectivity to the internet whilst still being able to use the drive. This was a major concern of mine as soon as I set my eyes on a sample last year, but Patriot have sorted this already.

Looking at the cost, the Gauntlet comes in two flavours, either the 320GB ready to use drive that we’ve looked at today, but there is also a disk free model (Gauntlet Node) that allows for any 2.5″ drive (including SSDs) to be installed for either a greater capacity or faster speed. The 320GB model retails for around £130 whilst the disk-less Node option sits around £80. The 320GB is going to be the more cost effective option if capacity is your main priority, but if you’ve got a drive already to go or you prefer a little more speed by using an SSD, then the Node is a great idea from Patriot to cover all grounds.

Bottom line, if you’re either running out of space on your mobile device or you want an easier way to share content between your devices, no matter what it is, then the Gauntlet has got you covered.