Corsair Voyager Air 2 Review

Conclusion

As our portable devices come equipped with ever more extravagant screens and better cameras, requiring more and more storage for our attempts at global Vine superstardom, or perhaps just enough media to keep us entertained on long journeys, so the need for larger and larger storage solutions becomes a primary concern.

The Voyager Air 2 fills that gap neatly, providing 1TB of pocket sized storage that’s extremely simple to use. In fact the Voyager Air 2 is so simple that there almost is nothing we can tell you about it you can’t already extrapolate from the “Wireless storage” description. We’re in danger of this turning into a Ronseal conclusion. If you want 1TB of storage capacity and you want it to be wireless, then why not try the Corsair Voyager Air 2 1TB wireless storage solution. It does exactly what it says on the box. And indeed it does, being fast, easy to use, simple to set up and with a good battery life. It’s more likely that your device of choice will be flat before it.

So we’ve established that it’s great, which it is. There is, however, a giant red elephant in the room and its name is the Voyager Air.

To some degree we can accept the rationale behind the VA2. It’s the VA, but without the LAN port. Okay. So are we saving a load of money on the purchase price? Nope, not as far as we can tell. We know Corsair MSRP shows a massive price difference on their website, but that isn’t borne out in reality, especially now the first one is over a year old. In fact if anything the fact there is a Voyager Air 2, which implies newer and better, is likely to drive the price of the original model even further downwards with retailers unaware that the Voyager Air 2 is a companion product and not a supercession. So this one isn’t much cheaper. Nor is the capacity larger, the drive itself any quicker, or the battery life any longer. Aha, we hear Corsair screaming from our inbox, the Voyager Air 2 comes with the new updated app which is vastly superior to the original early app. It absolutely is. The difference between the first versions of the mobile app and the v2 one are stark. But a quick trip to the Corsair website and a five minute firmware update later and the original happily runs the v2 app. Regular users of the original Voyager Air will know that the LAN port on it was achingly slow, but at the very least it was there. With this you are restricted to wireless, or USB. 

The final irritant when comparing the two models comes with the charging options. The first Voyager Air came with a charger that plugged into the wall, and a charger for your 12v port in the car. You could charge the drive quickly, almost anywhere. It even charged whilst you ran wirelessly. The only thing it didn’t do was charge via the USB port but, as we’ve just said, it came with a charger. So that wasn’t a great problem. The Voyager Air 2 doesn’t come with a wall/12v charger, that’s an optional extra. Sure it does charge via the USB port now, but considering a charger isn’t supplied it kinda has to. However, you can’t run wirelessly and charge via USB at the same time. You can do it with the adaptor, but that’s an extra cost. So your choice is to either lug a laptop around everywhere with you, buy the adaptor, or stop for a few hours in the middle of streaming something to your tablet whilst it charges. Chargers aren’t expensive, especially in the numbers that Corsair must be able to purchase them. They have a load from the original Voyager. Just bundle one with it lads.

It might appear that we’re ragging on the Voyager Air 2. We’re not. It’s fast, and great looking with excellent build quality. We just don’t understand what sector of the market it serves that the Voyager Air 1 doesn’t already cover for the same price, at the same speed, with more connection options and a charger included in the box. Is the Voyager Air 2 great if you need some wireless storage that even your granny can set up? Absolutely. It’s just rendered somewhat pointless by a product already on the market, made by the same people. Whilst the MSRP of the Voyager Air 2 is so much cheaper than the original as to make purchasing this one a no-brainer, market forces (mainly time) have driven the original down to the same level, and it offers so much more. Why would you choose to get less for the same money? The Voyager Air 2 is still really quick. It’s still easy to use, and the software is a massive improvement, so for that reason we award the Corsair Voyager Air 2 our Silver Award. 

       

Thanks to Corsair for supplying the Voyager Air 2. Discuss your thoughts in the OC3D Forums.