Originally was v quick & reliable but 7DS has latterly reduced warranty from 5 years to 2 years suggesting 7DS are offloading questionable stock. 7DS can't even bother finish updating the same EOL (end of life) item warranty term and instead leave it as 5 years and 2 years on different tabs here https://www.7dayshop.com/products/grixx-usb-3-0-flash-drive-128gb-GRUSB128GBALUU3

I have one of their smaller drives and it's excellent.

Yes, I have an older 64GB version with no issues (except slowing when nearly full). But I have noticed recent deals for 7DS Grixx items have attracted comments mentioning failures, hence the observation about the reduced warranty term suggesting 7DS are attempting to mitigate warranty claims on recent (post Nov 2015) potentially less reliable stock.

mine was perfect then after 13 months it recognises the usb device but reports no media on the drive. cannot be formatted as there is nothing to format. totally useless. beware

I've had a bit of trouble with these. I ordered 1x 128gb and 3x 32gb, the 32gb have been fine but I haven't used them a great deal. With the 128gb one day about 2 months after I bought it it wanted to be scandisked but it would freeze after getting to a certain part, I tried it again and the same so pulled it out, when I reattached it it found a new device came up, it had renamed the internal name of the drive.

Then nothing worked, wiping, formatting, diskpart. I figured out the internal firmware was corrupted so I tried to download tools to fix it but none of them supported the drive. So I bought another one, it came and it only had a 70mb write 150mb read when my previous one was about 120mb+ write and 250mb read or something like that. So I looked and found out from a review this must be their older EOL stock so I sent it back, I got another one and it was 70mb write too but I decided to just keep it.

But now I am having trouble with the drive being recognised by USB 3 ports, it takes multiple times to get it to come up, sometimes the led stays off and sometimes it comes on but doesn't come up in Computer. Yet it always seems to work in USB 2 ports, but it defeats the purpose really. I've only had it a bit over a month too. What is strange though is when it is connected and working in a USB 3 port and then I restart the computer pretty much every time it is no longer recognised upon reboot despite me not touching the drive.

I really like these though as they are small and metal/well built and have a reasonably fast transfer. I was going to see if they would accept another return but yesterday when I tried it in the USB 3 port it worked each time! But later on I think it went back to normal.

For those wanting a cheap, big stick, I'd recommend Sandisk Flair

For those wanting a VERY quick USB3 "stick drive" the 64GB extreme is generally regarded as best in class

Nothing like as "deal" worthy but the extreme pro is better than most folks will need.

If space isn't a problem, a small SSD with a USB3 cable to connect it will do wonders too. E.G:

Toshiba 128GB SSD + USB 3 data and power cable. This last option will run rings around most USB sticks

I had an Extreme Pro, got it for around £46 in some sale on Amazon ages ago and got even more off it with probably a voucher, I forget. Anyway I messed it up whilst fixing an old computer for a friend, was trying to connect up the front USB ports, they was colour coded single sticks rather than the blocks they use now (and I didn't note where they went beforehand), so I tried loads of combinations and finally got it working but not before "frying" the Exreme Pro and a cheaper Lexar 32gb, the USB drives were worth more than the PC :disappointed:

What I care about is reliability. The point being made is that recent / current stock appears to have reliability issues. A wonderful warranty does not compensate for a potentially unreliable product. If it lasts 5 years I would be happy, but 7DS has reduced the warranty term by 60% suggesting the supplier has reduced faith in the continued reliability of the product.

I guess so - though I generally use memory sticks for transporting data short-term as opposed to long-term and mission-critical storage. Differs for all of us, but reducing the warranty is a pretty bum move.

Do you have the San Disk Flair? If so what write speed do you see most often (ideally on ~1GB files)?

My experience of the 128GB version is very poor. The first one failed after 18 months but I had it replaced under the limited 5 year warranty. The replacement failed after 6 months. I gave up at that point and switched make. In both cases usage was fairly light but the firmware became corrupt. Various software utilities did not work. They appear to be Innostor sticks.
Definitely not recommended

Afraid not, I went with the "decent space, decent speed" option of a "basic" extreme (not the pro). I've got a "spare" 180GB SSD with the cable if I need more space that's seriously quick.