Long-Term USB Flash Drive Users - Real-World Reliability & Throttling

It's so hard to find the best usb flash drive that isn’t overrated, why? Every time I look into “best USB flash drives,” the answers are all over the place. Same few models keep popping up, but then you see people saying they failed after a few months or never hit the advertised speeds. For context, USB flash drives are those small, portable storage devices you plug into a USB port to move or store files. People use them for everything from quick file transfers and backups to bootable OS tools or just carrying documents around. They’re simple in theory, which is probably why it’s weird how inconsistent the recommendations feel. I’ve been digging into this pretty deeply to put together a guide that’s actually useful, not just repeating whatever shows up on page one of Google. I’ve gone through a bunch of reviews, comparisons, spec sheets, all that—but it’s clear that doesn’t tell the full story. What I’m really looking for is how these drives hold up in real use, over time, in normal conditions. Just trying to make something accurate and avoid pointing people toward stuff that looks good on paper but disappoints later. A few things I’d really like to hear from people: Which USB flash drive have you used the longest, and did performance change over time? Have you noticed big differences between USB 3.0 / 3.1 / 3.2 drives in everyday use, or is it mostly marketing? Any models that seemed great at first but ended up failing or slowing down? Are the “ultra-fast” drives actually worth it, or do they throttle quickly? Have you had issues with heat, especially on smaller metal drives? What brands/models have been consistently reliable for you? Who do you think should skip flash drives entirely and just use external SSDs instead? From what I’ve gathered so far, there seem to be a few rough categories: basic cheap drives that are fine for light use, mid-range ones that claim decent speeds, and high-performance models that promise SSD-like performance. In reality, sustained speeds seem to matter way more than peak numbers, and a lot of drives drop off hard after a few seconds of transfer. Heat and tiny form factors also seem to be a recurring issue, especially with metal-bodied drives that get hot fast. A lot of the marketing feels misleading, especially with “up to” speeds that rarely reflect real usage. Another pattern is that reliability isn’t always tied to price—some expensive drives still have failure complaints. It also seems like people often overestimate how much speed they actually need, or underestimate how important consistency is. Trying to put together something that’s actually helpful and not just noise. Would love to hear real experiences before I finalize anything—especially the stuff you only notice after months of use. Anything I’m missing here?