Tsunami have packaged the Ultimate II 3500 in a compact and uncluttered box using minimal plastic and ensuring virtually no wasteage, something which I am quite pleased to see.
The glossy white box's front is colourfully decorated in panels depicting the enclosure itself wearing the red and yellow replacement fascias which are included, along with a short description of the product and finally with the legend 3.5” x 2 in large lettering – clearly something which Tsunami want you to be certain of!
The back of the box has the standard specifications panels in a variety of languages – but this time we have two sets of specifications as there are two models of enclosure on offer here which use the same packaging – the JBOD/BIG one that we are looking at today and also a RAID version.
The sides of the box are basically replicas of the front with the same information, except for the left end which has a panel showing which version of the enclosure you have.
When we open the box we get another pleasant surprise – there is no large plastic blister housing or polystyrene holder for the enclosure, but rather a cleverly folded cardboard tray which securely holds the enclosure safe from harm in transit, which is a good job as the brushed aluminium finish can mark quite easily if poorly treated.
Once the tray holding the enclosure is removed we see underneath the remaining contents. Apart from the enclosure itself you get a pair of replacement fascias in red and yellow (these include replacements for the rear panel too by the way), a small bag with 8 screws for mounting the HDD's and also a strip of clear 3M adhesive feet for the casing, a USB cable, power supply, and a user manual with CD-Rom. The only thing I couldn't immediately find was the actual power lead – the supply uses a 'figure-of-eight' type lead rather than a std kettle lead and I was a bit concerned at the seeming omission of something so vital... until I opened the enclosure's casing and found it snugly tucked away inside! Another plus point for Tsunami, making great use of the small box for packing everything in – even if I did miss it at first!
