BUFFALO AirStation N450 Wireless USB Adapter - WLI-UC-G450

Pros: Great speeds, works with every network I've used it on, small, USB extender was a nice touch, nice and small, good range

Cons: Software is mediocre, it's wide for laptops that have vertical USB ports

Other Thoughts: It's a great wireless adapter and has worked perfectly for me. The USB extender proved necessary for me though because the adapter is a little wide and caused my laptop to not sit flush. Works perfectly though.

Pros: Did its job, got decent speeds

Cons: too big. I really dont understand why it is so big

Other Thoughts: I never got the 450mbps advertised, more like 300mbps. I believe this product was supposed to be paired with a buffalo air station router but my router (linksys e3000) which supports 450mbps should have been up to the task

Pros: Works on Windows XP. Speed isn't exactly 450 all the time, but it can get there.

I like the stiff-but-bendable extension. Works well with the way my wife's computer is set up.

No antenna! Yes, it's just a tiny bit bulky, but I like that. It's not like it's huge or anything.

Cons: Not much to speak of. If it had worked on my Linux box too I would have given it a 5-star rating.

Other Thoughts: Couldn't get it to work on Linux. Went through days worth of effort. Not a knock on the product since it isn't advertised to work on Linux. If you run Linux, look for something else. I had bought two of these (one for my wife's Windows system and one for my Linux), but one of them is going back.
Went through the firmware and drivers rigamarole and I still couldn't get my Fedora-like linux to see the card.

Lesson learned: I'd bought an Edimax dual band router along with these nic cards. I had assumed that the router handled all the dual band switching, but it seems you need a dual band nic card too. I should have done my homework. Win some, lose some.

Pros: Installation of this was easy. Just read the quick start guide. I think people have problems with Buffalo equipment because they discard the instructions, thinking they got it down already

Cons: A bit large for an adapter. You need to use the included USB extension cable, or your own, otherwise it takes up too much space. Also, because it is thick, it can cover up neighboring USB spots if used without the cable.

Other Thoughts: The flexible USB extension cable will keep it's direction when bent, so you can plug in the adapter to the cable and direct it to point up, and it will stay there. This is helpful to get it pointed towards the router.

My router is one room away, and had direct line of sight. So far, I have not dropped connection once, and the speed has been the same as having wired connection.

If you are looking for a high quality USB adapter for your main PC, this is a great choice.

Pros: Not too bad for surfing the web

Cons: During applications and games that require constant connections, this is horrible. Constantly looses connection during online game play, has horrible transfer speeds and is very bulky. I guess you get what you pay for. Support wasn't able to help. They told me it sounded like a range/positioning issue, however, I had already troubleshooted with these possibilities in mind. It just doesn't work well, plain and simple. Spend a little more money and get something reliable.

Pros: Fast, great software, simple, sturdy

Cons: HUGE HUGE HUGE. By for the largest USB adapter I have ever used. It's like a small baseball bat. The included adapter makes it so you don't block all the ports on one side of your machine. I wish they would have offset the usb connector section like many larger usb drives do so it doesn't block the ports on both sides. That way you can put it on an end usb port and have it cover a section that there is no ports. The adapter connector thing is just weird to use, it connects this massive thing to the end of a stiff usb wire. It feels like it will fall out at any second if you move your machine around at all.

Other Thoughts: The software makes getting up to 450 mbps on the 2.5ghz channel a snap. Most the time with other adapters its a big pain to set up. The software works great and this thing has good distance and great speed. For the size and the price this thing should also have the 5ghz channel as well and I hope they come up with a better design in the future. It works so well I couldn't get myself to take off an egg for the size. By far the best adapter software I have used yet.

Pros: Fast easy setup

Cons: Did not improve my connection. The reason I bought this adapter was because it claims to be better then the internal wireless cards in laptops, this is not the case. I actually recieve a way better download and upload rate on the internal card then the adapter. If you want faster times I would recommend one with an antenna on it. This one is just a waste of money.

Manufacturer Response:

Please shoot me an email so we can trouble shoot. This adapter is built to offer better speeds when using a 450Mbps router. If you are not seeing optimal speeds then you could have one of 2 issues. 1. the adapter needs to be positioned vertically instead of horizontally to get the best reception from your router. Omni antenna's have weaker signals above and below their 360 degree coverage. 2. you do not have the adapter switched to 40MHz. if you are running 20MHz then you will only see half the performance it is capable of.

thanks
Marco
marcor@buffalotech.com

Pros: Works, USB 3, dependable, fast

Cons: None; I will let you know.

Other Thoughts: This was purchased for a good customer. It was an easy install.Picked up signal from 3 neighborhood sources.