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Andrew S.

Andrew S.

Joined on 03/23/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 6
Most Favorable Review

Decent little mini-array.

AMS VENUS T5C mini DS-2250C RAID levels: JBOD, Clone, 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 eSATA + USB 3.0 5-Bay SATA RAID Sub-System
AMS VENUS T5C mini DS-2250C RAID levels: JBOD, Clone, 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 eSATA + USB 3.0 5-Bay SATA RAID Sub-System

Pros: I used to use these at work, I missed having it, so I purchased one for myself. Use it as a mini-travel-RAID array with SSD's. "OK" support, be sure to update the firmware. Works good as a JBOD, or Internal RAID with the Windows Software. I've used it in Win7 and Windows 8 on eSATA, and USB3. With good drives it works good. When you have a flakey drive in the array, it'll make the whole array seem flakey. Decent features in the software, but not too fancy.

Cons: Be aware of the 2 buttons on the back, and to position the device in a good location so you don't accidentally grab it wrong, or bump it and push the buttons. The software isn't super fancy, but informational and has enough features.

Overall Review: For the price, 20% off arrays sale, it was worth it. Make sure you update the firmware, and to buy the latest model. Some other sellers are still selling the previous version or selling ones with the older firmware. Overall a decent device for the price.

12/12/2012
Most Critical Review

It makes coffee!!!

Keurig K-Cup 2.0 Brewing System K450
Keurig K-Cup 2.0 Brewing System K450

Pros: It makes great coffee! Large tank, large brewing options. Large Cups, Pot.

Cons: Cons, are the new DRM coffee cup nonsense. Keurig is trying to force end users to buy only their K-Cups. It sucks, and it sucks bad. I'll tell you why. I heard about this, didn't think much of it. However, I bought the unit, and I bought 4 kinds of *OFFICIAL* K-Cups from Keurig. 2 out of the 4 cups would work 100% of the time, the other 2 kinds of cups, randomly won't brew. Machine says not official K-Cups. Which they are. Infuriating. If Keurig just makes a better K-Cup, with better options, I'll buy only them. If their competitors are better, I'll buy them. Get the other Keurigs that don't have DRM K-Cup restrictions.

Overall Review: I like Keurig, while I was deployed it was the only way I could get a good cup of coffee.

10/12/2014

It worked for a while...

Elite Cuisine ESB-301BF Single Cast Electric Burner Hot Plate, Black
Elite Cuisine ESB-301BF Single Cast Electric Burner Hot Plate, Black

Pros: It worked for a while!

Cons: It broke after a while. Moderate use, once or twice a week to cook soup. Just stopped one night.

Overall Review: It cost me 19$ + shipping, and I used it over 30 times... Did I get my return on investment? I don't think so.

Great Bridges!

Mikrotik SXT Lite5 RBSXT-5nDr2 Outdoor Device 5Ghz CPE 16dBi Dual Antenna OSL3
Mikrotik SXT Lite5 RBSXT-5nDr2 Outdoor Device 5Ghz CPE 16dBi Dual Antenna OSL3

Pros: Excellent bridges with many features. routers, transparent bridges, lots of features and intuitive gui, application, very feature rich for management and many configuration options. SNMP, SMTP, Built in graphing with MRTG/RRDTOOL, CLI/Telnet/SSH, http/s configurable and manageable. Lots of power for all sorts of configuration options. Very stable thus far.

Cons: Transparent Bridge howto documentation isn't super clear, but not hard to figure out.

Overall Review: Mikrotik has been around a long time, and has consistantly evolved. Fair pricing on software/hardware. I've never been turned wrong by their product lineup. I've used their routers, bridges, APs.

Quality Tool

Leatherman Super Tool 300 EOD Multipurpose Tool
Leatherman Super Tool 300 EOD Multipurpose Tool

Pros: Has all the options I need for my work and versatile beyond original requirements. Tough construction, great MOLE case, comes pre-oiled and good instructions. All tools came sharp and ready to rock and roll.

Cons: Sometimes if not held right, it will pinch a little bit, but if held right it is AOK.

Got'm for $79, purchased 5.

OCZ Vertex 4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) VTX4-25SAT3-128G
OCZ Vertex 4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) VTX4-25SAT3-128G

Pros: Worked as advertised, good performance, came with the latest firmware, v1.5, no problems. I used it for my mini-raid array. smoke'n fast in a RAID 5 configuration. Easy to find support, and firmware, and also came with the mounting hardware for desktops.

Cons: Firmware updater didn't tell me they were updated to the latest, only said " no compatible devices " After further investigation, I found they were already updated to the latest out of the box.

Overall Review: So far, seems to work good. We'll find out in a year or 2 as they age. The casing is solid, Win7 detected it as a SSD, so automatically enabled the appropriate garbage collection/TRIM settings.

12/12/2012