Joined on 07/10/04
Decent Product
Pros: Features exactly what is in the picture. Received these and set up just one... It went together like a charm and lit up my front room. Over the weekend, I set up the whole set twice in an unused corner of the hotel lobby for over 300 shots. They go together quickly and lit up the parade of people I photographed. I moved them around a bit to get the lighting just right and their height adjust easily. The were just as easy to put away as they were to put up.
Cons: Carrying case is really only for the stands. The fixtures and bulbs need to be stored separately to prevent damage or have them all stored together in a container with the backdrops... I used a Sterilite 23-Gallon Footlocker to store them all with a tripod, monopod, and two backdrops comfortably with room to spare.
Overall Review: I was concerned with the bulbs... Be sure to re-wrap them in the foam, then put them back into the plastic container, and that back into the cardboard box as there is nothing else protecting them. A couple of extra minutes will help make sure they are around for the next photo shoot.
Good motherboard, documentation could be better
Pros: - Durability. I've purchased one of these before and it sat in an office shack with the only ventilation being basically an open window despite temps ranging from-40 to 110 °F... which has seen a lot of problems with other motherboards. It's why I bought it. - m2 clamps are easy to work with, like that it has two. - The brand seems to do a good job of printing labels on the motherboard, making connecting cables easier.
Cons: - There is not enough hardcopy documentation that comes with this. - There is not enough online documentation for this. Just a little bit more could have saved me problems before I ordered parts and again while putting it together. --- Example: Before purchasing this I found went to the manufacturer's website to find out that 32GB of CMK32GX4M2A2133C13 works but 64 GB of it did not. Since I was building two, I tested and it does take 64 GB of this and it worked great. --- Example: Motherboard did not boot even to bios, gave 1 long beep followed by 2 short beeps. No light code. Manufacturer has no documentation on this MBs beeps ANYWHERE. Googling the beep code came up with 3 different problems. In the end the problem was I needed a GPU either in the processor or on a graphics card, which I had somehow overlooked... which is easy to do since this says it has graphics.
Overall Review: - I'd buy this motherboard again
Nice case, would buy again
Pros: - It was the inexpensive aluminum case I was expecting. - Everything and I mean everything was easy to access. - Case panels are secured with thumb screws. - Case panels came off / went on probably easier than any other case I've worked with. - There was enough room to run cables every which way. - The front port wiring had enough labeling and long enough cables to plug in where I need. - Well ventilated and comes with 3 fans. - The handle, which I did not think much of when ordering it, has actually come in handy. Really handy. Surprisingly so.
Cons: - Aluminum? I'm not usually a fan but it's what I ordered this time... so not really. - No power supply? I prefer to buy my own... so not really. - Yeah I really can't think of any despite trying.
Overall Review: I was building two computers using this case and they both were the same (no inconsistency in quality, no damage except to the cardboard box which didn't affect the product). It's a nice case, would buy again.
Decent reliable monitor
Pros: I bought this in March 2014 as a replacement for another monitor bought at a brick and mortar chain. While having the same resolution, it had a better refresh rate and cost half the previous one. It's current lifespan has already exceeded it's predecessors by two months and I am still using it.
Cons: No height adjustment on the stand.
Overall Review: I edit a lot of pictures on a pretty regular basis. I've been keeping my eyes open for an inexpensive monitor with a native resolution of 2560 x 1600 (the highest my ZOTAC AMP! ZT-40403-10P GeForce GTX 460 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 Video Card can push) and plan to use this monitor as a second one.
Secure
Pros: Ipad is held inside it very securely in comparison to some of the other cases I've tried.. Strap located in the spine, so when it's folded back my fingers can be put into it.
Cons: None as of yet.
Strong and stable enough support stand
Pros: Went together easily and quickly. In my initial trial, I set it up without a backdrop in just a couple of minutes. Over the weekend I put it to use a couple of times, one of which I left it up over night. Strong enough and stable enough for a 10 by 20 muslin back drop that had a parade of people walk across it. Every time I took it apart, it went right back into the carry bag without any problems. Did the job with no problems.
Cons: I can't really think of any yet.