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Kristopher K.

Kristopher K.

Joined on 07/11/03

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 33
Most Favorable Review

I'm impressed so much I might be buying another!

Linksys RE7000 AC1900 Gigabit Range Extender / Wi-Fi Booster / Repeater MU-MIMO (Max Stream RE7000)
Linksys RE7000 AC1900 Gigabit Range Extender / Wi-Fi Booster / Repeater MU-MIMO (Max Stream RE7000)

Pros: Starting with the packaging this product comes in a simple, but elegant solution. Open the box, read the short instructions, stick it in the wall and with a few simple configurations you are off and running. I've had many and I mean many extenders. This is by far the best extender I have ever used, bar none. I own a large home and I have struggled with adequate wireless coverage for years. Once I did the spot finder and found the appropriate location in my house I actually disabled my WAP that was nearby. This saturates more than 50% of the western side of my house (3500sq ft). My wifi strength and speeds throughout the house on a laptop and various smart phones is always right at or near my wired speeds of 90mbs down/6mbs up. One thing that others have wished they could test was the Max-Stream seamless roaming. Well after some time I decided to purchase their AC1900 Max-Stream router and see what this was all about. In the past I have used WAPs on different channels using the same SSID, but it was never seamless. This technology when paired with the Max-Stream router and the seamless technology is so frigin flawless I love it. I never have drops anymore or issues with my wifi devices moving from the basement to the upper floors. If you own this extender and haven't bought their new routers, do it, you won't regret it.

Cons: I'd say the thing I don't like most is the cost, but the age old saying you get what you pay for stands true. I've had many upon many extenders at lesser prices and they weren't this good at what they were built to do. The other con is to enjoy the seamless roaming you have to buy their router, which for me set me back another $185. I ultimately justified this cost because my Archer C8 was deciding it didn't like to keep my wifi up consistently. After switching to the new Linksys Max-Stream router and this extender, I literally have had zero problems. On the Archer I had drops at least 1-2x a week.

Overall Review: One thing I'd like to give an alternative point to is the DirecTV discussion. I own the HD DVR and the GenieGO. I have had them connected both on wifi and wired and experienced no problems. I'm not sure why the other person experienced those issues, but I can attest that DirecTV and this extender with their router has no issues. All in all, buy this extender and while you are at it, buy their Max-Stream seamless roaming router, you won't be disappointed.

Most Critical Review

Meh, could have been executed better.

EZVIZ Mini HD 720p Wi-Fi Home Security Camera with Motion Detection, 130 Degree View, Night Vision, Works with Alexa and Google Home Using IFTTT (Special Offer 12 Month Cloud Storage w/ 7 Day Playback)
EZVIZ Mini HD 720p Wi-Fi Home Security Camera with Motion Detection, 130 Degree View, Night Vision, Works with Alexa and Google Home Using IFTTT (Special Offer 12 Month Cloud Storage w/ 7 Day Playback)

Pros: I was excited about this camera because of its really small footprint/size. The setup was easy on my Apple devices, but certainly not on my Android (Nougat OS), which I'll get to in my cons. The picture quality isn't bad, slightly slow on registering picture movement. All in all a very simple device, but probably price a bit high at retail.

Cons: Setup wasn't easy for my Android like it was for my Apple products. I couldn't get it to work on my Nexus 6P w/ Nougat 7.0. It kept saying it couldn't connect to the Wifi. So I tried my iPad and my iPhone and both worked very easily. As stated by another person, the camera does get warm to the touch and the camera feed isn't really live, there is a 1-3 second delay.

Overall Review: Overall I feel like the market is already saturated for this need and I honestly wouldn't recommend this item to a friends/family based on my setup experience. I also don't like that the cloud service costs and it does not come with a MicroSD card by default.

10/10/2016

Solid motherboard that can be relied upon...

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 Ultra (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Motherboards - Intel
GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 Ultra (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Motherboards - Intel

Pros: I liked that the motherboard is ultra durable and feels less susceptible to damage/wear than previous motherboards I've owned, though this could just be the perception of how it looks and not anything material. I like that it can handle an identical stable overclock as my Gaming 7 motherboard. I also like that they've reinforced the PCI-E boards with the metal around the ports to support these monstrous current day video cards.

Cons: I did not like the color scheme, seems very Windows 7 to me. I also didn't like that it was so bright in my case, but that feature can be disabled via the Bios. The Bios while somewhat similar to my Gaming 7, feels very Super Meat Boyish... The features are all the same within the Bios as my Gaming 7 and I was able to reach an identical overclock to my Gaming 7 using the same processor/paste (4.8Ghz).

Overall Review: I experienced an oddity with this motherboard altering my overclock in Windows from 4.7 to 4.8 and back and forth despite not changing the Bios. I'm not sure what that is about, but I just ignore it as it is stable. Another thought is the what is motherboard trying to solve in the market? Either you pay about $170 for a blue/white motherboard or you pay $200 and change for a red/white/black motherboard. Feature wise having owned their Gaming 7 and this one, I honestly can't tell the difference besides some cosmetics physically and in the Bios. I guess to each their own.

10/10/2016

Better than my Samsung 830 EVO.

Silicon Power Slim S55 2.5" 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SP480GBSS3S55S25
Silicon Power Slim S55 2.5" 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SP480GBSS3S55S25

Pros: To be honest I was hesitant having read some reviews about this drive not lasting very long, but I'm actually quite surprised that it is still going strong as my boot drive and is actually faster than my Samsung 830 EVO. In benchmarks this drive has sequential read/write/mixed speed of 484 MB/s while my Samsung 830 EVO has sequential read/write/mixed of 404 MB/s. I've owned various other SSDs that didn't even work out the box that were from a major SSD manufacturer.

Cons: This might sound trivial, but the packaging was a thing of nightmares. The clamshell plastic that requires scissor surgery . Other than that, I'm happy with the SSD.

Overall Review: As others have stated this drive is an upgrade over a traditional laptop platter drive and better than some older SSDs that I've tested/owned. I would recommend this product to friends/family, especially for this space/price point.

10/10/2016

Great Gigabit Switch!

NETGEAR 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch | GS324
NETGEAR 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch | GS324

Pros: What a great switch at a great price. I've owned other business class switches with many fewer ports at a higher or equivalent cost per port. Nothing required to configure, just unbox, unplug and connect your Ethernet cables. It auto detects and indicates to you via differing colors. What I enjoyed most that is often left to the wayside by Network hardware designers is wall mounting. This switch comes with that option stock and was easy to do setup under my stairs. Since receiving this item, I have zero issues with my network and I've currently populate 15 of the ports throughout my house. Another feature that I haven't benefited from, but others could is it rack mountable and comes with the hardware. I've seen other manufactures indicate their switch is rack mountable, but not come with the hardware.

Cons: Literally the only con I can think of is the metal tabs within the switch body that when wall mounted could be pressed in too far by a screw creating contact with the internal components. I experienced this and had to open the switch up and push the metal tabs back to stock position. After that, no issues.

Overall Review: I have already recommend this route to a few people who have run out of space on their 6/8-port switches. If I ever need another switch of this size for personal/professional use, I wouldn't hesitate to order it. You can't go wrong with this purchase.

Simple purple corded mouse.

SteelSeries Rival 100 Optical Gaming Mouse - Sakura Purple
SteelSeries Rival 100 Optical Gaming Mouse - Sakura Purple

Pros: It is a purple mouse made by a reputable brand that is simple in character, yet elegant. I decided to let my wife give it a go and she reported back that she really likes it. As of late, she is consistently using and she really appreciates that the buttons on the sides are perfectly placed for her hands. She also likes that it doesn't get dirty as easily as other mice she has used. Another thing she mentioned is that it glides smoothly and effortlessly, which can probably be contributed to its lightweight. All in all, I'd say at this price and for the function, it is a great mouse.

Cons: Given we've been testing it for some time, I would say there isn't a con to be found for it. It is in a stiff market of other mice, but I think it can hold its own with its elegance.

Overall Review: I'd definitely recommend this friends and family looking for an optical, lightweight, purple mouse. If in the situation in the future we need another mouse, I wouldn't hesitate buying this mouse.