Joined on 07/23/04
Works Well, But I Nit
Pros: Very good reception. Much smaller than a standard Yagi and with better performance. Easy to assemble. And lets face it: this thing looks cool. I told my kids it was a Romulan disrupter that would instantly vaporize and Federation ships that violated the Neutral Zone in our back yard. They didn't get it.
Cons: Instructions. There was an instruction sheet in the package which was generically written to cover two antennas. Folks; printing the instruction sheet is not your biggest cost; you can do better. The bigger problem is that there are instructions on the box that clearly show you opening up the receiver portion. DO NOT DO THIS! The 75 ohm connector is firmly attached to the case on one half, then the PCB that's attached to that is bolted to the other half. Opening it will destroy the PCB and you will either have to (a) RMA it or (b - what I did) solder jumper wires. There is no reason to open the receiver portion; just bolt it on to the last hole.
Overall Review: We got five inches of snow the first day I could have crawled up on my roof to install this. Because of the damage to the receiver, I was eager to test this unit. I mounted it to a telescope tripod about three feet above ground and pointed it in the general direction of Atlanta which was on the other side of a hill and several snow covered trees. There is no way I should have picked up a single channel. In fact, I was able to pick up six of the 12 available broadcast channels and received crystal clear HTDV. This antenna is highly directional. All of my stations are within 10 degrees. If you live in a city, you won't need the high gain of this antenna, but you will need a multi directional array. The antenna elements are directional; watch for the arrows on the clips. And yes, the last two elements are supposed to be closer. This antenna is nose heavy, so you'll need a strong attachment point.
Complete Waste of Money
Pros: Two media trays that can accommodate large media sizes. Duplex printing capability. Large capacity black ink cartridge.
Cons: Cheap plastic construction - frequently grinds it's own gears. Frequent jams after only three months of business use. Poor quality inks. Driver software poorly written. Slow to start printing, slow to print.
Overall Review: There isn't a day that goes by where I don't want to chuck this printer out my office window and onto the streets below. Tech support is somewhere overseas, and for all their good intentions HP doesn't give them the tools to help customers. The driver software has a mind of its own, and often disobeys your direct orders. Were I still in the Army, I'd have shot this thing with my sidearm, filed the paperwork, and went out for a beer. Poorly designed mechanicals jam often, and require constant supervision while printing. Poorly designed driver software (yes, it's that bad I had to mention it twice) often tells you that the print failed while the printer is still doing it. Also, HP claims to offer PANTONE color profiles for this printer in the sales literature, but doesn't deliver. Also, the poor quality HP inks have insanely long dry times on certain glossy coatings. Yes, HP engineered it that way - but HP doesn't make enough variety of papers, so its a big failing for Business Printing.
Awesome
Pros: Lots of electronic features including delayed -on, timed cook, et al.
Cons: None. It's a croc pot. You really can't mess that up. Although, this was to replace a croc pot with a damaged cord that nearly burnt my house down.
Overall Review: The high setting really is high. You can cook full meals in this croc. Other croc makers don't have a hot enough element to actually cook everything you can dump into the pot.
Excellent
Pros: Operates wirelessly and independently - no need to keep a computer running as a print server. You can scan multipage documents to PDF a PDF file and save to a flash drive. Scanner is fast and does a good job. Printer is fast and does a good job. Separate trays for document and photo media prevents accidentally printing your resume on expensive photo paper. Easy to use full color display.
Cons: Wireless setup was a little tricky. Also, wireless scanning doesn't work on my set up - I may need to work on it more.
Overall Review: This is a feature rich printer at a great price. I gave it five stars. You do need to read the manual (Are Tea FM); it will make your life easier and save you a lot of time. I recommend setting aside an IP address on your router then locking it into the printer.
Not for Gaming
Pros: Dongle fits inside of mouse. Compact, yet still comfortable for small hands. Dongle is small enough to leave plugged in to laptop when stowed. Wake up button does its job. No special bloated software or drivers needed to work.
Cons: Not really high res. It's fine for business use - if you need a mouse to supplement your laptop, this is a great value. If you need to make headshots on a FPS from several hundred yards, this mouse is lacking in the needed resolution.
Overall Review: You're a demanding gamer, you can buy a high performance mouse for about double the price. For what this cost, it is an excellent unit. I gave it five stars because of excellent value. If you're looking for a mouse to 'frag n00bz' with... pay more for something else.
Best Value
Pros: Compact, flexible, puts most of the electronics behind your year. (So you don't look Uhura every time you make a call.)
Cons: The on-off button doesn't give any tactile feedback. People think you're talking to yourself (or worse, to them) because they don't see the earpiece right away.
Overall Review: After reading the reviews, I was a little worried, but I purchased this headset anyway. I have not been disappointed AT ALL. There is nothing wrong with the quality of construction at all; the unit was purposely made flexible so you could put it on without hurting your ear. Most of the complaints in other reviews are based on a lack of understanding, and to those people I'd say RT[eff]M. The headset paired quickly with my Motorola V323i phone. I have yet to run the battery out on the headset before I run it out on the phone, and I never shut this thing off. This headset is worth twice as much as you'll pay for it.