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Mike L.

Mike L.

Joined on 09/25/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Great little router

ASUS RT-N12 N300 Wi-Fi Router 2T2R MIMO Technology, 4K HD Video Streaming, VoIP, Up to 300 Mbps
ASUS RT-N12 N300 Wi-Fi Router 2T2R MIMO Technology, 4K HD Video Streaming, VoIP, Up to 300 Mbps

Pros: Very cheap when on sale Compatible with DD-WRT and Tomato Virtually unbrickable when upgrading firmware

Cons: range seems to be short

Overall Review: Bought this on sale for a great price. Out of the box, it is very easy to set up, if you do not want to or need to tweek the settings, you can be online in 5-10 min or less, it's that easy. However, this is the not the reason I bought this router. I do not buy any router that is not compatible with 3rd party firmware. This one seems to be compatible with both DD-WRT and Tomato, however, I had trouble to get DD-WRT to work with it. I then tried Tomato by Shibby, it works great. A few things that I want to share are: - after uploading Tomato, you have to do a hard reset (a.k.a. 30-30-30 Peacock reset, google it) but the right button to use is the WPS button, not the recessed reset button. I had trouble before I figured this out, but once I use this button to do the hard reset, there is no problem to get the router to work after uploading a new firmware - The first Tomato load I put on it had trouble with download speed when WMM is enabled, I was only getting 1-2 mbps but if I disable WMM, I get 50 mbps. Apparently, something is wrong with that build, I then tried the latest build, build 116, this time, everything works great. - one great thing I like about Asus routers is they have a rescue mode so in case you messed up when playing with different firmware, you can still load factory firmware into it, It is very difficult to brick the router. Obviously, this is more for people who like to playing withe 3rd party firmware - I did not use the factory firmware for very long, but it does seem to slow things down when I do online video streaming, using wired port, I'm not sure if this was due to some incorrect settings but I basically used the default settings. After I installed Tomato, thing are fast and stable.

Most Critical Review

missing accessories

Motorola CHARM MB502 Blue 3G Unlocked GSM Phone w/ Android 2.1 / 3 MP Camera / Wi-Fi (MB502)
Motorola CHARM MB502 Blue 3G Unlocked GSM Phone w/ Android 2.1 / 3 MP Camera / Wi-Fi (MB502)

Pros: Sleek design, physical keyboard

Cons: older version of Android

Overall Review: Received the phone today, it's been ok but I noticed two things: 1. The package clearly stated that a headset and memory card are both included. Neither is my package. 2. This uses an older version of Android (2.1), but I know this before placing my order. I was disappointed there is no easy way to turn off cellular data (so that I can only use WIFI for data). Newer versions of Android does have this setting.

Cheap product

MAIWO K104 2.5 inch USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure, USB3.0 to SATA Portable Clear Hard Disk Case for 2.5" 7mm / 9.5mm SATA HDD / SSD, Support UASP SATA III, Max 6TB, Tool-Free Design
MAIWO K104 2.5 inch USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure, USB3.0 to SATA Portable Clear Hard Disk Case for 2.5" 7mm / 9.5mm SATA HDD / SSD, Support UASP SATA III, Max 6TB, Tool-Free Design

Pros: Cheap

Cons: Cheaply made and feels cheap. The thingy is just a SATA to USB adaptor in a VERY cheaply made case. The overall quality is very low compared to other external SATA HDD/SSD cases I've owned. I'm shocked someone actually call this a SATA to USB case. It's pure garbage.

Overall Review: DO NOT BUY, you will be disappointed

Great performance at a great price

Samsung 64GB PRO SDXC Memory Card - Class 10 (MB-SG64D/AM)
Samsung 64GB PRO SDXC Memory Card - Class 10 (MB-SG64D/AM)

Pros: Fast Low price

Cons: none

Overall Review: I get close to 80 MB/S read and 70-73 MB/S write speed. The write speed is important if you are going to use this in a modern DSLR or mirrorless camera. This card is very close to the performance of a Sandisk Extreme PRO, at literally half the price. The best value in town, especially when it's on sale, which happens every few weeks or so. If performance is important to you, skip the EVO or standard lines , which are still good product but mode designed for other applications where speed is not that important. But if you are looking to use it in a high speed DSLR/mirrorless/camcorder, then get this PRO line.

Good performance + good price

Samsung 32GB PRO Class 10 SDHC up to 90MB/s (MB-SG32D/AM)
Samsung 32GB PRO Class 10 SDHC up to 90MB/s (MB-SG32D/AM)

Pros: Low price compared to Sandisk High write speed

Cons: not the fastest write performance

Overall Review: I got a 32GB version, tested using CrystalDiskMark4.0.3 on a SD slot of a laptop, the laptop has several USB3.0 port so I'd assume the SD slot is capable of USB3.0 speed as well (since USB2.0 will top out at about 30 mbps). For sequential read/write, I got about 80/70 mbps, which is very fast. Although this is as fast as the Extreme Pro, which can get up to 95/90 mbps from what I read online, 70 mbps write speed is fast enough. I use this card in my Nikon 7100 which can achieve transfer speed of about 70 mbps, any faster speed will not benefit in my situation. Plus, I got this on sale, roughly half of what Extreme Pro would've cost me.

reasonable price and decent quality

LG 21.5" IPS FHD LCD Monitor IPS 14ms (GTG) D-Sub, DVI, HDMI IPS224V-PN
LG 21.5" IPS FHD LCD Monitor IPS 14ms (GTG) D-Sub, DVI, HDMI IPS224V-PN

Pros: IPS Good picture quality Good price when on sale

Cons: shaky stand power on indicator annoying

Overall Review: I got this when on sale during Black Friday. Overall I'm happy with the quality of the product - it's IPS (wide viewing angel), it's cheap (Black Friday), with good picture quality. Two annoyances: 1) the stand is very wobbly. My desk is pretty stable but even when I'm typing, the monitor shakes very noticeably. I read the review before buying but thought, how bad can that be, well, it's pretty bad, so bad it lost an egg. 2) the power on indicator is big and red and kind of bright, not sure what LG was thinking when they decided to put a big indicator like that on the monitor, is it really necessary? Can't you save a few pennies if you choose a smaller indicator? it's about one inch wide. I've seen power indicator on a very nice (and expensive) monitor, that indicator on that was like 1/16th of an inch, which I think is adequate. To LG's partial credit, you can turn the indicator off, but I'd rather have a small one that's not so prominent.

12/20/2013