Joined on 12/03/04
Fast competent scanner
Pros: Fast Detects images on back side automatically Reliable feeding Auto-rotates images
Cons: PaperStream interface can be a bit confusing
Overall Review: I've had this scanner about three months so far and have put maybe a couple of hundred sheets through it. I bought it because I have a couple of file drawers full of stuff I want to scan and then toss the originals. This scanner goes through the pages really quickly and produces nice images. I had an older Fujitsu scanner several years ago, but this one is much faster. I've set up my usual scan types on the LCD on the scanner, but they can also be selected directly in PaperStream. I like the options in PaperStream, it just seems needlessly complex to get everything set up right for each mode. The more I use it, the more I like it. Also this scanner works great with VueScan, which I highly recommend.
Very flaky unit; too risky
Comments: This is my first product review on Newegg. I feel I have to warn folks about this unit. I bought mine 1/05 but didn't get around to installing it until September. My computer is a dual Opteron high-end workstation, which I built myself. The Hardcano worked OK at first. As others have stated, installation is somewhat of a pain, and making connections to the back of the unit's pc board could have been better thought out. The card reader has worked fine, but every now and then when the computer is turned on the Hardcano fails to come alive, or has frozen display. Always its backlight is on. Then finally today at power up the fans did not get energized (unknown to me) and after a little while the motherboard shut down automatically due to overheating cpus. I discovered this after opening the case and powering up to see no fan motion! I reconnected the fans directly to the motherboard and powered up again. The Hardcano display is still blank and I've sent a message to Thermaltake support. To me the bottom line is that this is way too risky to take a chance on for expensive CPUs. I'm really lucky there appears to be no damage to the Opterons or the motherboard. But things did start to smell that sick cooked odor just a bit...
Excellent drive size adapter
Pros: Precise Drives fit well Screws included
Cons: None
Overall Review: I have four of these to mount 2.5-inch SSDs into a 4-bay ACC IcyDock. They fit great and I had no issues with the assembly. The IcyDock is highly recommended too! It makes it easy to pull the drives one at a time, either to check them or to replace them, or just to clean off accumulated dust. Shut down first unless you have a hot-swap array set up.
Working great so far
Pros: Reasonable price Fast Large capacity
Cons: None
Overall Review: I installed four of these in RAID 6 in a QNAP NAS unit, Model TS-451. They have been working great for about 3 months so far and sound very quiet.
An excellent monitor for the price
Pros: Great price with mfr's rebate in effect (note rebate can be used for more than one monitor per household) Excellent image quality Tilting stand Simple controls
Cons: Resolution (1650 x 1050) is not quite HDTV (1920 x 1080) quality Stand does not raise / lower monitor Back of monitor does not accommodate VESA mounting, so cannot use accessory dual-monitor stand
Overall Review: Bought 2 of these; no dead or stuck pixels. Very prompt delivery. Watched "No Country for Old Men" and it looked great on this monitor.
Short life and poor service
Pros: Worked well for the first few months
Cons: Stopped reading disks after about 10 months with very low usage. Plextor tech support sent self-test instructions that stated SATA version but applied only to ATAPI version of drive. They don't back up their obviously defective products.
Overall Review: This drive saw very infrequent use, mainly for reading CDROMs and burning a few DVDs. It worked fine at first, even with my NForce chipset. After about 10 months it stopped reading even CDs. I couldn't follow the incorrect instructions that tech spt sent me. I got busy at work and 9 months passed (the system has a second cdrom drive). Now I really need the drive, but tech spt states it is too far out of warranty, even though I have the email history showing I first complained of the problem at 11 months of ownership. Given the huge percentage of complaints with similar troubles, clearly the design was a lemon. I will never buy another Plextor product as long as I live.