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Thomas B.

Thomas B.

Joined on 02/20/07

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Product Reviews
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product reviews
  • 63
Most Favorable Review

Excellent 10TB external drive - purchased March 2020

WD Elements 10TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBWLG0100HBK-NESN Black
WD Elements 10TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBWLG0100HBK-NESN Black

Pros: Large, inexpensive, does not use WD proprietary hardware encryption (like the My Book series), passed initial diagnostics with flying colors, operating fine (but I've only had it for a couple of weeks so far).

Cons: None.

Overall Review: When I get a new drive, internal or external, the first thing I do is a complete set of diagnostics, including a surface test for bad sectors (this takes a LONG time on a 10TB drive, but I do it anyway). This drive had no issues whatsoever, including no bad sectors (now, I did NOT dive deep enough to determine if any sectors were mapped out already by the manufacturer). I didn't measure performance, since I am using this as a backup drive for an older computer, so it doesn't matter (and any measurement on this older computer would not be useful to anyone here anyway), but the performance seems as expected. BTW, I avoid the WD My Book series, since My Books use proprietary hardware encryption built into the drive controller inside the enclosure, which means if the electronics in the enclosure fails, you're sunk... data inaccessible... you can't remove the drive and connect it directly to a SATA connection and access the drive. While I don't buy external drives to shuck them, I want the option in case of electronics failure. If I have any issues in the future, I'll update this review. If I haven't updated it, that means no issues.

Most Critical Review

Well built, but PITA to get to boot up

Acasis 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock with 3x40Gbps Downstream Ports 13-in-1 Laptop Docking Station
Acasis 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock with 3x40Gbps Downstream Ports 13-in-1 Laptop Docking Station

Pros: Well-built with a metal case. Attractive look. It feels like a quality product. I've tested all of the ports (other than the Ethernet port) and they work (but I haven't tested the 3 T4 ports on the rear connected to anything that supports T4). The laptop T4 port works and connects to everything attached to the dock without any issues or fiddling around with Windows. Provides sufficient power to charge my laptop In operation, it gets only slightly warm, not anything approaching hot (but, caveat, I am not stressing the throughput).

Cons: I cannot get the laptop to successfully power up while connected to the dock. The laptop goes through repetitive cycles of trying to power up without ever even getting to booting Windows. I have to disconnect the dock, power up and log into the laptop, and then reconnect the dock. Further, I also have to be sure the laptop has connected to the network before I plug it into the dock, since apparently the dock's Ethernet function interferes and will not allow the Wi-Fi to connect. Overall, a massive PITA. The dock does work and do its job, but the startup ritual is a royal pain. Had I known that, I would have bought a different model dock. This accounts for my not giving this dock a higher rating. It keeps attached hard drives continually powered up, whether the PC is on or off.

Overall Review: My setup is not stressing the throughput of this dock, so be aware of that WRT this review. This is an initial impressions review after only a few days use, so it says nothing about long term reliability. ACASIS 40Gbps Dock for Thunderbolt 4/3 Devices. Connected to the dock: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 15 NP950XDB with Thunderbird 4 support (T4 port 0 on the front) USB C to DVI for monitor 1 (T4 port 1) USB C to VGA for monitor 2 (T4 port 2) Keyboard (USB 2.0 port) USB 3.0 external hard drive (USB 3.1 port 1) Speakers I am connected to the network using the laptop's Wi-Fi connection, not the dock's Ethernet port (and this becomes an issue - see below) Overall, seems to be a high-quality, well-built, good-looking dock that falls down in allowing my laptop to boot properly.

Crudely manufactured; SD port does not work.

ORICO MH2AC-U3 Aluminum 2 Ports USB 3.0 Clip-type HUB With SD Card Reader For Desktop Laptop Clip Range 10-32mm With 4.95FT ( 1.5Meter) Date Cable - Silver
ORICO MH2AC-U3 Aluminum 2 Ports USB 3.0 Clip-type HUB With SD Card Reader For Desktop Laptop Clip Range 10-32mm With 4.95FT ( 1.5Meter) Date Cable - Silver

Pros: Clamp-on hub is the reason I bought this. 2-port USB-A hub works fine.

Cons: Crudely manufactured so that it is difficult to plug in SD card; the slot through the metal housing is not smooth at all. The SD port is not recognized on any of my computers, no matter which OS (Win10 or Win11), or in multiple USB ports on the computers (USB 2, USB 3, USB 3.1) and with a variety of cables.

Overall Review: I bought this version, rather than the 4-port version, due to the SD card slot. So, I have now a 2-port hub. Basically, a clamp-on port extender. Very dissatisfied. Not recommended.

Good performance, UI for setup and monitoring to simple-minded (and has issues)

TP-Link Archer A10 REC AC2600 MU-MIMO WiFi Router
TP-Link Archer A10 REC AC2600 MU-MIMO WiFi Router

Pros: Good performance, good coverage. Fairly straightforward setup for an experienced user (as an experienced user, I can not comment on how easy or not it would be for a novice, but it does seem to have pretty good plug and play capability if all you want is a simple router). But, see my comments under Cons regarding setup.

Cons: CAVEAT: I was not setting this up as a general router, but as an access point with specific wifi channel assignments required for each frequency. Even as a person experienced in network setup, the UI for this router was a bit of a chore. For example, setting it to access point mode does not automatically disable the DHCP server (an access point, by definition, does not have a DHCP server, so this is a significant oversight by the manufacturer). Either that, or it auto-magically re-enabled it on its own (off screen) while I was making other setting changes. It took me awhile to figure that out. I had to manually disable it at least 3 separate times. It does now seem to actually be disabled. There were other issues as well where my manual settings did not stick the first time. I suspect some of this may be due to the UI trying to be helpful instead of just following instructions from the user. It should not be changing parameters off the screen of the UI when the user is making other changes. JMO (as an experienced user who does not need the helpfulnes). Second, for network monitoring, the UI is wholly inadequate. A simple function like the network map (a listing of all connected clients) is incomplete. It did not show any wireless clients attached when there were clearly, sitting right in front of me, 3 different devices attached at the time. Another major annoyance for the usefulness of this is that it provides no way to edit the device names, so the map is mostly unknown with the MAC address shown. Not very helpful.

Overall Review: A good value for the price (I bought a refurbished model, which I assume merely means reset to factory settings and cleaned up. Hopefully it was not abused by the previous owner.) My Cons listed above are mostly annoyances, and not major faults. They probably would not even be noticed by the average user. Since I was able to (eventually) successfully set up the router to do what I wanted, and it has good performance, I would buy this router again.

Too big, too white, poorly thought out UI, way too expensive for what is essentially a space heater

BedJet V2 Climate Comfort for Beds, Cooling Fan + Heating Air with Biorhythm Sleep Technology (Single Temperature Zone Any Size Mattress)
BedJet V2 Climate Comfort for Beds, Cooling Fan + Heating Air with Biorhythm Sleep Technology (Single Temperature Zone Any Size Mattress)

Pros: Does a good job of heating the bed.

Cons: Too large and too white. Since we have a platform bed, there is no "under the bed". The unit is obnoxiously large and glaringly white. The hose is also obnoxiously ugly. The hose/ nozzle pops off the bed when you sit on the bed. Constantly have to re-attach it. It is likely to eventually just break. There is no "off" anywhere in the UI. You double tap "Heat" to turn it off, but if it is in an idle phase, that needlessly turns the unit on just to turn it off. This is the same for both the remote and the app. "Biorhythm sleep technology" is nothing more than a way to time the heat / off cycles while you sleep. Bloviated marketing hype terminology. There is nothing "biorhythm" about it.

Overall Review: Unless you are desperate for a bed heater, it is not worth the money. It is ugly, has a poor UI, and uses insulting marketing hype terminology. It is basically a space heater with a hose.

seller reviews
  • 4

Outstanding customer service!

I noted what I orders was as described, and it was. Unfortunately, the description was incomplete so the product would not work for me. Hot Deals 4 Less offers excellent customer service. They understood the issue I was having and authorized a return and refund promptly with no fuss. I would not hesitate to buy from them again.

On-time
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Satisfactory

Use this merchant with GRAVE CAUTION.

After I placed my order, they quickly put up a "tracking number" linked to the USPS and showed the order's status as "Packaging." The so-called tracking number is BOGUS. It is not even in the correct format to be a USPS tracking number, nor for any other shipper in the USA. After an extended stay in "Packaging", I emailed the vendor to inquire about the status of the order. NO RESPONSE. A day later, with the order shown as in "Packaging" now for an entire week, and no response from JustCalculators, I emailed them again. NO RESPONSE. The order finally arrived days outside the promised shipping range. It was sent via USPS first class mail with NO TRACKING. Now, as I write this, it is well after the package arrived, late, but the order is still shown as "Packaging" with the same BOGUS TRACKING NUMBER. Obviously, order status information from JustCalculators is completely useless. Don’t order from these people unless you are OK with NO TRACKING, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE, and LATE ARRIVAL of your order with NO WAY TO GET AN UPDATE ON STATUS while waiting on your order to (hopefully) eventually arrive. I am disappointed Newegg allows this outfit to market through their web site.

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Satisfactory

Always on time, well packaged, as described hard drives

I've purchased 16 hard drives from goHardDrive over the past 2 or 3 years. Without exception, they ship quickly, and the drives arrive on time or early, and are well packaged. I always put new drives through extensive diagnostics before formatting, and goHardDrive's drives generally pass with flying colors. The drives are in new condition (as best I can tell, including the S.M.A.R.T. data) with no flaws. On one order, some of the drives had a few bad sectors, but not anything indicating impending failure, and were easily mapped out. On my last order, 2 of the drives I ordered were "upgraded" from WD Blue 250GB to WD Blue 320GB, and all 5 of the drives were brand new and flawless. Nothing flagged by the diagnostic regimen on any of the 5 drives. Some of the reviewers claim to have received used drives or drives in poor condition, but that has never been the case for me, and as I stated, I've purchased 16 drives from them. I highly recommend goHardDrive.

On-time
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Satisfactory