Joined on 12/08/05
Happy RMA on Earlier SanDisk
Pros: Easy RMA upgrade of my earlier SanDisk Ultra. Works fine in my Dell XPS 8700.
Cons: The earlier Ultra failed after 18 months. Haven't had this one long enough to comment on reliability.
Overall Review: I'm reviewing this mostly to comment on the SanDisk RMA process, which worked great for me. My old SanDisk Ultra 120GB (not this model) failed shortly after I put it in a Dell XPS 8700. I had no problem getting an RMA from SanDisk on the phone. Shipping back and forth took a couple of weeks, but they replaced the older model with this new Ultra Plus. It works fine so far in my XPS 8700, has 8 more GB and SATA III. I'm a happy guy (as long as it keeps working).
Fabulous Device; Windows 7 Drivers a Flop
Pros: Absolutely the best mouse-like device around. Doesn't move so footprint is limited. Easy to maintain. The programmable buttons are hugely useful. I make one the Enter key, eliminating a lot of hand motion - for example, clicking in a dialog box and hitting the button instead of the keyboard's Enter.
Cons: So why only 3 eggs? If you're not on Windows 7 give it 5+. But the Windows 7 software strips button programming functionality under XP that I depended on, like assigning multi-character strings to buttons, and separately programming Ctrl+button, Alt+button, etc. And each version of the Windows 7 driver has its drawbacks. (Maybe that's why there are 3 versions on their web site.)
Overall Review: I've been using Kensington trackballs for about 20 years and they are superb. This one's optical sensor solves the ongoing maintenance problems with the older mechanical ones, although Kensington's customer support was always great. But I'm pulling my hair out about the drivers. Acceleration doesn't work under TrackballWorks 1.0.1. I had reliability problems with 1.0.4. Installing the 1.1 beta on W7/64 required disabling driver signatures in the boot menu, and unaccountably it won't allow programming the Enter key to a button. (I'm using keyboard macro software as a partial workaround to program strings, but it doesn't always work for Enter.) Wish they'd brought the much more feature-rich MouseWorks over to W7. If you're on W7, watch for a better driver (oh yeah, no automatic update or notification mechanism), then grab one of these.
Nice Big Display; Great Value on Sale
Pros: Big and bright. Three eggs, but only because of the sales price.
Cons: The resolution is only 70 dpi, so the image is not super crisp. The white bezel is more distracting than a black one would be. The only input is HDMI.
Overall Review: My other quibbles only apply for my use, which is a large display hung on a wall for a slide show. A black bezel would be better for this application. It has to be hung upside down because the VESA mount is way at the bottom; fortunately Windows 10 allows inverting the image. To try to get it flatter against the wall, I'd have to snap off the back to unscrew the neck for the base, and the power and HDMI cables would still push it out an inch or so.
You Get What You Pay For
Pros: Figuring it as a 7 pack , it's still a reasonable value. (I get about 7 good burns out of every 10 of these.)
Cons: The last batch I bought was made by Ritek. The one before that identified as CMC MAG. These are not the best manufacturers.
Overall Review: .
Nice Concept but Can't Display Both Energy and Power
Pros: Display can be separated from plug. Very nice.
Cons: If you're accumulating kWh, you can't read instantaneous watts. If you switch to instantaneous watts, it zeros out accumulated kWh. These are the two measurements users will most want to know, and it can only do one at a time. Really dumb design.
Overall Review: Display is not great contrast, but it has a fairly good angle of visibility, so it can be wall mounted even though it tilts upward. But the back is not flat so mounting it is tricky. I used double sided foam tape at the bottom of the display and it hasn't fallen off so far. If there's a power failure, it loses any accumulated kWh.
Cheap. Makes noise. Worked for me.
Pros: I was looking for an inexpensive speaker that fit an existing hole with screw holes on 6 1/2" diameter. This filled the bill - and the hole. And it does make noise.
Cons: You get what you pay for. The sound is tinny - response is listed as 45Hz - 16k Hz - and on the weak side. And it's not a two-way; Pyle calls it a "dual cone" and there's only one speaker in each unit. They are listed as "marine speakers" but the grill is not designed to keep water out and the mounting screws are not stainless.
Overall Review: I rarely use the speakers in this location so these are all I needed. I had low expectations and it met them.