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James H.

James H.

Joined on 06/19/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Excellent headset - controls good

PLANTRONICS .Audio 995 USB Connector Circumaural Digital Stereo Headset
PLANTRONICS .Audio 995 USB Connector Circumaural Digital Stereo Headset

Pros: Very enjoyable for music - strong, clean bass, clear highs Comfortable Wonderful to be wireless Mic quality is very good (not good enough for singing) Noise canceling is very good

Cons: Pretty heavy (but not really uncomfortable) Wireless range good be better (for use with Skype), but fine for gaming Cannot use while battery is charging ... unusual in my experience

Overall Review: These are for gaming but I'm not a gamer. I use them with skype which is great. I'm a musician. I use them to listen to music as I record the vocal track. These sound by far the best of any of my headsets. Other reviewers are very confused about the on/off switch. It works perfectly, but it's not an on/off switch. It is a control switch. It works the same as control buttons on Bluetooth devices. Hold it briefly and the unit will change the blue light to red then shutoff. Hold it 5 secs or longer and it goes into pairing mode ... the blue light begins to blink. This is an excellent headset and I would buy it again if it quit working. I've had not one problem in a year of use. Note that the RF signal will not penetrate the internal walls of my house. This is strange because my wireless telephone system can and does penetrate them. That same phone system connects to my Cellphone via Bluetooth right through the walls and floors.

Most Critical Review

Dead on Arrival

ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: This board has every feature that I want at an excellent price and with many reviews from satisfied owners.

Cons: DOA - after dialoging with ASRock tech support via email, it was determined that the motherboard is defective ... 4 short beeps on powerup with and without RAM installed indicates a bad onboard Timer1. I regret having to put only 1 egg, because this is probably a well designed board, but failure rate is relevant to its overall rating.

Overall Review: I am surprised that ASRock did not offer to RMA this board. Instead, I was directed to contact Newegg.com

Redesigned Model Isn't as Good

Rosewill RHIC-11001 Induction cooker with Stainless steel pot
Rosewill RHIC-11001 Induction cooker with Stainless steel pot

Pros: Timer Really easy to clean Easy to quickly & precisely control and change temp of cooking Safe - shuts of when food boils dry Portable but good design for building into counter top Very powerful - rapid heating Boils large stockpot full of water in less than 10 minutes Surface does not get hot enough to burn food nor you Newer model doesn't turn on and off continuously as I wipe it with a cloth because the touch controls are so insensitive (this is not really a plus)

Cons: Newer model has relatively insensitive touch controls Newer model lacks built-in cooking programs Newer model has very few selectable cooking wattages.

Overall Review: I have 2 of these units. The first one is over 2 years old and is used daily. I love it. I did not even buy a kitchen range for my new house. I just use 2 of these and 2 counter-top ovens. But the unit has been redesigned. I bought the second one this year. It looks much the same, but has far fewer controls. The cooking programs of the earlier model are gone. The large selection of cooking wattages has been greatly reduced with the lowest setting only going down to 300. The earlier model has many more choices from 1500 down to 60. 60 is great for keeping food warm. It is easy to set the controls for temperature in degrees rather than in watts, but I prefer watts. And the controls of the second unit don't respond to touch well. I usually have to touch the controls from 3 to 6 times before they respond. The first unit was much more sensitive. Final note: I bought a set of all stainless steel pots and pans. They have heavy steel bottoms and work extremely well. I also have a large stainless stock pot that is very thin steel, but it also works extremely well. The thickness of the steel does not seem to be important. It does need to be highly magnetic. The thin stainless, glass covered pot that comes with the second model seems to work very well. Talk about easy cleanup. My skillet has a non-stick surface and the cook top does not get seriously hot. Nothing sticks or burns on anything. It is a breeze to clean up after cooking.

I Feel Tricked by ASRock Support

ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: A high quality, good value board with USB 3.0 and SATA III.

Cons: Ships with AMI BIOS V1.3. This DOES NOT SUPPORT Intel IVY BRIDGE processors even though the feature list says it supports i3, i5 and i7. Tech support told me I had bad memory until I sent them a Newegg customer review explaining the BIOS problem ... then they said it was a known problem.

Overall Review: This is an update to an earlier post I made on this board. There was no way to tell that this board does not support the Ivy Bridge i5-3450 chip I bought to use with it. Upgrading the BIOS to v3.0 will fix the problem, but you cannot upgrade it if the processor will not run. You have to have a Sandy Bridge processor handy long enough to do the upgrade ... I don't. The problem is that the memory controller has been moved onto the processor chip with Ivy Bridge, so the V1.3 BIOS does not recognize the installed RAM. If ASRock tech support knew this, why did they lead me through various tests and then tell me to replace the memory?

Is of No Use to Me

SONY SMP-N100 Network Media Player with Wi-Fi
SONY SMP-N100 Network Media Player with Wi-Fi

Pros: Solid build, compact Wireless connection to LinkSys router is reliable

Cons: Does not play ISO files - unlike the less expensive Western Digital units Does not provide access to NetFlix in Costa Rica - my service of choice Manual is of little help. Slow to respond to commands I find the menuing system to be painfully cumbersome

Overall Review: I bought this over a year ago. I chose Sony because I thought it would be better than the cheaper WD units (which will play ISO files). Instead, I do not use the device at all except to occasionally check to see if Sony has added NetFlix to their menu choices. I would not have purchased this unit if I had known that it does not allow NetFlix (at least not in Costa Rica) nor the ability to view my movie collection (all my DVD's are ripped to ISO files). Instead, I receive NetFlix on my computer and feed it to my TV over a 30 foot HDMI cable.

Cannot recommend for Security Reasons

Rosewill RCM-3640 3.2MP Effective Pixels USB 2.0 WebCam
Rosewill RCM-3640 3.2MP Effective Pixels USB 2.0 WebCam

Pros: Inexpensive Compact Metal shutter to cover sensor plus blue LED for security Very good quality image for Webcam Fits nicely atop external monitor Windows 7 installed drivers and camera just worked - no hassle

Cons: When I installed the video application provided on CD, setup installed the 'Ask' toolbar in browser even after I told it NOT to install it (unchecked all boxes on query page). What else did it install that I don't know about? Not only am I angry about this, I'm also worried.

Overall Review: I can recommend this camera only for those who will not put the included CD in their optical drive. Rosewill broke confidence with me, the customer.