Saturday, November 2, 2019

November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

Twang Lime Flavored Salt, Twangerz 2 Pack, Flavor Blends, 1.15 Ounce Shakers, 20 count

Twang Lime Flavored Salt, Twangerz 2 Pack, Flavor Blends, 1.15 Ounce Shakers, 20 count

I love this stuff. I could seriously go through about a pack a week if my cardiologist wouldn't have a heart attack (see what I did there? ;-) ha ha ha)

It is intensely flavorful. I enjoy it with Mexican cuisine, as well as seafood. It is wonderful in certain "salty" drinks. It is excellent as a seasoning for snacks like popcorn or baked crispy chickpeas. I tend to be very, very bad though and just eat it by itself. It's that good.

Try it, you'll like it :-D

Great by itself, but really shines on all sorts of fruits (especially watermelon), and makes eating my veggies a pleasure rather than a chore. I always keep this on hand, as well as their dill pickle version. Ideal for salting popcorn.

These are usually sold in convenience stores around me for $6 each. I bough this pack and it is the exact same thing. It is definitely more twangy than salty so if you are looking for salty, there are other ones that are saltier. If you are looking for the Lemon/Lime kick, this is the stuff. Don't get me wrong, it still has the salty flavor, it's just not overbearingly salty.

Grew up on this stuff. This is a great value if you are actually going to use this salt a lot. I put it on all sorts of stuff including salads but one of my favorite things to put it on is popcorn when I am at work since we have a popcorn machine. The other flavors are good but I like this the most. I even like to throw it on top of actual pickles in small amounts.

I am seriously addicted to TWANG - I became obsessed with it when I discovered it over 10 years ago. I use it on many different things - but my main use is lemons. I crave sour like many crave chocolate or other sweets - I have eaten lemons since I was a small child and once I tasted lemons with TWANG I could never go back to eating them without it!! I got tired of trying to find places that would have it permanently stocked - so I decided to try online - you can't beat the delivery time or the price. I have been ordering it for years and have never had any problems. So happy I can have it any time I want it!!


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Feature Product

  • THE ULTIMATE SALT BLEND: Contains 20 shakers of Lime in two trays, 10 shakers to each tray.
  • FIRE UP THE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING: Fire up the flavor of your favorite entrees, add some oomph to your snacks, or enjoy it by itself
  • CONVENIENT: The 1.15 ounce shakers are the perfect grab-n-go size.
  • MADE IN THE U.S.A.: With our manufacturing facility based in San Antonio, Texas, you can rest assured knowing you are receiving a high quality, one-of-a-kind product.

Description

Twangerz Snack Toppings are bold-flavored salt blends that are the perfect match to any snacks or delicious eaten by themselves. The perfect grab-n-go product. Ideal add-on to snacks such as popcorn, chips, pickles, fruit, veggies, or trail mix.



I LOVE Twang. I had never heard of it before but one year while down south at a relatives house they decided to make some guacamole... and they pulled out little packets of the Twang... it was love at first sight. They gave us some and we brought it back to Michigan.. but when we got back here we could not locate it any of the stores, so I ordered on line in volume. I can't imagine being without this.. it is great with mexican food... but also fabulous on sliced tomatoes or cukes and if I make lemon chicken, I sprinkle it on the chicken also. It is a good purchase and the only negative that I can think of, is that you must make sure you snap that lid closed all the way so moisture does not get into the jar. Or buy Twang in the packets.

A friend introduced me to this salt when I was drinking coronas in New Orleans. They don't sell it in my local area, so I ordered a pack & have been happily enjoying cold coronas and salt on hot summer days.

I just love this powder OMG seriously its so good. I put it in a mix with mexican powder and lime salt with splendid so i can pour it into my bottles of Peloneta del puesto(Cucumber candy) with lollipop. Just try this with different things, you may fall in love with it.

I'm addicted to this stuff. Makes cheap mass produced beer taste good. If you atv ride you know you can't put bottles of your homebrew (or any longnecks) in an ice chest and expect to have any not blow their top by the time you are ready for one. This makes the swill from the gas station drinkable. It's great on food too.

Love this stuff. The only problem I have is that after they open they start to clump. I haven’t tried the rice in the bottle yet but I think that will help.

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November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

Supershieldz [3-Pack] for Kindle Paperwhite (10th Generation - 2018 Release) Screen Protector, Anti-Glare & Anti-Fingerprint (Matte) Shield + Lifetime Replacement

Supershieldz [3-Pack] for Kindle Paperwhite (10th Generation - 2018 Release) Screen Protector, Anti-Glare & Anti-Fingerprint (Matte) Shield + Lifetime Replacement

First, be sure to clean your screen thoroughly. (obviously you want it clean)
Next, take your time to align the screen protector! It's designed to fit so well it leaves VERY little room for error. I placed mine at the top bezel and slowly moved down. I was pleased to see less than 2mm separates the bottom bezel from the screen protector and less than 1mm on each side. Go slow and push bubbles out as they appear and you'll save some time in the end. I didn't and had about 5 small bubbles to deal with - ALL of which I was able to gently move out to the edge. THEN remove the #2 layer of install film.

I can't imagine any better fit possible without it being a sheet of glass and even then it'd be a tight fit. So far I can't even tell the protection is actually on the Kindle - by sight or touch.

Very pleased with the results and I doubt I'll have need for the 2nd and 3rd sheets provided in the kit.

Will it prevent damage from a fall? It should prevent scratch damage, but I doubt in a fall "just right" that it would prevent a crack - again, it's just film. Have reasonable expectations and handle your Kindle responsibly.

It took just a couple minutes to apply this, and it fit perfectly.
But the kit comes with a card saying "watch the video on our site first!", but going to that site only has instructions for cell phones with a very different kit than mine, so it was not applicable at all.

These screen protectors work as advertised, do not glare, and do not hurt the sensitivity of the device. The video was a nice touch for showing how to install. It's a good thing they have the video because the documentation is atrocious!! Obviously, no English-speaking people were involved in translation, so you'd better be able to read Chinglish. Please, get an English-speaking company to translate your documents into something we can read.

I waited 2 months before posting a review to actually try the product out. I've ordered from Supershieldz before for other products and haven't been disappointed by them.
The kindle Paperwhite doesn't 'truly' have an anti-glare screen. If the light hits it just right, it does have a glare to it and this product is just like the screen.
The touchscreen aspect of it is good. I haven't had any issues turning the pages. I haven't had to remove it to replace it just yet so I can't rate that but it does seem like it would be easy to remove.
The only thing was that my order did not come with the card to remove air bubbles so i used a credit card for that so it wasn't a big deal.
But the screen protector does the job and protects from your screen getting scratched up, which is what I need.

These screen protectors are good for the price. They help minimize glares from sunlight and keep fingerprints and dust away, but they leave behind too many bubbles. Some have been able to be smoothed out, so I'm hoping the rest will do the same over time. However if that's the worst thing about them then it's not much of a complaint when they do a good job keeping fingerprints and marks off my screen. Would recommend, but beware of the bubbles.


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Feature Product

  • Anti-Glare Matte Film engineered to reduce glare and fingerprints
  • Made from the high quality Japanese PET Film for easy installation and no residue when removed
  • Real Touch Sensitivity for a natural feel that provides flawless touch screen accuracy
  • Protects your screen from daily scratches, dust and scrapes
  • Include 3 PCS Screen Protectors, Protected by Supershieldz No-Hassle Lifetime Replacement Warranty

Description

Our screen protectors are made from Optical Grade Crystal Film which are custom cut to ensure a perfect fit every time. Constructed in five layers; a scratch resistant surface polymer, a hardened protective mask to prevent deep cuts damaging your device and finally a patented silicone gel that creates a vacuum to securely 'cling' to the device screen. Our screen protectors use no adhesive and there is no spraying anything to the protector or the device.



This product was just as described. I was able to get it on smoothly and I appreciated the detailed instructions to do so. I wish it fit just a bit more snug though. I would have preferred something that goes just a bit closer to the edge. It's not very noticeable and there may be a good reason the company didn't go as close to the edge as they could (may have been much harder to get right) but it's something I noticed that keeps me from giving this a full 5 stars. Overall though, great product and I think it will help keep my Kindle Paperwhite free from scratches. I also bought a non-Paperwhite Kindle for a friend and didn't get a screen protector for it and having compared the two I can say that the screen protector doesn't affect the touch screen quality of mine.

Watch the video for application as is recommended and application will make more sense. The shield adds no noticeable surface change to the screen.

Went on easy. I’d suggest using another method of preppping the clean besides the included small cleaning cloth.

My kindle was new and with little use so it didn’t need too much cleaning and prep. I used scotch tape to pick up any little dust/debris bits.

The kit includes a squeegee card but I found a credit card was more effective - I won’t be blamed if you try that method and mess up your Kindle.

I was able to get out all but one small bubble which trapped a small piece of dust. Other than that the protector fit on nicely.

I love that they give you 3 in this pack because you’re guaranteed to mess up in the first 2 😂 They also give you the tools to do it efficiently. The cover is also nice and non glossy so you can read well. You can’t even tell it’s on there when you’re done.

Perfect for the new kindle. It fits the whole screen so I’m not worried about any scratches or smudges on the kindle itself since it’s all screen now.

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November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

Brother Mobile Color Page Scanner, DS-620, Fast Scanning Speeds, Compact and Lightweight, Compatible with BR-Receipts

Brother Mobile Color Page Scanner, DS-620, Fast Scanning Speeds, Compact and Lightweight, Compatible with BR-Receipts

Briefly, the scanner was delivered on time, in good condition and works as advertised on my MacBook Pro.

Now, the full review…
Disclaimers: I primarily use this for single page documents; at most, I’ve scanned a 14-page document. I cannot comment on the software beyond the DSmobileCapture that runs the scanner, like the BR-Receipts or Presto!PageManager. because I haven’t needed them yet.
That being said, the scanner is great. It works better than I expected. The Brightness and Contrast can be adjusted to optimize the scans. The multi-page scanning is easy; just toggle the checkbox that says “Multi Page Output”. Under ‘Options’, you can also set the page orientation, for example, allowing you to scan receipts in sideways and have the files be right-side up. That may not sound impressive, but when inserting them sideways helps keep the PDFs nicely squared off, that’s a lot of documents that you WON’T have to go through turning 90° by hand. Lastly, I had been worried about feeding my documents in straight, lest the PDFs come out tilted, but it turns out not to be an issue. The DSmobileCapture software automatically finds and aligns the top edge, even if the page is fed in askew, attempting to square off the PDFs. The only annoyance I have is that you have to manually feed in EACH PAGE, instead of having them in a stack and taken up by the machine one-at-a-time. All in all, the convenience of having a portable scanner and the amount of time I now save compared to my previous scanning methods makes this well worth the money.

It works great and as advertised. One star removed for two small quirks that make using it somewhat awkward. The company can and should fix these items. (1) The placement of the power cord is very poor. Look at it on the pictures. It attaches to the scanner right underneath where your paper comes out, so your paper gets caught in it constantly. I have to sit the scanner on top of the cord to prevent this (and it still does it sometimes). Place the power cord so it attaches at one end or the other and this would be avoided. (2) When you scan one page, the software makes you choose "OK" to scan a second sheet, or "Cancel" to end the scan. These are not words one would normally use, and it is mildly frustrating to try and remember the right one. Just change the words to "Next Page" and "Done" and it would make sense. Otherwise, it works like everyone else here said it does.

Couldn't be happier... kinda.

First off - the scanner itself. The unit arrived carefully packaged and without any damage. I check stuff like that because I know I'll be writing an Amazon review at some point and want to say it. No rattlesnakes in the box. No ticking time bomb. Just a scanner. And those two air pillow thingies that I like to pretend that I'm gonna keep in an upstairs closet and use to ship Christmas presents until I remember that I'm a compulsive procrastinator and end up buying everyone Amazon gift cards and trying to figure out how to use Grandma's "Cross Stitch The Mona Lisa" kit for myself when I find it about mid February.

I bought this scanner for what I hoped would be three purposes: scanning receipts, scanning a boat load of pictures at a moderate quality level so I could get rid of the shoeboxes and managing my daily influx of bills/mail/threats and other stuff that comes in the mail that I used to compulsively hold onto and move around the country with me but would rather scan and trash so I can compulsively carry around a single hard drive full of PDFs of that same stuff that I'll never look at again.

I am happy to report that this scanner nails all three at a reasonable price point, which would have earned it a five star rating. There are a few annoying things (that didn't have to happen) that cost the star. I'll explain, but during the breakdown of each scanning experience.

Receipts: This scanner handles the receipt scanning like a pro. I've set it up at the end of my desk, hovering over the edge and directly above a trash can. I come home at the end of the day and push the receipts in (after a little software interface - more on this later). It scans the receipts and gravity pushes them out into the trash can. The scan settings are perfect for this operation. Color or Black and White anywhere from 200 - 600 DPI. For receipts I am doing color scans (cause who doesn't love color and the file size on color vs BW is negligible) at about 200 DPI. It's honestly overkill but whatever. The scans are so good I'm using my phone on my computer monitor to hit the Walmart smart saver code box ($3.66 so far, RAWR!) after the receipt is long gone.

Pictures: This one is a little tickier. I was hoping for a little bit better native quality without having to fuss with the picture inputs. I've eventually settled off on scanning in a TIF files and then mass converting to JPG. It seems to do a better job for some reason (the native JPG scans look a little wonky with the pictures, but the TIF's look fine). As with the receipts (but more relevant here) the scanner auto feeds. You put one picture in, it scans it and a countdown timer starts on your screen. As long as you get the next picture "grabbed" by the scanner in the next 30-60 seconds (user editable setting) it stores the first picture and scans the next. The scanner comes with a variety of input scan settings (jpg, tiff, pdf, etc) and does the processing work well. I'd rate this function at a B. I would have settled for a C, so I'm happy but if you are buying a scanner JUST for picture scanning I think you could probably do better. As a multi-function, this hit the mark. As a side note, I'm also scanning some lower quality items (recipe cards, clippings, etc) and those come out like a champ at the basic settings (200DPI, color).

So, where is the bad?

The software and a lame money grab by Brother. First up, the software.

A multifunction scanner like this is designed to appeal to the home organization OCD personality. I am one of those. As a result, I am scanning a variety of things trying to clean up my house for the day when Better Homes and Gardens isn't going to come over and take pictures, followed by Lifehacker who nominates me as basket case of the year who can pull a receipt for the original copy of Netscape I bought in 1996 off my hard drive (which I can now do. Call me Lifehacker.) I want each of these files to go to a different place. Current receipts to one folder on my hard drive. Archive receipts to another. Recipes to a third. My family pictures to a fourth. The shoebox full of pictures from my in-laws to a fifth. Etc. This software can do it, but the basic software requires you to click a browse button and navigate your hard drive to change the directory every single time you change. And there is no memory related to a drop down box. At this point I've used all five directories. A drop down box would save a lot of time switching between projects. Or perhaps (if you really wanted to get crazy) a user configurable "What are you scanning now?" pop up when you opened the program. Let me pick out the directories, put a cutsie picture up there and let me do it easy. Don't make me look at "My Documents" and drill down fifteen directories to get to where I want this picture of my wife when she was three and was harassing her father to go. Small thing, but over time it's gotten annoying. So easy to fix.

And I'm sure Brother would have fixed it if they weren't too busy writing their receipt organization program. The one that the CD said I could install - but only after I downloaded it - and the CD bounced me over to the Brother website and made me enter the serial number off the bottom of the scanner. Which I did. And then they asked for ten bucks.

I can only assume that this software that I am supposed to pay ten bucks for will be as user friendly as the one you gave me. You know, the one without the drop down box or folder memory? Or maybe it doesn't have that, but I can go to another website and enter the serial number again and give you ten more bucks? A money grab. An upsell. A digital version of the annoying Best Buy salesman that wants to help you as you walk around the store (along with his fifteen friends) before you go stand in the line at the front of the store for thirty minutes as the one ill-tempered cashier helps everyone. And tries to sell you a warranty.

Good scanner. Gets the job done. Slimy upsell effort and mediocre software. The three star to Brother is brought up by the solid hardware of the scanner itself. Four stars.

EDIT: The button scanning is cool, but if you use it (insert the document, let the scanner grab it, press the button) it pulls the document into one folder that Brother set up. It's buried down in your "My Documents" folder. If you use this, you'll have to manually sort anything you scan to where you want it. So now I've got a sixth folder. That I can select if I browse, or just press the button. Meh. Easier to use the program and browse there than scan things in to a hard drive directory that Ponce DeLeon himself couldn't find and have to move them all manually.

This was the best buy I ever made. It's small so it doesn't take up much room. The scanning quality is amazing! When I sent some scanned old family pictures to my "Techie" brother he thought I bought a higher priced scanner. I love it and can scan just about any size up to 8 1/2" wide.

I bought this to do a project. I took all of my parents old pictures from their albums that were falling apart, scanned them onto a flashdrive for both my sister and I (for safekeeping), and put them back in new albums. (You can also choose to have it sent to a folder on your desktop or something as well.) Keep in mind that I have done over 1200 pictures so far and I'm not even close to being finished. I started with pictures from the 1970's and I'm only in the mid-1990's, so I have a ways to go, but it's chugging along and is amazing! I wanted a scanner that I could continuously feed pictures up to 8x10 size and it worked perfectly. The software was easy to install and use, the scanner is a decent size and easy to store away. I could continuously feed the pictures through and stop when I needed to. I did learn my lesson to be careful with any pictures that might have tape residue on the back. I didn't realize some of mine had some tape on the back and they got stuck in the device. I was able to remove them, but feared I had ruined it, but thankfully everything was just fine. I stuck them on index cards instead and fed them through with no problem. I love this scanner and I am very happy with my purchase!


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Feature Product

  • Compact and lightweight measures under 12" in length and weighs less than 1 lb
  • The drivers and utilities on the CD-ROM/ DVD-ROM for Windows 8 or earlier bundled with your Brother machine are NOT compatible with Windows 10;All drivers and utilities on the CD-ROM can be downloaded on Brother's website
  • Daily Duty Cycle (max. pages)- 100. Media Weights- Single Sheets (min/max)- 16 - 28. Paper Size- Single Sheet (max.)- 8.5(W) x 32(L) Inches

Description

The Brother DS-620 Mobile Scanner is perfect for the mobile professional who needs a powerful scanner that will slide right into a briefcase or travel bag. Delivering speeds of up to 8 pages per minute(1), this mobile scanner is perfect for capturing digital images of business documents, receipts, business cards, identification cards, photos, invoices, and more. The DS-620 can scan at resolutions up to 1200 × 1200 dpi interpolated and 600 × 600 dpi optical, in color or black and white. Measuring less than a foot in length and weighing less than one pound, this portable scanner is easy to operate and powered by USB. Its inclusion of a valuable suite of scanning software make it an exceptional fit for homes and small businesses or for anyone requiring an on-the-road scanner.

The Brother mobile scanner includes multiple software solutions, including desktop document management, business card management, and OCR management. These help you stay organized once you’ve captured your digital image. The DS-620 is also compatible with BR-Receipts(2), a receipt management software solution for organizing scanned receipts and data by exporting them to the QuickBooks and Quicken programs. This portable digital scanner is compatible with Linux, Windows, and Mac and comes with a one-year limited warranty and free phone support for the lifetime of the product.

(1)Color and monochrome scan speed with all advanced features turned off, LTR at 300dpi. See manufacturer’s website for details.(2)Additional purchase required. BR-Receipts software available via download from Brother Online (only available in the USA). Visit manufacturer’s website for download details. Quicken and QuickBooks are trademarks and service marks of Intuit Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.



Works well with Linux and Windows. I would usually scan into TIFF and use Tesseract (command line OCR program from Google) to convert it to PDF.

On Windows, I use "Not Another PDF Scanner 2" (NAPS2) instead of the programs provided by the Brother CD. NAPS2's is a lot more user-friendly for creating multi-page PDF/TIFF.

On Linux, I use gscan2pdf. Gets the job done. One down side of the scanner for Linux is that the Linux SANE driver doesn't auto-crop like their Windows TWAIN driver, this makes batch jobs a little time consuming. I have yet to find a Linux set up that is streamline enough for creating multi-page PDF/TIFF.

This is an excellent scanner, fast and reliable, and I highly recommend the PaperPort document manager that comes with it. I bought this scanner as a replacement for a Neat Receipts scanner because the Neat website was so buggy that their scanner was almost useless in practice. The Brother customer service is also excellent, I submitted a request and received a phone call from an actual person within two days to fix my problem.

The scanner is compact and powered through the USB cord, so you only have one cord to worry about. I scanned a document with fine print at the different resolutions (200, 300, & 600 dpi), and decided that I prefer 300 dpi for most routine scanning, and 600 dpi for items with fine print. Scanning is fast, at least four times as fast as my Neat scanner at 300 dpi, and slightly faster even at the highest resolution. I have been using it for three months with no problems.

The disc that came with the scanner was defective, but I was able to download the scanner driver from the website and get started. I had to contact tech support for the PaperPort software, and as I said eariler they called back pretty quickly and made certain I installed the software with no difficulty. There are guides for Getting Started and How To, which made the software easy to figure out.

The PaperPort software opens with a view similar to File Explorer. I can see the entire Documents folder on my computer, and a folder was created for My PaperPort Documents, which is where I keep my scanned documents. To scan a new document I just select the folder I want to send the document to (any folder in Documents), click the "scan now" tile in the menu bar, then I check the settings and go. It defaults to the previous settings, but I can easily change the resolution, B&W/color, etc. before scanning. Very easy and intuitive, and so much faster than the Neat system!

This doesn't come with an on-line cloud service like the Neat system, but that also means I don't need to pay a monthly subscription. I can just back up my documents to a DropBox and have on-line backup and access that way. Overall I am very happy with this scanner, and finally clearing my desk of all of the documents that were backing up as I struggled with my old Neat system.

Got this to use in my semi truck to scan the BOL to my company so I can get paid. The image quality is very good and the scanning is very quick. I'm using this with Win10 with no issues. I had to get the drivers from Brothers website because my laptop doesn't have a dvd drive. The drivers installes with no issues. I use the full version of Adobe Acrobat to scan the BOLs to pdf format and it works flawlessly with Adobe. The compact size is great for being inside of my truck which has limited storage. I would recommend and would buy again.

Love this thing! Have scanned hundreds of pages from our file cabinet to go paperless. Still have hundreds of pages to go, but confident it will do the job easily.

Plugged into my MacBook Air, downloaded software, started scanning. I created a folder structure, and the software lets you define location and file name before you scan. Multiple pages are easy, just keep scanning until last page is done, then click Cancel and the document is stored as multi-page PDF.

If document is shaded or background color, just switch from B&W to Color. Can set resolution higher if needed. I normally use B&W at 200 dpi and all documents are clear and readable.

When you insert the document, it takes 2-3 seconds before the scanner “grabs” the paper, then you let go and click the Scan button in the software. Scan takes 8 seconds for 8.5 x 11 document. I was able to scan drivers license and other wallet-size items easily as well.

My only quibble would be that the documents are frequently slightly skewed because the process of feeding into the slot without a feeder tray is prone to slight error. Doesn’t affect the readability, so not important.

I highly recommend this quality piece of gear. So simple, intuitive, portable, reliable, and solidly-built.

I decided to get this for a fairly BIG project... We had an entire steamer trunk FULL of family photos, 15+ years worth. We are downsizing to possibly live tiny and we knew this was a time consuming project.
The Brother Mobile Color Page Scanner was easy to set up on our MacBook Air, The photos and holiday cards (Christmas, Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, etc.) We scanned them onto our computer and then uploaded them onto Shutterfly to make years photo albums! We consolidated 15+ years of papers and photos into a 15 slim photo albums that fit perfectly on a small bookshelf.

I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who wants to go paperless, consolidate OR going tiny! This scanner is slim, portable and fast. I was hesitant to all the great reviews but I am here to validate them all! This is a great product.

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November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

Lenovo Ideacentre AIO 520-24AST 23.8" All-in-One Desktop Computer (AMD A12-9720P 2.7GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, Radeon R7, 10-Point Touchscreen, Windows 10 Home 64-Bit) F0D3000EUS

Lenovo Ideacentre AIO 520-24AST 23.8

Shipping was fast and on-time from Circuit City. Setup was very simple and the unit functions well for our intended use. It is not the fastest computer we have used, but you should upgrade your processor, increase the memory, and get a SSD hard drive if speed is your thing. That will, however, set you back several hundred more dollars. For everyday use, this computer is perfect. Screen is very vivid and sharp. Size is just right. This is the 3rd Lenovo computer we have used, and they have all been well constructed and work as they should. Very happy with the purchase so far!

My wife likes her new computer, but the installation was a nightmare. I could not get the keyboard or mouse to work After hours of research, I called Lenovo tech support and discovered by way of conversation with a tech that the installation instructions, packaged with the unit, were wrong.
The instructions call for the "dongle" to be installed inside the mouse, rather than being installed in a USB slot on the computer or on a USB port.
Lenovo's tech solved the problem is less than five minutes.

We purchased this computer to upgrade our ancient computer that we had. The new computer arrived quickly and it was so easy to set up which is good for us. It runs quickly off of our wireless modem. Windows 10 is now doing what we needed for our personal and business use when our old Windows XP computer didn't. We haven't really used the touch screen but we do love the wireless mouse and keyboard.

So far so good. I have just gotten it and set it up for my wife. She seems to like it. I was concerned that the fan was going to be making a lot of noise but so far that has not been the case.

Even at a base price of about $600, this Lenovo 24" screen AIO 520, with 8GB RAM, is a good buy. Plus, with Lenovo, With a Lenova AIO, things generally work as one hopes and expects, once you figure out how to get the wireless keyboard and mouse to communicate with the computer. Hint, both have a tiny USB dongle stored inside of them that must be found, removed, and then inserted into an empty USB port. The display is really nice for general work, and the unit's speed based on RAM, CPU (AMD, in this case) and hard drive is adequate for general work. Sound quality is also very good for youTube listening. This is not my first Lenovo, and it won't be my last, either.


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Feature Product

  • PROCESSOR: 7th Generation AMD A12-9720P, 2.7GHz base frequency. For users who value crisp, reliable performance out-of-the-box, with built-in Radeon R7 graphics so you don't need a discrete graphics card.
  • MULTITASK EFFORTLESSLY: 8GB system memory for advanced multitasking. High-bandwidth RAM to smoothly run your games and photo- and video-editing applications, as well as multiple programs and browser tabs all at once.
  • STORAGE: The Lenovo is equipped with a respectable 1 TB HDD @ 7200 RPM. Should you need more space, you can connect additional storage solutions using its multiple USB ports as well as its SD media card reader.
  • DISPLAY: Full HD (1920 x 1080) near-edgeless display. And with a 10-point multitouch display, it's even easier to scroll through footage, pause, and zoom in on the best clips. Best of all, no messy fingerprints to ruin your perfect view thanks to the matte finish on the display.
  • HIDEAWAY CAMERA: Webcam fright. The IdeaCentre AIO 520 alleviates that fear - with a convenient pop-up webcam. Press to release it when you need it, and simply push it back in place when you're done, and want guaranteed privacy. Working from home just got better.

Description

This 24" all-in-one PC brings a premium look and performance into your home. You'll love its sleek design, appropriate for any room, and you'll marvel at its exceptional performance as it tackles every task - from creating a budget spreadsheet to streaming your favorite movies - with speed and proficiency. The IdeaCentre AIO 520 was designed with a razor-thin border, slim monitor, and sleek steel stand. This modern profile is a perfect accent for your home's workspace. Webcam fright. We've all had it. It's the split second when you wonder if your camera is truly off - or if the people on your conference call have just seen you in your pajamas. The IdeaCentre AIO 520 alleviates that fear with a convenient pop-up webcam. Press to release it when you need it, and simply push it back in place when you're done, and want guaranteed privacy. Working from home just got better.

Features
Processor: AMD A12-9720P 2.7GHz Duel Core
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit
Memory: 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
Storage: 1TB 7200RPM HDD
Display: 23.8" (1920x1080) Full HD LED 10-Point Touchscreen
Graphics: AMD Radeon R7
Optical Drive: DVD-RW
WiFi 802.11ac + Bluetooth: 4.0
Audio: Combo Audio / Microphone Jack
Webcam: 720p HD Retractable Camera
Ports: 2 USB 3.0, 3 USB 3.0, HDMI In, HDMI Out, Audio, RJ-45 LAN
Card Reader: SD, SDHC, SDXC
Dimensions: 21.3" x 2.3" x 16.4"
Weight: 13.5 lbs

Included
Lenovo AIO 520 F0D3000EUS
Lenovo Wireless Mouse
Lenovo Wireless Keyboard
Lenovo Power Adapter
Lenovo Power Cord
Lenovo 1 Year Warranty.



First time Lenovo buyer. I’m very impressed I must say. Easy set up and no issues the first week of use. It even downloaded Headset driver that use for work at home use.

I have had the computer for a couple days now. It was very easy to hook everything up and get it up and running. The screen had something gooey on it, reminded me of the rubbery adhesive used in attaching credit cards in envelopes. I used my finger to get the adhesive off, then used a slight damp paper towel, using my dampened finger, after that I used my cloth for electronics and it turned out good as new. You can't tell there was anything was on it. The touchscreen is great! The screen quality is great, pics are beautiful on it! I have not had to contact tech support so no rating on that part.

I selected this Lenovo to replace my HP with similar features - hard drive crapped at a little over two years. Super easy to set up. Runs on Microsoft 10 flawlessly. Seems audio is superior to the HP - if you're use a desktop, you might as well have your tunes delivered to you in quality box. Have only had a week, but I would recommend it to others without reservation.

I love the ease of use and wonderfully easy setup. But this computer has it all. It is up to date with all of it's software and hardware. The USB ports in the back are a little difficult to reach but this is a minor issue.

I love the seamlessness of the craftsmanship and surprising speakers that make this a great multi media platform

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November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

Pickled Red Onions (12 Fl. oz.)

Pickled Red Onions (12 Fl. oz.)

These are A-maz-ing. I have been craving pickled red onions ever since I had them in a taco at one of my favorite southwestern restaurants and these hit the spot. They are definitely restaurant/homemade quality. I put these onions in a Mediterranean wrap and they were wonderful but I imagine they'd be great in a salad or a taco or practically anything where you need a touch of sweet and acid. I also like that the ingredients listed are simple common ingredients instead of a bunch of chemical junk. I will definitely buy more in the future. Do not let the lack of reviews dissuade you from giving these a try.

SO GOOD. If you're trying to achieve that amazing taco or salad or sandwich you had at a restaurant once, this does the trick! Super crunchy, thin strings, lots of flavor. I was worried they would be bloated like some pickled items are, but nope! Worth every penny!

Try them on tacos! Throw them in a salad! Add them to burgers! The possibilities are endless. I love these red onions so much that I ended up buying the half gallon jar - which was a mistake since the pickling liquid tastes different when it’s a larger quantity, but I’m still giving them 5 stars. Give the smaller jar a try!

Love these pickled onions! I use in salads, on sandwiches, over cooked eggs& whenever I can. My guests always ask what is this delicious addition to foods I’ve prepared. Yes, I share my secret ingredient! These pickled red onions!

Yum!


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Feature Product

  • 12 oz. jar of Pickled Red Onions.
  • Sweet and tangy flavor with vibrant color.
  • Handcrafted in small batches. Made in Maine.
  • Serving Suggestions: Top salads, burgers, tacos, or sandwiches.

Description

Our pickled red onions are handcrafted with simple ingredients. They are naturally gluten free with NO added preservatives, NO artifical flavors, and NO artificial colors.



Good product. Arrived as expected in a timely manner. I have used these on my salad. Probably cost more than I wanted to spend however I was unable to find in a local grocery store. Overall I would buy again but would shop around for pricing.

I thought these onions were pricey, but bought the first jar and thought they were so good as to be worth the money. Second jar was less satistying. There was little color and the onions were not nearly as tasty. Have not decided whether to buy a 3rd.

I bought this jar of pickled onions for pork tacos. I can’t find these in any of my local stores. They taste great and are the perfect addition to food. Just make sure to use them before they go bad! They are pricey!

These taste great, can go on almost any food, and are a great price!!

My husband lives for the pickled red onions that come on the steak and arugula sandwich at Panera bread and they are IMPOSSIBLE to find where I live but these are exactly what he likes, so glad I finally found them, I’ll definitely be ordering more

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November 02, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

ASUS AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router, AiProtection Lifetime Security by Trend Micro, Adaptive QoS, Parental Control (RT-AC3200)

ASUS AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router, AiProtection Lifetime Security by Trend Micro, Adaptive QoS, Parental Control (RT-AC3200)

About me and my prior experience with wifi routers:
I'm a linux guy with 20 years experience, I like to tweak my wireless routers to make them do extra stuff like wake on lan for my mythtv, or run custom scripts to monitor my house, or whatever. I've used many different linux based WiFi routers in the last 10 years or so, including WRT54G, to WRT600N, WNDR3800 (those you can hack, but WiFi is still not reliable with openwrt for me which is a shame for a WiFi router), to the less friendly WNDR4500 (powerful when I bought it, but couldn't install 3rd party builds on it back then).
I really wanted to like and buy the WRT-1900AC until I saw that linksys mislead us, and it's only about a year later, that it's starting to see some open source support, and it's not fully working yet. To be fair, my WNDR4500 Wifi has been rock solid, but I only use it as a Wifi bridge, not even as a router, and run nothing on it since the stock firmware won't let me run what I need.

The Review:
I'm not going to review on the Wifi aspects of the RT-AC3200, other reviews have done this and honestly the Nighthawk X6 and RT-AC3200 are going to be pretty close since they use the same chipset. Note that most bad reviews are from people with basic Wifi issues and setup problems that could happen with all WiFi routers.
The Asus however offers smartconnect aka band steering, the option of moving your WiFi clients automatically from 5Ghz #1 (high band, more speed, less range), 5Ghz #2 (low 5Ghz band, a bit less speed, a bit more range), and 2Ghz (less speed but much more range).
The Nighthawk only supports handoff between its two 5Ghz bands. Smartconnect as of April 2015 still causes problems for many, and most turn it off for now, but 1) it will get better so you can turn it on later, 2) if you don't mind tweaking, it can likely be made to work for you depending on your clients. Google for "rt ac3200 smart connect missing manual" to hopefully get 5Ghz->2Ghz handoff working for you.
There is also a reported issue of frequent disconnects on the Asus (hourly). This is due to a WPA key rotation option you can turn on and doesn't work well with some clients. Don't use it, and you should be fine.

Now, let's get to open source. While you might not care about supporting the company that does a better job supporting the opens source community all those products are now based on, Asus provides you with a router you can install your own 3rd party linux programs on. If you are hands on and/or know linux, you likely very much care about this.

This is my first router which supports open source out of the box, you can add your own software trivially and don't have to wait a year or more for a working open source build of dd-wrt or openwrt, with sometimes only half working wireless due to binary driver problems.
Again, for comparison, my linksys WNDR4500 is only going to be getting dd-wrt now after 2 years, and I'm a bit wary of how that's going to turn out (after way too long of no real working open source support). Another example was the linksys WRT-1900AC, supposed to be the ultimate hacker router. It barely works with openwrt one year later, with manual work, and it's not stable yet.

Asus RT-AC3200: unpacked it, turned on sshd, ready to add 3rd party open source software. Asuswrt is already great, it's based on tomato-usb (open source router platform) and out of the the box you can install 3rd party linux software (perl, whatever) with Entware. I'm glad I gave my money to Asus just for that. Google Entware asuswrt-merlin for details on this.
Then there is a developer who makes the asuswrt-merlin build: you get a few extra features on the base router too while keeping working wireless. It's so good out of the box that I have no need to install openwrt on it should it exist later.

So this router strongly exceeded my expectations. Thank you Asus.

Minuses so far:
- $300 is obviously a steep price, but it's market rate for now
- Asus support is supposed to be good on the phone, but I Emailed networking_support@asus.com on a monday early morning. Heard nothing 24H later.

I have tried all 3 of these routers. I have had more time to play with the Netgear X6 and Asus Rt-AC3200. My internet is through Comcast. I get about 127 Mbps down and 12 up. So far I find they are all pretty much ok. I feel like if you drop $300 on a router it should be amazing. I know you will find people that cry and say expect bugs for new technology and I should be hung for saying this. Yes I do expect some but for flag ship routers I expect them to be squashed very quickly. So far they all have been coming out slow. And by the way I am coming from an old Netgear R6300.

RANGE
So far range is not that impressive of any of the three. I expected more. I do get a signal in all of my house and outside but I did previously. The signal in the garage is pretty weak which is only 30-40 feet from the router. I would have to say Asus had the weakest not by much and the D-link and X6 are about the same.

DESIGN
I know this is personal preference but I prefer the Asus, followed by the D-link and then the X6. The D-link does seem like the nicest quality. If it were black it would probably win in my book, I keep it in my living room and it is bright red. The X6 seems like cheap plastic and the antennas are very cheap looking.

SMART CONNECT
So far the smart connect works the best with the D-Link. It hasn't dropped connections on me so far. I just don't understand why at times it puts some of my AC devices on the 2.4 Ghz band. I find with the Asus that is its biggest flaw. The smart connect is terrible and drops constanty. I got really tired of my 6 year old bringing me his tablet multiple times a day telling me “The internet is broken again”. It disconnected after some devices went to sleep and after about 10 seconds being awake they would reconnect (wifi is set to never turn off even during sleep). The Dlink and Asus have one SSID for the 3 bands. The X6 has two SSID's. One for 2.4 Ghz and one for 5 Ghz.

SPEED
Besides usage I tested the speed using speedtest.net. I do find the D-Link to be on the slower side. It is hit and miss. I might get half my download speed. Other times I get all of it. I always get full speed with the Asus and X6. But besides using the speed test I have no problems with any of them being slow. Unless you use QOS...

QOS
This is important to me because I have about 12 devices hooked up at the same time. Sometimes more sometimes less. Tablets, phones, Chromecasts, a Nexus Player, Tv, Xbox. You name it. The QOS winner hands down is Asus. You can assign priorities to each device and it works well. The X6 has a couple boxes to check to enable QOS. D-links is terrible. I have tried it. It cut my download speeds down 40 Mbps on every device. Even the one assigned as the highest priority.

UI
Each one has their own user interface. D-link definitely has the worst one. There is not much to customize or change. It is by far pretty much worthless. The Asus and Netgear are both pretty good. I personally like the way the Asus one is set up better and hands down their QOS setup. I also like Netgear and Asus traffic meters better. Asus has the best one of these also. You can see by device % of what data was used for on each device. Handy.

Overall I have to say they are all very good routers. Amazing $300 routers? Hell no. If Asus would get off their butts and fix the dropping connection problem I would own this hands down. But its not worth a $300 gamble. As of right now I'm still torn between the D-Link and the X6 being the best. I will attach a couple photos of a D-link and X6. There is an upside down Blu-ray for size reference.

**Updated 4/14***

So I have been using the Asus router since the review because I really liked the one SSID and the interface it has. Well on 4/12 the updated they firmware for the fourth time and finally got it right! No disconnects! When I turn my tablets on they are actually connected! I highly recommend this router right now. Thank you Asus! Fourth times a charm!

Amazing router, even though it's expensive. I replaced my RTN66U "Dark Knight" router with a Netgear nighthawk, and was thoroughly unimpressed. It had broadcast issues, and performed poorly on NetSpot testing in a relatively small home.
THIS router has two 5Ghz bands, so the coverage issue I experienced with the Netgear were immediately solved. The 5Ghz coverage is as good as the 2.4Ghz band because of this. Now, I can attach more devices to the 5Ghz band, and free up bandwidth on the 2.4 band.
I prefer the Asus UI to Netgear's. It has a more intuitive look and feel to me, and it seems more powerful as well for the users who are more experienced and knowledgeable in setting up home networking.

I've attached wireless speedtests from my router through google fiber. Tests were done about 15 feet from the router.

********4 month update********
Added a photo from pulling a file from my NAS to my laptop. Speeds average 7MB/s when reading. NAS is connected via powerline ethernet adaptors, computer was wireless.
For anyone complaining that this router can't handle gigabit speeds, see my "connected" speedtest. This was done connected to the router via cat5 ethernet cable into my Dell XPS 13 with a USB3.0 ethernet adapter. Note that in the screenshot I included the systray to show the laptop being in airplane mode. I have Google Fiber, and the reason the download isn't FASTER, is because I also have their TV service. The TV leeches bandwidth from your connection, to the tune of about 250-300Mbps because of the lower compression google uses to deliver higher quality television broadcasts. However as you can see on the upload portion, it handled gigabit speeds easily.

I also do a TON of media streaming in my home. This is primarily why I bought this router. I have tried and succeeded streaming up to three 1080p movies from my Synology NAS to my Roku 3, Roku 2, and PS3 which are all connected wirelessly.

It's my opinion that anyone complaining this doesn't do gigabit speeds needs to check their own hardware/connection out, and not blame this router as it CLEARLY will do all it says it will.

-----edit 2/11/2017--------
Added a screenshot of iPerf results. The first set is of 1 laptop to another with one on the 2.4ghz band, the server on the 5ghz band. The second is both laptops on the 5ghz band. I didn't shut anything down on my network to perform these tests, and both "server" and client were wireless.

I am a retired Network Specialist, I have install or configured at least 2000 router over the last 15 years just wanted to throw in a qualifier here. I have aprx 45 devices connected to my network including a Sinology DS415+, 2 network printers, Linksys Wireless-AC Universal Media Connector (WUMC710) and a TP POE (Power over Ethernet) wireless 2.4 & 5Ghz range extender. Cell and tablets are DHCP everything else is static network setting I have Comcast Blast 120 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up.

So I waited for the bugs to be worked out and have had the RT-AC5300 up and running for about 2 months now. The main reason for purchasing this router was the Dual band 5 Ghz channels, our family streams a lot and I hate Buffer notices. First thing I did was turn off smart connect " I think its a non usable feature for myself" set up the wireless network and split my devises accordingly.

I have had NO ISSUES with any disconnect at all the router has worked flawlessly. Wireless signals throughout the house are higher and faster, I ask my 9yr old daughter who streams from the server to her pad nightly if she notices any problems, her response was the pad app was responding faster to her inputs. Good. I would recommend the router as a perfect performer in the above configuration. Like I stated Not one drop or reset yet.

Pros: Extremely fast wifi, strong signal, Ai Mesh
Cons: Not as easy to set up as other routers, the app is far less intuitive, large hardware, price

This is an expensive router, but after using it, I've replaced all of my routers with this one. I have a particularly large home. Mesh networks have proven to be unreliable in the past. I've used Linksys Velop, Eero, and Google WiFi mesh networks. I have gigabit internet, and none of those mesh networks were able to provide more than ~100Mbps throughout my home. I then tried just one of these Asus routers. It covered most of my home, only instead of ~100Mbps like the mesh routers, I was now getting ~600Mbps. I then decided to purchase another to fill the last little gap in coverage, since these support ASUS AiMesh. Now my entire home has extremely fast WiFi. Even when connected to the second node, I still am able to pull ~400Mbps down. That's incredible!


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Feature Product

  • Smart Connect automatically selects the fastest band for all devices individually, based on their demands and capabilities
  • Built-in USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports for up to 10-times faster data transfers to USB storage devices1, printer sharing, and 3G/4G dongle support
  • ASUSWRT graphical user interface for easy, CD-free 30-second setup and hassle-free advanced network control.Dimension:11.4x 7.4 x2.28 inches (WxDxH) (Without Bezel)
  • Protection with Trend Micro with triple-strength total network security, plus robust parental controls and privacy protection
  • ASUS AiCloud 2.0 lets you access, sync, share and stream your files anywhere, on any internet-connected device. Coverage- Large homes. Wi-Fi Technology-Beamforming- standard-based and universal, 256QAM high data rate, 20/40/80 MHz bandwidth
  • AiProtection with Trend MicroTM for complete network security .High performance antennas with AiRadar universal beamforming for unrivaled Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ac tri-band Wi-Fi router boosts speeds up to 3200Mbps for low-latency online gaming, smooth 4K UHD video playback and extremely fast file-sharing.

Description

ASUS RT-AC3200 Tri-band AC3200 Wireless Gigabit Router. RT-AC3200 redefines wireless performance for all your connected devices! With the world's first fastest combined speeds, the widest-ever coverage, plus total security, RT-AC3200 takes your wireless network to the next level. Its state-of-the-art design allows every device to work at full speed, ensuring lag-free online gaming, silky-smooth 4K/UHD video streams, and effortless downloading.. Provides an extensible design that enables service prioritization for data. Design that delivers high availability, scalability, and for maximum flexibility and price/performance. The country of origin is United States.



ASUS RT-AC3200 Wireless-AC3200 Tri-Band Wireless Gigabit Router, AiProtection with Trend Micro for Complete Network Security
I wrote this honest, enthusiast-ic and long-ish review without receiving any free samples for my opinions (don't we all wish they handed out routers like this, just for giving good reviews?). There were no monetary inducements or enticements offered to me from any company or entity for writing this up (hand over heart). I do like Asus products, and I don't own any Asus stock; even the lower cost Asus products I've owned are still working years later, when other brands sputtered and went by the wayside. I purchased this router from Amazon after spending an inordinate amount of time researching all of the Tri-Band routers now in production, as well as the newer MU-MIMO units, which still have a long way to grow before they mature for the prices being asked, IMO. I've had good results with my Asus routers, and have never managed to brick one while installing or running RMerlin's firmware. I've never hesitated to recommend Asus routers with Asuswrt-Merlin to friends and former clients. If anyone wants a solid-performing, off the shelf dual-core A/C Wi-Fi router, they shouldn't mind taking the time to research and keep up with a continual learning curve. I don't recommend Tri-Band routers for the faint of heart. That said, after time invested in learning and tweaking the RT-AC3200, it's been worth it for me. I was almost to the point of building a Linux box from scratch to get the security I wanted, since router security isn't plug and play. This router has come a long way since Asus first released it, a bit over a year ago. The Asus factory firmware for this unit was famously flakey, but has matured out of necessity; Asus was forced to institute security fixes in all of its software. Most router companies had neglected us for too long and millions of us were hacked and worse. While it's 'possible' that you might get lucky using this router as it ships from factory, don't count on it. Count on an hour spent setting and securing this router before starting to tweak for super performance; this ain't your grandpa's router. This is a very deep piece of tech for less than $200, and it's worth it, performance-wise. It looks (and is) massive, whether on the shelf or mounted on the wall, which is a cool side benefit, just don't overlook ventilation since it gets fairly warm in operation. You won't go wrong by installing RMerlin's latest firmware, currently at 380.65 beta as of this writing, and go for it as soon as you login to the router, before putting it online. RMerlin's fork has been with us for a fair number of years; I didn't bother updating to the latest Asus factory firmware, as Asus recommends, but that was my choice, YMMV. There's much to read on the Asuswrt-Merlin wireless forum on snbforums.com, so take some time to do so. There are many advanced and worthwhile Wi-Fi A/C forums and articles to help with tweaking this unit where you want it to go. RMerlin has continually tightened and improved the Asus firmware and feature set, while leaving the familiar Asus GUI in place, and there are other firmware options available if you live for the cutting edge of what's possible. I don't know him (he didn't pay me either) and thousands of router owners believe in his firmware. The Asus 'Smart-Connect' Wi-Fi for this router has drawn many to it; thankfully, the feature has improved a great deal since it was released. Don't expect Smart-connect to do all your work for you, to magically assign all 3 bands (one 2.4 and two-5.8Ghtz bands) to cover all of your devices equally; there are simply too many variables involved, i.e., how many wireless tablets, phones and computers you have to cover, distances, etc. If you're not easily discouraged by the fun and adventure tweaking represents, to get the best possible performance, you'll be pleased with your investment in this machine. I've had 8 wireless phones, 8 tablets and all four Gigabit wired ports running with PCs, 4K TV, etc, and feel I haven't pushed the router to even half of what it can do. So far, I'm extremely pleased with the RT-AC3200 and should get several good years of performance with it. Amazon was extremely helpful after shipping this purchase. Apparently, the shipper had problems, and wound up crushing/bursting the outer shipping box, which was left broken open at the front door a few days before Christmas. Crunch-time; considering the time of year and work ahead of me, Amazon didn't quibble once I explained. They cross-shipped another new router with my concurrent return of the first unit. I'd have been in the lurch if not out of the water for at least two weeks during the holidays, as our LAN was then running on an older backup router. I never mind spending a week or two of setup and adjustments, but wasn't willing to have my work thrown away due to shipper mistakes. Amazon's stellar customer service treatment is why we're pleased to remain Prime customers.

Love this router. We've tried countless over the years and this one has by far the fewest drops, best speed, and best range out of any we've tried.

The asus rt 68u running Merlin was the only one more stable than this, but can't come close to the range.

This router covers 8000sqft Office with no dead zones plus all the outdoor WiFi switches around the building for landscape lighting. Tried the chicken coop 100' from building but lights wouldn't come on about every third day, so I suppose that's the limit.

If the kids randomly turn the antennas down as they apparently love to do, we start getting drops all over the place.

I haven't tried any mesh solutions yet, which obviously have the potential to be even better, but figured I'd give it a few years for kinks to be worked out. As for plain jane single router solutions I don't think you can do better than this ac5300

Bought this router to replace the CellSpot ASUS router that we had in our house. Wanted something with better throughput and range. This router isn't necessarily cheap, but you DO get what you pay for....and for what you get, it's well worth the price.
1) Easy Setup. Out of the box to completely set up took less than 15 minutes.
2) Second 5GHz channel. LOVE this. Allows me to have a separate network I use just for my wife and my devices and 1 for the kids/other devices.
3) Great throughput. The old CellSpot is still a great router, made by ASUS, but it did get overly congested when we connected multiple devices. The AC3200 has no such problems whatsoever.
4) Easy sharing of Network drive/printer.
5) Range is excellent. Not that the CellSpot was a slouch, but this thing is equal or better in every regard.
CONs:
1) It's pretty huge. This isn't the kind of thing I would want sitting on a desk, as it takes up a lot of space. Also not going to be something that most people will agree works with their decor...there are more stylish routers out there....though I would be willing to bet this is much better than those options
I installed it in a closet on the wall vertically and it negated the size/style issue altogether.
Overall a great router

I've owned the RT-AC3200 for 2 years and have recommended to friends and family of which 3 bought the exact same router. The Smart Connect feature which auto-selects which of the three bands is best for each device has been optimized in firmware updates; basically since Dec 2015 it has been good. All but one of my friends have set Smart Connect On; the other likes the option to pick and stick to a band for each device.

What you need to know when you buy this is two steps in addition to just setting up your Wi-Fi and plugging in cables.
First, update the Firmware. This may sound complicated, but it's not. From a web browser you simply download the firmware file for your model router and from with the ASUS interface (also in the web browser) you click on the firmware link to upload and update the router.
Second turn on the Smart Connect. You'll know it's On if when you try to connect to your Wi-Fi you only see 1 access point in your wireless list instead of 3 (1 2.4ghz and 2 5.0ghz options with your network name).

Out of the box I tested the system by streaming video as follows.
1. Streamed Dateline NBC in HD to an iPad 4
2. Streamed an HD Netflix movie to an Apple TV 3.
3. Streamed an HD on demand movie over Dish Network to a Hopper 2.
4. Streamed local live radio to a Sonos Play:3.
5. Updated all my apps on my iPhone 6 from the Apple App Store.
In 2016 I did this with a Comcast 50mbps connection on a Harris Surfboard modem. And the video and audio was flawless all simultaneously running. This is above and beyond what normally goes on in our house but not unheard of.

Fast forward to 2018. I work out of the house in the IT field. I'm frequently using Zoom Meetings VoIP while streaming Music or Video. Also it's not uncommon for me to be downloading several gigabytes of data for work purposes. All of this traffic runs through the RT-AC3200 and a now upgraded Comcast connection to 100mbps. Some of that is on the Gigabyte ethernet ports but most of it is on the Wi-Fi.

For me this ASUS router has been a reliable workhorse and worth the money. I had been paying Comcast 12 bucks a month to rent their router. After 2 years I've saved $288 and counting.

# Summary

The AC5300 is replacing my old AC68U as the main wifi router in my house, and so far I'm pleased. I use the new AC5300 and the old AC68U in an AiMesh setup to eliminate dead zones in my house. It took about 10 minutes to set up the new AC5300 to replace the old AC68U. Contrarily to what some other reviewers have written, I did not have to work around issues in the configuration. For instance, the review by Richard S. Smith says to turn off the auto selection of channels. I did not have to do that. It... just... worked.

# Background

I bought this unit to deal with a dead zone problem in my house. A single wifi access point will necessarily cause dead zones in my house because we have a stove and a fireplace that are centrally located. The metal work and brickwork attenuate the radio signal enough to be a problem. There's no amount of "move the router" that fixes this. If you move it to fix one dead zone, you create another one elsewhere. I know about extenders but they come with limitations that I don't find acceptable. I figured our best bet would be to use a mesh.

I researched those systems marketed as "mesh" systems like the Orbi RBK50, Google Wifi or Plume. Most of them did not make the initial cut because they simply do not offer the level of configurability I want. The only one that made the initial cut was the Orbi. Then I discovered a fatal flaw. I setup guest networks to isolate some of the "smart" devices on my network from the rest of the network. So if someone manages to hack one device they won't be able to go far. (Yes, I tested it.) Turns out the guest networks on the Orbi don't do any isolation! This has been known since at least February 2017 and as of June 2018, it is not fixed. For me, that's fatal.

I had noticed that ASUS' recent firmware upgrades added AiMesh to the AC68U. I figured that just replacing the old AC68U with a AC5300 would probably not fix the dead zone problem *by itself* but that I could just make the old AC68U into a mesh node paired with the new router and place it to eliminate the dead zones. As expected, the AC5300 *by itself* did not fix the dead zone, but using it with the AC68U in a mesh did fix the dead zone.

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Friday, November 1, 2019

November 01, 2019 | Posted in by Daiki | No comments

WD 4TB Gaming Drive Works with Playstation 4 Portable External Hard Drive - WDBM1M0040BBK-WESN

WD 4TB Gaming Drive Works with Playstation 4 Portable External Hard Drive - WDBM1M0040BBK-WESN

Anyone who owns an Xbox One can attest to the irritation of having to install every game you want to play on the hard drive that comes with very limited space. This is the perfect answer to keep adding games to your collection without having to either sweat it out over which games live or die on your hard drive or play russian roulette with your currently installed games to make room for a new one. With 2 TB of space added on, I can comfortable install all my games with plenty of room to spare. This page, and other reviewers, said that after you plugged in the external drive that the Xbox One detected it and put instructions on the screen to follow so you could use it. I did not get this prompting and had to suss out how to manually set up the drive:

1. Press Menu (start) and select "Settings"
2. Select "Manage Storage"
3. Select the storage device and select "Format for Games and Apps"

After the formatting is done, you can go to the Games and Apps area and (hopefully) notice a lovely 2 TB increase to your space. You can use the "Manage Game" function to move games to and fro the local and external drives. When installing, you can select the external as your primary installation destination.

Bought this drive as a cyber Monday deal and man was it a great choice. PS4 recognized it immediately and been working great since the instant I plugged it in. It does load games a bit faster than the internal storage as well. It also looks great and is small for portability. Definitely recommend to everyone looking for USB powered 4TB drive!

2 months in, works great on my ps4. I would recommend turning off your ps4 if you have to move the ps4 or the external hdd as it does disconnect very easily. Minus half a star for that but I'll err on the side of generosity and say 5 stars.

Very nice drive and durable. I bought this for my Xbox one to add more storage to it. I have approximately 150 games installed with about 830 GB left on it. And all the games I have on it are Xbox 1 games. The size of the games do vary. I have roughly 20 to 30 at least that are 40 GB+. I have a separate external hard drive my Xbox 360 backwards compatible games. So that way when I go over to my friends house and plug my external into their system. I know which games are where. I do this for the fact of it being easier. 2. I don't have to worry about transferring games from internal Xbox 1 drive to my external. I just grab and go. 3 reason it saves the life on my internal hard drive. And won't have to worry about it where out soon. It's easier to replace an external drive versus an internal. Since you can't change it your self.

P.S. I know I have a lot games. And yes I do have a life. A lot of these games I got since it's been Xbox 1 has been out. And most of them I got for free through Xbox live games with gold. So instead of uninstalling and reinstalling games all the time. I figured it would be easier to just buy a big external drive and install all the games. So that way if one my friends that are online want to play that game. I can join them.

What more can I say than having enough space for all your games is exactly what you buy this for. The best part is that you don't have to spend time or bandwidth re-downloading games with this portable drive because you didn't have enough space. I haven't used it for this but you can take the drive with all your games to play them on someone else's machine without downloading them there also. With games becoming more and more space intensive, the internal storage is grossly inadequate and the need for portable increases. I own 2 of these as I have almost 7 Terabytes of game data on the XBOX One alone. I have trusted WD to store my valuable for more than 15 years.


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Feature Product

  • Expand your PS4 gaming experience
  • Play anywhere
  • Fast and easy setup
  • Sleek design with high capacity
  • 3-year manufacturer's limited warranty

Description

When the capacity on your PS4 console’s hard drive is not enough to conquer boundless new worlds, you can expand your capacity by up to 4TB with the WD Gaming Drive. Setup is easy. Just connect the WD Gaming Drive to a PS4 console using a USB 3.0 cable. With some quick formatting, you’re game-on in next-to-no time.System Requirements: Compatible with Sony PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro consoles with firmware 4.50 or later. Requires reformatting via the console for use as game storage. May require reformatting for other devices; Interface:USB 3.0, USB 2.0



For a while I was getting worried about having to buy a new console for more storage. I looked around and found the WD 2TB My Passport X for Xbox One Portable External Hard Drive. The reviews were great, I ordered and kept my fingers crossed. I'm very pleased to say, that this was a very great buy on Amazon and worth every penny. The set-up was so easy, just followed the instructions my Xbox One gave me and POOOOF.....mo...mo...storage!!! Thanks!

I got this here & I love it. I plugged it in the back of my Xbox one in the "SS" usb slot & turned my Xbox one on & it pretty much did all the work. It has a USB so you don't need a power cord. All you do is hit format & your Xbox does everything else. Now I have plenty of room for games & apps on my Xbox. I would highly recommend!

Before I bought this, I was at the limit of my PS4 500 GB storage and had to delete a game in order to download another. This device is easy to install and format, with 4 TB I don't have to worry about storage capacity. The only problem I have is that only the game data can be downloaded onto this device, save data is still stored on the PS4 storage. It's not a big deal, but I'd like to be able to store all game and save data on the extended storage.

WD is known for very long and reliable drive lifespan. Durable enclosure to protect against occasional drops & normal wear/tare. Everything I excpected from previous purchase.

Purchased this specific drive for increased RPM to be used in my NAS. About 6mo. of well above average use (compared to use with XB1) , dusk health great with minimal wear and Smart stats are right where they should be.
Have also notified the drive ‘sleeps’ slightly more often compared to my other 2Tb MyPassport drive (non-‘X’). Which in turn leads to less wear and longer drive life. Though unsure if this is due to faster drive speed or firmware update.

Have tried a few different models of Toshiba and Seagate drives but had relatively early failures on Toshiba and poor sleep mgmt from Seagate. (Hardly ever actually).

This ‘X’ model added the few speed improvements to the MyPassport line and continues the established ongetivety of WD drive lifespans.

I like how small it is don't care for playstation transfer only not allowing you to copy other than maybe the complicated backup option because it is slower to transfer then copy which is why most people complain about speed if you have ever cut pasted file on a computer you would know what i mean other than that only had it for a day or two came a day early thank so far games work great on it haven't notice a speed difference run like normal thanks.

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