Apple Reviews

Boy am I sorry I ever bought this item. As mentioned by another user - it lasted less than 2 years - then it started to destroy any zip disk you attempted to write to. When I contacted customer service - instead of admitting they had a problem - I got - it sounds like maybe your drive is damaging your disks. You are out of warranty - but for $55.00 or so we will send you a reconditioned one with a 120 day warranty - and you pay for shipping. Forget it - save your money - buy a flash drive from Sony or use CDs - but don't buy anything from Iomega. They do not back their products - and their quality is highly questionable.

I own this drive for 2 years, but recently it broke my 5 diskes. I know anorther drive is with same problem.So basically it only last 1-2 years.You can buy a more space usb memory for same price.

On my pentium 4 running windows XP, USB 1.1 connection it works only about 25% of the time.. There seems to some ZIP 100 mb disks that it will read reliably, but other ZIP 100 mb disks are not recognized. The age of the disks makes no difference.

Another computer running win 98 with an internal zip drive reads all disk without problems.

I have had to mark the disks that it will read and use only them in this drive.

I bought one and it erased content on my disks. DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE.

Working on PowerMac G4 with OS 9.2 plugged the drive into the USB hub and so far... nothing. Included software must be for PC's only - worthless. What driver might power this thing up, or do I simply take it back?

I have used it on my PowerMac G4 running Jaguar OS X. It takes about 1 full minute to mount a floppy once the disk is inserted in the drive. After that, file transfers seem pretty quick (for a floppy, that is) and it works great.

Classic Mac users (old-timers?) like me are used to a floppy drive that ejects the disc when it is dragged to the trash, but this one has no eject motor, so you'll need to "give it the finger" on the handy eject button to eject the disk.

It has a sleek look and is nicely compact. It feels quite rugged, so it should handle roadtrips well with my iBook.

I haven't actually tried this armband, but wanted to tell you about my discovery: I was about to buy this $30 item, when I realized that my new mini iPod fits my radio armband strap like it was made for it!(Sony Walkman Radio SRF-M80V, the orange and white one that it seems like every runner I see has) So check what you already have before purchasing--I run with it every day!

Thie armband is a wonderful THEFT DETERRANT. Though velcro, is a safer bet than the eprovided ipod clip.

Putting on and taking off the arm band is just involved enough to prevent theft or loss. Before a theft could be completed, it would be noticed by the wearer.

But, the amazon price is bad. Go to comp usa or microcenter.

If you plan on using your iPod Mini while exercising, you need to get this great arm band! The velcro closer holds tight (but not too tight) and doesn't slip while you are jumping around or running on the treadmill. It fits so nicely on my arm that I often forget I'm even wearing it.

People have complained about the price, but this was a thirty bucks well spent for me. I don't leave home without it!

My first SCSI Orb was actually a USB connected unit that I chose to use in its SCSI connection for speed. (The USB Orb is just a SCSI with a special cable attachment.) It lasted more than a year. Apparently, I was lucky. When it misbehaved, finally, it flashed the amber light continuously. I could hear the motor turning on for an interval, and then turning off. After some time, the disk ejected. I never got that green light that indicated the drive was ready. The Orb was essentially dead.

Since I was outside my warranty period, I purchased another; this time a straight SCSI unit. It exhibited the same difficulty as my last drive, but this time right out of the box. I tried a number of disks, including a brand new one and nothing helped. I sent the unit back and three weeks later -- received its replacement. Imagine my chagrin when I found this new one exhibiting the very same difficulty? Is it possible I received two faulty drives? Was it possible I was doing something wrong, (after successfully doing it right with my first unit for better than a year)? Or was there some design and/or quality control difficulty with the SCSI unit itself?

Attempts to contact Castlewood by phone were all in vain. I even sent an extensive explanation of my difficulties via E-mail; but to date, there has been no answer. I recently asked the vendor for my money back. I simply gave up.

In the meantime, I have 130.00 dollars worth of Orb disks that are totally useless -- to say nothing of the backup material thereon.

I often wondered why Castlewood did not swamp Iomega in their sales, since with the former, one got so much more for the money. Now I know. I still my have SCSI connected Zip drive after four years. It works just fine.

The Orb is, apparently, poor quality merchandise. It is a great idea, but it simply doesn't measure up in practical terms. Further, I find now that both the product and the company -- with reference to its customer support -- leave much to be desired.

The Castlewood ORB external SCSI drive was a solution to my need for an easily replaceable boot disk. I boot a dual PIII to WIN98SE, Linux 6.1 and 7.0, Solaris 7, WIN2000, and WinXP. Each on a seperate ORB disk. I have had the ORB for over 1 year and it has worked very well. I had to do some tweeking with Linux 6.1 and Solaris. All others installed with no problems. Because this system is used for development, I don't demand high activity rates from the OS. (C/C++ Libs are on SCSI fixed HDs. The only complaint I have is the availability of media at less than MSRP.

I bought the original aqua-blue version of the Orb Drive about 15 months ago. I got the USB version, and I recomend this one for a very important reason: The USB version is actualy the SCSI external drive with a USB - to - SCSI adapter. Meaning, you can use it BOTH ways as a SCSI or USB.

With Win98, I average around 1.4 MB per second transfer. I have yet to try the SCSI interface, but it's probably six times has fast. (I'm basing this on the fact the old legacy SCSI interface is itself six times as fast as USB.)

in Windows ME, I average about 1.2 MB per second. With Windows 2000, I get about 1.9 MB per second. The nice thing about Windows2000 is it automaticaly detects the orb drive at OS installation time. I never once had to install the driver. (Although you do have to manualy install the driver for Win98, but it's easy and painless.)

I HIGHLY recomend this drive to anyone.

stay away. that simple. go burn a cd. i wish i did. frozen machine and lost data. thanks for nothing iomega.

This is slow to install, dificult to take anywhere, and slow to transfer info. Buy a USB connected ZIP or better yet, for this kind of money you should be able to get a CD-RW.

I haven't had any problems like were mentioned in the other review. I like my 100 MB Zip drive. I bought it to back up some of my files and that's what it did. I've never used my Zip drive while I was printing. It is a bit slow but so is that 3.5" floppy sometimes. It's a good thing to buy when backing up files when you're short on money. My major complaint is the cost of Zip disks.

I initially chose this mouse at a local computer retailer because of its comfort and Mac-friendly compatibility. In my opinion, it is quite comfortable (a very natural feel), and worked decently well. However, there was a catch, as I was soon to find out. After about 3 months of rigorous usage, the mouse began to perform poorly; and it only got worse. I finally diagnosed the problem--dust had collected in the tiny roller pins, and attempted to clean it but with poor results. I would use the mouse at 7 in in the morning, and it would be fine. Then I would go back at around noon, and it was a radically different story--I would barely be able to obtain any steady range of motion, eventually having to spin the trackball as fast as i could, which resulted in sparatic dashes of the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Absolutely nightmarish!!! I put off replacing it for quite some time, and in the meantime I simply used keystrokes and other desparate measures in a desperate attempt to retain some level of function on my computer. Yesterday, I purcahsed the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (ASIN: B00005T406), and I am overwhelmed at the difference. I [happily] unplugged the distraught Kensington Orbit, and simply replaced it with the Logitech. It seemed as if nothing ever happened. Flawless change. Not even a whirring buzzing sound inside of the machine to alert me I had done something wrong. Because the Logitech is optical, I will no longer have to worry about dust buildup (a huge relief!!).
IN CONCLUSION: Skip the Orbit. Get the Logitech ...

I liked the idea of not rolling a mouse around my desk; particularly since i have a laptop and i don't like the track pad at all.
The Kensington Orbit was fantastic at first; up and running in seconds, easy to use and feels great in my hand.
However, after approx. 3 months use, I find that the left-right action gets stuck very easily and is very hard to start again. Getting the ball out to clean the rollers is easy, but actually cleaning those tiny little rollers is a nightmare, much harder than a normal mouse.
Plus, the rubber is so small it is deteriorating really quickly.
I discovered the roller itself gets stuck inside the casing and doesn't spring back as it should, so the roller is not touching the ball.
In conclusion: you get what you pay for: cheap and nasty!

i haven't had any of the problems of the other people that have written reviews. Sure it gets durty, but it really isn't that hard to clean. It is a great product and like i said before, i have NOT had any of the problems that the other people have complained of and i've had mine for 3 years. It really deserves a better score than a 2/5. and like i said in the title of this review, it is simpely the best trackball that i have ever used.

This one is ok, but needs the adapter. I prefer the first one Belkin released. I have the cassette adaptor and cup holder in my Honda Civic. Works like a charm. !!!STAY AWAY from the FM transmitters.!!! I find them (I bought the one from Belkin and Griffen) both to be a waste of money...interference, static, etc...it defeats the whole purpose of digital music: clarity.

compare this first to a belkin auto charger and you'll notice the difference in the firewire cable. you'd need that flat thinggy to connect the charger to the new 3G ipods. look for other alternatives if belkins price too high.
.........

"Auto Charger for all iPods" is Griffin's strapline.

Well that is true as long as you buy an extra cable for the new version, or remember to take the cable that comes with the iPod.

Great work by Griffin... take an original product, change the strapline to include the new iPod and add a note on the back to say this device will only work if you go out and buy an additional item. Hey presto...Griffin have launched a 'new' product.

Just think of the other possibilities..."Sony memory stick, NOW compatible with all PDAs" (as long as you buy an adaptor).
Office 200x, compatible with all versions of Windows (as long as you buy an upgrade)...Damn it, I see where you got the inspiration from!!

Still it works, I suppose that's got to be worth a 2 points, (the extra point is for the marketing department. Good job chaps

The Microtek Scanmaker X6 is a pretty sharp looking unit and the installation of the unit and its software were straightforward. It will scan in documents and pictures up to 8.5 x 11 inches quickly and with extremely high resolution. Once the picture is taken, the included software will allow you to manipulate the colors, add effects etc. just like a computer graphics expert (well, kinda). The only real problem I had with it stemmed from it being my first scanner. The unit comes with very few instructions. A simple pamphlet on how to scan in nice photos would have been extremely useful. I was able to quickly discern how to adjust the resolution and scaling so that the pictures I was scanning didn't turn out to be several hundred MB large, but I am not sure everyone will realize how to do that. Even now, I am not sure whether it is better to scan in a picture with high resolution and then scale it down with the software or scan it in with a lower resololution and scale it down less. . .see the kind of confusion I am talking about? On the upside, I have been able to augment my website with tons of pictures and scan in some important documents. The software will even allow you to use your scanner as either a fax machine or a photocopier (provided you have a modem and printer, respectively). Generally speaking, I recommend the unit to people who at least have some clue about how to use computers well. The real amateurs will probably never figure it out.

I recently purchased this scanner despite being aware of the bad reviews at Amazon because so many other independent comparative reviews gave it top recommendations.

I found both the hardware and software very easy to install on my Dell laptop using Windows 98, and overall the scanner is well built with a tough aluminium case.

I could not fault the scanning quality, which produced a very clear, sharp image. However, I was a little disappointed in the fax software which, as far as I can tell, can only fax one scan in one call and seems to have to take two passes of each page. Also the word recognition omnipage bundle made too many mistakes (although it has to be said that if you are going to do a lot of OCR then you are probably advised to buy a specialist package such as Omnipage Pro V.9 rather than rely on bundled software that comes with any scanner).

Apart from these software limitations, the actual scanner is second to none. I think that Microtek have recently updated the installation software so that many of the problems encountered by other reviewers are now ironed out.

One annoying thing that I did notice was a faint ticking sound coming from the transformer when the scanner is switched off but still plugged in at the mains. Although this is, according to Microtek, perfectly normal, it can be annoying if you have sensitive hearing and work in a very quiet environment. Most people would never notice it.

In summary: the scanner output quality and build deserves 5 stars, whereas the bundled software, although easy to use, deserves 4 stars. Overall I will give it 4 stars because of the ticking sound which forces me to switch it on and off at the wall socket.

I got my scanner from Dell along with my computer. Itinstalled easily and has worked fine. I have had absolutely noexperience with scanners. Mine makes great scans in all modes but I normally use it in the scan to file mode. I have had no reason to try to reach the help lines or any thing like that. I like it.

I bought this scanner because the image ratings were great. What I got was a scanner that spends more time warming up and thinking than scanning. This has caused a 4 fold increase in my scan times. As they say, time is money! Also, the software tools that come with have a poor, non-standard interface that required much head scratching. I just returned the scanner!

I bought this scanner 2 days ago in Phoenix and returned it today. Software takes almost 20 min. to install, is very confusing to use ( compared to a Visioneer 7300 which I have) there is no power switch meaning that the scanner is always on. But the warm up time is long and the scan is slooow and noisy. Cost was $199.

I was looking for a high image quality FAST flat bed scanner and found 2 within my budget both MSRP$199, Canon 8000F and Epson 3170 so I bought 2 to compare. Both exhibit excellent image and text quality, both include negative/slide adapter and both have great software bundle.
However, 8000F comes with Photoshop Element 1.0 where as Epson 3170 comes with Element 2.0 which is $50 value by itself.
The slow scan speed of this 8000F makes this unsuitable for my need. Preview takes 7 second as oppose to 4 sec advertised speed. Scanning color photo full bed at 300dpi takes 43 sec, 96dpi takes 23 sec. The canon website says this is a fast scanner but my test proves otherwise. With the same PC setup for Epson 3170, preview takes only 4 sec, 300dpi color photo full bed takes 23 sec, and 96dpi takes 9.3 sec.
8000F is also noisier than the 3170. Another minor problem is 8000F does not have a power switch like the Epson.
One good thing about the 8000F is the copy to printer function works and OCR is a tiny bit more accurate than 3170.
Canon makes great printer which I also own but their scanner is a disappointment
I would not recommend user to buy this scanner.

The ScanJet 7400C displayed abundant dithering patterns in many colours especially in dark areas. The 6300C line was way better in terms of image quality.

I read some of the reader's comments and, frankly, I'm not sure if they're talking about the same scanner.

The 7400c is large (it does accomodate 11x17 sheets so compact isn't one of it's features), takes a long time to initialize and warm up and still tends to be noisy but the reproductions are brilliant and scanning is a snap.

It sets up in nothing flat and if you can lift the cover and push a button, you can scan. That's it. You can e-mail, import into another program, etc. The software installs effortlessly and it's quite easy to figure out without reading the manual.

HP does not have a 1-800 number for customer support and that should be a mark against them. But, after a long wait, when you do get the staff on line, I've found them on different matters to be nothing short of patient, knowledgable and they always search until they find an answer.

One gripe I do have with the 7400c is: why couldn't they put an On/Off button on it? I can never understand why most HP scanners are designed without this feature. Most of their other products (printers, cameras, computers) have it so why leave it off a scanner?

But that's a small point when you consider that the 4700c scans quickly and easily with fantistic, quality, output.

I am a bit puzzled by the negative comments. I have had absolutely no trouble, and I have done hundreds of scans in the last tree or so months. Installation was flawless (after I found the unlock tab), and performance is far beyond my expectations. Color repro is the first I have not been able to distinguish from the original. It is much faster than the 6300 or 5100 I have. Benign and friendly. It does take a bit to warm at first.

I wish there were more reviews from others.