Reviews dos últimos produtos que chegaram da DealExtreme

Reviews que fiz na DealExtreme das últimas compras que fiz, um pouco mais de informações do que coloquei no post logo que chegou. Em inglês porque elas também foram enviadas para a loja, lembrando que eles dão pontos por reviews dos produtos, e tais pontos podem ser trocados por produtos.

Network Retractable Cable (Cabo de Rede Retrátil)

Pros: – It is Cheap
– It does what it is supposed to do
– Small, takes much less space than a regular cable in your bag

Cons: – It is not too long
– It does not have twisted pairs, but as it is not a long cable, it might not be a real problem
– The build quality is not the greatest
– It does not have a pack (arrived loose in the mail package), not a big problem because it seems resistant enough.

Bottomline: Totally worths what I have paid for it. Although wireless networks is becoming more and more common these days, if you travel a lot with your laptop, you should have one of these.

3-LED Dynamo Battery-free Flashlight (Lanterna de Dínamo com 3 LEDs de Alta Luminosidade.

Pros: – It’s brighter than I though
– It’s cheap and usefull
– You don’t need to worry about buying or changing batteries
– NiMH battery (better than NiCD)
– Small, it won’t take much space
– Adjustable brightness

Cons: – It is not as bright as regular 3V flashlights with light bulb.
– I don’t know how to open it if I ever have to change the internal battery

Bottomline: I would buy it again, it’s cheap and you can have one at your house, one at your car and so on without having to worry about replacing the batteries (specially you won’t worry with the major problem of old battery leakages that may ruin your flashlight)

3-in-1 RJ45 Network / RJ11 and USB Cable Tester (Testador de Cabos RJ45, Rj11 e USB)

Pros: – Much cheaper than any other cable tester I can buy here.
– It does its job
– It has a remote terminator, so you can test installed cables.
– AUTO feature changes the tested wire sequencially (you must use it if you are using the remote terminator).
– It has a cardboard box and instruction manual in English and Chinese (although it’s pretty simple to operate)

Cons: – Easy to test RJ45 cables, difficult to test RJ11 though, it came with two small plastic adapters to fit the RJ11 plug into the RJ45 jack but they didn’t work, it seems that these plastic pieces were not weel cut, you can test the RJ11 without the adapters, but they are really hard to unplug when you are done, so I advise you to look elsewhere if you are planning to test many RJ11 cables
– It tests one wire at a time, if you are testing a cross-over cable you will have to know the corresponding wires in the other tip
– If you are using the remote terminator, you don’t have a feedback in the unit of what’s going on, you will have to check the terminator
– No lights to say the cable is OK neither to say it is a crossover cable, like more expensive cables have. You have to check each wire one by one.
– Battery not included, and here in Brazil a single 9V battery costs as much as this unit itself.
– If the battery is a little weak, the unit works in TEST mode, but not in AUTO mode
– USB test does not include mini-usb jacks or adapters

Other Thoughts: There are other models you may check:
– a more expensive one which tests RJ45, RJ11, USB and Firewire
– a cheaper one which testes only RJ45 and RJ11
Hopefully one of them will support RJ11 cables correctly.

Bottomline: If you are a professional (or you are going to test RJ11 cables) you deserve a better tester, but if you are going to check just a few RJ45 cables at home or at your office once in a while, it totally worths it.