Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Pad
by Belkin Components
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List Price: Our Price: $17.88 You Save: $12.11 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $14.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Pad
Customer Review: Just ok.
Summary: 2 Stars
I thought this for sure was going to be the cooling fan for me, after trying several no-name, in-store brands and not having much luck. I read the reviews for the Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Stand and thought it would be the best option. The first few days of usage were fine and I was really happy that my laptop wasn't overheating and the only thing that I was less than happy with, was the foldout stand that kept closing. Its a little hard to pry open and my fingers have slipped and got cut in the open fan blade more than once. I was willing to work around the sticky stand but then things took a turn for the worst.
My fan seems to only want to work when it feels like it. The jack in the back of the fan, doesn't like to stay plugged in, though the jack itself seems to look fine with no damage. More often than not, I have to spend a few minutes fiddling with the cord to get the fan to stay on, and when I pick my laptop up, or move it slightly, it usually shuts off again and I have to repeat the process.
It's lasted longer than my past cooling fans but I still don't think it's the best. I wish now I'd invested a little more money for one that perhaps, would work better.
Customer Review: A Great Choice
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm sorry to see all the reviews from people having quality problems with this item. I suppose Belkin deserves it - my first unit became noisy and I had to have them replace it because the store from which I bought it was too far away to drive back. But the fan really is teriffic.
It is not noisy at all. It is as quiet as can be. It's intelligently designed so that the fan isn't in direct contact with the bottom of the laptop, enabling it to pull air out and away, and it's very effective at cooling.
It doesn't LOOK like it would be comfortable on your lap, but it is.
I haven't had any problems with the power cord, but the newly-designed one is shorter than on my first unit, so now I have to use a USB extension. Not a biggie, because I already had one I wasn't using, but I do think they could (and should) have made it a few inches longer.
I got a second one at Costo for $18.95. If this one ever dies, I'll buy another. Perhaps they should have designed the fan to be more durable (judging by others' comments here) and charged more for it, but I'm pretty happy with this unit, and you can't beat the price. I'd recommend it to a friend.
Customer Review: Worked great...WHEN IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
Our laptop was getting warm as of late so my wife and I decided to order a laptop cooler. We looked over about a half-dozen and decided to go with this one. When it arrived we immediately put it to work. It worked great!!!! Then about 2 weeks later it decided it didn't want to work any longer. We rec'd the one that had the USB cord that could disconnect from the unit. We found that the connection between the USB cord and unit became unstable and the fan would start and stop whenever it was jolted (meaning, if you reposition yourself on the couch, it would stop). We decided to send it back for a new one.
Boy were we pleasantly surprised when opened the box and found that the new one appeared to be hardwired straight to fan. No connections that could become bad. Unfortunately after about 5 days the fan blades would get caught on the guard and break off. We taped the blades to the unit and it back to Amazon for a refund. I'm 100% happy with the customer service from Amazon.
As the title states, when the product works, it works great! Unfortunately for us, we rec'd two duds, that's enough for us to try a different brand.
Customer Review: Good even without running fan
Summary: 5 Stars
I read the reviews here and have some worries about the fan, but in the two weeks of my using this, it seems to work well and is quiet. I'm using this with my 13.5" MacBook, and note that the unit extends about an inch in front of and behind my laptop, but that actually seems to add to the comfort on my lap. Rubber pads keep the laptop from sliding around. It has a convex, rocker-like bottom which fits nicely on my thighs and gives me a stable typing surface.
One negative is that the cord that connects the unit to my USB port easily falls out when I'm moving the laptop around. I have left it behind at different locations and have recovered it just by miracle and kind people. Another is that if I put the machine to sleep, I need to remember to unplug the cord from the USB port or it'll keep working.
One very positive point is that it's convex under my laptop's bottom. I've found that even with the fan off, my thighs and the laptop are both cooler than my using the laptop directly. When I'm really taxing the processor, usually when I have a lot of busy applications busy, the laptop heats up, and that's when I put the fan on.
Customer Review: OK, but not perfect for Apple 12" Powerbooks
Summary: 2 Stars
I am basing this on only one day use so I can not attest to its durability as yet. However, I do notice it is more noisy than I would like. More importantly is the design of the rubber pads on the cooling pads. I like that they are big, BUT, not quite big enough for the small rubber pads on the bottom of the 12" Apple Powerbooks. If you use the pad on your lap it is easy for the small laptop legs on my computer to slip off the cooling pads rubber and will slip more easily on the cooling pads plastic. All they had to do was make the rubber just a 1/4 inch deeper going toward the fan on top and bottom and my laptop would fit fine. I do not consider this pad stabile for 12" laptops unless your laptop has large pads on its bottom. For placing my laptop on a desk it is probably just fine but I want to be able to use pad on my lap as well.
I never understood why manufacturers generally uses such small amount of rubber to prevent laptop slippage. This Belkin model looks like it finally is a design that will work great, and it may for certain laptops, but not mine.
I am overall disappointed and will have to keep looking.