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: Works great.... until it STOPS! One star is too many.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this item YESTERDAY. Used it for a little over 24 hours. Tonight it broke. And when I say "broke" I don't just mean it got noisy or the usb cord screwed up. I mean the fan blades started popping off, one after another. Four in all before I unplugged it. I noticed the fan had stopped at one point this evening, so I checked the connection to the computer & found all was well. Then I picked up the device & looked at it & noticed something lodged in it. Unplugged it & shook the offending object out & realized it was a fan blade. I plugged it back in, hoping it would work fine with one blade missing. That is when the next 3 blade came off & shot out of the fan!
When it worked, it was great. I was hoping my encounter was just a fluke & planned to return it to the store for an even exchange. But, now that I've read several similar reviews to mine all over the internet... I think I'll just get my money back & find a better alternative! SAVE YOUR MONEY!
Customer Review: Laptop Avalanche
Summary: 2 Stars
I've used a lot of laptop coolers, but this one I have to give mixed reviews.
PROS: It has the most airflow of any cooler I've used before and it looks nice.
CONS: This is NOT a universal laptop cooler. You really need to make certain your laptop fits this cooling pad before you buy it.
My Asus K50AB is too wide for it, there is no "catch-lip" on the cooler, and the "gripper" pads on the cooler are slick causing my laptop to CONSTANTLY slide off the cooler. It's pretty hard to type anything when your chasing the keyboard.
The fan is louder than any cooler I've used before but not objectionably so. For the airflow, this is a good compromise.
The curved design mandates that you use the kick stand on the back or the cooler sits flat on it's fan, causing almost no airflow at all.
The slightest bump will cause the kick-stand to fold up.
I wouldn't buy this product again.
Customer Review: Nice design, effective cooling but NOISY
Summary: 2 Stars
This is a nice-looking pad that cools very well. Unfortunately the fan is EXTREMELY NOISY. I can usually last half an hour before I have to unplug the pad for my head to take a rest from the noise. I am using my laptop on a desk with external monitor & keyboard so it is not that I am blocking the fan or pushing on it with my thighs/arms etc. It is simply very poor quality. So the result is a nice-looking effective pad that I can hardly use! If you spend hours on your computer (like I do) you may want to consider another pad.
Update Mar 15 2009: The noise on the Belkin became so unbearable that I tossed it (so it only lasted 4-5 months). I have now bought a ZALMAN ZM-NC1000 Ultra Quiet Notebook Cooler. It costs $50 but it is worth every single penny and then some. High quality sturdy construction, superior cooling and completely quiet. I highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/ZALMAN-Ultra-Notebook-Cooler-ZM-NC1000/dp/B000JSFT0Y
Customer Review: Good so far, maintenance is easy.
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this at a local retailer for 19.88 + tax in September. It's almost November and I've only had one problem with it: I plugged the stand into my laptop via USB but the DC input got pushed in. A screwdriver and 3 minutes later I set the DC input back straight and fixed the problem. Besides that, it's relativetly quiet and gets the job done. I was frustrated with the stand's instability until I figured out that you have to flip out the stand at the bottom for the laptop to be stable and elevated (duh!). They don't include any directions for that, so just a heads up to other reviewers that have complained about the laptop not being steady!
UPDATE: 2-14-09 - fan stopped dead a few weeks ago. I read an article that Belkin has been posting false positive reviews. I'm peeved that this thing stopped working, now I have to spend an extra $30 in hopes I'll get a reliable laptop cooling stand, but I will definitely not get it from Belkin.
Customer Review: Great design, but fan can be unusually loud sometimes
Summary: 3 Stars
This cooling pad has a very nice design and really does a good job to elevate your laptop computer to a better position for typing and viewing. The fan does indeed do a good job with cooling the laptop. Before I got this cooling pad, my keyboard would always be uncomfortably warm to the touch. Now, they stay cool almost all the time and typing seems a bit easier. The pad also only requires one USB plug, and it works fine when plugged into a non-powered USB hub.
The only problem I am encountering (hence the 3-star rating) is 50% of the time I go to turn on my laptop, the fan will start humming very loudly. Unusually loud. To solve this problem, I have to unplug then plug back in the USB plug several times until the noise goes away and the fan's hum is much softer and more ambient. I don't know what makes the fan sound so loud sometimes but it is a minor annoyance and doesn't seem to affect the cooling pad otherwise.