Hawking HWU8DD Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter
by Hawking Technology
|
Our Price: $174.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $54.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Hawking HWU8DD Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter
Customer Review: Not a plug & play for me
Summary: 2 Stars
This product was not a "plug & play" for me. I spent a few hours trying to figure out how to make it work, then called their tech support (India), who was very nice and patient with me, but he it was hard to understand him. After nearly 90 minutes on the phone with him, the device worked, and worked quite well, but there were lots of steps that I had to go through to make it work. The next day, when I restarted my computer, the device would not connect to my wireless access point, and I couldn't remember all of the steps to go through to make it work, so I sent the device back. Perhaps it didn't work because I'm using a Windows XP Tablet version (for a PC tablet). I've had a couple of applications that either didn't work or didn't work well with the PC Tablet.Customer Review: Good functionality, inferior performance
Summary: 2 Stars
I just tried and am returning an HWU8DD. Seemed well built, software was very good, no installation problems, worked fine under XP SP2. Looked good, too. BUT the sensitivity was not nearly as good as my old D-Link DWL120+ with its small dipole antenna. And I pointed
the HWU8DD at known targets and rotated it through 360 degrees. The DWL120+ saw and associated with signals the HWU8DD never saw, and provided a much better (10dB or more) signal for those both could see. This is my second disappointing experience with a similar Hawking product (wasted time a bit ago with a
HWU36D); never again! It is awkward to store and use and does not provide higher performance than a simple dipole unit from other vendors. Don't waste your time or money!
Customer Review: Got it for a friend
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this for a friend and he says that it is working fine
Not sure what the other reviews are saying but I tried it once myself and managed to locate many networks around me however when i tried to latch on to an open network i couldn't but again for fairness i tried it once only on the same day i got it and never again.
My friend got it as he is based off at a site and where he stays he used to get to the first floor to get access to the connection (he stayed at the second floor) since he got this he said that he never had to leave his room to get better signal
Get it if you are far away from your own network but do not count on the fact that it will give you access to remote open wireless connections.
Customer Review: Works well for me ... a definite improvement ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Using this device was a definite improvement for me. I own a sailboat in a west coast harbor and was having difficulty connecting to high speed Internet services offered in the local area (my boat is 700 to 1000 feet from these commercial Internet gateways). I am using a Gateway Notebook with built-in wireless technology.
The Hawking Dish device has solved my problems by strengthening my computer's ability to connect to these services (btw ... using it now). Set up was easy. I just plugged it in, installed the Hawking software, and started to immediately use the device. I have not had to tweak or configure the hardware or software in any special way. Sometimes I get a stronger signal if I aim the dish directly at the signal area.
Customer Review: I have a difficult time believing their claim of 8 dB gain but even if it is this isn't a real dish antenna.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have a hard time believing their claim of 8 dB gain, for a parabolic dish to properly focus the received signal and to have reasonable gain it needs to be much larger than this, about 10 wavelengths in diameter. At 2.4 GHz a wavelength is just below 5 inches of diameter, how can this thing act like a dish should if it is below ONE wavelength? The moment I took a look at this units photo I knew it was a scam, trying to make people believe it is a real parabolic antenna, it isn't. It might have some gain, maybe even 8 dBi of gain but at 2.4 Ghz you can easily get more gain than that from a simple whip antenna. Look for one here on Amazon, they sell for as little as ten dollars and have +9 dBi of gain and 15 inches tall, more gain than this toy.