Spectec SDW-821 WiFi 802.11b/802.11g 54Mbps SD SDIO Wireless LAN Network Card

4 comments

1. 

   Jesus B. Bustamante on January 13, 2010 at 6:37 pm

   I bought this for my Palm Tungsten E2, and you know what? It doesn’t work. This card doesn’t work with *the most popular model* of *the most popular brand*.

   It seems like business-suicide to put out a product that isn’t even usable for a really huge chunk of its target consumer demographic. The technician at Spectec says that they’ll post up a driver for Palm when they’ve created it.

   Frankly, that doesn’t do us any good. When you buy a product and spend a lot for it, you generally expect to use it straight away, then and there, without needing to wait for a phantom driver that may or may not ever be created. The least they could do in this scenario is begin working on a driver, and then inform its customers when it would be available. If you paid good money for this, you should be getting specific dates. And, it should be clearly marked on the package with which systems this product works. I need specifics so I can know whether or not to return this item for another one. “Maybe” and “in the future” are terms that do not suit a professional vocabulary.

   But even if you don’t use Palm, you might have difficulty with this product. To start with, the user manual is in very broken English, very flawed in words, grammar and syntax. It’s hard to understand — and I’m someone that has had a lot of experience speaking with people from other countries. I can understand through very thick accents, yet it’s taking me a while to decipher what the user manual says. It’s truly that bad. This again is ludicrous. Now, I understand that the makers of this item are in Taiwan, and Chinese is the language there; but if you plan to sell the product in English-speaking countries, you really need to cater to those linguistic needs. It isn’t hard to just go out and find someone who speaks English well and ask that person to comb over the manual to make sure things make sense. English-speakers are not hard to come by in that part of the world.

   The company really needs to shape up if it wishes to make progress. I’m really don’t like to get hard on people like this, but the problems with this product are ridiculous. Even as patient as I usually am, the service with this company is just so inferior that I’m giving this item a 1.5-star rating.

   The only plus I can think of is that this card doesn’t stick out awkwardly. That’s it. Its only bonus for me is that it won’t take up much space while I wait for the ruddy driver to be published.

2. 

   Norman B. Worthem on January 13, 2010 at 8:32 pm

   I bought this unit for my MIO 168 Navman Pocket PC. Comes with software that’s easy to use. Load it in, follow direction and your up and running.
   
   Does all they say it will do.

3. 

   William S. Grigsby on January 13, 2010 at 11:07 pm

   Bought this for a refurbished Navman PIN 570. It arrived quickly in new blister packaging. Took about a half hour total time to setup and connect to my existing wireless network (802.11g – Linksys router). It also saw 3 other networks in the neighborhood – one more than 2000 feet away. I’ve also tried it in some local wireless hotspots (our Telephone/Internet company is providing free hotspots all over town – sweet) without any particular difficulty. The GPS unit on the Navman doesn’t interfere with the sdio card. The sdio card DOES stick out of the PDA a bit.

   All things considered this is exactly what I hoped it would be and does the job – can’t ask much more than that.
   

4. 

   Like Saving Money on January 14, 2010 at 1:31 am

   I ordered this and got it 4 days faster than promised. I had a little trouble installing for the Palm Treo 700 but went to the Spectra web site and got one and all is good. I get excellent reception all through the house and even outside. I can use it anywhere there is an open wireless network and I have WEP 128 bit at home and work and have no problem accessing them both.