» Griffin 4023-ACUSB AirClick USB for Mac and PC computers

Griffin 4023-ACUSB AirClick USB for Mac and PC computers Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but flimsy
Comment: I had one of these in my pocket a few months back and the USB end of the receiver snapped off, rendering the device useless. However, when they aren't breaking (why might just have been a fluke), they're really useful. I use one to control the music for a dance class I teach, and another one I have hooked up to my computer at home: and the range of these things is fairly impressive. It'll go through one or two walls, as long as there's not a large metal object between you two.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: It's Good not Great
Comment: I think it does a good job not the greatest. Sometimes the buttons work and sometimes they don't. I use it to help DJ solo at parties and so far it reliable most of the time.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Hardware, Okay Software
Comment: This was exactly what I was looking for!! However, their software is too fancy and causes it to crashes sometimes (alpha fading with .NET). I'm sure the issues will be fixed in the next release.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Useless for Powerpoint presentation
Comment: This remote works OK with iTunes and iPhoto. However, my main reason for purchasing this (a while ago) was to use it during Powerpoint presentations. This is where the bad begins: clicks take a while to register on a Powerbook during a presentation, especially while transitioning to a graphic-rich slide, so you have no clue for a second whether you actually pushed a button on the remote or not. This is not bad by itself, as I could adjust to waiting for a moment for a slide to transition. However, this remote is programmed such that if you keep the button pushed for just a tad longer than an instant (half a second), the presentation JUMPS TO THE LAST SLIDE, such that the presenter has to scramble, apologise, and manually return to the previous slide during the presentation! This happened to me during the actual presentation and almost caused an embarassment and surely set me back an entire minute. This behavior is not only bad, it is obnoxious, an example of garbage design that trashes the potentially good product. Granted, this is probably not the hardware's fault but the pathetic design of the Airclick bundled driver, but in this case the two must be used together and therefore can not be separated for the purpose of the review.

Also, my Powerbook (and a Powermac) does not sleep when the Airclick dongle is left in the USB port. This defect is not as blatantly bad as that concerning Powerpoint, but it does illustrate the overal attitude of the developers of the Airclick product.

UPDATE: After a few years, the company has released a software update that removes this horrible Powerpoint jump to the last slide and makes the remote useful!!! Should be a 3-star product now. When plugged in, the remote still does not let my Mac sleep. This is the only USB peripheral I know of that behaves this way, therefore only 3 stars. But with the software update the product can now be used for PowerPoint/Keynote presentations, at last.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: made MISTAKE buying this!
Comment: I like the compact design, but it just doesn't work well. This remote has an annoying habit of jumping to the end of a power point show, instead of advancing one slide. This is off-putting to an audience and cumbersome for a presenter. Ugh. I just ordered the Kensington remote to replace this one. Also note: for Mac users, this remote only works with MS Office 2004, not earlier versions of the software.

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