Customer Reviews

Kensington WiFi Finder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Save your money. I install wireless systems for a living, and thought this would be a great tool to check installations without having to use my notebook computer. I tried it about 30 feet from the source and it worked, so I began to wander away from the source to see how far I could get. First, it's almost impossible to see in daylight, and second, it pooped out way before my notebook computer connection did. I mean, WAY before. The Wi-Fi Finder showed no signal, yet my notebook still showed an excellent signal with all bars lit.

I then tried it in the room the wireless router is located, and no lights came on at all. I was right next to the access point and got no response. Plus, when it does work it takes almost as long to register a signal as it does to bootup your notebook.

Bottom line: If you think this device is going to save you the time of opening up your notebook computer you are sadly mistaken. Its readings are so false, especially on the negative side, it's pretty much worthless.

In Kensington's defense, they told me they are changing the firmware to improve the product, but they didn't give me a date as to when these new units will ship. So, until then, this thing is just an expensive key fob.

This product seems to have great potential but in the end it is a great disappointment. Press the button and try to guess if it's actually working, it's hard to tell what it is doing. I tried using it at several locations, including my home where I have an excellent signal. It did not pick up a signal 9 times out of 10.
Even if it did work, the 3 LEDs are barely adequate and absolutely unreadable outside in daylight. It is also flimsy feeling.
Don't waste your time and money on this.

This device is advertised to find networks from up to 200 feet but you will be lucky to break 50 feet. The LED lights are also very hard to see under daylight conditions

It says it finds wireless networks instantly. It doesn't.

From their FAQ's. Terrible answers to serious questions:

Q: My network at work isn't detected by the wifi finder, what gives?
A: There are 2 possibilities:

1) Your work has a secure network, by design the wifi finder will not detect networks that do not want to be detected.

2) Your work is using a recently upgraded form of 802.11g. Network speed helps productivity so it is likely your IS manager is always looking for ways to go faster. The wifi finder design uses a version of 802.11g prior to that standard's finalization. It is possible that your network has been upgraded and wifi finder does not yet know how to look for that network protocol.

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Q: No network is detected but I know one exists what is wrong?
A: Here are a few of the many possibilities:

1) The protocols for wifi are still being developed, changes in network standards may cause wifi finder to not find those newer networks.

2) Some non-standard network settings may cause the not be detected.

3) Radio waves are tricky to predict - how often has your cell phone lost a signal in a busy area? Radio waves are subject to many kinds of interference. This happens with wifi too. Occasionally a slight change in position or angle with respect to the wireless base station will affect the signal. Even a good HotSpot may have a coldspot!

4) You may have missed the indication. Wifi finder searches every 2 seconds for another network, this could mean that the green lights indicated a network for only 2 seconds, this is more so the case in weaker networks and it's easy to miss the LEDs in bright sunlight (nice surfing outdoors isn't it?)

I concur. I wish I would have read the reviews before I bought this piece of crap. I think the lights just turn on whenever you push the button. There's probably no wireless network sensor inside at all. Just a button and lights. Totally worthless. The folks at Kensington probably did a cost analysis and determined that they could manufacture and sell enough of these jokers to make a profit before people caught on that it didn't do anything.

This is a piece of junk; I sort-of had a decent impression of Kensington products, but after buying this and walking around airports and malls and streets like an idiot (for never finding a single hot-spot, even though I knew they were there) I will no longer buy anything with the Kensington name on it.
If anyone wants it, email me and I'll send it to you for the cost of postage. but be fore-warned: it's a piece of crap.

I found the Wifi Finder to be totally unreliable and definetely not worth the money. I tried it in my office, about six feet from a wireless b/g router and it responded as if it did not see a wireless network. I tried it in the field along side of my wireless PDA and found it found networks only about 10% of the time while the signal measurement on the PDA was accurate. The product was a disappointment and I would not recommend it at all.

First, it's simple. You turn it on and it tells you if you're near a hotspot.

Second, it's erratic. The indication of signal strength varies greatly depending on the direction the device is pointing.

Third, it's cheap. The on/off button doesn't work very well. I had to press it about 20 times to get it to turn on, then when I was done, I couldn't turn it off. After a couple of days, the batteries died.

Conclusion: $25 for a use-once-and-throw-away WiFi Finder is too much. I'll use my PDA, thank you.

The only way I could get it to detect a wireless network is if I was standing three feet away from the router or access point. I got it to help me locate or identify rogue access points on customer networks but now I wish I could get my money back on this worthless device.

This is a worthless piece of equipment. False readings and failure to recognize even strong signals. Does't tell you anything about the signal. There are other sniffers out there that tell you if the signal is encrypted or not. I had one of these for a few months before the handle broke and I was glad to get rid of it. Useless thing. Spend a few more dollars and get one that tells you more about the signal. If I could have I would have given this zero stars.