Customer Reviews

Landel MailBug Email Appliance (LT-302W)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

First of all ... just to reassure you all, I am reviewing the Landel MAILBUG... not the Mailstation or the V-tech Postbox!! The previous review gave the Mailbug a terrible rating, but when you read the review, it was actually about the Mailstation, which is a totally different product!! Their review did not belong here! (Hopefully someone will be able to remove it.)

Anyway, as to my experience with the MailBug ... After researching on Amazon and elsewhere, we decided to purchase the MailBug for my mother (who is 80+) in January. She has a computer, but had found computer-based email increasingly frustrating, especially in that she didn't want to pay $20 for unlimited Internet access just to do email. (The pop-up windows for the free and cheaper email services were annoying and problematic, so they weren't an option.)

The MailBug has been just great; my mom has been using it regularly since day one, and is more and more delighted with it as times goes on. (The user interface is so simple that you can use it initially without even reading the manual, but by reading the manual, you can learn about extra features. She has learned those extra features very gradually.)

She finds the keyboard comfortable, and navigation easy to understand. I worried about the words on the backlit screen being too small to read easily, but she hasn't had any trouble, although I don't know that she uses it very much after dark. (Initially she had trouble seeing the screen after dark, but had just had eye surgery, and was without her glasses ... so that may be better now.)

She is able to use it in her easy chair (with an angled cushion under it, to bring it to a comfortable typing level), and has it on a small table in the living room, which is warm and comfy year 'round. (It has a VERY small footprint, no bigger than a standard piece of paper.) She especially like that it doesn't tie up the phone line for composing emails, and that it dials in automatically several times a day to check for mail, and then lets her know with the flashing light that she has mail. (You can also manually make it check at any time.)

We did have it lock up on us just twice in the past several months (not sure why), but all it took to remedy that was to unplug the power cord right at the machine, and plug it right back in. After doing so, it automatically dialed in and reset its internal clock on its own. (Now, if only our microwave would do that after a power outage!)

Some people may not like that it can't receive attachments, but she hasn't missed that at all. But, I have to admit that my Dad does have his own computer, so they have that option for receiving attachments. She also doesn't miss that it can't access websites. However, it does have an "e-info" feature that allows retrieval of some news (text only), including sports, weather, top stories, etc.

Our experience with customer-service has been limited because we haven't had problems with it ... but so far so good. When I did call in for setup, I didn't have to wade through numerous phone trees to get assistance, and the tech support was patient and explained things well. Set up was absolutely a breeze and only took a few minutes.

Cost is great ... I think the Landel website states that it's around $12 a month, but because there was a local dial-up number for my mom (rather than a national toll-free number), she pays just $10. (Discounts are offered if paying for multiple months.) She's thrifty, and wasn't sure about the cost initially, but I explained that it would cost more to send a postal letter each day over the course of the month than it does to have the Mailbug.

All in all, a great product, a great deal, and a perfect "fit" for my mom.

I had purchased the Cideo Mailstation. I saw all the reviews on this Amazon web site that I decided to buy a Landel Mailbug and see if it was everything that they said on the reviews. I only had the Mailstation for a few weeks, but was unhappy about the cost to get the e-mail, so I could send and receive messages. I was able to take the Mailstation back. I found that the Mailbug was about the same to get e-mail service and there was no charge for a 800 number as there was with the Mailstation. I also like the way I can get the news, sports, weather and the other things they said you can get and they told the truth. I love my mailbug and would recommend it to anyone. I got it for my vacation home so I wouldn't need to get a full size computer.

I LOVE IT.

I have used the mailbug for the past 11 months, have bought 9 for family members and find the mailbug an unbeliveable tool for me at home. It sits in my kitchen and my wife and daughter use it daily.

My father is literally on the mailbug 5 times a day sending email, checking his stock and being a news buff, checking on the latest political happenings.

I strongly recommend this product for ANYONE that wants easy access to email and news, stocks, entertainment and weather.

GREAT product !

We bought the mailbug for my in-laws, who are in their 60's and have never been comfortable with computers. In order to make it look especially simple, we set up their account before we gave it to them, and found this to be an easy process. At one point we had to call the help line and the person who helped us was very nice - you could tell they were used to helping people without any computer experience. When my in-laws opened this gift they were skeptical about being able to use it, but within 5 minutes of plugging it in they had sent their very first email. Now they love it and use it almost every day.

I bought this device for my mother, who not only is not a computer person, but is also a techno-phobe (she still prefers old-fashioned 'round dial' phones!). However, I thought this would be a good way for her to keep in touch with people.

It's been a tremendous success! She loves it, and emails people all the time. I tried it and it's got great usability, the keyboard is very comfortable (standard-sized), easy-to-read screen. This is really for non-computer people who are comfortable being limited to text emails. It has very limited internet functionality (current weather, sports results, etc, all text-based). Anyone who likes to browse the internet or read/send email attachments should not rely on this device. However, as a text-message communication device, it's perfect. My mother has now owned it for 7 months and it has been running solidly the whole time.

My wife was always uncomfortable with my computer, but now she emails a lot with this nifty device. It sits on our kitchen counter. The use of the keyboard is not cramped like some of the other email appliances. The combination of Caller ID and email is godsend for my wife. The only minus is that we are unable to find a cover for the mailbug appliance. FIVE STARS!!!!

My wife's been using this little device for close to a year. It is what it says - e-mail only. And that means no HTML, no attachments, no graphics, just text. It's very easy to set-up and use. My only complaint (because I had low expectations) is that you cannot set the automatic mail checking interval - it is set at about every 3 hours. One nice extra, though - we've got voice mail on our home line and the MailBug detects the odd dial-tone and indicates messages waiting. NOTE: The reason I'm even here writing this is because I'm trying to find the seller - Landel - or the service provider - MailBug.com to re-subscribe. I CANNOT FIND WEB SITES FOR EITHER COMPANY. So, unless that's a temporary problem and you do find them, beware. MEP

I PURCHASED A MAILBUG THRU AMAZON.COM AND GOT IT IN 3 DAYS. I INSTALLED THE PRODUCT ON MY NORMAL TELEPHONE LINE AND IN ONE DAY WAS ABLE TO USE IT FULLY. WHEN I WANTED TO PRINT OUT A MESSAGE I MERELY FORWARDED TO ONE OF MY REGULAR COMPUTERS AND EASILY PRINTED IT OUT. IT IS AN EXCELLENT MACHINE WHICH I WILL SHOW SOME OF MY SENIOR STUDENTS. I'M SURE THEY WILL BE AS EXCITED AS I WAS.

ROBERT SHEA

We purchased this for my 80+ year old mother-in-law who has no computer experience thinking it would be simple to use and practicle for sending messages to 4 - 5 family members around the USA. It was fine for about two weeks then the email account was inundated with SPAM. Mother-in-law could not cope with this and the service provider has NO SPAM filter nor any solution for the problem. We cancelled the email account and removed the appliance from mother-in-law's residence.

After reading the reviews here I knew this would be the answer for my 82- year-old MIL. She physically was no longer able to write letters and missed her correspondence ability terribly. The Mailbug has been a GODSEND! She hears from family and friends so much more regularly, and for the friends who don't "do" email she sends the email to me and I print it out to include in an envelope. I'm sure no one has problems reading her letters now! Mind you, she never typed before in her life--but she picks & pecks along just great, and it's easier on her than trying to handwrite anything. Plus she's learned the art of emailing all 3 grandchildren at once when she needs to!

The red blinking indicator light is terrific--lets us know when she has email, or we have voice mail (a nice bonus benefit). It's pretty simple to use for most computer-illiterate folks. And there is NO risk of spam or viruses.

My ONLY wish is that the Mailbug could work wireless (like a cordless phone) because the power cord, phone line, and one other cord do become a tangled mess.

I would give this 10 stars if I could.