Customer Reviews

Netgear MA701 802.11b Wireless Compact Flash Adapter

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I use this card on my Audiovox Maestro. It works fine and makes PDA really powerful and having a lot of fun. Potability and mobility, that is really PDA should do. But without internet connection, the functions of PDA are really limited.

Another great thing is it also works on laptops if you buy a PCMCIA to CompactFlash adapter (less than $10 anywhere). Netgear doesn't provide the driver of MA701 under Windows, but you can install MA401's driver for MA701. It works perfectly. If you have both laptop and pda, it will save a lot of money to buy another PC wireless card...

Problem I have met: sometimes it (used on PDA) takes long time (more than 1 min) to get connection while the signal is weak. However no such problem if used on my laptop.

Overall it is a good product and highly recommended.

Bought it in February or so, and it worked great.
Until about a month ago when it (like it did for others here!) started dropping connections after about 3-6 minutes of connectivity. One has to power down the PDA for a while and then power it back up to restore connectivity.

I tried to RMA it, but after being DROPPED from their 2nd-tier tech support queue for the SECOND TIME (third? I called them quite a bit) after a MULTI-HOUR WAIT, I gave up. I got an email about a week ago, and the previous tech on the food chain hadn't given them enough information (about 5 words, I kid you not!), so the whole email was worthless (the standard stuff that tier-1 tech support had gone over with me several times (and stuff I'd already done before starting on this annoying voyage of dismay)! I emailed them back giving them one week to contact me.

So, down about 70 bucks or so, I've just put in an order for a Linksys (WCF12). Maybe this one will work for me.

CONCLUSION: CARD DIES, TECH SUPPORT IS TERRIBLE. DO NOT BUY!! (unless you're the gambling sort).

This card is extremely flaky with Windows Mobile 2003. Watch out... there aren't any drivers available (yet). Too bad because it's (relatively) inexpensive.

Hi,

Yes, MA701 can be used on Laptop computer (just got mine two days ago, some mingling and it was working).
What you need is PCMCIA to CF card adapter (any one of these, found in any electronics store).
Then you have to go to Netgear's website and download MA401CD drivers (those are for MA701's sister Wireless PC Card MA401). Next, unzip them into any new folder created by you.
Put in your CF card into PC Card to CF card adapter and into your laptop.
When selecting drivers, select "Manual driver selection". then select "Display list of all drivers..." in ME, or "Have Disk" in win98 (not sure about XP). Select "Network Adapters" from the left window (before that click on "all hardware" if such button is present), then select "Netgear". In the right window you will see some network adapters by Netgear. Click on "Have disk..." just below the right window, go to the folder where you unzipped
MA401CD, go to MA401, then select the folder that corresponds to your computer's OS. Then in the left window select the file and click OK button.
When they will have a window saying "This devise might not work
properly...", click on Next/OK (do not worry - it will work properly :P).
Voila, now your laptop will recognize the MA701 card as MA401, thus allowing you to connect wirelesly your laptop with the CF card. Most probably you will need to reboot your comp (if they will prompt).
After that, again go to MA401CD folder, then to MA401, then to UTILITY folder and click on Setup.exe to install Configuration Utility, similar to the one that is on your Pocket PC. After that, and after getting it configured to your taste, welcome to wireless!
Sorry that I made it so descriptive, but I believe not all of the people here are computer junkies, so tried to keep it to as much detail as possible...
All in all, I am totally happy with this card, and just changed my rating to 5 stars - plus, it saved me a bunch of money!

Sincerely,

When I first got this card I had a jornada 568 (pocket pc 2002). After a few weeks of it working fine, my pda stopped recognizing it saying "Unrecognized card". I RMAed it and when I got the replacement it worked for just long enough for my warranty to run out and then did the same thing, by this time I had a pocket pc 2003 device (axim). I don't recommend this card to anyone, as 2 bad cards in a row is terribly unreliable.

Originally the product was great in my dell Axim, only problem I had was that there was no support for it with a few of the common network testing apps. No big deal, I could work around that, and I didn't need to do any wardriving anyway. My first card was great, great reception at both home and office. After about 3 months the card started acting strange, dropping onnections, then the device stopped recognizing it. Netgear replaced the card without any problems (I agree with the comment that Netgear tech support needs a few more English speaking reps). The second card worked great, no problems until now, about 2 and a half months later, and it is dropping the signal again. I can sit in one spot 15 feet from the AP and watch the signal vary between 0 and 100 percent. Very frustrating. I guess it's time to call support for another card.

I was able to install the drivers with no problems on a laptop with XP. I am using a Linksys Access Point with the 128 WEP enabled. Due to the multi-vendor nature of things. I had to manually enter in the key on the PDA as opposed to letting it autogenerate a key. Not a big problem. I expected that. Works like a champ. I would recommend it as a nice inexpensive alternative considering I got mine for 30 dollars after rebates... :) Im cheap..

I received this product, took it out of the box, installed the software, and was connected to my wireless network within 5 minutes. This card works like a charm, and isn't too much of a power hog, either.

This adapter works better than any of the adapters on my desktops or laptop. I get excellent reception anywhere in the house as well as the garage and backyard. I adapted it to an old laptop (based on a review here on Amazon) and it worked better than any other. I use it in a Dell Axim X5. Highly recommended.

I bought this card in early November, the first one quit working within a month, Netgear warrantied it, but now 3 and a half months later the new card is having the same problem. I expect it to quit working altogether soon. I know it is the card not my pda because I also have a CF GPS that has never given me a problem. I won't buy Netgear again when I replace this card.