Customer Reviews

SmartDisk PowerPlay Pro Wireless Remote for Microsoft PowerPoint with 32 MB Flash Drive

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you give a lot of PowerPoint presentations this is a must have. Maybe the best investment in computer gadget I have ever made. Having the laser pointer and slide controller on one device is really convenient. Being able to easily go forward and backwards with the push of one button is fantastic. The remote control works extremely well and is very easy to use. It has five buttons. One controls the laser pointer. Two others advance or reverse the slides. One button changes powerpoint in and out of slide show and the other blanks and unblanks the screen. You can give really slick presentations with a single small device in your hands. Because it has RF it has great range and does not need to be pointed in any particular direction. Most members of your audience will not even know you have the device in your hand! I have not found a room it does not work in, the range seems much greater than the advertised 33 feet, but may depend on battery strength too. I own two (one for me and one for my wife) and we have had no problems whatsoever with them. In addition to being a presentation remote, this device is also a flashdrive with 32 Mb of memory. If you are using someone else's computer and projector, the only thing you need to bring is the powerplay with your presentation stored on it! You plug it in a USB port, it takes a minute to self install on a new computer, the directory of the flashdrive pops up automatically, double-click your presenation, take the remote and go! Amazing.

My only small complaints are:

1) There is no way to turn the remote off. I worry that the buttons will be pushed in my briefcase, wearing out the battery. Fortuntately, it is very easy to pop the battery cover and turn the battery over to prevent it wearing down.

2) Because there are two small devices you have to carry, it would be really nice if a small carrying case had been included.

3) You can never have too much memory. While 32 Mb is big enough for most presenations, I actually have some larger ones. More memory would have been nice.

These are minor quibbles with what otherwise is a great device. I am really glad I found this and highly recommend it to anyone who routinely gives PowerPoint presentations.

This is it. I like it so much that I want to share some experience with my understanding of a good remote.

1. What a cool idea! A USB receiver is also a memory! This is my first impression when I saw it on the webpage. I was looking for a remote for a long time. This idea really makes me feel I should give it a try. It is totally worth it. I mean, with this two little thing, you are ready to present anywhere with a computer.

2. The design of the buttons is definitely a pro. I have tried some other remote. Some have the back, forward and laser buttons in a row. I always need to look down the remote to figure out what I want. That's so distracting. Now I don't need to do that. It seems like just it just there. I move my hand forward, the slides go forward. I move it back, the slides go back. It's just so natural.

3. The remote is just the right size in the hand. Not to big too distract your gesture. Not so small that you have to make a fist to hold it. Just the right size.

4. The silver front color is cool too.

5. The black screen button is definitely a plus. I never knew there was such function in powerpoint before. hehe.

Some cons if I have to mention:

1. Some says the battery runs out fast. Anyhow, I didn't notice that because I was warned by the previous review and pop it out everytime I finished.

2. The front color is a very cool silver, but the back color is dark blue, which I am not fond of.

3. It would be better if there is a bag or box to carry out these two separate things.

As everyone else has indicated, this thing works flawlessly. Just plug it in and go to it. I was unaware of the battery drain, but it stands to reason that it probably does use a fair amount of power. And, yes, it would be good to have 256M or 512M versions. But for what it does, it's very sharp. Besides, you can put larger presentations on CDs or another thumbdrive.

Haven't found a way for it to toggle animation, video, or audio yet so might not work very well for some types of presentations.

With the continuing drop in prices for all of the components (USB, lasers, RF, etc.) there are now a plethora of presentation remote controls for PowerPoint. I've used (and own) quite a few of them, but this one really takes the cake. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is really close to ideal. Not only that, but it's MUCH less expensive than most of the other ones I've seen.

The PowerPlay Pro has a bunch of features that make it stand out. In addition to all of the things that an experienced presenter would consider must-haves for a top-of-the-line presentation remote (including a small array of logically-arranged buttons, a built-in laser pointer, plug-and-play USB capability, cross-platform operation, good battery life, etc.) this remote has two features which put it head and shoulders above the others:

1) It has a built-in flash drive for bringing your presentation along with you without needing anything else (this alone is a killer feature.)

2) It is incredibly tiny and disappears in the palm of your hand.

The only additional features I have seen in ANY presentation remotes that I would have in an ideal world are a) a countdown timer, and b) a trackball/mouse. But adding either of those to this little beauty would have made it much bigger, and I therefore willingly sacrifice them in favor of size.

The only negatives I've found with the PowerPlay are a) as others have said, it woud be nice if there was a way to keep the two pieces together (I'm not a fan of bags, but how about some type of connector so they could slide together?) and b) I've found an incompatibility with certain of the newer Mac PowerBooks (although it works perfectly on others, including mine.)