Wi-Fire 500mW High-Gain Wireless G USB Adapter W/ built in powerful 10.4 dBi antenna

by HField

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• ASIN: B001RQYKK2
• Item model number: HFWFG10
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,560 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 5, 2009

Product Description

Suffering from dropped packets and spotty connections? Plug in the Wi-Fire, see access points they never even knew existed and get online-now! The Wi-Fire draws very little power from the laptop battery. It comes complete with everything you need to connect wirelessly to the Internet. The Wi-Fire can rest flat on any surface or clip securely to a laptop display or flat screen monitor. Just install our software, the Wi-Fire Connection Manager, plug in the Wi-Fire to a USB port and you'e ready to start. The Wi-Fire Connection Manager reveals all available networks in the area-more than you've ever seen without the Wi-Fire. Simply select the strongest publicly accessible network (or a private network for which they have authorization), rotate the Wi-Fire's 360-degree directional antenna to focus the signal-and connect. Wireless Specifications * Transmit Power: +16.5dBm * Antenna Gain: +10.4 dBi * Minimum Receive Power: -98 dBm * Average Maximum Power: +26.9 dBm * IEEE 802.11 b/g protocols * Frequency Range: 2.421 Ghz?2.4835 Ghz * Security: WEP, WPA, WPAPSK, WPA2, WPA2PSK * Weight: 4 oz. * Size: 3.25 W x 4 H x 0.375 D.Operating Systems Supported * Windows XP or Vista * Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 * Linux (with kernel 2.6.24 and forward)Package Contents * Wi-Fire Wireless Adapter with Universal Mount Attached * Retractable USB 2.0 Cable * Quick Start Guides * License and Limited Warranty

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely works!, April 25, 2009

By 

Paul (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wi-Fire 500mW High-Gain Wireless G USB Adapter W/ built in powerful 10.4 dBi antenna (Electronics)

I had a lengthy discussion with a salesman at Microcenter who just so happened to have designed wireless systems in his previous career, and he informed me that a few customers had tested everything and Wi-Fire had come out tops. I bought it that week and am really satisfied. Right now I have it plugged into my desktop machine. It is currently feeding the signal at 96% capacity and 54 MBPS. Before the Wi-Fire, I was using a Netgear USB adapter. The Wi-Fire is easily three times faster. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not what it's cracked up to be, July 15, 2009

By 

Colonelpanic - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wi-Fire 500mW High-Gain Wireless G USB Adapter W/ built in powerful 10.4 dBi antenna (Electronics)

My overall impression:
I'm not sure there is anything particularly special about this card. From my experience, I would rate its performance compared to most other wireless cards somewhere in the mediocre to dismal range.


What I like:
The software was clearly designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. It is mindlessly easy to install, use, and (most important) uninstall. It does not leave troublesome pieces of itself behind when removed. My grandmother could operate this thing with no help from me.

What I don't like:
I bought this to replace a desktop wireless nic that has been connecting somewhat less than perfectly. I don't want to move the computer and the old card is more than six years old, so I thought that a new, powerful, directional device would be the way to go.

Unfortunately the Wi-Fire wouldn't connect at all. I hooked it up to my laptop in the same location, with the same result. I also tried connecting to other networks from that location and still couldn't connect. I was only able to get the Wi-Fire to work at about the same level as the old card's usual connection after moving my laptop 30 feet (and a fair amount of brick) closer to the router.

I also tried connecting the Wi-Fire to some other devices, like an old access point I hadn't used in years, with varied results.

In the end it all comes down to this: I bought this device to have a powerful directional antenna that (I hoped) would give me a good connection to a relatively distant router. The old omnidirectional device I wanted to replace gives me a much better connection.


Other thoughts:
My impression is that this device was designed for areas that are relatively free from interfering signals. I live in a very crowded area in which most of my omnidirectional wireless cards detect quite a few networks. My laptop lists close to twenty in some parts of my house.

In most of the locations that I tried the Wi-Fire, the networks listed changed every time the list refreshed. I wouldn't mention this if it was only the number of networks that changed, but at these locations no single network remained in the list for a long period of time.

Rotating the antenna made very little difference to the signal quality listed, but given that the number was usually close to 10% I don't know that it matters. The only time I saw a high percentage was when I set the Wi-Fire about six feet away from an old access point I plugged in just to see how things looked.

The self-winding usb thing is more annoying than convenient. You could buy a new cable if it is really troublesome.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No better than built in antenna, July 18, 2009

By 

G. Hagedorn (Allyn, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wi-Fire 500mW High-Gain Wireless G USB Adapter W/ built in powerful 10.4 dBi antenna (Electronics)

I tested the Wi-Fire in a number of situations and found that it was no better than the built in antenna in my laptop. If I could connect with my built in, the Wi-Fire would also connect with the same transmission speed. If I couldn't connect with my built in, the Wi-Fire would not connect either. Working with Hfield customer support produced no improvement. I returned the Wi-Fire to get my money back.Wi-Fire 500mW High-Gain Wireless G USB Adapter W/ built in powerful 10.4 dBi antenna