Review Details

USB to Serial RS-232 Adapter with LED Indicators, FTDI Chipset, Supports Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, Mac OS X 10.6 and Above

Product Review (submitted on July 10, 2014):

I broke this product review up into 5 pieces: design, build, functionality, misc, and summary. There's a TL;DR at the bottom for those who are interested.

Design:
I always prefer to have more information over less, so the status lights are good, but I would prefer that there were different colors. All indicator lights are all amber which kinda bleeds between indicator windows. It's really not that bad though, but I think different colors would help resolve the issue. The TX/RX lights are a tad dim on mine, unknown if this is a standard problem or if I got a few poorly made LED's in the mix. The blue glow from the RS-232 end is pleasant and a nice indicator to know that the board is receiving power from the USB connection.

Build:
Quality wise, this product is okay. The plastic exterior covering for the RS-232 side is a bit cheap feeling and I'm concerned that it may not hold up well in the relatively hostile environment that a data center or server room often is. The black area where the indicator lights are visible feels like it's just a clear plastic sheet, so someone who has huge burly thumbs and no sense of his/her own strength may accidentally punch that film inward.

Functionality:
I tested this device with a Cisco 1841 and 2811 and it worked flawlessly just as expected. The additional driver CD was not needed as my Windows 7 PC picked it right up and assigned it COM6, and away I could PuTTY. The TX/RX lights blink when sending commands and receiving feedback from the routers, so they seem to function as expected. As mentioned above, the only functional change that would have been nice is to have different color lights.

Misc:
Not really a product flaw, but the product description could use a tad bit of work though. It's not misleading, but it's a bit lacking. I had to go to the Questions/Answers section to find out the length, which is long enough for my uses. It also would have been nice to know the LED colors before purchasing. I like the cable material, the outer cable jacket is clear and is nice and flexible.

Summary:
Overall the product is great and I would recommend it to others who have a need for RS-232 connections, don't have serial ports on their modern computers, and are into things that both light up and blink.