BenQ - BAD Quality
Written: May 13 '06 (Updated Jun 07 '06)
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Pros: It was fairly inexpensive
Cons: Three SEPARATE drives from BenQ all FAILED!
The Bottom Line: Extremely POOR quality. Multiple units stopped working after a period of time. AVOID!
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| del-1's Full Review: BenQ DW1620 Pro DVD±RW Dual Layer Burner |
I was in need of a new DVD drive. I spent quite a bit of time researching DVD drives from various web pages such as CDFREAKS.COM, CNET.COM, and CDRINFO.COM. The BenQ 1620 Pro appeared to be an excellent DVD drive for the price and appeared to be selling like hotcakes.
After my purchase I installed the drive easily. Shouldn't be much of an issue for a person with average computer skills. A novice that's not familiar with opening up his/her computer may take a little while longer however it is still pretty much plug and play. Windows XP recognized the drive without any effort.
The drive worked as advertised and overall I was happy. FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS. Slowly I started receiving fail errors during my burns. First it started with burning DVD's then CD-RW's. Eventually every CD/DVD I burned ended up as coasters. Frustrated, I tried to contact the warranty service at BENQ.COM. I filled out their on-line application but no one ever contacted me. About a month later I spent a significant amount of time trying to locate a telephone number from their webpage. Once I found it, I called them and waited on hold for over 45 minutes before getting a customer representative. I was able to obtain an RMA# and return the DVD Drive to them. I was responsible for the Shipping, Handling, and insurance which amounted to around $10.00. I sent back EVERYTHING. The box, the drive, the manual, the CD, etc. About 3 weeks later I received the replacement drive. It was a refurbished drive. It did not come with the box, cd, manual, or anything else except the packing popcorn.
I installed the drive and it worked. However, in about a month it TOO failed. I again contacted BenQ and waited on hold for about 45 minutes before speaking to a customer representative. I was extremely unhappy. The person agreed to upgrade me to a newer model BenQ drive. I sent my drive back again paying for shipping, handling, & insurance.
One month later I received a drive. It was not the one they promised. It was a generic drive that BenQ makes for other companies and as OEM equipment. It was smaller in length (~1.5") than most DVD/CD drives which made it difficult to plug in because the standard cable from the motherboard to the drive was barely long enough.
This drive worked for 1 week. Again I received burn errors and became a coffee coaster factory. This unit even failed to write generic CD-R's. I couldn't burn data or music CDs at all.
I gave up. I have spent around $20.00 in S/H & Insurance charges, my personal time, lost multiple discs, and have had a significant amount of frustration. A new DVD burner can be had for $50.00 on sale and is definitely not worth my effort to try to get another drive from BenQ.
In addition, the reliability has been so poor that THREE separate DVDs failed. I began searching/googling BenQ regarding this and have found multiple web forums where many others have the same problems with burning.
Unfortunately, I just do not think that their Quality is truly up to par at this point in time (BenQ has its roots from the Company Acer). I also won't be purchasing another BenQ drive unless I feel confident their quality has improved.
For your information CD's were burned using previously owned Nero Burning Software (the drive does come with a lite version of Nero). I tried Roxio Media Creator, and even used Windows XP to burn discs. All failed. The problem was not the software but truly the drives. I seriously have about 6 DVD coasters, failed CD-RWs burns, and countless CD coasters. Sigh. And I did upgrade the firmware with no improvement. And unbelievably, the refurbished drive that was sent to me did not even have the latest firmware update on it!
Key Features
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Burner Type DVD +/- RW Dual Layer
Storage Type Disk Drive
Read Speed 40x (CD), 16x (DVD)
Write Speed 40x (CD), 16x (DVD R), 16x (DVD-R), 2.4x (DVD R DL)
ReWrite Speed 4x (DVD-RW), 4x (DVD RW), 24x (CD-RW)
Enclosure Type Internal
Platform PC
POSITIVES
+ inexpensive
+ multiple formats
+ firmware updateable
+ easy to install (but so are all dvd drives in general)
NEGATIVES
- MULTIPLE UNITS with write ERRORS (the most important part of a DVD/CD Burner)
- Less than adequate customer service
- Refurbished drives as replacement and missing documentation/box
- Bad Quality Assurance
SUMMARY
My recommendation: AVOID the BenQ 1620/1620 Pro/1625 and possibly other BenQ DVD drives.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 75
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
del-1
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Opinionated guru on computers, electronics, technology... But, all said & done, "Trust no-one!"
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