203
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #157,684 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Wireless printing easy and comparatively affordable
As usual, when it comes to electronic gizmos, Amazon doesn't provide a lot of info on this, but I took the leap and bought it and now I'll give you the low down so you can decide if this baby is what you are looking for. Basically, this is a USB cable minus the cable. You plug one gizmo (the printer adaptor) into your printer and the other gizmo (the slave adaptor) into your USB port on your computer and you can print just as if you had the cable pluged in. If you have more than one computer, you can buy more slave adaptors separately to plug into each of them (Amazon sells these also). Now, my printer was already installed on both of my computers before I used this. I plugged this in and was able to print from both computers without problem. Ambicom has a website that gives better detail concerning printer compatability. Some printers will print more slowly using this gizmo but I didn't have that problem with my hp5650. Just check the chart on the web site before you buy this, the one on Amazon isn't detailed enough.
What I like:
1. You don't have to have a wireless network setup for this to work. It works all by itself between the printer and whatever computers you plug the slave adaptors into. If you do have a network setup, this isn't dependent on your setup so you don't have to worry about compatability issues.
2. No need for a "printer server" or any of that other confusing and expensive hardware.
3. No software to install for this gizmo to work. As long as you have your USB printer driver installed on your computer and you are already printing with a regular USB cable, just pull the cable and plug this in instead.
4. Works in a 100 foot radius.
What I don't like so much
1. The adaptors stick out about two inches from your computer and printer. Not generally a big deal, but my toddler and baby find the slave adaptor sticking out of my laptop fascinating and they have a tendency to yank it out. Of course, that's not a problem if you have two inches of space and no kiddos.
Things to keep in mind
1. The adaptor that plugs into your printer does need to be plugged in to a power source, which shouldn't be a problem since the printer has to be plugged into a power source. It does come with it's own power cable.
2. It is not compatable with all printers and the list on Amazon is not completely accurate, so check out the chart on the Ambicom website.
3. This item is actually both adaptors - one for your printer and one for one computer. To hook up additional computers, buy a slave adaptor (also sold on Amazon) for each additional computer you want connected.
January 2004 · Unknown · verified purchase