The Smart ID WFS-1 Wi-Fi Detector rocks: I finally received my order of this slightly hard-to-get Wi-Fi sensor. It's substantially better in several angles than the Kensington WiFi Finder. First, it's instantaneous: hold down the button, and signals flash. Second, it has more common, easier to change batteries. Third, it's highly directional. Couple the directionality with the instantaneous metering and you can hunt down signals.
Now on the flip side, the documentation says it detects all kinds of 2.4 GHz radiation, so areas with no hot spots but other kinds of activity (microwaves, Bluetooth, cordless phone, and non-Wi-Fi wireless) will trigger its lights, too.
You can buy these units from Directron, a very communicative and responsive online merchant. When I initially ordered a few weeks ago, they were backordered, and they told me about the wait and confirmed my desire to wait. They also emailed me when the units became available and shipped them quickly after that.
Glenn, my experience with these people perfectly echoed yours.
Cheers Nigel
You can also order these directly from Smart ID in Singapore using PayPal and save the extra margin that Directron charges. I just received mine at $38 total cost including shipping.
Gizmodo's review:
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008341.php
Said it did distinguish between Wi-Fi and other radiation in the 2.4GHz band -- speaking of, I ordered mine from SmartID yesterday.
The documentation that comes with it says it doesn't distinguish.
Just rec'd my SmartID WI-Fi finder. Very quick shipping from Singapore. So far the unit has performed very well !! Should do well as a first step in a small site survey, you will still need to perform a more detailed survey, but as a rough guide , it will do as described.
William Wilkes.
hi,
i'm looking for WiFi finder software that i can load onto a Sony Clie PDA running Palm OS (e.g., http://www.cirond.com). unfortunately, Cirond only makes a WiFi finder for PocketPC, not for Palm. i've heard that Palm's platform may not be ready to accept WiFi finders yet but i'm not certain. does anyone know of any?
i'm less interested in a hardware device because i prefer something that can be a part of my PDA so i don't have to carry around yet another device.
thanks in advance.