I recently got a WiFi hotspot detector. My reasoning is that if I’m on the run I don’t want to be pulling my MacBook Pro out right and left to check for net access. This is not only a hassle, but a waste of precious battery life. I figured if nothing else I could at least use it around town and find out which businesses offer free WiFi. Anyways, with my needs in mind I came up with criteria that in my opinion a prospective hotspot detector must have.
- LCD Display
- Show the following information
- SSID
- Security Status
- Channel
- Signal Strength
After a bit of searching I found and bought the TRENDnet Hotspot Detector. This device not only offered everything that I was looking for, but also gave me the option to use it as a USB WiFi adapter! The likely hood that I’ll use this feature is slim, but having it is a bonus and really adds to the geek factor :) Here are some of the other hotspot detectors that I looked into while shopping. My second choice would probably be the Canary device since its the only other one that I could find that had an LCD display.
- Canary Wireless WiFi Detector
- Kensington WiFi Finder Plus
- Hawking Technologies Hi-Gain WiFi Locator Professional Edition
- Smart ID WiFi Treker (WFS-2)
- The Hotspot Bloom
When I recieved the TRENDnet Hotspot Detector I was eager to test it out. The device has 2 buttons and a power switch. The detector powers up in less than a second and immediately begins scanning for access points. Once the scan is complete you can navigate through each of the available networks and review the gathered information.
I was shocked to find that the detector was able to pick up low signal strength access points that my MacBook Pro couldn’t detect! The little device does its job and does it well. One feature that I wasn’t expecting is that the device recharges through USB. So when the battery gets low just plug it in for a bit and your good to go. I’d imagine that the other hotspot detectors use some type of small battery that would need to be replaced.
I have two one small gripe with the TRENDnet Hotspot Detector. The first is that the LCD display doesn’t have a backlight. I don’t know if I’ll ever use the detector in the dark, but it would be a nice feature. The second aspect that I would change about the device would be to add live signal strength updating. If you are walking around trying to pin point an access point you’ll have to keep rescanning to get updated signal strength info. Apparently the TRENDnet HotSpot Detector can update signal strength on the fly without rescanning. Read below… Thanks Sonny! I could definitely see TRENDnet adding these features in the future. The latest revision of this product offers a 512MB flash drive.
If I could do it all over again I would still buy the TRENDnet Hotspot Detector despite the lack of a backlit display and the inability to update signal strength without rescanning. I believe this detector to be the best solution available and would recommend it to anyone looking for a hotspot detector.
Just a heads up… I noticed that Newegg has a $20 rebate promotion going on right now. This puts the price at $25 and change which is very reasonable.
CNET has a video review of the TRENDnet Hotspot Detector if you’d like to see it in action.
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There is an “AP Lock-On” feature, where you can “Lock-On” a specific AP and then walk around and monitor its signal strength at various locations.
To do this, power on the device, scan for available AP, use the “Next” button” to select the AP that you would like to monitor the signal strength, then press and hold the “Seek” button and you should see the Unit’s “Scan Mode” changes form “S” to “F”, release the “Seek” button”, press and hold the “Seek” again, and the mode should change to “D”, release the “Scan” button, and now the Hot-Spot Finder is lock-on this specific AP. Press and then release the “Seek” again to start monitoring the signal strength of this AP.
In the “Lock-on” mode, the Unit will refreshes the specific AP’s signal strength every 15 seconds.
The Hot-Spot Finder will continue to work in “Lock-On” mode, until it goes to power saving mode. Powering off the Unit will also cancel the “Lock-On” mode.
Sonny
Thanks a bunch for the heads up Sonny! I made a small edit to the review to reflect your tip. Your instructions work perfectly. I would have been scanning for access points over and over just to update signal strength if it wasn’t for you, lol. Anyways, I ended up looking on TRENDnets website and found a description of the process you described.
This article is great! And still somewhat relevant… however, even though the version A was replaced with this:
http://trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?status=view&prod=155_TEW-429UB&cat=84
(version C2.0R), which itself has been discontinued… neither does it test for 802.11 N . The Canary device (HS20) is now onto its second gen… but after reading about the weakness of on/off updating (you have to turn the device on and off to update, and it doesn’t have the lock modes, etc. that this device had, which is a major selling point for me) it’s too troublesome sounding to use.
So for now… I guess I am not getting ANY wifi detector (I need a stand alone, not one that attaches to a laptop/usb). Thanks for the informative article!