Review on USB Rechargeable Hyperlink Wireless Presentation Clicker Remote Control RF 2.4GHz For Keynote/Mac/PC/Laptop - DinoFire Green Light by Joshua Beaule

Let me start by saying that I'm a graduate student who needs to give presentations at least twice a semester, and that having to wander back to the computer terminal to do so every time I need to change the slide is a pet peeve of mine. Also that, because I already had a pointer/presenter (the Kensington Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer ), my fellow graduate students were constantly borrowing it and wearing down its batteries. Because the laser pointer in my Kensington wasn't quite as bright as I wanted anyway (and my research uses a lot of red fluorescence so the laser pointer would occasionally get lost because it was so dim) to the point that my PI started making comments, I decided to go on the hunt for a green pointer/presenter.Eventually, I stumbled upon this one. I was nervous to buy this product given that it had so few reviews. However, the potential gains of a presenter with a green laser pointer that wasn't ridiculously expensive or plagued by numerous negative reviews (surprisingly hard to find) had me deciding to give it a whirl. It unfortunately arrived exactly a day late for my latest presentation, but I've tested it out with my computer and the system we normally use at my school for presentations.PROS:-Presenter is light and easy to handle.-The laser pointer itself is nice and bright. Fairly well-focused with not a whole lot of scatter. (taking into account that scatter is more noticeable with a green laser than red) MINOR EDIT (non-dated): as pointed out in the replies below, the technical term for this "scatter" is, in fact, "speckle," as scatter is something different. What I am referring to in this note is the small haze of light that appears around the central point of the laser, making it appear more "fuzzy" and less defined.-Range on the presenter is adequate. I stood on the far side of our presentation hall (at the front, not all the way at the back) and was still able to control the slides.-Button control for presentations is easy and fairly intuitive. For those who don't know off the top of their head that "page down" means "forward", the up-down system might be a bit confusing the first few times. I liked it, however, as it made sure my thumb was in easy range of the laser pointer whenever I needed it. (This could be seen as a con, though, if one is prone to accidentally hitting the wrong button and advancing the slide when one wants to use the laser pointer or vice-versa). I will say, however, that as the Dinofire has separate functions for press vs. press-and-hold for each button, it only advances your slides when you release the buttons, something that took some adjusting to. However, I do enjoy the variety of functions available on the up-down buttons (holding up starts your presentation, and holding down will black it out).-Rechargeable. I knew about this one but wasn't quite prepared for how much it would mean to me. No longer being required to keep a stash of batteries in my desk is an amazing feeling. Plus it seems like it charges fairly quickly (left it to charge, came back 20 minutes later and it was done). The only downside here is that the USB port on the side seems to be a bit tight, so I always feel like I'm going to break it when I plug it in. However, I'm sure this will get better with time.-USB dongle is held in magnetically. This is something I wasn't aware of at first. Essentially, it's just a fun little extra that means I don't have to worry about the springs or latches that hold the dongle inside the presenter wearing out at some point, or it falling out by accident. My Kensington lacks a discrete power button and is instead turned on when the dongle is ejected (using a spring-loaded latch mechanism) from the presenter. More than once I've found it with the dongle hanging out, having gotten triggered to eject somehow and therefore sitting there and wasting battery life. Therefore, though the dongle doesn't control the battery in the DinoFire, I'm fairly excited by this small but appreciated feature.CONS:-Power switch is pretty close to where your fingers naturally sit while holding the presenter. I can mostly foresee this becoming a problem if the power switch becomes looser. No problems so far, but only time will tell. Also, I prefer the Kensington's method of power switching with the ejection of the dongle, since that way there's less risk (at least, in my mind) of the switch accidentally being flipped.COULD TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT:-The Enter and Tab buttons on the side. I rarely need this functionality, especially the Tab. The Enter button, when held down, will Alt+F4 your presentation, closing it and going back to the powerpoint window. While this is maybe useful to some people, I don't see myself ever using it. The Tab button, meanwhile, does just that: Tab or, when held down, Alt+Tab.Overall, I'd say this is a nice little product. Only time will tell how it truly stands up, of course, but I have high hopes. So far, it's surpassed my previous product in almost every way.UPDATE 2018.04.27: Still going strong. Incredibly happy I bought this product and very satisfied with it. I've moved on to teaching at colleges, and I use this presenter for all my lectures. Some of my coworkers find the up/down + pointer layout confusing (they prefer left/right for previous/next slide) but I've adapted. Definitely would recommend this product, solid 5/5.UPDATE 2018.11.15: Sadly, after three years of use, I needed to buy a new unit. Nothing in the unit wore out per se (can confirm that the power switch was nowhere near being loose), but because I dropped it during a presentation. Doing so caused the magnet that holds the dongle in the unit (which was apparently only secured with a small dab of glue) to fall out of the space the dongle normally sits in. After that, with nothing holding it place when not in use, it was only a few days before I'd lost the dongle. So, moral of the story: don't be a klutz like me and drop your presenter.Re: the new unit, I will say that it feels much the same as the one I purchased 3 years ago. The buttons feel a little bit "snappier" and the plastic has a slightly different texture, almost heavier, but most of those are barely noticeable. The one thing I definitely did notice was quite different is the laser pointer. On the first unit I purchased, the laser pointer had great coherence with minimal scattering. While the new laser isn't bad, it does have more scattering over distance. At short ranges (like if you're standing in front of a small class with a projector screen behind you), the difference is fairly subtle. However, I'd imagine if this was used in a large presentation space (like at a conference) it would be very noticeable. I'm not sure if the laser manufacturer changed or if I just got a unit that was a little closer to failing QC checks but still passed or what. Regardless, the new unit is overall fantastic - I use it literally every day I'm at work - it's just not quite the same as my old one.