Review on Syba SD PEX15021 Single RS 232 PCI Express by Chad Chavez

Manufacturing isn't the best connection but Syba is. Before I got this card, I bought other parallel USB adapters from Syba, half of which were DOA. I have not been happy with the quality of other Syba products and would not have bought this one had I known it was Syba and not Best Connectivity as advertised. The quality of this card seemed better than the parallel USB adapters I bought from Syba, but still wasn't impressed due to the lack of backwards compatibility with other parallel devices. Cons: Tech support is hidden, but when I found out it was Syba and contacted them about this product, they couldn't fix my problem with the scanner not recognizing this printer card. Box falsely claims to support SPP, EPP, and ECP modes, but doesn't offer that support. Instead, this support depends on the motherboard and BIOS. If you have a newer PC like my PCIe eMachine that doesn't support a printer, its motherboard and BIOS don't support SPP, EPP, and ECP modes, so this card doesn't offer the lack of support it claims. My Microtek Slimline C3 scanner requires EPP mode and therefore cannot even detect this card even if configured correctly as there is no way to enable this EPP mode. Syba tech support says their claims in their advertisement that this card supports SPP, EPP and ECP modes are misleading (which I accused them of) because if the motherboard has that support then the card is using it this support. They also said that the manufacturer's name on the box (Best Connectivity) is not misleading, but that they use a universal multi-I/O card box that supports various other I/O cards, and the information on the box (the used in many advertisements for this card) can refer not only to this card, but also to one or more other cards that also use this box. Pros: On the other hand, if you want to use this card as a bi-directional printer, it works, but every time I restart I have to manually uninstall and reinstall the printer driver. It initially installs correctly and works, but gets disabled on reboot and doesn't work or recognize the printer until the driver is reinstalled. pain in the ass! But it works. Never had a chance to test the serial ports. If you are using this card the drivers are outdated and there is a web link in the 1 page manual where you can download the latest drivers which I did. The drivers install fine, but had to be disabled and re-enabled in the Manage Drivers screen for the operating system you were using before I could adjust the port assignments and other settings. When re-enabled from the Manage Drivers screen, just select Reinstall Drivers from the Ports driver, then everything will work fine. Otherwise, I got a driver error without reinstall, which was resolved by reinstalling from the Manage Port Drivers screen (not reinstalling from the driver software installer). Summary: I'm giving them 2 stars because it works, but not anymore because of false advertising and lack of support on newer PCs that lack SPP, EPP, and ECP modes. If you only use for printers and/or serial functions then you might be satisfied as other reviews suggest. But if you want the full backwards compatibility that old motherboard ports offer, you'll be disappointed that it's not 100% compatible with older devices like my Microtek scanner. More expensive cards like StarTech offer their own local SPP, EPP, and ECP modes. no dependency on motherboard bios to provide this support so I buy one of their cards to test their requirements also they have a lifetime warranty and lifetime tech support to help me and they are located here in the US, not in China as Syba. I returned my Best Connectivity card for a full refund. The manufacturer (Syba) refused to accept the return and issue a refund, but the seller took my concerns very well, accepted my return, and issued a full refund. Hope this is helpful, purchase at your own risk.