Rating: 
Summary: Wish I could pawn this off for a buck.....
Review: The IOMega Predator USB CD-RW claims to be able to burn CDs at 4x through a USB port. I have never successfully burned a CD using the Predator at anything but 2x. The majority of the CDs I try to burn end up being coasters because of various errors. The error of the day is: T0100 I/O error (03/73/03): CD error - power calibration area error t0100 I/O error (06/C5/00): Wreite error - buffer underrun occurred.The construction of the burner is horrendous for laptop users. The burner itself is very bulky and has awkward adapters. Furthermore, the burner is made of very flimsy plastic pieces that have little integrity. I wish I could pawn this off on someone for a buck...but I wouldn't want to rip anyone off....
Rating:
Summary: Beware This Recorder
Review: I first rated this burner 2Stars. Now we're down to one. See my update at the end of this review. Sigh... it started out well. The installation was a snap and burning my first disk went without a hitch. Then I bought some bulk TDK blanks and... well the Predator doesn't like them one bit. Burned about 10 with media error messages galore. Coasters. Switched to Sony and Memorex blank media and they both burned without a hitch. Furthermore after some considerable time spent in experimentation its pretty clear that USB is never really going to support a safe burn of any type beyond 2x. You just get caught up in a world of underruns. The USB connector in the rear of the device is flimsy. I'd say this one is only worth it for the cross-platform compatibility (it does work as promised) and it's portable size. I did get this thing to settle down and it burns just fine (though the 2x max. usable speed brings my rating down to 2 stars). I've been a CDR user for many years and I'd have to say if I was to rethink this purchase I'd go with a Firewire based connection. Addenum
Well this thing bit the dust a month ago. Something in that flimsy rear connector gave out. I swear I was gentle on this thing. I move my computer equipment around my desk (just a hardware rearrangement) and when I plugged this back in it refused to work. Iomega tech support was weak. Essentially the rear connector broke. After all kinds of twists and turns I got it to work intermittently. I quit. ...
Rating: 
Summary: The people knocking this are crazy.
Review: I had it up and running in minutes, and with the exception of a minor glitch recognizing mp3 files (roxio's website had the fix) it works great and I've burned 4 discs so far today.
Rating: 
Summary: Blame the media...
Review: I was hesistant to buy this drive after all the bad reviews, but I've been very happy with my purchase. The only problem that I had was when I used media (both CD-R and CD-RW disks) that were not made by Verbatim. After having problems and contacting tech support, I was told that Iomega only recommends disks made by Verbatim and a couple of other companies (sorry, I can't remember which ones). I switched back to my Verbatim disks and haven't had any other problems.
Rating:
Summary: Good for a USB CD-RW drive; FireWire support reassuring
Review: Anyone demanding fast, error-free CD-RW performance should realize that USB connections sadly do not permit this. USB was intended for simple devices such as keyboards, mice, and printers. CD-RW buyers are better off buying FireWire, serial or internal drives. If you must buy a USB CD-RW drive, then this drive is a good choice -- its included software is very good, the drive itself is solid, and setup is simple. I bought my Predator because my Compaq computer did not support "legacy" devices requiring serial or SCSI ports, nor would it support additional internal drives. So USB was my only option. There are some issues to be aware of: 1. The included Adaptec software is the best entry-level CD-burning software currently on the market. Iomega did not skimp on the included software. The packaged software and drivers are slightly dated and not very Windows 2000-friendly, but the latest updates (including W2K support) are available online. 2. Something called "buffer underruns" are a risk for all USB CD-RW drives because USB connections have difficulty keeping pace with the high speed that CD-RW drives require to burn CDs smoothly. Because CD-writing requires reliable speed out of your computer (even if you're not in a hurry), I would not recommend using this drive with a slow computer, fragmented hard drive, or limited RAM. 3. While I was able to burn CDs at 4x, the slowness of USB again means that you may have the best luck holding back your drive speed to 2x so it doesn't get too far ahead of your computer. If you decide eventually to ditch USB and use FireWire instead, then you can ramp up the Predator to full speed with confidence. 4. I don't know why, but Verbatim CD-RW disks worked better with this drive than either the included Iomega disks or the new Imation disks that I bought. None of the disks became coasters, but for some reason the Iomega and Imation CDs would frequently suffer buffer underruns if I saved much data at one time. Maybe it was a coincidence. Anyhow, the remedy was to save less data on these CDs and to reformat them (eating up a lot of time) each time an underrun occurred. 5. This drive comes with an included FireWire adapter so if your PC has a FireWire adapter -- or if you smartly upgrade your PC to FireWire and forget about USB -- then this drive will be a nearly error-free speed demon. Windows XP will provide built-in support for FireWire. Due to the computer industry's inability to agree on a faster USB 2.0 standard, don't look for USB-based CD-RW drives to perform better in the future than they do currently. The Predator fulfills the basic needs of people limited to USB while also providing the power, speed and reliability in the coming era of FireWire peripherals.
Rating: 
Summary: unsatisfying
Review: This new device from iomega is sleek out of the box -- it is top loading so is much easier to pop cd's in and out. Also, it impressed me initiallly -- it's about a third the size of the last cd-rw I tried. Also, the immediate benefits are that the software installs quickly and simply, and the usb interface is readily accessible. And being so light, I thought this was going to be a great accessary to my new laptop. Unfortunately, this cd-rw suffers from the problem of being unable to write a full cd without running into one of those dreadful "buffer underrun" problems. A very unfriendly Iomega support person told me it was because the harddrive was too fragmented, or did not have enough space. However, I have a brand new HP laptop with a new installation of windows 2000, a nearly empty 20 gig hard drive, 800mhz speed -- so hardly seems that it could be the laptop's lack of power that's causing the problems. I have also had a rather lousy time with Iomega tech support. I spoke with two unfriendly individuals who were in addition not very knowledgeable. They suggested writing at 2x instead of 4x. Not only did this not work either, it seemed hardly the fix -- why buy a 4x writer if it can only work at 2x? I was also directed to roxio.com for a patch -- which I have been searching for for the last half hour, and still have not found. To be fair, I realize laptops are more finicky than desk tops, and external devices are harder to get right than internal ones, and this is not the first cd-rw I have tried and were disappointed by. But from past experience with Iomega zip drives, I had expected more quality especially since I forked over more money for the brand name than the previous ... Unfortunately, I'm destined to go back to the store and try my luck elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: An Apprensive Purchase
Review: I was very apprehensive about buying the Iomega Preditor External USB CD-RW Drive, in fact any USB CD-RW Drive, after reading all of the negative reviews and problems reported by users. But, after a bit of research, I decided to take the plunge. After all, if I was not satisfied, I always had Amazon.com's very generous return policy to fall back on, didn't I? So when my box arrived I set to work, expecting the worse. And, much to my surprise, the installation went by the book and I was up and running within 15 minutes. The instructions are very clear and the installation program leads you by the numbers. The only fault I could find was that it was not made clear that I could install the drivers and other software on a drive other than the C: drive, by accepting the "Custom" and not the "Typical" installation option (I deinstalled and reinstalled the software a second time to leave more room on my C: drive). The software provided is intuitive (very important in my book), and the drive works as advertised. So far so good, so it gets five stars from me.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy
Review: Software loaded just fine but, I never got the item to power up. looks very cheaply made. I don't know if the power supply is bad or what? The led lights wouldn't come on and I couldn't get the unit to power up. what's up with the stupid connected module in the back? No phone support on off hours, so I boxed it up and sent it back. Now I'm looking at a yamaha internal instead.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, it looks nice, but...
Review: ...what are you going to do, wear it around your neck? I had an extremely frustrating time with this thing. It cannot burn a decent audio CD even at 4X; and very often not at 2X. I did it off the hard drive, too, with all other programs shut down. Coasters galore! So, I returned it & bought a Plextor 12/10/32, and that thing rocks! It cranks'em out like a workhorse at 4x. ... Iomega can do better.
Rating:
Summary: Don't even think about buying this one...
Review: Yes,it loooks good, but it just doesn't work. I've lost over 10 blank CDs, over 6 hours ( with the "help" of Iomega's customer service), and still couldn't make it work. Customer service tried to blame the media I bought (they didn't have anything else to say,i guess...) If you don't have a monge's patience spend your money with another product.
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