We bought this the way you would: at retail, with our own money, and with no idea whether it was any good.
What separates a good product from a merely impressive one is what it does on an ordinary Tuesday, three months in, when you are tired and you just want the thing to work.
Filed under Productivity, which on this site means we care about the boring parts: whether it holds a connection, whether the app is still maintained a year from now, and whether anybody answers the phone when it breaks. The question is never whether a thing works in the shop. It is whether it still works in six months, on your network, alongside your other devices, without you having to think about it.
The full breakdown, including the parts that did not go well, is what the rest of this piece is for.
sam_on_the_couch
Jan 10, 2026 04:00Counterpoint: I have had zero problems with mine in a year. Might just be a bad batch.
sam_on_the_couch
Jan 11, 2026 06:00Any idea whether the older model is still worth buying at a discount, or is the new one a real upgrade?
Tomas L.
Jan 13, 2026 15:00Been waiting for somebody to actually test this rather than unbox it. Bookmarked.
Owen S.
Jan 13, 2026 00:00The support story is what put me off. Nine months is not a warranty, it is a hobby.
Priya N.
Jan 16, 2026 17:00Bought this on your recommendation two months ago and I would say the same. The app is the best part, which is a strange thing to say about hardware this expensive.