RocketTech
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The recent review of Fluke Network's Link Sprinter posted Friday March 21 by Doug Reid is little more than a written review of a press release. After researching the item myself, I came across Doug's review hoping for more insight. Instead of being influenced to purchase or pass on the item, I've been influenced to write this post and forward it to Fluke, your advertisers, and your potential review sample sources. I will also no longer use this site for any credible decision making.
The article starts with a list of Pros and Cons with none of the items in the 'Con' section appearing in the claimed features. Is Doug in the habit of testing and reviewing non-documented features, or did he simply not list the features?
On the first page, Doug writes "I discovered when you make a change to the LinkSprinter config via the Cloud Service, the change doesn't seem to take effect until after another test is run." This functionality is listed in the LinkSprinter's documentation. Even if Doug did read (or watch) the documentation, by this statement I am lead to believe the reviewer does not understand the concept of the tester under review.
For the test on the PoE switch, details of the cable would have been nice, such as length and type, as well as the power consumption characteristics of the device. Did the switch's own reporting agree with the LinkSprinter?
The test of Discovery information reported an issue with the LinkSprinter reporting the information from the Zyxel switch- is their any comment from Fluke Networks and/or Zyxel on this issue? Was any troubleshooting performed, such as a port-mirrored packet capture with Wireshark? The issue could be something as simple as a null value passed in LLDP or a more involved issue- knowing more would be helpful.
The reviewer comments the LinkRunner 100 is essentially unusable without the Cloud service, which reportedly uses a pay-per-test model. In my own research, I found on the linksprinter.com site the following:
"How much does the cloud service cost?
The service is free for the first 120 days. After that, 10 results per month are captured per tester, free forever. Additional storage management may be purchased in 100 or 1000 data packs. Data packs can be shared across an organization. " You should be able to see that 10 tests per month are included with registration, for life. Additional tests are effectively 10 cents a piece. This knowledge makes the reviewers statement about un-usability highly suspect. The cloud service is an interesting model, and time will tell if it is successful.
I'm quite perplexed why the review did not include any other testers similar in price or functionality. The reviewer claims $150 is a much more reasonable price without offering any evidence as to similar functionality for the price. I agree half the price would be nice, but can functionality be found for that price? Unfortunately the reviewer again fails us by not supplying us with the information.
A 'day in the life' perspective would have been nice to judge the usability and applications of the tester. I currently use my LinkRunner to quickly diagnose wired connection issues, with tests showing where the connection ends (switch/DHCP/router/target address). Are the colored illuminated icons easier to interpret under a desk or in a dark wiring closet than the small display of the defeatable backlit LinkRunner? How long does a test take? Is the remote test functionality useful?
I have a Fluke Networks LinkRunner which I believe the LinkSprinter is looking to replace. The LinkRunner lists for $575 (despite it being available for at least a decade) and has many similar features. Features I miss most on it are LLDP and PoE testing, and the only feature I think I will miss is the basic cable test function. The documented tests are a big plus, along with the ability to add a note or tag to each test. I believe the next step up is the LinkRunner AT (LRAT1000) listing at $895 on Amazon.
For the above reasons I find the review incredibly lacking as to exactly how the device will work for a builder/maintainer of small networks.
The article starts with a list of Pros and Cons with none of the items in the 'Con' section appearing in the claimed features. Is Doug in the habit of testing and reviewing non-documented features, or did he simply not list the features?
On the first page, Doug writes "I discovered when you make a change to the LinkSprinter config via the Cloud Service, the change doesn't seem to take effect until after another test is run." This functionality is listed in the LinkSprinter's documentation. Even if Doug did read (or watch) the documentation, by this statement I am lead to believe the reviewer does not understand the concept of the tester under review.
For the test on the PoE switch, details of the cable would have been nice, such as length and type, as well as the power consumption characteristics of the device. Did the switch's own reporting agree with the LinkSprinter?
The test of Discovery information reported an issue with the LinkSprinter reporting the information from the Zyxel switch- is their any comment from Fluke Networks and/or Zyxel on this issue? Was any troubleshooting performed, such as a port-mirrored packet capture with Wireshark? The issue could be something as simple as a null value passed in LLDP or a more involved issue- knowing more would be helpful.
The reviewer comments the LinkRunner 100 is essentially unusable without the Cloud service, which reportedly uses a pay-per-test model. In my own research, I found on the linksprinter.com site the following:
"How much does the cloud service cost?
The service is free for the first 120 days. After that, 10 results per month are captured per tester, free forever. Additional storage management may be purchased in 100 or 1000 data packs. Data packs can be shared across an organization. " You should be able to see that 10 tests per month are included with registration, for life. Additional tests are effectively 10 cents a piece. This knowledge makes the reviewers statement about un-usability highly suspect. The cloud service is an interesting model, and time will tell if it is successful.
I'm quite perplexed why the review did not include any other testers similar in price or functionality. The reviewer claims $150 is a much more reasonable price without offering any evidence as to similar functionality for the price. I agree half the price would be nice, but can functionality be found for that price? Unfortunately the reviewer again fails us by not supplying us with the information.
A 'day in the life' perspective would have been nice to judge the usability and applications of the tester. I currently use my LinkRunner to quickly diagnose wired connection issues, with tests showing where the connection ends (switch/DHCP/router/target address). Are the colored illuminated icons easier to interpret under a desk or in a dark wiring closet than the small display of the defeatable backlit LinkRunner? How long does a test take? Is the remote test functionality useful?
I have a Fluke Networks LinkRunner which I believe the LinkSprinter is looking to replace. The LinkRunner lists for $575 (despite it being available for at least a decade) and has many similar features. Features I miss most on it are LLDP and PoE testing, and the only feature I think I will miss is the basic cable test function. The documented tests are a big plus, along with the ability to add a note or tag to each test. I believe the next step up is the LinkRunner AT (LRAT1000) listing at $895 on Amazon.
For the above reasons I find the review incredibly lacking as to exactly how the device will work for a builder/maintainer of small networks.
