Why I buy this one ?
- Designed to connect your desktop computer or laptop easily to any Wireless-B or Wireless-G network via a USB connection
- Hawking's award winning Hi-Gain¿ Antenna technology extends wireless connection distances by up to 300%.
- Equipped with a new 8dBi Directional Dish antenna that provides more distance and better speeds than other wireless adapters on the market
- The only wireless adapter to integrate the distance benefits of wireless Dish Technology with WiFi networking
- The built-in LED signal strength indicators provide network signal information to pinpoint the strongest signal available within your area

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What our customer's say!

"excellent item", Good product, about a 5' cord, I put it in the window and aim it to get networks.

"Wonderful little device", I received this item only 2 days after ordering with super-saver shipping. Very impressed. I first installed the software on my laptop (no problems at all), then plugged in USB, instantly it found the network and I was surfing. Then installed the software on the desktop (again no problems) and plugged in the USB, and just as quick had the network. The desktop had never had any high-speed connection (ie, wireless card etc...). Very impressed with the ease of use for the unit. I would highly recommend this item for the price.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time.", I have my main computer stuff, including my internet cable in the basement, and a workstation in the family room on the upper level. The family room workstation is wireless, and communicates with an SMB Barricade router with a little SMC USB wireless adapter.

I've often wondered if I could ever get a signal above the 70% range on a good night, or above 60% on a good day, so I bought one of these.

I had configured my little network to use WPA along with a shared passphrase. I also use encryption. So, quite the secure little connection.

To make a long evening short, this thing does WPA, but only with three particular connection protocols that require user ids, passwords, and certificates (I believe they're TLS, TTLS, and PEAP). This is far more complicated than just the shared passphrase approach that my SMC adaptor uses. I just can't come up with all that on my little peer-to-peer home network.

Furthermore, this dish device never registered above 70% for any length of time, so it really didn't even do much better than the adapter it was meant to replace.

Yes, I called their 24/7 tech support and got someone offshore who tried to help, but after a lot of steps and me telling him to say things over and over so I could understand him, never quite figured out this simple thing that I have.

So, I guess I'll package it up and put it on the shelf where it will sit until I sell it or give it to someone. What a waste of time.

"patience is really required", This did solve a problem with a wireless connection in a hard to reach part of the house (far away and behind a fireplace) - BUT installation required two long calls to tech support--who were pretty darn good. If you have X-P Pro as your operating system the installation CD is not going to work at all so just be prepared to make the calls to get help downloading the software drivers. And be sure to call the toll-free number on the printed insert not to the number in the booklet.
And also plan to get a longer USB cable with the small camera type fitting at one end to give you the flexibility to place the antenna where it will get the best reception. It is very sensitive to small adjustments and has a series of blue diodes that light up as the signal strength increases. Cute and quite fragile so be careful how you handle the antenna!
So yes, it takes some time and will require patience, but it sure does work well for me and perhaps for you. No more dropped sessions (so far)!
What a deal. Wish I had done this a year or two ago!

"Factory Screw-up", I got this and it seemed like the right item. The box packaging was for HWU8DD, then opened it, tried to use it, and WHOOPS! Looks like Hawking decided to put the model HWU8DDA. Mac only model! However the packaging said "Windows Vista" the drivers say "Windows Vista" and the loose paper said "Windows Vista", however the HWU8DDA is NOT PC compatible. Lovely! I'm now stuck with a $60 worthless device. Or maybe I'll convert to Mac after 20 years, just to use this.....

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Helped quite a bit!", It didn't increase our signal as much as it said it would, but it still worked for what we needed. The one thing you have to watch for though is the disk that comes with it to set it up with doesn't work with vista. We had to track it down online to download stuff that would help it work. It took a good bit of time but we figured it out. Overall we are happy with out purchase, can't think of anything that would have been at our price range that would work as well as it has for what we need.

"Not bad for what it is.", Well, I bought it for about $28. on Amazon. It sells for $70. at Best Buy. Worth $28 "yes"; $70. "NO". It is an improvement over internal laptop antennas. It extends the range by a couple hundred yards which is pretty much what it's designed for. Works great in RV parks with spotty coverage. And - you keep it inside; and - it uses the laptop USB power. All pluses for a limited usage, but effective at it.

"Awesome USB Wireless G Antenna!", I desperately needed a good reliable antenna because 2 years ago I was not able to afford a DSL line. Several hundred feet away we have an auto repair shop that had an unsecured signal on 24/7. My laptop would pick up the signal intermittently but it was kind of frustrating losing the signal when I was chatting with my wife-to-be from overseas.

I experimented a little by building the "Pringles" $8 can antenna. It worked so-so.

I finally purchased this Hawking USB and what a blessing! It has worked flawlessly now for over 2 years.

We often use it at my parents cabin where the nearest signal is hundreds of feet away with trees blocking the line of sight. Yet it works so well.

In a nutshell, here is what I like most about it:

Portable-not like other antennas that are so cumbersome and awkward to use.

Simple and totally easy to set up.

USB connection-you need not mess with all those difficult connectors that other antennas require.

Awesome software: the dual meters help you gauge not only the signal strength, but also the speed of the signal....WOW!

The meters also help you pinpoint the signal and adjust the direction of your antenna.

The ONLY drawback/con that I have experienced:

I used it one night by placing it on top of my van and driving around looking for a signal in a low income area. Once I found a strong signal I went online but did not look outside my windows for some time.

When I finally did look outside, there was a large crowd of people gathered...they thought I was either the police, FBI, or CIA and they were really angry.

I learned that if I want to use this antenna in my van, keep it inside where people cannot see it.

Hawking Technology Rocks!

Have a good one everyone!

It's me,

Not-So-Fast-Freddy





"Not for Windows Vista", The software included is for XP. A note included with it gave a website for software. Instructions in writing and on-line are opposite. I contacted customer service and was given a different website address.....MAJOR hassle!! Doesn't seem to work at all with encripted sites. I really wish I hadn't......

"powerful reception and transmission - the best yet!", One quick note before I share with you my real world before and after test results. If you are using Vista then you need to visit their web site to download the vista driver, but and here is the important point don't download the driver that says HWU8DD in the list. Despite the manual shipping with the product listing the product model as HWU8DD it is actually HWU8DD rev B. So be sure to download the second driver, HWU8DD rev B. or else Vista will report that it can't find the driver when you specify the exact folder.

Now on to my test results. Before I was running the Linksys WUSB54G Wireless-G USB Adapter and it was frequently dropping connection throughout the day(others report same problem), this despite the excellent signal strenth and lack of interference. So I decided to switch to the Hawking Hi-Gain Wireless-G USB Dish Adapter and it provides much more stability and signal strength than the linksys adapter. My results of the test are below.

Real world signal strengths - 2 competing brands
================================================
5 - excellent strength; 1 - poor strength
*actual SSID network names have been anonymized

Linksys - Hawking - Network
------- ------- -------
5 - 5 - WAP1 (my network)
4 - 4 - WAP2
2 - 4 - WAP3
2 - 3 - WAP4
1 - 4 - WAP5
1 - 2 - WAP6
1 - 3 - WAP7
1 - 3 - WAP8
1 - 3 - WAP9
1 - 2 - WAP10
1 - 3 - WAP11
0 - 2 - WAP12
0 - 2 - WAP13

As you can see from the above table, the hawking adapter had double, triple, and even in some cases quadruple the signal strength than the competing linksys adapter. And to top it off it also was able to pull in 2 additional networks that linksys didn't even see due to poor signal strength.

I'm really happy with the performance on this product. I'll provide an updated review in a few weeks so that I get more time to test the hawking card.

*** UPDATE 10/24/2008 - Network drivers for this card for Vista results in frequent crashes (BSOD / Blue Screen of Death). The BSOD crash message varied but was frequently IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. All crash dumps refered to the atheros driver as culprit so it definetly not a RAM or other hardware issue. Used the driver Hawking had available on web site. Called tech support and they directed me to go into Device Manager and click the update driver button. Did that and had a dramatic reduction in number of crashes. Note: I am still getting the occassional crash even with the most recent driver update.