iCute Guardian Dual LED Thermometer Review
Let me first thank Lionel from iCute for supplying us one to review.
Thermometers
are making their way to enthusiasts who need to keep track on their
temperatures. There are so many variations out there, which one is good
to choose?
Well we are going to look at one today, so you can see if this is for
you. We look at the iCute Dual LED Thermometer!
The Guardian LED Thermometer comes packages in a hard plastic package with their Logo. The unit itself looks very pleasing to the eye because of its aluminum look. iCute did a good job with the construction as it was rock solid. The unit measures to fit an empty 5’25’ drive bay. The thermometer holds 2 LED displays for two temperature readings. A HDD reading and a CPU reading. One of the features I like about this unit is the option to choose between a Fahrenheit and Celsius. This is great for Americans and Canadians. How this works is you have to press the blue button on the rear of the LCD.
Blue button that changes from Celsius to Fahrenheit
One side of the 2 separate LED cables
The unit is powered via 4-pin connection that has the 3-pin LED screen connected to it.
Installation
Installation is like any other component. Find an empty drive bay and screw it in. In the case of the Chenming case, dive rails were used. For the probe itself, you use a piece of tape and stick the probe to where you want it to read. There was no included tape for the thermal probes! What madness!
Results
Here
it is installed. It really looks good because it matches the color of
the case.
During testing, there is one thing that I did not really like that should
have been added.
At night, you cannot see your temperatures! Why? There is no backlit
display to light u the numbers. I couldn't’t believe it because
how would you see your temperatures in the dark? iCute should revise
that and add some light so you may see the numbers when it is dark.
What I did like was the fact that the temperature reading has almost no lag. What I mean is that if the temperature of your CPU is steadily increasing the monitor will change right away from lets say 34.5c, 34.6, 35.6, 35.8, and so on. It’s has a refresh rate of lower than 1. Also the readout was very clear and can be easily read.
Left LED is Celsius and right is Fahrenheit
Clear readout in Celsius
Readout in Fahrenheit
Another thing I did not like was that I wanted a longer thermometer wire. Some of us have full towers so a longer cable is much needed. It wouldn’t hurt either.
Conclusion
The iCute thermometer is a good temperature monitor. The construction and looks make it something worthwhile to have. The Fahrenheit and Celsius give it another great feature long with the almost no lag temperature increase.
There are some things that I feel that iCute can improve on. The use of a back light display would do wonders and an addition of 3 LCD temperature monitors would be sweet. The unit has enough space for 3 LCD’s so why not make use of it? If they didn’t want to put 3 LCD’s, why not fill the empty space with some front USB/Firewire ports?
All in all, this is a good product that I can recommend to anyone looking for a good temp monitor, just don’t expect yourself reading it at night. You are going to need to look right at it at night.
I rate it a…
7.5/10!
Pros & Cons
+
Good looking
+ LCD’s are easy to read in daytime
+ Almost no temperature reading lag
+ Celsius and Fahrenheit option
- Longer wires would be cool and included tape for thermal probes
- Backlit display would help at night
- 3 LCD’s and front ports wouldn’t hurt
Let me again thank Lionel from iCute for sending this over to review. If you are interested in purchasing one, please visit www.casepower.com.tw for more info and pricing inquires.
