Dick Smith 4GB Digital Notetaker A5154

Works Well – The first one I bought was as [name removed] stated, took it back, the shop assistant confirmed it was not charging, replacement works perfectly. Wonder if [name removed] changed it from USB Mode to Voice Recorder mode, need to push play/pause button for 3-4 seconds, maybe the problem with my first one, just read the instructions :). I have been pressing the Record button off and on quickly to change from USB Mode. Small size, reasonable data space. Not intuitive, need to read instructions to make use of all facilities. Turns off too quickly when not in record mode.

Total Dud – I bought this intending to use it for lectures, and then I found that it wouldn't work when not plugged into the USB port of a computer, at all. The instructions said to initially charge it through a USB port for 4hours and then it could be used separately, but I tried to charge it repeatedly, and on a couple of occasions even for 7-8 hours, and yet the device still completely failed to work when not plugged into a USB port.

This defeated the purpose of even having a small digital voice recorder in the first place. However, even when plugged into the USB port it was extremely frustrating to use as many of the controls were positioned so that you had to reach around the device to use them, and you had to be as careful as possible not to knock it so it wasn't displaced from the USB port.

To make matter worse, not only was the troubleshooting part of their instructions absolutely useless on the matter (advising only to "Recharge the battery" when the "LCD is blank"), but Dick Smith were less than helpful, and on their own website hadn't even answered any questions from customers on this exact same matter, with one saying all Dick Smith had done was to replace their faulty device with yet more faulty devices

(http://answers.dicksmith.com.au/answers/8465-en_au/product/A5154/questions.htm), as was offered to me.

If you want my advice, stay away from this piece of "quality" imported Chinese work, and save yourself the hassle of dealing with the apathetic customer service representatives and wasting your time, money and energy. It has USB connectivity, is small and yet possesses a large storage capacity, apparently... if it can be used. Does not work at all when unplugged from USB ports, even though having been charged for the recommended period (and longer) repeatedly. Poor instructions. Useless to record lectures &c when not plugged into USB port.